I had several conversations this
week with a preacher, a man about my age, and a friend. I've known him a good while.
He asked early on, after I got to rescue and after the first
night services, about how is it that you see and preach Christ
everywhere in the Scripture. had several conversations after
that. On Saturday, he came up to me and said, I think I see
what you've been talking about. It is not that we try to force
every word and every line in Scripture to say something about
Christ. That is not true. That is not
true. There are passages that speak about Satan. They're not
talking about him. There are passages that speak
about Antichrist. They're not talking about Christ. They're
not to be applied to him. But rather, the message of the whole
book and all its parts is Christ and him crucified. This is the
thing I want to show you clearly from the scriptures as we go
through these books of the Bible, and so tonight I want you to
turn with me to the Song of Solomon, in many respects the most precious
and most refreshing of all the books of inspiration. You have
the distinct advantage of having it fresh on your minds. Brother
Lindsey has just finished expanding it in the Bible classes on Sunday
morning. Now this book is altogether about
fellowship and communion with our Redeemer. It is not in any
sense to be interpreted literally. It is altogether spiritual. It
is an allegory, a spiritual dialogue between Christ, our Heavenly
Bridegroom, and his church, his chosen redeemed bride. It is
not a picture of the love of a man and his wife. It may be
applied in that regard, but that is not what the passage is talking
about. To make that to be the case is to subject things here
that are not found in the book of God. This is a picture that
is an allegory. drawn between the love of King
Solomon and the Shulamite for one another, it is a picture
of Christ and his Church, and the love of Christ for his Church,
and the love of his Church for him. Now again, I remind you
that the scriptures, as they are arranged in our Bibles, are
arranged in the order they are by divine providence. The Song
of Solomon is given to us in immediate contrast to the Book
of Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes declares to us plainly
the utter emptiness and vanity of life without Christ. The Song
of Solomon declares clearly, beautifully, delightfully the
fullness and blessedness of life in Christ. The Book of Ecclesiastes
expounds our Lord's first sentence to the Samaritan woman. Whosoever
shall drink of this water shall thirst again. The Song of Solomon
expands the second part of that sentence. Whosoever drinketh
of the water that I shall give shall never thirst again. Now this book is full of our
Redeemer. He is here presented to us not
only as our God, our Redeemer, our Savior, our Lord, our King,
but here he's presented in the most intimate most personal relationship
imaginable. He's presented here as our bridegroom,
as our beloved. Here we see the Son of God in
marriage union to his elect. Now, look in chapter 1. This
sweet, precious, intimate song of love begins with the church.
Christ's chosen beloved bride speaking to him, expressing her
desire for intimacy with him. Verse 2, let him kiss me with
the kisses of his mouth. For thy love is better than wine,
because the savor of thy good ointments, thy name is as ointment
poured forth. Therefore do the virgins love
thee. Draw me, and we will run after
thee. The king hath brought me into
his chambers. We will be glad and rejoice in
thee. We will remember thy love more
than wine, the upright love thee. Verse 7. Tell me, O thou whom
my soul loveth, 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? Now, listen carefully to what
I'm about to say. The highest, strongest, most
tender, most absolute devotion of love is not that that exists
between a mother and a daughter, or a mother and a son, or between
a father and his daughter, or a father and his son. Rather,
that which is the deepest affection known to humanity is the love
of a man for his wife and his wife for him. Our Savior said
for this cause shall a man leave his father and mother. Some of
you were at Faith's wedding and you observed a little bit difficult
coming to the point of giving my daughter to another man. I
raised her for that purpose. It's what I wanted for her. But
I was convinced then and I'm more convinced now, experience
is more convincing, that it was proper that she cut that affection
and that attachment which she has for me as her father and
give that devotion to her husband. That's the way it's supposed
to be. That's the way it's supposed to be. For this cause shall a
man leave his father and mother and shall cleave unto his wife,
and they too shall be one flesh." Now I want you to turn with me
to Ephesians 5. Hold your hands here, and I want
you to see clearly what the teaching of the Holy Spirit is. When we
realize what Paul is talking about in Ephesians 5, the Song
of Solomon takes on new meaning altogether. If you pull down almost any commentary,
I wish I could say I knew of an exception. I don't. If you
pull down any commentary that I've read, even the good ones,
the bulk of the time is spent and the bulk of the effort and
energy is spent expounding this passage in Ephesians 5 in the
relationship between a man and his wife. And here the Apostle
Paul tells us plainly that this relationship between a man and
his wife exists for the purpose of displaying the relationship
between Christ and his church. Now let us mold our relationships
after this relationship, but the doctrine of Ephesians 5 is
not the doctrine of the family. The doctrine of Ephesians 5 is
the doctrine of Christ and his church. It's talking about him.
Let's see what the scripture says here, verse 25. You can
read, well go back to verse 22, we'll read it. Why submit yourselves
unto your own husbands as unto the Lord? For the husband is
the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church.
And he's the Savior of the body. What does that mean? Well, if
you have any question about it, you see me. I'll be glad to tell
you exactly what it means. The wives submit to your husbands
in exactly the same way as you submit to the Lord. Submit to
your husbands as unto the Lord. Therefore, verse 24, as the church
is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands
Not when they pick and choose, but in everything. Verse 25. Husbands, love your wives even
as Christ also loved the church. Now watch it. And gave himself
for it. That doesn't mean be willing
to give yourself for your wife. That means give yourself for
her. You sacrifice your desires and your ambitions and your goals
and your personal wants for your wife. You sacrifice your life
to her. Love your wives, even as Christ
also loved the church and gave himself for it, and this is the
reason he did, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with
the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself
a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing,
but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men
also to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his
wife loveth himself, for no man ever yet hated his own flesh,
but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church.
For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this call shall a man leave
his father and mother, and shall be joined to his wife, and they
too shall be one flesh. Now watch this. This is a great
mystery. It's a great mystery how a man
and a woman become one. It's a great mystery. But that's
not what I'm talking about. But I speak concerning Christ
and the church. Throughout the scriptures this
relationship of a man and his wife, this love of a man for
his wife, is represented throughout the word of God, Old Testament
and New, as being typical of our Savior. You'll remember that
Adam and Eve in the garden set before us a beautiful example
of our Redeemer and his love for his bride. Adam, we're told
in Romans chapter 5, the first Adam, was created and made to
be a federal head and representative so that he might be made to be
one who would be a type of the Lord Jesus Christ who was to
come into this world. And we see Eve when she had sinned
against God. Her husband Adam, because of
his love for her in rebellion to God, willingly plunged himself into
death under the curse of God because of sin, because he would
not be separated from that woman. Our Lord Jesus Christ, in devotion
and obedience to the Father, willingly plunged himself into
sin under the curse of God's holy law. and death because he
would not be separated from his bride. We read about Jacob's
love for Rachel. He served Laban for Rachel seven
years. He served for her and served
seven more years. He said it seemed to him as just
a day because of the love he had for her. Ruth and Boaz Boaz
is a picture of Christ, our kinsman, Redeemer, who not only redeemed
Ruth to himself and redeemed that which Elimelech lost, but
also married Ruth as his own wife, took her to be his own,
and raised up children by her unto her father-in-law and her
former husband. We see that Hosea and Gomer set
before us in the Scriptures display clearly our Lord's love for us.
As a matter of fact, he told Hosea, he said, You go down to
the red light district and love a woman, loved of her friends,
a woman altogether unworthy of your love, a woman altogether
unlike you, a woman altogether, altogether rightfully despised
by you. You go love that woman and love
her and your love for her is to be like the love that I have
for my people. He specifically says so. The
Apostle Paul, writing in 1 Corinthians, says to the Corinthians, I have
espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste
virgin to Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ loves his
people, how I wish I could say it in such a way as to make your
hearts pound within you to hear it, everlastingly, immutably,
perfectly, and indestructibly. Did you get that? That's how
he loves his church, everlastingly, immutably, perfectly, and indestructibly. And all who are born of God,
all who know the Son of God, love him. To know him is to love
him. We don't love him as we should.
We don't love him like we want to. We don't love him as we will,
but we do love him. If any man loved not the Lord
Jesus Christ, let him be damned, let him be anathema, maranatha,
the Lord's coming. John says we love him because
he first loved us. Now Bob Pottser, if that's the
fact, if we are born of God, If we have been called by His
grace, you and I were shameful just because of our lack of love
for Him. Yet, we can truthfully say, yes,
we love Him. I do love Him. And I love Him
because He first loved me. His love for me is the cause
of my love for Him, not the reaction to it. He loves us perfectly,
and we want to love Him perfectly. His love for us is without variation,
but our love for Him isn't. Our love for Him, let us blush
with shame to acknowledge it, but acknowledge it we must, our
love for Him varies greatly. We've been forgiven much, and
we love much, but our love is sometimes. Honesty may force us to say often,
our love for Him often grows cold. This song of Solomon shows
us in pictures, pictures with which every believer becomes
familiar by personal experience. If you're not familiar with the
pictures yet, I promise you, you will be. It's a picture of
how our Lord, how our beloved keeps our hearts in love for
Him. How He keeps our hearts in love
for Him. Now, look at chapter 1 again,
verse 5. This song of Solomon doesn't
mention anything about redemption. It doesn't portray redemption
in any way. And yet redemption is clearly
at the very heart of it. It's at the very core of the
relationship of this love portrayed in this song. Here the bride
speaks, and she confesses what she is by nature, and at the
same time, with equal confidence, what she is in Christ. The two
always go hand in hand. Any who know what they are by
nature know what they are by nature because they've been made
to know what they are in Christ. She says in chapter 1 verse 5,
I am black but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of
Keter, as the curtains of Solomon. She says I'm as black as the
goat-haired tents of Keter. blackness within, blackness without. In heart, in deed, that's our
nature. But in Christ, we are as comely,
as beautiful, as magnificent as the curtains of Solomon's
Temple. And you'll notice she says both, both with exactly
the same confidence. She says, I am black, that's
what I am by nature. But in Christ, I'm as beautiful
as the curtains of God's own house. Now this beauty is not
natural to us. It's not something we achieve,
but rather it is that which is the beauty of redemption and
grace. Our righteousnesses are filthy rags, but Christ has clothed
us with the robe of his righteousness and has made us, what a blessed
word, comely before God Almighty. Comely before God. Turn to Ezekiel
16. You're familiar with the first
part of this passage I'm going to read to you? Maybe not so
much with the latter verses of this paragraph. Let's begin in
verse 6. Ezekiel is describing this deserted
infant, that's you and me. When I passed by thee, I saw
thee polluted in thine own blood. I said unto thee, When thou wast
in thy blood, live. Yea, I said unto thee, When thou
wast in thy blood, live. I have caused thee to multiply
as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen
great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments. Thy breast are fashioned,
thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare. I've
caused you to live, I've caused you to multiply, I've caused
you to mature and grow. Verse 8, Now when I passed by
thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love.
And I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness. Yea,
I swear unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith
the Lord God, and thou becamest mine. Then I washed thee with
water, yea, I thoroughly washed away thy blood from thee, and
I anointed thee with oil, I poured out my Spirit upon you, I clothed
thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badger skin,
and I girded thee about with fine linen, and covered thee
with silk. I decked thee also with ornaments,
and put a bracelet upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck, and
I put a jewel in thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and
a beautiful crown upon thy head. Verse 13, Thus wast thou debt
with gold and silver, thy raiment was of fine linen and silk and
bordered work, thou didst eat fine flour and honey and oil,
thou wast exceeding beautiful, exceeding beautiful, and thou
didst prosper into a kingdom, and thy renown went forth among
the heathen for thy beauty, for it was perfect, watch this, through
my comeliness which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord. Look at chapter 2, the Song of
Solomon. Verse 14. Hear how our Savior describes
us. She says, I am black by nature, comely by grace. Verse 14, our
Lord says, oh my dove, oh my dove, harmless, tender,
delightful, Even the sound of the dove is sweet. Oh, my dove,
thou art in the clefts of the rock, defenseless, so you take
your refuge in the rock. The beloved says to his bride,
you're hidden in the cleft of the rock, the rock of ages, Christ
Jesus. That means you're crucified with
me. And being crucified with Christ, we're therefore dead
to the law that would condemn us and dead to the world that
would allure us from him. He says in verse one of chapter
four, Behold, thou art fair, my love. Behold, thou art fair. Now as you read through these
eight chapters, this is our Lord's constantly repeated word of assurance
to all his people. Fair. Behold, thou art fair. Behold, thou art fair. Behold,
thou art fair. He constantly reminds us of this
because he wants us to understand. He looks upon us and says we
are perfectly fair. He doesn't simply say you're
soon going to be fair. Look at verse 7 of chapter 4.
Thou art all fair, my love. There is no spot in thee. He's not saying soon you're going
to be fair and soon there's going to be no spot in you. He doesn't
say one day you'll be fair and one day there'll be no spot in
you. He says thou art fair, my love, there is no spot in thee. He loved his church and gave
himself for it that he might wash it and sanctify it and present
it to himself a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or
any such thing. Listen to this. Now turn there
and look at it. Colossians 1. Colossians 1 verse 21. I want
you to see this. I'm not talking about what's
going to be. When the Lord Jesus is done with
us, when he finally presents us in resurrection glory in the
likeness of his physical appearance as well as his spiritual and
inner appearance, when we stand before him without sin, we will
not stand before God any different than we stand before him right
now. Can you get a hold of that? He looks upon us only in Christ,
and in Christ we are without spot. Look here in Colossians
1 verse 21. And you that were sometime alienated,
and enemies in your mind, and the enmity was altogether in
us. The Lord God Almighty never looked upon us as the objects
of His wrath, but rather the objects of His everlasting love.
But in our minds we were continually at enmity against God, children
of wrath even as others. enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath he reconciled, now if I could read that as forcibly
as it is in the original, yet now hath he once and for all
in the long ago past reconciled in one body, the body of his
flesh, through his death, to present you holy, unblameable,
and unreprovable in his sight. Now this is talking about what
Christ has done, not what he's going to do. It refers to the
present state of God's saints in this world. In Christ, we
are both justified and sanctified with his spotless righteousness,
in which we are perfectly kindling, all fair, and without spots. But Pastor, that's not what I see in me.
Thank God it's not. That's not how I see myself.
I hope not. I hope not. The issue is not how do you see
you. That's not the issue. That's
not where comfort comes. That's not where assurance comes.
You look within yourself and find comfort and assurance because
you look good to yourself. You do not know God. Now that's all there is to it.
You just don't. The comfort and assurance is
found in how he sees me, in spite of what I am by nature. I am
black by nature, but come in, all fair before God, with no
spot. No spot. Now throughout this song, the
Lord Jesus Christ is spoken of as my beloved. His majesty, his
beauty, his surpassing excellence and supremacy are described in
so many ways I can't begin to touch on all of them, but let
me just give you a few. In chapter 2, verses 1 and 2,
he's called the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valleys.
The Rose of Sharon is a beautiful, fragrant white rose. The lily
of the valleys is a wildflower of the buttercup family. It has
showy flowers of brightest crimson color. The white rose suggests
our Lord's spotless purity, his sinless character. The crimson
lily of the valleys suggests his blood shed for us, by which
we're made pure. He's described in chapter 2,
verse 3, as the apple tree among the trees of the woods, so is
my beloved among the suns. I sat down under his shadow with
great delight. His fruit was sweet to my taste. The apple tree, as it's set forth
in the scriptures, seems to be an emblem of Christ everywhere
it's found, of Christ the tree of life. Under him, we find shadow
from the burning heat of the sun. From him, we get fruit that's
delightful to our souls. From him, we have delightful
fragrance, both for our own souls and for God Almighty. Look in
chapter 5 verse 9. I can't do any more than just
read this. Let me read it though. It'll do you good to read it
again. In response to the question, what is thy beloved more than
another beloved? What is Christ more than all
others? Look at verse 10. My beloved
is white and ruddy. He's pure and covered with blood. He's the cheapest among ten thousand.
His head is as most fine gold, his locks are bushy, and black
as a raven. You remember John tells us when
John sees him in Revelation 1, his head and his hair is white
like wool, as white as snow. Well, there's conflict. Oh, no,
no, no, no, no. Here we see a picture of our
Lord in his everlasting, everlasting, everlasting purity. He who is
from eternity to eternity. John looks upon him coming in
the freshness of his everlasting youth. His head, as John beholds
him, is covered with black, thick hair. And his head and his hairs,
I'm sorry, as we see him in Psalm of Solomon, as John beholds him,
is white like wool, full of age and wisdom, full of experience
and knowledge. Here we see that his eyes, in
verse 12, are described as eyes of doves, by rivers or waters,
washed with milk and fitly set. John says his eyes are like a
flame of fire. In judgment his eyes discern
as a flame of fire penetrating, but he comes to us justice satisfied,
judgment over, and his eyes are as eyes of a dove. Verse 13,
His cheeks are a bed of spices as sweet flowers, his lips like
lilies dropping with sweet-smelling myrrh, his hands are as gold
rings set with beryl, his belly is like bright ivory overlaid
with sapphires, his legs are as pillars of marble set upon
sockets of fine gold, his countenance, his face is as Lebanon, excellent
as the cedars, his mouth His mouth is most sweet. John says,
I saw proceeding out of his mouth a sharp two-edged sword, but
here we see him most sweet. Yea, he's altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this
is my friend. Now, let me get to the heart
of this thing. Throughout this book, as you
read these chapters, there are struggles acknowledged. They're evident. We see, however,
the bride's ever-deepening love for the Savior, and the believer's love for Christ,
is an ever-deepening love and devotion. Our experience of grace
causes us to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ. And
as our experience of grace causes us to grow in the grace and knowledge
of Christ, our love for him deepens. The more we enjoy his communion,
the more we grow in love and devotion to him. But at least
twice in these chapters, that communion is interrupted for
a season. He hides himself. He shows himself through the
lattices, through the ordinances, just glimpses here and there
and then hides himself altogether. But the interruptions are for
one of two reasons. And I promise you, I promise
you my brothers and sisters, whenever your soul lacks sweet
communion with the Savior, whenever you find him hiding from you, hiding
his face from you, not speaking to you, It's either because he
has left you for a season to remind you and teach you more
fully how you need him, and to draw out from you the acknowledgement
of that need, or it's because of your neglect of him. What we want from our Savior is for him to embrace us, to make his love known to us. It's a tender picture, a picture
that a lot of times men have difficulty relating to. Men need
to be loved, but they need to be admired more than they need
to be loved. Men need to be loved, but they need to be reverenced.
more than they need to be loved. A woman needs to be loved, and
needs to have love expressed to her. And so here the church
takes these words and says, let him kiss me with the kiss of
his mouth, for thy love is better than wine. Because the savor
of thy good ointments, thy name is as ointment poured forth,
therefore do the virgins love thee. And we are fully aware
that we will never seek Him except He draws. We will never embrace
Him except He embraces us. Before I read this next verse,
how often have you, let me see if I can verify it in your experience,
how often have you rexed down the There's just no communication
between your soul and him. And you try to mend it, and try
to mend it, and try to mend it, and try to mend it, and there's
no mending until he freshly makes himself known and draws you to
him. Now the problem, the fault is
ours, but also the weakness is ours. Look at verse 4, chapter
1. and we will run after thee. The
king hath brought me into his chambers. We will be glad and
rejoice in thee. We will remember thy love more
than wine, but only if you draw me and cause me to run after
you. This is how it was in our first
experience of grace. When the Son of God first wed
our hearts to him, and that's the way it is now, everything
depends on him. Chapter 2 verse 4. He brought
me to the banqueting house. Oh, thank God he did. And he
hung a banner right over the top of my head. It's called love. Oh, stay me with flagons, comfort
me with apples, I'm sick of love. Oh, my heart's just overflowing
with it. You'll see it again in a little bit. His left hand
is under my head, his right hand does embrace me. The place where
communion is found is in the place where the Savior feeds
his flocks and causes them to rest. It's in the assembly of
the saints. We see that in chapter 1 verse
7, but look at chapter 3. As we seek him in his house,
by the guidance of his watchman, faithful gospel preachers, we
find him. Find him for ourselves and bring
him again to our mother's house to the assembly of his saints
with us. Chapter 3, verse 1. By night on my bed I sought him,
whom my soul loveth. I sought him, but I found him
not. I will arise now and go about
the city and the streets. In the broad ways I'll seek him
whom my soul loveth. I sought him. But I found him
not until I came to the house of God, the city of God. Now
the watchmen that go about the city, they found me. You come
to the house of God and your soul's heavy, your heart's heavy.
Christ is, as it were, shut the heavens against you. And the
word of God comes to you in the power of his spirit. And all
of a sudden, you're found out. The watchmen that go about the
city, they found me. To whom I said, Saw ye him whom
my soul loveth? And it was but a little that
I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth, and
I held him, and would not let him go till I brought him into
my mother's house and into the chamber of her that conceived
me. And this languishing we see repeated in chapter 5. there is within all of us a terrible tendency to indifference. You remember our Lord's words
to the church at Laodicea, thou hast left thy first love? Let
me give you a good translation of that. The believer never leaves Christ.
Never. thou hast ceased to love me first." Oh, now that happens a lot. That
happens a lot. It shouldn't, but it does. And our lives are a constant
cycle of languishing and revival. of declension and revival, of
darkness and revival, of hardness and revival, of indifference
and revival. And the revival is all his work,
and everything else is ours. Prone to wonder, Lord, I feel
it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here is my heart, O take and
seal it. seal it for thy courts above.
But this is certain, if indeed we are his, he won't
let us forsake him. He will not leave us in such
a state. He constantly makes us to know
our weakness. He constantly makes us to know
our sin, but he never, never, never, never will leave his own. He comes to his house and says,
open to me my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled. Isn't
that amazing? Asleep, indifferent, don't care. Don't care. God, don't care. Just don't care. I don't care
to be bothered by you right now. I don't care to be interrupted
in my ease right now. I don't care to hear from you
right now. I sleep, but there's still something in me that's
awake. And my beloved speaks and calls me his love, his dove,
his undefiled. And I say, come back tomorrow. Don't bother me now. Don't disturb me right now. And
so he puts his hold in by the hand of the door, sticks his
hand right in your heart, and draws out your inmost being so
that your bowels move for him. And then he withdraws himself.
And the watchmen again come, and they take away your veil
and make you to understand what you are. And you seek, and you
seek, and you seek. And I'll tell you where you'll
find him. Chapter 6 verse 1, you'll find him in exactly the
same place where you left him, in his house. Meeting with his
people in his garden. And in time, he will be found
with you. Now, look at chapter 2 again. wavering. Our marriage to Christ
is firm because he hateth putting away. Our communion is sometimes
broken, but the union is indestructible. You may preach, I can't destroy
his love, can't do it. Now I'll tell you what you do.
By whatever your response is to that fact, You can determine
whether or not you know him by whatever your response is to
it. Can't destroy his love? Can't destroy his love? Oh, well,
then I don't have to have any regard for it. You told me who
you are. Can't destroy his love? Oh, would
to God. Nothing could interrupt my love
for him. Why is it that this union is indestructible? Because
it is all His doing. David, we love Him because He
first loved us. Nothing else. We love Him because
He drew us. We love Him because He revealed
Himself in us. We love Him because He redeemed
us. We love Him because of His forgiveness. This union depends altogether
on Him, not on us. Look at verse 16. My beloved
is mine and I am his. The Lord Jesus Christ is just as really, just as truly,
just as fully, just as permanently mine as I am his. Because he loved me, gave himself
for me, and gave himself to me. And I have been brought with
his blood, and brought by his grace, to give myself to him."
Chapter 6, verse 3. Now remember what we just saw
in chapter 5, that horrible languishing. She says, I am my beloved's,
and my beloved is mine. Here, the thought of his ownership
of her seems to hold the chief place. You're not your own. You're not your own. I am my beloved's. He owns me lock, stock, and barrel.
I have no rights of my own. I have nothing to claim as my
own. I have no time of my own, no energy of my own, no gifts
of my own, no property of my own, no life of my own. I'm his,
and he's mine. You're not your own, you've been
bought with a price. Chapter 7, verse 10. Here it is again. Now watch this. I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me. Here, his ownership His ownership of us, His devotion
to us, swallows up every other thought. I'm His. But more, His desire is toward
me. That means He just wants me. Just me. Just me. And all that he desires has to
do with me. His desire is toward me. That's called assurance. It has little to do, has nothing
to do, with feeling, experience, and emotion. It has much to do
with what he says in his word. We miss sometimes emotional things,
you know. We like to work folks up. We
like to have a good emotional service. I have a good friend,
congregation going through some difficulty, and they had a real
emotional service. Got it all healed one night.
Everything taken care of. 45 minutes, all taken care of.
Everybody hugging and kissing and crying. Next day, they were right
back to where they were. Lasted about 15 minutes. That's
what emotions do. Grace works something deeper. We don't live on emotions. No,
not with two people. I've told you before, I remember
the first time I kissed this lady over here. I'd been planning
it for a while. We'd been dating for two weeks.
And that night, after we got out of church, we drove out to
Tanglewood State Park, down to Yadkin River, and crawled up
on the hood of my 1965 Plymouth Barracuda. And nobody had ever
been on the hood of that thing before that I knew about. We
sat there and looked at the river and watched the moon glow in
that river, and I reached over and took her hands and felt her
kind of melt, you know. And I kissed her. And man, skyrockets. Last Wednesday morning, about
3 o'clock in the morning, I kissed her goodbye. Wasn't a skyrocket. For her either. Not at 3 o'clock
in the morning. How come? Don't love her like
you used to? Oh no, that's not it. I love
that lady like I've never loved her. More devoted to her than
I've ever been devoted to her. And I don't need the skyrockets.
Don't need the experience.