Christ's Estimate of His Saints

Q: What does the Bible say about God's love for His people?

The Bible illustrates God's unconditional love for His people, viewing them as beautiful despite their sin. God's unwavering love for His people is a central theme in Scripture, demonstrating that, despite our depravity and corruption, we are seen as beautiful in His sight. In the Song of Solomon, for example, the bride represents the church, and Christ calls her 'altogether lovely.' This reflects the perfect acceptability of believers through the righteousness of Christ. As we grow aware of our sinfulness, it's comforting to remember that in Christ's eyes, we are eternally embraced as lovely and beloved.

Q: How do we know Christ's righteousness is imputed to believers?

Christ's righteousness is credited to believers, making them acceptable before God. The imputation of Christ's righteousness is a foundational doctrine in Reformed theology, assuring that believers, though sinful, are declared righteous based solely on Christ's merit. Romans 3:22 speaks of righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ, and it is this belief in His finished work that grants us acceptance before God. This doctrine reassures us that despite our sinful nature, we stand justified before God, adorned in the perfection of Christ.

Q: Why is it important for Christians to understand their sinfulness?

Acknowledging our sinfulness helps us appreciate God's grace and our need for Christ. Recognizing our sinfulness is not just a moment of humility; it is essential for understanding the depth of God's grace. The Apostle Paul emphasized that in our flesh dwells no good thing, reminding us of our complete reliance on Christ. The more we comprehend our depravity, the more we can appreciate the magnitude of Christ's sacrifice and the richness of His grace. Understanding our sinful nature leads us to greater dependence on Him for spiritual sustenance and reassurance of His unconditional love.

Q: What does it mean to be 'accepted in the Beloved'?

To be 'accepted in the Beloved' means we are received by God through Jesus Christ's sacrifice. Being 'accepted in the Beloved' refers to the profound truth that believers are fully received by God solely due to their relationship with Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1:6 declares that in Christ, we are blessed and accepted, emphasizing that our worth before God is not based on our actions but on Christ's redemptive work. This acceptance frees us from the fear of condemnation and reassures us of our secure standing as adopted children of God.

Q: How can believers find comfort in their weakness?

Believers can find comfort in their weakness by relying on Christ's strength and grace. Believers often struggle with feelings of inadequacy and weakness, yet it is precisely in our weaknesses that God's grace is magnified. 2 Corinthians 12:9 assures us that God's strength is made perfect in our weakness, allowing us to lean on Him rather than our own abilities. This realization leads to greater reliance on Christ, encouraging us to approach Him for sustenance and support, reinforcing the truth that we are beautiful in His sight despite our frailties.

As I sat here preparing as best
I can to preach to you, I look out over this congregation and
I have two earnest desires for you. I want you to know by experience
the mercy, love, and grace of God in Christ in the free pardon
of your sin. in the perfect, perfect, perfect
acceptance of your soul before God Almighty through the blood
and righteousness of Christ. I want you to know the blessedness
of forgiveness. Nothing so blessed as that. I
want you to know the blessedness of being robed in the righteousness
of God's dear Son. I want you to know the blessedness
of acceptance with God. And then there's a second desire
I have. It is even as difficult as the
first. I can't do it for you and you
can't do it for yourself. I want you to keep yourselves
in the love of God. And I can think of no better
inspiration, no greater way to urge you to draw your hearts,
by which God may draw your hearts to himself, than to remind you
of your corruption, your utter, utter corruption in yourself
and your absolute unvarying perfect beauty and righteousness in Jesus
Christ the Lord. Now if you're his, if you're
his, if you know the Son of God, if you believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, I can think of nothing more comforting and more challenging
as I become and you become increasingly aware of our sinfulness and corruption
As we are more and more humbled by the depravity of our hearts,
nothing can be more cheerful, nothing more assuring, nothing
more inspiring to our souls than the knowledge of the fact that
in the eyes of Jesus Christ, we are now and forever shall
be altogether lovely. Now turn with me to the Song
of Solomon, chapter 1. All our spiritual goodness, all
our spiritual beauty, all our spiritual comeliness, all that
we have before God to make us acceptable and pleasing to Him
is Jesus Christ the Lord. It is by His blood atonement
and His blood atonement alone that our sins are washed away.
It is by His imputed righteousness, and His imputed righteousness
alone, that we stand before God righteous, accepted, and beloved. And it is by His saving grace,
the saving operations of His Holy Spirit alone, that we are
now made new in Him. How blessed it is when I am most
keenly and most painfully aware of the fact that in me, that
is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. How blessed it is to hear
my Savior say, thy beauty is perfect through my comeliness
which I put upon thee. Thy beauty. Surely he can't mean
for me to take those words literally. Oh yeah. He's saying, Merle Hart,
your beauty, it's yours. As really and truly yours as
your sin became his. Your beauty is perfect through
my comeliness which I put upon you. Now in essence, that's what
the Song of Solomon is all about. This blessed book is a song of
love, a song of love between Christ and his church. As we
read the book, we who belong to Christ ought to try to make
every part of it as personal as possible. When we see the
bride speaking and read the words of the bride, read it in the
first person. Read it making her words the
expressions of your heart. For if you're his, her words
are indeed the very expressions of your heart. Whenever Solomon
speaks to the bride, that is whenever Solomon speaks to Pharaoh's
daughter, read the words as the words of Christ, Jesus Christ
himself speaking to you. Whatever he says to her, he says
to you to show his great love, his high esteem, and his great
mercy toward you, you who are chosen by his grace, washed in
his blood, and saved by his power. Throughout this blessed love
song, we see a constant fluctuation. A constant fluctuation in the
bride. None in the bridegroom. And that's
the way it is. She varies greatly. We vary greatly. Sometimes our hearts burn with
love for him. And then they're as cold as ice
toward him. Sometimes we delight to have
him lie between our breasts all night long. And then we bolt the door of
our hearts against him. But his love for us never, never
changes. Isn't that amazing? His love for us knows no degrees. His love for us, no variation
knows. His love for us is always free
and always full. He loves us with everlasting
love and he loves us to the end. Cowper expressed what I have
on my heart better than I can. Where is the blessedness I knew? when first I saw the Lord. Where
is the soul-refreshing view of Jesus in his word? What peaceful
hours I then enjoyed. How sweet their memory still,
but now I find an aching void the world can never fill. Return,
oh heavenly dove, return, sweet messenger of rest. I hate the
sins that made thee mourn and drove thee from my breast. The
Song of Solomon, if you would understand it. And I urge you
to sit down, sit down one evening this week. Just sit down, your
wife and you, your wife and kids, whoever you can at the house,
and read together at one setting these eight chapters. Read the
whole book in one setting. It's not very long, won't take
you just a little while. And as you do, you will see a
record, an inspired record of the constant languishings and
revivings we experience in this world. the languishings of our
hearts because of our sin and our indifference, because of
the weakness of our hearts, because of the corruption of our hearts,
and the sweet revivings we experience because of his unfailing grace.
And let's begin this morning in verse 1 of chapter 1, and
we'll work our way down to our text where I want to show you
Christ's estimate of his saints. The song of songs, which is Solomon. What a title for this book. It
is called not just a song, but the Song of Songs. Now how come? I read in the scriptures of a
song by Moses, and a song by Aaron, a song by Miriam, a song
by Deborah, a song by Hannah, songs many songs by David, but
this is called the Song of Songs. Because this song is unlike all
those other songs. If you sit down and read all
the songs recorded in scripture, you'll find that they were always
songs that were songs of praise to God because of battles fought
and victories won by His grace. Because of trials endured and
triumphs experienced by His grace. But this song is altogether about
love. That's what it's all about. The
whole song is about love. The love of Christ for his people. The love of Christ for us, which
draws out our love to him. Look at verses two, three, and
four. Here we express the ardent desires
of our languishing hearts for fresh discoveries of Christ's
love and sweet tokens of his love from the kisses of his mouth. Let him kiss. with the kisses of his mouth.
Grace is poured into thy lips, the psalmist said. Oh, come kiss
me now with those lips of grace. For thy love is better than wine
because of the savor of thy good ointments. Thy name is as ointment
poured forth. Oh, let me smell the sweet fragrance
of your name. Therefore do the virgins love
thee. Draw me, draw me. Oh, children of God, listen,
listen now, listen. Every one of you, give me your
attention. Make this your prayer right now. Draw me, draw me. And if he'll draw you, we will
run after him. If he will draw me, we will run
after thee. That is, he draws one and we
will lead the others after him. All right, read on. The king
hath brought me into his chambers. No doubt about that. I don't
deserve it, and even now I deserve to be cast out, but I'm confident
he 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. Now look at verse five. It is written if we confess our
sin, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sin. And here
is a frank, free confession of our sin. I am black. That's what I am from the inside
out. Black. I need to be reminded of it real
often. You too. I'm black. Vile, corrupt, wickedness. Nothing but wickedness. So while I can't say that about
myself, I know, but if you ever meet Christ, you will. If you
ever come on him, you will. Oh yeah, I'm black. And yet,
in the teeth of my sin, in the face of my corruption, in the
vileness of my heart and nature, I stand by faith on this ground,
but cuddly. He made me so. I'm beautiful. Beautiful, not in myself. Oh,
no, no, no, no, no. Not by anything I do, but beautiful
in Christ, who is altogether lovely in the eyes of God. I
listened this week to the sermons that Larry and Lindsay preached
while I was gone. And Lindsay brought that excellent message,
as I said a little bit ago, on the immutability of God. And
then Larry, talking about that passage in Matthew 17, where
the Lord said, this is my beloved son. In whom? I'm well pleased. Now get hold
of this, that never varies. God's always well pleased in
his son. He didn't say with him, he said
in him. That means he's always well pleased with us in him. He never varies. I'm black! but
comely, O daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Keter, I'm black,
as comely though as the curtains of Solomon. Look not on me because
I'm black. Don't look at me with disgust
and disdain because I'm a sinner, because the sons looked hard
on me. My mother's children were angry
with me. They slander and persecute me. They made me the keeper of
the vineyards, but my own vineyard I've neglected. Then in verse
seven, there is this ardent, expression of ardent love for
Christ, followed by an earnest prayer for guidance and grace.
While we live in this world, we seek to follow Him, black
as we are. We're His sheep and we want to
feed at His table. But there are many false prophets
and apostate churches, all claiming to be His companions. And therefore
we must constantly look to our beloved Lord to direct our steps
and keep us in the footsteps of the flock. Tell me, O thou
whom my soul loveth. Is it? Where thou feedest, not just
where you spread the food, but where you feed. where thou feedest. If you feed here this morning,
it'll be because he fed you. And where thou makest, we would
never rest. We would never find rest for
our souls. We would be constantly as the
churning sea in the midst of storm. But he comes and makes
us to lie down in green pastures, where thou makest thy flock to
rest at noon. For why should I be as one that
turneth aside to the flocks of thy companions, that is, to these
other flocks of men who pretend to be your companions. Now, let's
look at our text, verses 8 through 11. It begins with the Lord Jesus
reminding us of our ignorance. If thou know not. The words would
be better translated, since you don't know. She's already in
the question and request she made. We've acknowledged our
ignorance. Lord, we know in part. We know we're black, but as painful
as it is, what we know, we only know a little bit of it. We know
that we lack everything in ourselves before you, but we just have
a slight knowledge of it. And we know that before you,
we're cuddly. We know that you have by your grace made us righteous,
made us accepted in you, made us holy before God himself. But we acknowledge our ignorance. And the Lord takes us on the
ground we give. He says, since you don't know. Since you are
indeed ignorant. Since you don't know your sinfulness,
the corruption and deceit of your heart. Since you really
have no idea how deceitful your heart is or how full and rich
my grace is. then I give you this counsel. And here's his word of instruction
for our hearts. Go thy way. Go thy way forth
by the footsteps of the flock and feed thy kids beside the
shepherd's tents. Here we're told where to find
our Lord Jesus, where to find food and rest and refreshment
for our soul. If you would find Christ, you
will find him in the way of the holy prophets, in the way of
the patriarchs, in the way of the apostles. You will follow
after the footsteps of the flock and feed by the tents of his
shepherds. And there you'll find him. He said, he said, where
two or three are gathered in my name. Matthew 18, 20. Where
two or three are gathered in my name. That doesn't mean going
to church on Sunday. That means you gather to worship
Him, trusting His blood and His righteousness alone. Gather to
exalt and magnify His name. Not where two or three gather
to play church, not where two or three gather to entertain
their children while they go to hell. It's where two or three
are gathered in my name. There I am, always. Wherever two or three folks gather
in my name, there I am in the midst of them. I'm always there.
You'd be smart to find yourself there. If you're interested in
knowing him, interested in hearing of him, interested in meeting
with him. But what are these footsteps of the flock? Isaiah
35 in verse eight, turn over there for a minute. Isaiah 35,
eight. Here we see that these footsteps of the flock are just
plain, just plain a nose on your face. You don't have to guess
about them. Sometimes I listen to fellas preach, especially
fellas who think they're smarter than God They like an air of
intellectualism and profound depth and all that silly stuff.
And they said, this is deep. That means I don't know what
I'm talking about and you're not gonna know when I get done. This is not deep. It's just playing with the nose
on your face. Look at it. Isaiah 35 verse eight. And highway shall
be there. And the way, and it shall be
called the way of holiness. The unclean shall not pass over
it, but it shall be for those, the wayfaring men. Those fools
shall not err therein. I take my place right there.
What's his way? It's the way of faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. The path of trusting Him. The
path of submission to Him. Taking His yoke upon you. Obeying
Him. It's the path of righteousness
and godliness. Of love and kindness. These are
the old paths of doctrinal truth set forth in the gospel of God's
grace. Look at Jeremiah 6. Jeremiah 6 and verse 16. Everybody wants something new.
You know, we got modern worship, contemporary worship, all over
town. That means you come together and play timbrels and tambourines
and dance and act silly in the name of Jesus. Well, we want
the old paths. Old things are best things. I
got a letter from Brother Mahan a while back, he said, he said,
I'm beginning to learn that old friends are best friends. I'm
telling you, the old paths are the best paths. Look here, Jeremiah
6, 16. Thus saith the Lord, stand ye in the ways Stand here. Plant your feet here. Don't let
anything move you from here. Stand ye in the ways and see
and ask for the old paths where is the good way and walk therein
and you shall find rest for your souls. Walk in the old paths
of gospel truth. Do not follow after a man but
walk in these old paths and follow after those pastors who feed
you according to God's heart with understanding and with knowledge.
Find a man like Paul, determined to know nothing among you, save
Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and you can safely feed by His
tent. Those who are true servants of
Christ preach Christ. They preach all of Christ, and
they preach nothing but Christ all the time. We preach Christ
and Him crucified as He is revealed here in the book of God, in His
glorious Godhood, in His perfect manhood, in His substitutionary
character as our surety and mediator, who is alone in the totality
of this matter, responsible for our souls. so that we stand before
God totally on his merit and totally by his work. We preach
the doctrines of the gospel of God's free grace in Christ. We
must be very particular that we preach the truth of God, the
whole truth of God, not just part of it, all of it. The doctrines
of grace are like a field of clover to my soul. Sheep just
love to lie down here and feed their soul. Religion without
the doctrines of grace is like a barren wasteland, nothing there
to feed your soul. What are you talking about, pastor?
I'm talking about the glorious totality of God's sovereignty. Oh, I lay down here and just
roll over. I find here blessed comfort for
my soul. My God indeed rules. Not only does he rule, but he
chose me. I don't care whether you do or not, as long as he
did. He chose me. Not only did he choose me in
everlasting love, he redeemed me. He didn't just offer me a
chance at redemption, he put away my sin by the sacrifice
of his darling son. and having put away my sin according
to his purpose, having chosen me according to his love, in
his infinite sovereignty, the time came called the time of
love when he sends his spirit and spreads his skirt over me
and bid me live. And now I stand before him held
in his hands of omnipotent grace. This is the blessed gospel doctrine
of Jesus Christ our Lord. Let others turn aside if they
must to the empty cisterns of religious philosophy. We found
refreshing fountains of life in Christ. Now then, we're given
specific instruction about the feeding of our kids. Feed thy kids beside the shepherd's
tents. I want to deal with two things
here hastily, hurriedly. And I know the word kids here
is not talking about our little kids. But I'm going to apply
it to them. Because you and I are responsible
for them. Now, men and women, listen to
me. I know you're not likely to,
but listen to me. Listen to me. Sam, in God's grace and mercy,
he just gave you life and faith in Christ. You pledged yourself
to walk with him in the newness of life. You are responsible
for those two kids God gave you. responsible to see to it that
they are fed on the pure gospel of Christ in his church. But
all the kids go to a water club. But all the kids go to the Bible
club. But all the kids go to the Bible
school uptown and they make their balloons and their little clay
pots and say, I love Jesus, and saying, Jesus loves me, this
I know, as on my way to hell I go. You see to it that you
raise your children under the sound of the gospel and do not
sacrifice them and burn them upon the altars to Baal. Don't
you dare do it. If you do, you're as responsible
for their ruin as they are. That's exactly right. Pastor,
how can I be responsible for my son and my daughter? God made
you responsible. That's how you can be responsible.
But the word kids here is a strange word. He uses a word here that refers
to goats. And sheep never were goats. The
Lord doesn't transform goats into sheep. Sheep are his sheep
always. Goats are goats always. Well
why does he say here kids rather than lambs? Because newborn lambs
smell a lot like goats. They still have the stink of
goats on them. And they're weak. and they're rambunctious, and
they're, you know, they don't know it. They never know it. You take a child just starting
to walk, I can do it myself. Leave me alone, I can do it myself.
Because there's independence, the hog on ice. I can get along
without you. And newborn babes in the kingdom
of God presume they know everything, and they walk on their own, and
man, here we go. I think I've told you before,
brother, Joe Terrell said preachers and Christians are just like
an old red wasp, never as big as when they're first born. And
that's just about the way it is. But the kids, those who think
they're something, those who, you know, they kind of strut
their stuff, those who still smell a lot like goats, they
need special attention. Take care that you feed them
by the shepherd's tents. Take care that you deal with
them gently, deal with them kindly. Now then, look at this again.
Here's the Lord's estimate of his people. First, he tells us how beautiful
we are. Oh, thou fairest among women. He's taken me. the most defiled, the most willing of all harlots, the most corrupt of all men, and declares that I'm the most
beautiful thing in the world. Now, in my eyes, that's not so.
And in your eyes, that's not so. But in His eyes, it's so. And I trust His eyes. You understand
what I'm saying? It's His opinion that matters.
Read on. The Lord Jesus sees us in the
beauty of His own imputed righteousness and declares that we are perfectly
beautiful. We read it in Ezekiel chapter
16. Here He says, I have compared thee, O my love, to accompany
of horses in Pharaoh's chariots. Thy cheeks are comely with rows
of jewels, and thy neck with chains of gold." You say, well, that's an exaggeration. No. The Lord Jesus never exaggerates. He never exaggerates. We are
perfectly beautiful and gloriously complete in the sight of God
our Savior. Therefore, we may confidently
exclaim with the Apostle Paul, who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect. Can you get hold of this? Besides
that, our Lord sees us as he will actually make us when we
have dropped this robe of flesh and rise with him in glory. He
will present us holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in His sight,
without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. Totally, totally
free from all sin, and perfectly righteous, so that
when God looks on us, when God Himself looks on us with the
all-seeing eye of His strict justice, He declares, James Jordan,
thou art all fair, my love. All fair. In this passage, our Lord uses
a well-known picture of royal beauty to typify the beauty of
his people in him. He compares us to a company of
horses in Pharaoh's chariots. You ever see those old movies,
they try to get those beautiful white stallions or Palomino stallions. They got those things just decked
out beautifully, beautifully in those old movies where they
had been heard and pictures of Pharaoh's chariots. This is what
it's talking about. You're beautiful, specially chosen,
obtained at a very great cost, and made strong by my grace.
Like horses in Pharaoh's chariots. He shows us how He has adorned
us by His grace with rows of jewels. That's the graces of
His Spirit put in us. And chains of gold, all spiritual
blessings.

Christ's Estimate of His Saints

What does the Bible say about God's love for His people?

How do we know Christ's righteousness is imputed to believers?

Why is it important for Christians to understand their sinfulness?

What does it mean to be 'accepted in the Beloved'?

How can believers find comfort in their weakness?

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Christ's Estimate of His Saints

What does the Bible say about God's love for His people?

How do we know Christ's righteousness is imputed to believers?

Why is it important for Christians to understand their sinfulness?

What does it mean to be 'accepted in the Beloved'?

How can believers find comfort in their weakness?

Sermon Transcript

About Don Fortner

Comments

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