If you'd like to, turn back with
me to Song of Solomon. We'll be in Chapter 4 for the
second hour. Song of Solomon, Chapter 4. Song of Solomon, Chapter 4. is a continuation of the first
hour that we heard. You may even hear me echo some
of the same things over again, because this is a love letter
between Solomon and the Shulamite woman. But it's also an allegory,
as I mentioned, the first hour between Christ and his church
and the church and Christ, the Lord and his bride. An allegory
is a story or a poem or a picture that can be interpreted to reveal
a hidden meaning. We need a translator in order
for it to be revealed, don't we? And we pray this hour that
that translator would be the Holy Spirit. If not, it won't
be revealed. The whole canon of scripture
is the work of Christ, the book of Christ, and the volume of
the book it's written of me. And so we need him to put the lens
of the gospel upon us so that we can see it. Otherwise it's
just a story. And so in verse eight of chapter
four, It starts out with the wooing of Solomon, the wooing
of Christ unto his church. And he says, come with me, come
with me from Lebanon, my spouse, with me from Lebanon. Look from
the top of Ammonah, from the top of Shinar and Hermon, from
the lion's den and from the mountains of the lepers. Thou hast ravished
my heart, my sister, my spouse. Thou hast ravished my heart with
one of thine eyes. with one chain of thy neck. How
fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse, how much better is
thy love than wine, and the smell of thine ointments than all spices. Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as
honeycomb, honey and milk are under thy tongue. The smell of
thy garments are like the smell of Lebanon, a garden enclosed
as my sister, my spouse, a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. Thy
plants are an orchard of pomegranates with pleasant fruits, campfire,
with Spacknard, Spacknard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon
and all the trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes with all the
cheap spices, fountain of gardens, a well of living waters and streams
of Lebanon. Song of Solomon tells us how
Christ sees us. It's how we see Christ and it's
how Christ sees his people. And it's a glorious picture of
true substitution. There is no way that the Lord
would declare us fair unto him without substitution. And that's
what we see here. Now, before I continue, I want
to make sure that I tell you the title because I only wrote
it down once. And the title of this is His Love for Her, His
Love for Her. And this hour, I'm hoping that
I can by the Lord's grace, revealing to you what he's shown me in
the love that the Lord has for his people. And what that love
accomplished, what the Lord sees when he sees us, what his love
actually did. And that's why I've titled it
His Love for Her. It begins with a sovereign call,
a call of love, a call of wooing. Come, is what he says to her.
Come with me from Lebanon. Only those who he loves does
he ever call. Did you know that? Only those
who he ever has loved he loves them now, he's always loved them,
and only the ones that the Lord loves is who he calls. But he
doesn't just call, he always calls with a sovereign call,
doesn't he? But it's not a, how do you say, a call of demanding. We were talking just a little
bit ago, Al and I, about how in religion they were used, 1
Corinthians chapter 11, about how the woman they would be giving
power into the man to do this and that. And I mentioned to
him, well, you gotta go to Ephesians if you wanna find out exactly
how the Lord tells us to do. And it literally means husbands
love your wives as Christ loved the church. We gotta take everything
from that lens to begin with. Otherwise, men will say, I am
the husband, I am in charge, you're going to listen to me,
woman. Now, what kind of a love do you think a woman's gonna
give back to a man with that attitude all the time? That's not a loving
call, is it? That's not a loving relationship
of understanding. How does the Lord call us? He
doesn't browbeat us. It's a call of wooing, isn't
it? He shows us the love that he has for us. That's what I'm
trying to tell us. Husbands, love your wives as
Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. That's our example
of love. He is the one that showed us
what true love is. No man, it's that the Lord Jesus
Christ the love that he has is so much other than ours. He comes
wooing us, doesn't he? And I mentioned this the first
hour, but the scripture says, he hath appeared unto me, old
saying, yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore,
with loving kindness have I drawn thee everlasting love. I just
want to hear about that everlasting love every time we come together,
how that my sin has been put away and your sin has been put
away. The Lord Jesus Christ successfully redeeming his people, and he
did it by everlasting love. It's continuous, it's indefinite,
it's forever, it's past, it's present, it's future, it's in
time, it's in eternity, it's forever, it's always. Christ
has never not been loving his bride. Do you find comfort in
that? Christ has always loved her. And he's sovereign in this
love. This is the reason he uses the
word therefore. Therefore he draws. He draws
us with loving kindness. That word loving kindness is
his faithfulness to do so. That's what our hope is, is in
the faithfulness of Christ alone, his faithful love, his love unto
his bride, but his love unto his father. He honored his father,
didn't he? We see that in John chapter 17. Now look. in verse number nine of chapter
four with me. Thou hast ravished mine heart,
my sister, my spouse. Thou hast ravished my heart with
one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck. The word ravish
there means to make the heart beat faster. It's also in my,
it also can be interpreted butterflies. You remember, Maybe I don't. I hope I always get butterflies
for my wife. I hope it always is there. Sometimes
we forget, don't we? We grow accustomed to seeing
each other all the time and we have to You have to work on love.
You do. You have to, as a married couple,
you have to try to put forth effort for one another in putting
each other first. And it's a sacrifice. Marriage is not 50-50. It's 100-100. Don't ever let anybody tell you
otherwise. The Lord Jesus Christ did the 100, though, and we're
the zero. Do we see that? So we cannot do anything in that
relationship. He's done it all, and that's
the reason we love Him. He's gave us that love. So we don't
have to work. He don't have to work on his
love for us, does he? He doesn't. We have to work on our love for
him. We need to be reminded every time we grow so cold towards
him, don't we? So indifferent. But what does
he say about us? One look from you gives me butterflies. Think about that. I wrote down
the word sila, which is found in song and it's a refrain in
music. And what it means is, is pause right there. Think about
everything you just heard for a moment. Let that soak in really,
really deep. We make his heart beat faster
when we look at him. Think about that. This is what
he has done for his people and the love that he has. He loves
us in so much that when we are reminded to turn our eye to him,
when we are reminded to pray into him, we ravish him. I don't
understand how that could be possible, but it's true because
he said it's true. This is the love we're with,
he loves us. What did his love accomplish?
Well, look in verse eight with me again. Come with me from Lebanon, my
spouse, with me from Lebanon. Look from the top of Ammonah,
from the top of Shinar and Hermon, from the lion's den, from the
mountains of the lepers. Thou hast ravished my heart,
my sister, my spouse, thou hast ravished my heart with one of
thine eyes, with one chain about thy neck. Now, in order to understand
exactly What he's saying to her here is by definition of each
of these words. The word Lebanon means whiteness.
The word Armana means firm and constant. The word Shinar is
a snow-covered mountain. The word Hermon is a sanctuary. The lions then represent Satan.
And the leopard is literally by definition a spotted beast.
That would be the world, wouldn't it? So he hath for her made her
white, Lebanon. And he hath called her to a firm
foundation, Amana, and put her feet upon a solid rock. He has
washed her white as snow, which is Shinar, a snow-covered mountain.
and given her a sanctuary, Hermon, a hiding place, a city of refuge. And he has saved her from herself,
from her sin, from the lion's den, which is Satan, and from
the spotted beast, which is the world." That's what he's done
for her. That's what this is saying to us right here. He says,
thou art fair. How can I be fair? Because I've
done all of this before. That's why you're fair unto me
now. I finished the work. You're presented beautiful unto
the Father. You please me because when the
father sees you, he sees the blood of the lamb. The Lord did
all this for his people. Turn with me to Psalm 40. David
says this in Psalm 40. I want us to see that. Psalm chapter 40. Look at verse
one with me. I waited patiently for the Lord,
and he inclined unto me and heard my cry. He brought me up also
out of a horrible pit and out of the miry clay and set my feet
upon a rock and established my goings. And he put a new song
in my mouth, even praise unto God. Many shall see it and fear
and shall trust in the Lord. He starts out by saying, I waited
patiently on the Lord. But while he's waiting patiently,
it tells us clearly that he's down in the miry clay, the horrible
pit. So he's dead. That's literally
how that can be interpreted. So it's very easy to wait patiently
for something if you're dead, isn't it? I'm just implying that
it wasn't his patience that merited the Lord's response. And it's
not our patience either that merits the Lord's response. The
Lord does give us patience to look to Christ. But the whole
point is here is the Lord had put him in a situation, physically
speaking, where he couldn't get out of it. And so we have an
allegory here showing us how we were dead and trespasses and
in sin. And the only hope that we had is the Lord do something.
He reaches down. He pulls out of the miry clay.
He puts our feet upon a solid rock. He establishes our goings
and gives us a new song and praise unto him. This is exactly what
the Lord's telling us back in Song of Solomon chapter four.
He's the one that washed. I'll remind you that in the first
chapter, we found out that she says, don't look upon me, I'm
black. She says, I don't have any righteousness of my own,
don't look upon me, look upon my substitute. Look, she didn't
want the attention to be drawn upon herself. And you remember
that she says, she was literally begging for Solomon, Lord, you're
gonna have to do this, you're gonna have to do this, where
are you? Show me where you're at, I can't see your face. It's the
same thing, the Lord has to put our feet upon the solid rock. He has to be the one that establishes
our goings. Well, what is our goings? Come
unto me. That's where we're heading. Christ is the finish line. We're
not looking to get a robe and a crown. We're looking for Christ,
our love, our beloved. That's when Paul said, I press
towards the mark of the high calling. That's what he pressed
toward was Christ Jesus himself. Now look back in Song of Solomon
chapter four. This is what he's saying. I've
done all of this. I've taken you and put you, I've
given you a sanctuary, a city of refuge. I've taken your unrighteousness
and give you my righteousness. I've washed you whiter than snow.
And then he says, thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse.
In verse nine, thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes,
with one chain of thine neck. How fair is thy love, my sister,
my spouse. How much better is thy love than
wine and the smell of thine ointments than all spice. Thy lips, O my
spouse, drop as honeycomb. Honey and milk are under thy
tongue. I would remind us the first hour we mentioned the milk
and the honey coming from the Lord, is it not? This is a confession,
isn't it? It's a confession that Christ
is all. The milk is our only hope, and
the honey of the Lord's sweetness is our only hope. This is what's
coming forth from her. The milk and the honey, and the
smell of her garments is like the smell of Lebanon. Thy plants,
are an orchard of pomegranates with pleasant fruits, campfire
with spikenard, spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon,
and all the trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes with all the
chief spices. Now, if we were just to look
at this, I suppose that you would say, okay, that means that she
smells good. I mean, really, all the things,
saffron, we were talking about saffron earlier being a very
expensive, I think it's the most expensive herb. I can't remember,
but I believe that's, what they say. Anyways, the point that
I'm trying to make is the debt by what he's describing to her
is of great price. All of the spices that they're
describing here. Remember when the wise men brought
the three gifts unto Christ, it was gold, frankincense, and
myrrh. Well, they're right here. Now we know that the gold represent
his deity and we see the humanity in the frankincense, but we also
know the myrrh, they use that as a like a not embalming fluid,
but they would use that in death. So we see his life and is our
hope is his God man this. And then his death is our only
hope for our righteousness. That's the picture there. But
here we see what it costs in order to, in order for her to
smell good, in order for her to smell good. He has, he has
been the one that's washed her and made her smell good. And
notice that he tells us that it's enclosed. It's enclosed
in verse 12, a garden enclosed is my sister. This is the inward
parts. And a garden by definition is
where life is springing forth. We have many fruits and many
vegetables that spring forth. That's where they come from is
gardens and orchards and vineyards, correct? So we see that a garden
is where life comes from. And we know that this represents
the new man. Psalm 51, whenever David had
sinned with Bathsheba, he came for the Lord. And David said,
behold, thou desire is truth in the inward parts. And in the
hidden part, thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with
hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter
than snow. So we see David's prayer unto
the Lord is, I need an inward work done. I need you to apply
the blood of Christ. That's what Hyssop did was apply
the blood. That was the apparatus used to
apply the blood. He's saying, purge me with your
blood and I'll be clean on the inward parts. Cause that's where
you desire. That's where you desire truth. So this is a work
that's been done, and I understand that this is a literal account
that took place. And I have no doubt that she
really smelt just like this, but this is an allegory given
to us to see what Christ has done in the heart of his people. This is how he sees us. He made
us alive by purging us, and he gave us a new song. I already
mentioned the honeycomb and the milk that's under its tongue.
That's our new song, isn't it? We always confess that Christ is
successful in salvation. Is that not true? The Lord's
made us to do that. You will never hear a believer
say, no, Christ was not successful in salvation. Now you may hear
a believer say, I hope it was for me. I don't see any fruit
in myself. I don't see any life in myself.
I don't see any goodness in myself. And you shouldn't, that's just
how it is. We should see ourself as the chief of sinners. Understand
something when he sees us, he's satisfied because he sees Christ,
because we smell like Christ, because it's all his work. It's
not our work. He's caused us to confess truth
and wisdom. That's what he's put inside of
us, the truth of Christ. Christ is our righteousness.
Christ is our wisdom. Christ is our sanctification.
Christ is our justification. We have no other hope. This is
what we confess, this is our new song. Now they only, he talks about
her garden here, but only one fruit is mentioned. Now it says
fruits, but it says pomegranate and fruits. I find that very
interesting. Also, he mentions about the smell
of her ointment in verse 10. It says the smell of thine ointment
than all the spice. And then in verse 11, he talks
about the smell of thy garments, like the smell of Lebanon. I
would remind us that the word Lebanon means white or whiteness. So what is all this? What is
the, there has to, anytime the Lord gives us something in scripture,
there has to be not just a physical aspect of it. It has to be a
spiritual aspect as well. So what is that? What is the
significance? That's the word I was searching
for. What is the significance of this ointment? What is the
significance of this pomegranate? It's the only fruit that's mentioned.
So I want us to turn, if we will, to Exodus chapter 28. And while you're turning there, I'm
going to tell you the word again that's used in verse 13 is camphor.
And that's a spice, but it's also by definition a ransom,
a covering or an atonement. Now, as you're turning to Exodus
chapter 28, I'm going to go ahead and tell you what we're about
to read is the priest's garments, the priest's robes and. Everything in the Lord's worship
was to be taken so. Serious isn't the right proper
word, it's yes, it's to be taken seriously, but it was every There
was so minute details to every part of the worship. We'll never
understand the significance of everything. I mean, it's just,
there's so much that's all throughout. But here in Exodus 28, he's talking
about the priest's robe. This is what you are to do with
the priest's robe. Now in verse 33, it says, and
beneath upon the hymn of it shall thou make pomegranates of blue
and of purple and of scarlet round about the hymn thereof.
and bells of gold between them round about, a golden bell and
a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate upon the hem
of the robe round about. And it shall be upon Aaron to
minister and his sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto
the holy place before the Lord. And when he cometh out, that
he die not." Pomegranate represents the righteousness of Christ.
You remember the hem of the garment that the woman with the issue
of blood had to touch. And the Lord said, who touched
me? And the disciples, they were like, Lord, many people's touched
you. They were enthroned with people all about. He said, no
virtue has went forth from me. The Lord knew somebody needed
virtue from the Lord. He is the purity that we must
have. He is our righteousness. That's
what this pomegranate represents. So we have a pomegranate of red. We have a pomegranate of purple.
We have a pomegranate of blue. And in between each of those,
we have golden bells. And it goes all the way around
the hymn of the road. I would remind us that the veil
had those same three colors, didn't they? The blue, the purple,
and then the scarlet, the red. What is this a picture of? We
have Christ deity as the blue, the royalty of being the son
of God. We have the red as his blood
and his humanity. We have it blended together as
the perfect God-man. And the Lord Jesus Christ himself
is that veil that was written in twain from top to bottom for
his people. This is what this is a picture of here. These pomegranates
represent the righteousness of Christ. It represents the same
thing that the veil represents. That's what we're finding out
here. Have you ever seen a pomegranate?
You ever opened one up? We didn't. I think it was probably
a couple years ago. First one I ever saw. It wasn't
a popular thing in Tennessee. I'd seen them. They're ugly on
the outside. I mean, they don't look like they're complicated when
you get inside of them. They're little tiny. And every single
piece of fruit that's inside of it has a seed, has a seed
of the of the pomegranate, every single one of them. So it's kind
of like eating a raspberry or blackberry. Sometimes that bothers
some people, sometimes it doesn't. But I find it interesting that
there's three parts to the pomegranate. First of all, you have the exterior
shell, the hardness, the hard exterior. Then as you venture
forth into the pomegranate, you find a white covering of red
fruit, red fruit that's clustered together. They're all clustered
together. Now this white covering is waxy,
it's waterproof. Let me tell you, next time you
ever eat one, go ahead and take it underwater. It'll bead up
on it. It's waterproof. I can't tell you how overwhelmingly
joyous I was when I started thinking about the spiritual aspect of
the pomegranate. First of all, you have the exterior. What did
Christ say in John chapter 17? He's praying unto his Father.
He said, Father, I in you and they in me, which thou hast given
me. Now, so we have the Lord, the Father himself as the exterior,
and we have Christ, the white covering of his people. So whenever
Father sees us, he sees the blood of Christ, the red fruit on the
inside, and every one of his people have his seed in them. Do we see the picture here? The
white part is waterproof, which represents the atonement, the
same thing that we just read about. I forget the word, but
what we just read, the one that was the atonement, the way that
she smelled, the spice that was, the spice that she smelt like. Campfire, that's it, campfire.
That's the word that literally means atonement. This is Christ
as the ark for his people and the water beating down upon them
couldn't get to us because we're in him with his seed in us, covered
by his blood and his white righteousness on the outside. That's why they
use the term pomegranate here. This is what it represents, is
what the Lord did for his people. I like the fact that the pomegranates
all clustered together. Is that not what we are right
now? Just knit together under him, clustered together? That's
what he did for all of these people. We're going to have a
conference in May, as you all know, and you're going to find
out that you love people you had no idea that you love and
people love you that you had no idea love you. And you know
what you have in common? You're knit together in the righteousness
of Christ. And it is just overwhelming to
to share in the love that you both have for your beloved. Let me tell me more about him.
And that's that's the picture of what Rebecca did when she
was coming back to Isaac. It was a several week journey.
You know, she was asking the whole way. Tell me more about
Isaac. She had never met Isaac before. When the Lord's people
get together, that's what we want to hear, isn't it? Tell
me more about Christ. Tell me more about my beloved.
Tell me more about what he's done for us. Tell me about him
putting our sin away by himself and successfully redeeming us.
That's us being knit together. Do we see that? Colossians chapter
two talks about that. It's all his righteousness, isn't
it? Remember, the Lord sees us when he sees us. He sees his
fruit and he's satisfied with his fruit. He sees his merits.
The father sees his son's merits. Well, the next thing we were
going to look at, we're going to look at is. We have to make
certain that we no longer smell like we used to smell. Remember,
we were dead in trespasses and in sin. So we would stink, right? I mean, you ever smelt something
dead? You drive down the road and don't you have your window
down it's like roll up the window you know you smell something
dead dead has a very distinct smell to it doesn't it understand
something that if we come before the lord in our own righteousness
not having the lord's righteousness that's what we smell like unto
him we stink we must smell like the lord jesus christ himself
and that's what he's done and that's the that's what the significance
of all these spices are that's on the inward parts that it's
describing It's also used in the anointments, in the ointments
and the oils for worship. So turn with me over just a few
pages, Exodus 30. We're still in the same, he's
still giving them the instructions of everything that is to be done for worship. Exodus chapter 30, look at verse
22 with me. When they go into the cabernacle
of the congregation, they shall wash with water that they die
not. When they come to the altar to
minister, to burn offering, to burn offering made by fire unto
the Lord, so shall they wash their hands and their feet that
they die not. And it shall be a statute forever
unto them, even to him and to his seed throughout their generations.
Moreover, the Lord spake unto Moses saying, take thou also
unto the principal spices. Now I want you to pay attention
to the spices that they're mentioning here, because it's several of
the same, if not all the same, the ones used in Song of Solomon
4. Take unto thou unto the principal spices of pure myrrh, 500 shekels,
and of sweet cinnamon, half so much, even 250 shekels, and of
calamus, 250 shekels, and of Cassia 500 shekels after
the shekel of the sanctuary and of olive oil and hen. And thou
shalt make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound
after the art of the apothecary. It shall be in holy anointing
oil. And thou shalt anoint the tabernacle
of the congregation therewith and the ark of the testimony
and the table and all the vessels and the candlesticks, his vessels
and the altar of incense, the altar of burnt offerings, with
all the vessels and the labor and his foot. And he keeps, basically
they anointed everything with this ointment, with this particular
ointment that the Lord gave to them. And it was done by the
spices. Now, what made the spice holy? Well, number one, the Lord
said it was holy, that made it holy. But there's nothing in
and of these spices of themselves that would have made them holy.
We eat cinnamon, don't we? So if it was holy, then we wouldn't
be partaking in that, it would kill us, right? And if we're
in the flesh, I mean, it's just how no man can see the Lord and
live. So what is the picture here? All of these ointments
represented the Lord Jesus Christ, represented his odor that he
perfumes, he represented his, the way that he smells, the way
that he is, it represents his righteousness, his goodness.
This is what all of this represents. It's the Lord's gospel. It's
God's gospel. And he said, I want you to make
this appointment and I want you to anoint this and anoint that
and anoint this. And this is where I'm going to
meet with you after you've done all the anointing. The Lord's priest is the one
that did that. Now we know that the Lord is our priest, don't
we? And we know that the anointment that he has given unto us is
by his blood alone. He's anointed our head with oil.
Yes, that's what the scripture says. Our cup runneth over. It's
his anointing of all of these spices, all of these things,
so that we smell just like him. It's his finished work. That's
what this represents. That's what made it holy. That's
what makes you and I holy, is his anointing by his own blood. And the next thing that they
did, if you look in verse 34 again, or I'm sorry,
look in verse 34, if you would, chapter 30, the Lord said unto
Moses, take into these sweet spices, sate and antia and galbanum,
these sweet spices with pure frankincense, and each shall
there be like weight, and shall make a perfume, a confection
after the art of the apothecary, tampered together, pure and holy.
Thou shalt beat some of it very small and put it before the testimony
in the tabernacle of the congregation, where it will meet with thee.
It shall be unto you most holy. And as for the perfume, which
thou shalt make, you shall not make it yourself, make to yourself
according to the composition thereof. It shall be unto thee
holy for the Lord. Whosoever shall make like unto
that to smell thereto shall even be cut off from his people. What
is the Lord telling us here about this perfume? It's the same thing
as the oil, but he's telling us you can't duplicate it. Don't
take it to yourself. Don't try to spray it on yourself.
It's unto the Lord. It's mine. That's what he's saying.
It's my perfume. It's my ointment. And I will
anoint that which I purpose So we see the Lord's sovereignty
throughout this as well. Can't be duplicated, can it?
This is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that I'm speaking
of. It can't be duplicated. There is no substitute for the
gospel. It is only by his gospel, only
by his work alone. There's no substitution for the
blood. It's by the blood of the Lord alone. There's no substitution
for the anointment that the Lord puts upon his people, nor the
perfume wherewith we are made to smell like Christ. This is
the Holy Spirit that condescends down to us. And he causes us
to smell like the Lord because we hear the gospel through and
by the preacher. And he causes us to come forth
smelling just like these spices did. Why? Because that's what
the Lord smelled. When Christ Jesus, when he died
upon the cross, the scripture says in Ephesians that he was
offered up a sweet smelling savor unto his father. See, every sense
that the father had had to be satisfied for you and I to be
counted righteous. And every sense that he had was
satisfied for the Lord's people. And now you and I look fair. You and I look beautiful. You
and I look perfect unto the Lord. Now we smell like him. Everything about him, when he
said, oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Everything,
all the senses that were required to be satisfied, the Lord himself
satisfied the father's demands. And now we are just like Christ. That's the picture here. That's
what all this perfume and ointment represented was his finished
work alone. You'll notice that these herbs had to be crushed
up in order to make an oil. In order for it to make oil,
make an ointment. Was Christ Jesus not crushed upon the cross
of Calvary for his people? The scripture likens it to being
a wine press. He was pressed and his precious
blood squeezed out for his people. This is what he has done for
us in order to make us smell perfect to him. We must smell
just like him, understand. We must look just like him. We
must be made the righteousness of God in him. That's what all
these pictures of. Now back to Song of Solomon chapter
four. I want you to notice. The glorious gospel in Song of
Solomon chapter four talking about his bride, Lord Jesus Christ
bride. He says to her in verse seven,
thou art all fair, my love. There is no spot in thee. You
hope that that's your confession. I hope that's my confession,
that there is no spot in me. I hope he says that about me,
don't you? If he does, it's because he did it all. He did all the
saving by his own blood, by his own body, by his own death. He
did it all. And now you and I are accounted
right. We're counted righteous before the Lord. He took all
of our sin away, nailing it to his cross. He anointed our head
with his Holy Spirit with the oil of gladness. He's anointed
our our head that we might be. Made the righteousness of God
in him. Now she responds. This is the only part of what
we read thus far is her response. Unto him and we know that it's
her speaking because at the end it says his let him eat his pleasant
fruits. So we know it's her talking.
And this is her response after hearing everything that I've
said to you. In verse 16, she says, awake, O north wind, and
come thou south. Blow upon my garden that the
spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his
garden and eat his pleasant fruits. First of all, it's a spirit to come forth and blow upon her. And what is it that she's requiring
or needing him to boil upon her in? It's the inward parts, her
garden. And what is it she wanting to happen? The spice to come
forth for her to smell like him, that he may eat of his fruits,
the work of his hands, that which he has merited. That's what she's
hoping he'll find in her. Is that not what you hope that
the Lord sees when he sees us as the fruit of Christ? That
we smell just like Christ? That we taste just like the Lord
unto his father? She's begging for this Holy Spirit
to blow, to call these spices to come forth out of her. That's
the righteousness of the Lord. Do we see that? She's been made pleasing unto
him. He says, you don't have any spot in you. I love your
smell. I'm reminded. Smell is the, I wrote this down
somewhere, but I've deviated so much from my notes this morning.
I don't know where I'm at half the time, but. I feel like I
overcomplicate things when I try to declare the gospel and it's
simple. And a simple example I can give you is the smell is
the, they say is the most, um, the strongest sense attached
to memory. That's what they say. And I don't know who they are,
but, and I believe that's true. I can smell something from a
long time ago and it triggers a memory. And how often do I
spend time away from my wife sometimes, maybe She has to depart,
or she just came back from a trip. And the very moment you smell
your spouse's smell, there's something that happens on the
inside. There's some rest that you feel. It's attractive. You're
attracted to the way that your spouse smells, and nobody else
smells like them. Nobody else. I've never found
a, you understand what I'm saying. Nobody smells like that which
you love. The one that you love, they have a distinct smell. And understand what I'm trying
to say. When he smells us, he's pleased with our smell. I can't,
we no longer smell like a bunch of dead rotting bones. We smell like he does. He loves
our smell because we smell like he's made us smell into him.
And we love his smell, don't we? We love his smell. And every
time we come together, we just want to hear of him. We want
our senses to be satisfied of him, and he does. He satisfies
our senses, and we're reminded. It triggers the memory every
single time of him putting away our sin, saving his people. This
is what his love has done for her. Verse 16 at the end tells
us, let his fruit, let him eat of his pleasant fruits. That's
why we come together. That the Lord would blow upon
us one more time, that we would smell him, that we'd be able
to taste of him, that we'd be able to see him. more time that
we'd be able to it's his pleasant fruits isn't it he's produced
it and that's all that his people want what a glorious picture
song of solomon is his love for her what his love really this
is he did this all because he first loved us he loved us and
he hath saved us this is his love that he hath