Okay, this evening now we're
looking at Song of Solomon, chapter 8. Chapter 8, and I'm taking
the title for the message from what is said in verse 7. Many
waters, many waters cannot, impossible, cannot quench love. Now this
is talking about His love toward us. and our love toward him. Neither can the floods drown
it. If a man would give all the substance of his house for love,
what would that be? We'd give everything for this
love of God that's shed abroad in our hearts. So the title is
going to be this evening, Many Waters Cannot Quench Love. Our
many trials, we know something about trials, don't we? Sorrows,
troubles we face cannot diminish our love for the Lord Jesus Christ,
nor his love toward us. His love toward us is never,
never diminished. We read in that covenant promise
in Jeremiah 31, he said, I've loved thee with an everlasting
love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee unto myself. We know the scriptures teach
us whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom
he receiveth. I love what Paul said, as we
just read in Romans 8. I'm persuaded, aren't you? I'm
persuaded that neither death nor life, angels or principalities,
angels good or bad, principalities, powers, nor things present, nor
things future, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature,
any other thing, shall be able to separate us from the love
of God, the love of God which is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
We read in John 13, having loved his own, he loved him to the
end. He laid down his life for us
because he loved us. He loved us eternally in our
blessed Lord Jesus Christ. The love of God is shed abroad
in our heart by the Holy Spirit. I want to go back and look at
verse five, six, and seven this evening. I think we see here
in these verses, not only the character of God's love, but
also the shining character of saving faith, the faith of God's
elect. We're going to study in Hebrews
chapter 11, without faith, it is impossible to please God.
He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is rewarder
of them that diligently seek him. We know faith is a substance
of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. So we see
something of the description and characteristics of saving
faith, the faith of God's elect. Leaning, notice what it says
there in verse five, leaning upon her beloved, leaning upon
the everlasting arms of our Lord. Leaning, that means relying upon
Him, trusting Him, remembering Him, praying unto Him. And we
know that saving faith never ends. It perseveres. These all
died in faith. Faith is not an isolated act.
in a believer's heart, in a believer's life. It's not something that
happened, well, one time I believed it. Saving faith, the faith that
God has left, is not an isolated experience. It's an ongoing,
present state of heart. Believing, believing. It's a continuous confidence
in Christ as all our salvation. It's a continuing confidence
We have no confidence in the flesh, right? We rejoice in Christ,
worship God, and have no confidence in the flesh. But this faith,
the faith of God's elect, the faith that's God-given, that's
a gift of God, is not an isolated act. It's a continuous living
confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ as all of our salvation.
Christ is all and in all. Christ in you is the hope of
glory. Here we see in verse five, faith is leaning, leaning upon,
what does it lean upon? The beloved. Now who is the beloved? We know the Beloved in this love
story between Christ and His Church. We know the Beloved is
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Beloved of the Father.
This is my Beloved Son, God said, in whom I'm well pleased. And
He's our Beloved too. Believers are in love with Him
because He first loved us. Faith is leaning upon Christ.
Now, faith has nothing to do with physical acts. I remember
listening to a sermon years and years and years ago. It was a
sermon that was actually preached in 1954. But the old preacher that preached
that, he made this statement, I never forgot it. Come to Christ,
don't move a muscle. Come to the Lord Jesus Christ,
don't move a muscle. Brother A.D. Muse. Faith has
nothing to do with the physical acts. Come to Christ and don't
move a muscle. He also said in there, don't
move a hand or a hair. Come to Christ by faith. But
oftentimes in the scripture, it is described as something
that is a physical thing. For example, faith is described
symbolically by many actions of the body. Did you ever notice
that? Example, faith is looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. So
we use our eyes to look at things, don't we? To focus on things.
So faith is described as looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. You
remember Hebrews 12, looking unto Jesus, who's the author
and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before
him endured the cross, despising the shame. He sat down on the
right hand of the throne of God. We read in Isaiah 45, God said,
I'm the only just God and savior. Now he said, look to me. Look
to me. We all understand the concept
of looking, don't we? I'm looking at you right now
and you're looking back at me, aren't you? And that's what faith
is. It's looking to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Faith is looking to Christ alone
as the Israelites did that were bitten with the fiery serpents,
remember? When they were bitten and dying. The Lord instructed
Moses to make that brazen serpent and lift it up on a pole and
everyone that looked, everyone that was bitten and looked to
that fiery serpent, that brazen serpent, was healed. And our
Lord said this in John 3, as Moses lifted up the serpent in
the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life. Oh, for a look. A look of faith,
looking at Him, looking at Him. Faith is described as looking
to Him. Faith is described as coming to Him. Coming to Christ
is nothing physical, although it's described in those terms.
We come to Christ for all of salvation. That's the gift of
God. How is it that we come to Him? It's by believing on Him. You remember John 335, he said,
I am the bread of life. He that believeth on me and he
that cometh to me shall never hunger, shall never perish, shall
never thirst. So believing and coming are the
same thing, but it's not something we, it's not a physical move
from the back of the building to the front of the building. Faith is also described as fleeing
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Knowing that Christ is our only
refuge for sinners to rest upon, we flee to the Lord Jesus Christ
for all of our salvation. We flee to him with urgency to
the city of refuge, and we know that's the picture of Christ.
Solomon wrote this in Proverbs 18, the name of the Lord is a
strong tower and the righteous They run into it and they're
safe. Safe and secure, what were we
saying a moment ago? Safe and secure from all harm
alarm. Faith is fleeing to Christ with
full expectation of having our every need met. We come to him
with a full expectation that he's able to supply all our need
according to his riches in glory through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Faith is described as laying hold upon Christ, receiving him
by faith. John writes this, as many as
received him, to them gave he power, right, privilege to become
sons of God which were born, not of blood. nor the will of
flesh, nor the will of man, but born of God. We receive him because
we have life in Christ, and we receive him as our all in all,
don't we? It's just not receiving the doctrine
of Christ, but rather receiving the Christ of the doctrine. True
faith received the whole Christ as all our salvation. He is God,
our Savior. God, our Savior. But here in
the text, Solomon chapter 8 verse 5 is described as leaning upon
him. Leaning upon him. Once again,
here the believer is described as coming up out of the wilderness
of sin and guilt, leaning upon her beloved Savior. Who is this
that cometh up from the wilderness? We only come up from the wilderness
of guilt and sin and depravity because he draws us to himself. Who is this that cometh out of
the wilderness? Those who are called to the Lord
Jesus Christ. And what do they do? They lean
upon the beloved, the beloved Savior. I love that term, don't
you? The beloved savior. The word
leaning here has a meaning of casting ourselves upon him, joining
ourselves unto him, associating with him, the beloved, rejoicing
and clinging. to him, hanging upon him. This
is a good description of saving faith, leaning on the everlasting
arm. With our pilgrims here, passing
through this wilderness, where did God find us? He found us
in the wilderness of sin, a wilderness of sin, dead in sin, and he called
us out and he gave us life. Leaning on his everlasting arms,
looking for a city whose builder and maker is God like Abraham
of old. We lean upon him because he is
faithful. He is faithful to his people.
All that God had promised, he's able to perform. We lean upon
him because our beloved cannot fail. He cannot fail to secure
righteousness for us, redemption for us. regeneration for us,
reconciliation for us, resurrection for us. He ever lived to intercede
for us. He cannot fail. We, by nature,
are total failures. The Lord Jesus Christ cannot
fail. We lean upon him who is the unfailing Savior. We lean
upon him because he's able to save us to the uttermost that
come to God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession
for him. Saving faith right now is leaning,
trusting, looking, coming to the Lord Jesus Christ. We lean
upon him because he's able to save us. We lean upon him because
we are sinners in constant need of mercy. Our cry is unto the
Lord, have mercy upon me, the sinner. I've told you this before,
I think it bears repeating. I had a dear friend who called
me one day, a dear friend who's been a believer many years, and
he says, I just don't know how to pray. I don't know what to
pray for. He said, preacher, can you help
me? I said, I think I can. God, be merciful to me, the sinner. Seven words. That's my constant
prayer. God, be merciful to me, the sinner. To me, the sinner. We lean upon
his person for acceptance, don't we? We are accepted in the beloved. We lean upon him for righteousness
to justify us before God, don't we? Blessed is the man to whom
God imputes righteousness without works. We lean upon his blood
sacrifice to cleanse us from all our sin. Would you trust
something else to put away your sin? We lean upon His fullness
to supply our every need, don't we? Of His fullness have we all
received grace for grace. In Him dwells all the fullness
of a Godhead bodily, and in Christ we stand complete. That scripture
we often quote by Solomon in Proverbs chapter 3. Remember, verse 5, trust in the
Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding,
but in all your ways trust him. Lean not to yourself. What's
your leaning? Are you leaning this way or that
way? No, I'm trusting him. I'm leaning
upon him. Learning to lean. Learning to
lean, we used to sing. There's a chorus, I think, in
that book, isn't there? Learning to lean on Jesus. I'm learning
to lean on him. We are brought out of the wilderness
by our beloved Redeemer and therefore we lean upon him. I found this
scripture in Deuteronomy 32 verse 9 and 10. For the Lord's portion
is his people. Jacob is a lot of his inheritance. He found him in a desert land
after God found us. In a desert land in the waste
howling wilderness, he led him about. He instructed him. He
kept him as the apple of his eye, the pupil, the focus of
his eye. That's good news, isn't it? He
translated us out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom
of God's dear son. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
beloved. Think about this. He's beloved
of the Father. The Father speaks from heaven.
After John, the baptizer, baptized the Lord Jesus Christ to fulfill
all righteousness for us, And the Holy Spirit descended upon
him, and the Father spake from heaven, and said, This is my
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him. Hear ye Him. He's beloved to the angels, to
the elect angels. He's beloved to the elect angels.
Remember, the angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds in
the field. It said, for unto you this day
is born unto you a Savior, the Savior Christ the Lord. And suddenly
there was a multitude of heavenly angels praising God, saying,
glory to God in the highest, honor, peace, good will toward
man. Not mankind, but man. One God,
one mediator between God and man, that is the man, the Lord
Jesus Christ. So he's beloved of the Father.
He's beloved of the elect angels. And He's beloved of the church. We sing, remember that Revelation
chapter 1, unto Him who loved us and washed us from our sin
in His own blood, to Him be all the honor and glory both now
and forever. So faith is leaning upon the
Lord Jesus Christ. Leaning upon the beloved, the
Lord Jesus Christ. And then secondly, the last part
of verse 5, Faith is remembering who he is and remembering what
he has done for us. He's called us out of the wilderness
and he's raised us up. He's raised us up to make us
new creatures in Christ Jesus. He said, I raised thee up under
the apple tree. The apple tree is a, you ever
watch those old TV shows, those old black and white, TV shows
back in the 50s and 60s, and they would always-I'm thinking
about some of those old TV shows-they would always show the student
bringing an apple to the teacher. Remember that? That apple was
a symbol of love and that student would bring that teacher, that
student would shine that apple up and pick the best apple on
the tree and bring it to the teacher and say, here you go.
And it's a symbol of love and it's that old song, don't make
love under the apple tree with anyone else but me, that apple
tree was a symbol of love. And the Lord Jesus Christ, He's
raised us up under the umbrella of His love. His love for us. Here in His love, not that we
love God, but that He loved us. And He sent His Son to be the
sacrifice for our sin. So faith is looking to Him who
raised us up. Hold your place there and turn
back over here to Psalm 40. You remember Psalm 40 over here
where it says, He raised us up out of the pit out of the miry
clay. I think that's the one I'm looking
for. Psalm 40 verse 1. Psalm 40 verse 1. You got it? I waited patiently for the Lord.
He inclined in me and heard my cry. He brought me up also out
of a horrible pit. There's that wilderness. Out
of the miry clay. He set my feet upon a rock. That
rock is Christ, a rock of ages. He established my goings. He
had put a new song in my mouth, a new song, the covenant of grace,
the new covenant. Even praising to our God, many
shall see it in fear and shall trust in the Lord. So he brought
me up, he set me up, he established my going, and he tuned me up.
He raised us up, he raised us up. under the umbrella of his
love. There it says, in the last part
of verse 5, there thy mother brought thee forth, there she
brought thee forth that bare thee. Now this is a little bit
difficult here and I don't know that I fully understand what is being said here, but
here's what I get from this. We were born into the family.
We were born into the family of God. By the one Spirit are
we all baptized into the one body. Except the man is born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. We've been, when you
were born, when you, I don't want to say this, when you were
begotten, you were born into the family of your mother and
your father. How did you become a member or
part of that family? You were born into that family. Same is true of the household
of God. We're born into that family. And that's what is said there,
the mother. The mother brings forth the child.
The mother brings forth the child because that child is begotten
of the father. And we are begotten of God, and
we are begotten of God with the Word of God, remember? With the
Word, with the Word, with that incorruptible, incorruptible
seed of God. I raise thee up unto the apple
tree. Therefore, He called us out of the wilderness, we lean
upon Him, He's raised us up, He's quickened us, He made us
new creatures in Christ, we're born into the family of God,
and because all that's true, we believe God. We believe the
gospel of God concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. I raised thee
up, brought thee forth with surveil of birth pains, of repentance
and conviction, and the agony of guilt and ruin. He brought
us forth and made us new creatures in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
look at verse 6. He set me, the beloved, set me
as a seal, set me as a seal upon thine heart. Seal my heart to
your heart. That's our prayer. That's the
praying of, that's the faith, the praying of God's elect, the
praying of faith unto the Lord. Set me as a seal upon thine heart,
as a seal upon thine arm. For love is strong as death. Jealousy is cruel as the grave. The coals thereof are the coals
of fire. Remember the two men on the road
to Emmaus when the Lord opened the gospel unto them and revealed
himself unto them. You remember what they said?
They said, didn't our heart burn within us while he opened us
the word of truth? The coals thereof are the coals
of fire. which hath a most vehement strong
flame." We don't have a flame out, we have a burning flame.
We see here faith praying unto the Lord. As we continue in this
life as believers, we do continue to pray unto our beloved that
our union with him may be sealed upon our heart. That is confirmed
that our communion with him may be uninterrupted that our fellowship
with him might be intimate and secure in him." Now, let me read
this to you. You don't need to turn. This is familiar to you. But
when I read that word sealed, set me as a seal upon thy heart,
as a seal upon thine arm. were on his heart, were on his
arm. I thought about this verse in
Ephesians. Chapter 1, it says that we should be to the praise
of his glory who first trusted Christ and whom also you trusted
after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,
whom also after you heard, after you believed, you were sealed
with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance,
until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of
His glory." Our heart, we have been sealed with Christ. We are
made one with Him. One with Him. Now, I'll tell
you a personal story that makes this more real to me. We have
been sealed to Christ. Right? We are sealed in Him. The religion that I grew up in,
Mormonism, they have what they call a ritual in their temple
when they have a temple wedding. And one of the things they do,
and I went through this with my dad and with his third wife
that he had married. She had children and dad had
some children, and they wanted to have a temple wedding. And
in this temple wedding, they believe that when you're sealed
in the temple, that that seal is as a family unit throughout
eternity. And I was sealed in that ceremony
to my stepmother and my dad. I said all that to say this.
When the Lord taught me the gospel and I went back to Utah to visit
with my family, and was trying to witness to my dad about what
the Lord in His mercy had done to me, he turned and looked at
me and said, son, I've got hope for you still. I said, how's
that? He said, you were sealed to me
in the temple. I said, dad, I said, you're not
my hope. I said, I've been sealed to the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's my hope. All of my hope. Not you. Not the Mormon church. Not the temple. Sealed to Christ. Sealed to the Lord Jesus Christ. Set me, Lord, set me. This is
the prayer of faith. Set me as a seal upon thine heart.
As a seal upon thine arm. The arm there is a symbol of
power. As a seal upon thine arm, for
love is strong as death. For His love, for His love toward
us. How strong is His love? He loved
us unto death, didn't He? He became obedient unto death.
God commended His love toward us in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. His love for us was strong as
death. He died to secure our salvation. We are sealed together with him
in heart, mind, soul, body, and we're sealed upon him in the
power of his arm, the power of the gospel, and his love is strong. It's strong, isn't it? It's strong
as death. Death's pretty strong. You can't
afford it. You're going to die. But the
Lord Jesus Christ, his love for us, and that's the reason he
died for us. He died for us. This is to say,
let me have a place in your heart, an interest in your love. Oh,
let me be found in Christ. Read, turn to Isaiah 40. Isaiah 40. Isaiah chapter 40, verse nine. Isaiah 40, verse nine. Isaiah 40 verse 9, O Zion that
bringeth good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain. O Jerusalem that bringeth good
tidings, lift up thy voice with strength, lift it up, be not
afraid. Say to the cities of Judah, behold your God, behold
the Lord God will come with a strong hand. His arm, his power shall
rule for him. His reward is with him and his
work is before him. He shall feed his flock like
a shepherd. He shall gather the land with his arms. And he carries
them in his bosom, carries them in his love, gathers them with
his arm, and shall gently lead those that are with young. That's
what he's done for us in the gospel. He carries us in his
heart, in the bosom of his heart. And then he carries us upon his
shoulders, upon his shoulders. He carries us upon his shoulders.
The Lord in Luke 15 gave the parable of that shepherd that
left the 99 and went out and found that one lost sheep. And
when he found him, what did he do? He put him on his shoulder
and carried him home. And then the Lord said, there's
rejoicing in heaven. over one sinner that repents
than the ninety-nine that need no repentance." So the Lord carries
us in His bosom, He carries us in His heart, He carries us on
His shoulder, and He carries us all the way to glory. And
He won't lose one of us. We read in John 10 that He carries
us in His hands. His hands, none, none, no one
can pluck them out of my hand. A father which gave them means
greater than all men, no man can pluck them out of my father's
hand. Psalm 95, remember the believers are called the people
of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. His hand set me
as a seal upon mine heart, verse six again, as a seal upon mine
arm, thy power for your love is strong. His love is so strong
that he accomplished all our salvation
and he will not lose one for whom he died. Jealousy is cruel
as hard as the grave. The coals thereof are the coals
of fire which have a most vehement, vehement flame. Set me as a seal
upon thine arm, O thy power. who hath believed, I report,
to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed. Let your power be displayed
as you make me a trophy of your grace." We see faith persevering
through trials too, don't we? The coals thereof are the coals
of fire. which have a most strong, lasting,
enduring flame. Many waters, verse 7, cannot
quench His love. Many waters cannot quench our
love for Him or His love for us. Many waters, many troubles
cannot quench our faith or diminish our faith. Trials and troubles
don't produce faith, they reveal true faith. Many waters cannot
quench his love or our love for him. Neither can the floods drown
it if a man would give all the substance of his house for love.
What would you give to be loved of God? I mean, you would count
all the substance of this world? Everybody's all up in arms about
the billion dollar lottery. I'd scare to death to buy a ticket.
I'm afraid I'd win. My life would be ruined. I'd
take that ticket and flush it down the toilet. A billion dollars. What would you give to have the
love of God shed abroad in your heart? Voice. Oh, the unsearchable riches of
Christ, freely, how freely they flow. Many waters, troubles cannot
quench this love. Neither can the floods drown
it. His love never fails. Lamentation. You remember, it is the Lord's
mercies that we are not consumed because His love fails not. They're
new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. Now
abideth faith, hope, and love. You remember that chapter? 1
Corinthians 13. The greatest of these is love,
isn't it? This love of God that's shed upon our heart by the Holy
Spirit is never diminished. but rather grow stronger, more
fervent, and cannot be quenched." Don't you love Him more now than
when you first met the Lord Jesus Christ? Those who know Him continue in
Him, continue in faith, they continue in love. As we read
a moment ago, nothing can separate us from the love of God which
is in the Lord Jesus Christ. His love, love as strong as death. Love is as strong as Christ.
His love for us was stronger than death, for he laid down
his life. He said, here is love, not that
you love me, but I loved you and I gave my life for you. Says
that jealousy is cruel as a grave. Believers have a zeal and a jealousy
in their heart for the glory of Christ and for the furtherance
of the gospel, don't they? Believers have a zeal, they're
zealous over the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. This love
of Christ is a burning fire that cannot be quenched, cannot be
put out, cannot be extinguished. The waters of affliction cannot,
cannot. The waters of trouble, floods
of trouble cannot, cannot destroy it. Thinking of a scripture over
here, In Isaiah 43, but now, thus saith
the Lord, verse one, that created thee, O Jacob, he that formed
thee, O Israel, fear not, I have redeemed thee. I have called
thee by thy name, thou wert mine. When ye pass through the waters,
I'll be with thee. Through the rivers, they shall
not overflow thee. When ye walk through the fire,
thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.
I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel. I'm your Savior.
I'm your Savior. Waters of affliction cannot quench
His love, His love for us and our love for Him. The floods
of trouble cannot destroy it. All the riches of the world cannot
buy us out. Could you sell out for a billion
dollars? What's a billion dollars? Nothing. In the lie of eternity,
what is it? Nothing. Nothing. We count all
things lost that we might win Christ and be found in Him. The
believer is in love with the Lord Jesus Christ and will not
let Him go. Remember our Lord said to those,
when those 5,000 walked away from Him, that 5,000 that He
fed, He said to the 12, those 5,000 walked away and continued
no more following the Lord and He said to His 12, Good time
for you guys to leave too. Hit the road. If you want to
leave now, now's the time. Peter said, Lord, to whom shall
we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. We believe and
we're sure you're that Christ, the Son of the living God. To
whom shall we go? We have nowhere else to go except
the glory. May God grant us Like faith of
God's elect, it is a sovereign gift of God. Sovereign gift of
God. Oh, to believe the Lord Jesus
Christ as he ought to be believed, as he ought to be loved.