Song of Solomon chapter 7. I'm
taking the title for the message in this love story between Christ
and His church from verse 10. Look at verse 10 again. I am
my Beloved's. I belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. Every believer can say this.
I am my Beloved's. And His desire. His desire. is toward me. How long has his
desire been toward his people? From everlasting. His mercies
and his love to his people are everlasting. But think about
that. He desires us. He desires to
be one with us. So much so that he died for us
to secure our salvation. I am my beloved and his desire
is toward me. And the following verses contain
the words of the bride in answer to the bridegroom's most enduring
expression delivered in the preceding verses. And you'll have to go
back and read the preceding verses. But look at verse six, for example.
The Lord describes, and he does this several times, in chapter
seven, verse six, the Lord says of his church, How fair, how
beautiful, and it's the same word that's used in verse one.
How beautiful are thy feet. How fair and how pleasant art
thou, O love. Now here he's talking about the
Lord talking about his people. For delights, he delights in
his people and he desires to be one with them. That's amazing
grace, is it not? Now, chapter seven, the first
nine verses, the Lord Jesus Christ is describing his bride, his
church. in such lovely terms of holy admiration as we read
there just a moment ago in verse 6. Christ the Lord Jesus, Christ
delights in His people, for He has made them fair, He has made
them beautiful, He has made them pleasant, He has made them sweet,
as it says in verse 6, and they are truly beautiful and lovely. And think about this, in His
sight, He's able to keep us from falling and to present us faultless
before the presence of God's glory with exceeding joy. That's power. That's the saving
power of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're one with Him. Remember
He prayed in John 17, I in them, thou in me, that we may be made
perfect in one. That perfect union we have with
the Lord Jesus Christ. What's true of Him is true of
us. What's true of the head is true of the body. Where the head
is, that's where the body is. Now in verse 10, 11, 12, and
13. The believer speaks about the
Lord who's the love of her life. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
believer's lover. We've seen this several times.
Look back at chapter 2, verse 16. Chapter 2, verse 16. My beloved
is mine, and I am his. He feedeth among the lilies. And then in chapter 5, Chapter
5, look at verse 16. His mouth is most sweet, yea,
he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, this is my
friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. And then in chapter 6, verse
3, I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine. He feeds among the people. He feeds among the lilies. The
love of Christ, once it is known unto us and revealed unto us,
it is an irresistible love, an irresistible love, because it
comes with irresistible power, the power of his sovereign love.
You remember that song, Hail Sovereign Love, that first began
a scheme to rescue fallen sinners? Sovereign love, his love is an
electing love. It's a sovereign love whereby
He chose us in love and He makes us by His grace, Psalm 110, remember
He makes us willing in the day of His power. He makes us willing
in the day of His power. And I tell you how He does that.
He makes us willing in the day of His power in that He makes
Himself unto us irresistible, that we must have Him. Listen
to this scripture. I quote this all the time from
Psalm 110. Let me just read it to you. unto us the beauty of His character,
the beauty of His love, the beauty of His grace and His mercy toward
us in saving us by His grace. Christ is all the believers desire. He is all I need. You remember I read Psalm 23
on the Lord's Day Sunday where David said, the Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want. The Lord's my shepherd. All our
need, He meets all our needs according to His riches in glory
through the Lord Jesus Christ. He is all I need, He's all I
want. Someone might ask, is He enough? Is the Lord Jesus Christ
enough? If He's all you have, you have
everything God has given to us through Christ. David said it
this way in Psalm 73, Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there
is none upon the earth that I desire but thee. That's the believer's
desire. His heart's desire is toward
us. And because he has revealed himself
unto us as altogether lovely, our desire is toward him. He does love us in saving mercy,
and then surely the response of the believer is, we do love
Him. You remember John writes it this way, 1 John 4, 19, we
love Him because He first loved us. And that's the only reason
we love Him, is because He has revealed Himself to us in love. If you then be risen with Christ,
set your affection on things above. And that's what happens
when God gives us life in Christ. Now, in verse 10 and following,
The believer acknowledges at least five things concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. At least five things. The first
one is this. The believer belongs to Him. I am my Beloved's. He bought me, chose me, loved
me, regenerated me, made me a new creature in Christ. I belong to him, and every believer
can say that in his heart. I am my beloved's. By his electing
love, by his electing choice. Remember John 15, he said to
his disciples, you didn't choose me, I chose you. I ordained you. Paul writes about
it this way. We are bound to give thanks to
God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, Because God hath
from the beginning chosen you unto salvation. So we belong
to him in that he chose us in Christ. When? Before the foundation
of the world. That's called the Bible doctrine
of election. Aren't you glad he chose you?
You never would have chosen him. You never would have believed
the gospel had he not chose you in love, having elected you in
love. Secondly, we're his by his purchasing
power. You know more you own, you're
bought with a price. He bought us. With his blood,
he paid the ransom price to God's law and justice and set us free. When Paul met with those elders
at Ephesus for the last time, He said, I won't see your face
anymore, and you won't see me. He said, do this. Remember to
feed the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. He purchased us. He chose us,
and he bought us, he redeemed us, and then he regenerates us. He makes us new creatures in
Christ. You have be quickened who were dead. He had done a
work for us. But he also does a work in our
heart, making us and causing us to believe him, to love him.
And then he gives us this precious gift of faith. I am my beloved
by his choice, by his purchasing power, by his regenerating grace,
and then by the gift of faith, the gift of faith. Faith is called
the precious gift of God. Let me read to you what Peter
says. Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that
have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness
of God, even our Savior Jesus Christ. We only have faith because
he established a justifying righteousness for us, whereby God can be just
and the justifier. And he grants and gives us faith,
being justified by faith. We have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. Faith does not accomplish salvation,
does it? Faith receives the Lord Jesus
Christ who did accomplish salvation. Now, there's a big difference.
Repentance doesn't accomplish salvation, does it? No. Repentance acknowledges that
salvation is of the Lord, that He does all the saving. You see,
without faith, it is impossible to please God. We know that faith
is the precious gift of God, not of works, lest any man should
boast. Now, here's the second thing.
Christ desires, and here's the amazing part of the gospel. And
it's amazing that we belong to Him. He bought us. He chose us,
bought us, because He loved us with an everlasting love. And
the second thing here is His desire is toward us. God Almighty desires us. to be
in union with us and to bless us. That's what it says there.
His desire is toward me. Think about this scripture when
I'm looking at that particular phrase in Romans 5. Let me read it to you. God commended
his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. His desire is toward us. He desires our salvation. Had
He not desired our salvation, purposed our salvation, willed
our salvation, decreed to redeem His church, He never would have
died for her. He never would have been made
sin for us. had he not desired our eternal
salvation. And that's the way he saves us.
He saves us with a, not a temporary amnesty, he saves us with an
eternal salvation, doesn't he? An eternal salvation. He loved
the church and gave himself for it that he might present it holy,
unblameable, unapprovable in his sight, without blemish, without
spot. You remember from our Revelation
study, you remember this verse? Chapter 1, unto Him who loved
us and washed us from our sin in His own blood. He loved us,
He washed us from our sin in His own blood. You see, His desire
is toward us. That's just astounding, isn't
it? That has to be mercy. That has to be all of grace.
Because we are not deserving of the least of His mercies and
of His truth. From all eternity, He has desired the salvation
of His people. You remember from Revelation
13, the Lord Jesus Christ stood as a lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. He's always desired our salvation. Jeremiah says, our Lord says
through Jeremiah the prophet, yea, I've loved thee with an
everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn
thee. He draws us to himself in loving
kindness. No man can come to me except
the Father which sent me. Draw him." How does he draw us?
He draws us with his loving kindness. So much so, he desired our salvation
so much, so much so that he took upon himself our flesh apart
from sin. The word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. So much so that he died in our place, in our room
instead, as the old timers used to say, under the guilt and judgment
of our sin, bearing the wrath of God, bearing our sin in his
own body on the tree. In doing so, brought in everlasting
salvation, which He freely gives unto us. You see how much He
desires our salvation? Christ also suffered once for
our sin, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us unto God.
We're not coming any other way, but through the just one dying
for the unjust. He that spared not His own Son,
but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also
freely give us all things? I was reading today one of the
prayers in the book of Daniel, Daniel chapter 9. And the angel Gabriel came to
Daniel and gave him a glimpse and a picture of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And the messenger from heaven,
it's the same one who said, call his name Jesus, he shall save
his people from their sin. And the message to Daniel was
about the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, that he will come
to finish transgression, that he will come to make an end of
sins, that he will come to make reconciliation for iniquity,
that he will come to bring in everlasting righteousness, and
to seal up the vision, to fulfill the Word of God, and then to
anoint the Most Holy One. What a vision! that Daniel received
in our blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now look at verse
11. Verse 11. Here's the third thing. Come, my beloved. Come, my beloved. Let us go forth into the field. Let us lodge in the villages. Let us, verse 12, get up early
to the vineyard. Let us I couldn't get away from
that statement. Let us, let us, let's go together. Let us go together, let us see
if the vine, if the vineyard flourish, whether the tender
grapes appear and the pomegranates bud forth. There, over there,
I'll give thee all my love. I'll give thee all my love to
thee. The believer's desire is to be
with Him. Let us, let us. And to be with
Him alone. We desire to know more of Him.
We desire to learn of Him, don't we? The Lord said, come unto
me all you that labor and heavy laden. Come unto me, I'll give
you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. Oh, to be taught
of God. What a blessing to be taught
of God. For I am meek and lowly in heart,
and you shall find rest for your soul. She humbly and earnestly
desires the communion to be with the Lord, that I may know Him
and the power of His resurrection glory. Let us go forth into the
field. Let us lodge in the villages.
Let us get up early. Come, my beloved. Let us walk
together that I may receive counsel. Come, my beloved, that I may
receive instruction and comfort from thee and may make known
thy wants and thy grievances to thee with freedom and without
interruption. That blessed communion. And that's
what we have, the privilege of praying unto the Lord, don't
we? We see the example of this in Luke 24. That's what caused
me to read that. In Luke 24, the risen Lord walked
with those two disciples that were going to the village of
Emmaus, and He talked with them till He made their hearts burn
within when He opened their eyes. and when He opened to them the
Scripture and their hearts burned within them. We sing often that song, Come
thou fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace.
Thou, O Christ, art all I want, more than all in Thee I find. Christ is all and in all to the
believer, is He not? He's all and in all to the believer. One more time, look at verse
11. Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field, and
let us lodge in the villages. Come, my beloved, let us go into
the fields. Now, what would those fields
represent? Well, I think it's the fields
of the green pastures of His Word. The green pastures, that's
what the psalmist said, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He leads me into the green pastures. That's the field of his word,
the field of his scripture. The Lord may teach us from his
word. Come, my beloved, let us lodge
together in the place of worship and bless us with thy presence
and give us ears to hear thee speak. Let us lodge there. in the villages. The village,
and someone suggested, let us lodge among the saints of God,
the villages of the saints of God. So let us go forth into
the green pastures of his word, and then let us lodge together
as believers rallying around the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. May the Lord bless us with his
presence when we meet together May we lodge together around
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's the fourth thing
I want us to look at in verse 12. Let us get up early, early
to the vineyards, and let us see if the vine flourishes. Now, you reckon the vine's going
to flourish? If it's the Lord's vine, you reckon it'll flourish? Whether the tender grapes, you
think the tender grapes will appear? And the pomegranates,
you think they'll bud forth? There, I'll give thee all my
love. The believer desires to know
the true condition of his own heart before the beloved. The
Apostle Paul says, examine yourself whether you be in the faith.
Prove your own self. Know you're not your own self,
how that Jesus Christ is in you, except you be reprobates? Let us get up early. Let us see.
Let us know. Let us know that the vines do
flourish. Let us know that we are saved
by the grace of God. Are we truly accepted in the
Beloved? Or are we resting in just a mere religious creed or
silly religious ceremony or fleshly religion of self-righteousness?
Let us see whether the vine does flourish. Let us see whether
our faith is in the Lord Jesus Christ. The vine does flourish, we know
that. True grace in the heart, true
grace, the true grace of God in the heart of the sinner does
flourish because He makes it so. We grow in grace and in the
knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. His vine does flourish, doesn't
it? Peter writes about it this way,
but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
To Him be glory both now and forever and ever. Amen. We do
desire to grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ. And
because we're in His vineyard, He makes divine to flourish.
He makes the believer to flourish. We grow in grace. Now, it's a
slow growth. It's a growth in humility. It's
not a growth in pride, it's a growth in humility and brokenness of
heart. Not hard-heartedness now, but
brokenness of heart. The Lord is nigh unto them of
a broken heart, and save such as be of a contrite spirit. Growing
in grace is not a growth upward in pride and in arrogance. Growing in grace is a growth
downward. One preacher friend of mine uses
this illustration about a cow's tail. Remember I told you about
growing in grace is like a cow's tail? The longer it grows and
the more it grows, the closer it gets to the ground. And that's
growing in grace. We grow in humility and contrition
and brokenheartedness. Yes, the vineyard does flourish
because it's His. It's His. He's made us new creatures
in Christ. True love for Christ is like
a tender Precious, newly formed fruit on the vine. A tender grape. A tender grape. Tender love. The fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness. And the pomegranates, the tender
grapes, they will appear. And the pomegranates will bud
forth. Will bud forth. Will flower.
Because of the true vine. You remember John 15, our Lord
said, I am the true vine and you are the branches. He that
abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit.
For without me you can do nothing. For herein is my Father glorified
that you bear much fruit. And it's His fruit. It's His
fruit. Now here's the last thing in
verse 12 and verse 13. There will I give thee my love,
or my loves in the plural. Can you love the Lord Jesus Christ
too much? Absolutely not. I'm ashamed I
don't love Him more. I remember what John Newton said
years ago. He wrote it down so we could
read it. I don't love the Lord like I want to, like I should,
or like I will one day. But we do love Him. And we only
love Him because He first loved us. There I'll give thee my loves. The fruit of the Spirit is love,
isn't it? Joy and peace in Christ. Believers openly and freely confess
love, devotion, and commitment toward the Lord Jesus Christ
in private communion with Him when we pray unto the Lord. and
in public worship. Just you being here this evening
demonstrates that you're in love with the Lord Jesus Christ. You
came here not to hear me, but you came to hear about Him. We give the best we have in our
service and worship unto the Lord when we give ourselves totally
unto Him, unreservedly committing as Paul writes to young Timothy,
and Paul sitting in prison, waiting to be executed for the gospel,
and he writes back to young Timothy his last words, I know whom I
have believed, and I'm persuaded he's able to keep that which
I've committed unto him. There I'll give thee my love,
my dove, my undefiled. Love is the true motive for service
and worship, is it not? The love of Christ constrains
us. The love of Christ constrains us. Now, look at verse 13 for
a minute. And I've looked at this a long
time, and I don't know if I... It's all right if I tell you
I don't understand everything that's said here. One thing I
can guarantee you this, I don't understand everything written
in the Word of God. Does that shock you? I understand
a few things. There are some questions I can't
answer. Most of them. The mandrakes give a smell. Now these mandrakes here are
a sweet smelling flower. And it could be that the mandrakes
here picture the believer because he's made us a savor of life
unto life. The mandrakes give a smell, an
odor, a sweet fragrance of grace and mercy. And then this is still
the the believer talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, and at
our gates are all manner of pleasant, pleasant fruits, new and old,
which I've laid up for thee, O my Beloved, O my Beloved. I've laid up for thee, I've laid
up for thee. He's given us all spiritual blessings
in the heavenlies in the Lord Jesus Christ. All manner of pleasant
fruits, all must flourish in the Lord. The branches, the grapes,
the pomegranates, the mandrakes, all must flourish in the courts
of our God. all manner of pleasant fruit,
new and old. I thought about this scripture.
His mercies are new every morning, right? New and old. He loved us from old eternity,
from old eternity. And it could also have reference
to new babes born in Christ and old saints. and old saints, which
I have laid up for thee, I have laid them up for thee, O my Beloved. My Beloved is mine, my Beloved
is mine, I am my Beloved's, and his desire is toward me. I pray the Lord to bless that,
bless that here.