Psalm of Solomon, chapter 6. Let's read the first three verses. Where is thy beloved gone? Or
whether. That means where is thy beloved
gone? The daughters of Jerusalem asked
the question. Notice they didn't say where
is my beloved gone? They say where is thy beloved
gone? O thou fairest among women, talking about the church, he
has made us fair, beautiful in him. Where is thy beloved turned
aside that we may seek him with thee? The answer comes back,
my beloved has gone down into his garden to the beds of spices
to feed in the gardens to gather lilies lilies of the valley. I am my
beloved's, my beloved is mine, he feedeth among the lilies.
You remember we've seen that statement before, remember? Turn
back one page. Chapter 2, verse 16. And here
it's written a little bit different. Notice in chapter 6 verse 3,
I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine. Here it's just turned
the other way. My beloved is mine and I am his. He feeds among the lilies. He feeds among his people. He's
one with his people. So I'm taking the title from
what the question that is asked in verse one, where is Christ
to be found? He is the beloved. We are accepted
in the beloved, the beloved Savior. In the beloved, we have all salvation. Where is Christ to be found? Well, certainly as God, as God
Almighty, he's everywhere present, isn't he? He's everywhere present. He's the omniscient one. He's the omniscient God. He's
omnipresent, and He's omniscient, and He's omnipresent. He's everywhere,
and He's omnipotent. Psalm 139, don't turn, let me
just read it to you. Omnipresent. Where shall I go
from thy spirit, or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If
I ascend up into heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in
the grave, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning,
as well as the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall
thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. So he is
everywhere, isn't he? He's everywhere. He's everywhere
omnipresent. Omniscient, knows all things.
Omnipotent, all powerful. But he has promised to be with
his people in a very special way, in a very special way, like
no other way. By his abiding presence within
us, Christ in you is the hope of glory. Christ in you, he dwells
in our heart by the power of God the Holy Spirit. Our Lord
said, the risen Lord said to his disciples before he ascended,
He said, lo, he said, knowing, go and preach the gospel, knowing
I'm on the throne. Go into all the world and preach
the gospel. And then he said, knowing I'm
the almighty God. And then he said, lo, I am with
you always, even to the end of the earth. He said, well, I don't
feel his presence. He didn't ask you to feel his
presence. He said, believe my word. I'm with you always. So where is the Lord? He's with
his people. He's with his people. You remember in Hebrews 13, we're
going to see this in our study on Sunday morning. He said, I'll
never leave thee. I'll never forsake thee. No,
not ever. He's always with us. He is promised
where his gospel is preached and where his people gather together
to be in their midst. Remember? Matthew 18, he said,
where two or three are gathered together in my name. I'm in your
midst. So if we're gathered in his name,
he gathers with us to bless his word to our heart. Isn't that
a blessing to think about that? Now, after the daughters of Jerusalem
had listened to the glorious description the church gives,
declaring and exalting his wondrous beauties of our Lord and Savior. And she concludes by saying in
chapter five, verse 16, his mouth is most sweet, the sweet words
of his gospel promises, yea, he is altogether, not just somewhat,
just not in some ways, he's altogether lovely. This is my beloved, this
is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem,
do you want to know about where my beloved is? And then that
piqued an interest in them. And they say, well, where is
thy beloved gone? Notice they don't say my beloved.
They say, where is thy beloved gone? over the affairs among
women. Where is our beloved turned aside
that we may seek him? If he's altogether such a lovely
one as you say, tell us where he is that we might find salvation
in him, that we might find redemption in the Lord Jesus Christ. For
is he that we may seek him? I want to meet, they're saying,
I want to meet such a savior as this. And such a Redeemer
exists. Don't you? Wouldn't it be something
if someone said to you, tell me who He is that I might seek
Him? And not many people have an interest in our day. It is
a delight to witness and boast and tell others about the love
of your life and that to believers Christ. Christ is all and in
all. We have set our affection on
things above, not on the things of this world. All else must
be set aside. Christ is the love of our whole
being. We love him. We love him because
he first loved us. The apostle, when he writes to
the Colossians, he puts it this way, if then you'd be risen with
Christ. Seek those things which are above, where Christ sits
on the right hand of God. Set your affections on things
above, not on the things of this earth. Your affection, that's
your heart, your love, your soul, not on this earth. It's the fashion
of this world we read in scripture. The fashion of this world is
what? Passing away. Passing away, and
it'll soon be gone. Our life is like a shadow, bleeding,
soon be gone. As we continue to preach Christ
and tell others about the successful Christ of God, Tell others about
the victorious Christ who conquered all things, the one who loved
us and gave himself for us. May the Lord use this as an instrument
and a means in the hands, in his hand, to draw others to Christ. You see, he has ordained, that's
why he said, go into all the world and preach the gospel to
every creature. It pleased God through the preaching
of the gospel to call out his people. as we tell others, as we read
about in chapter five of the beauties of Christ and the loveliness
of Christ and the sufficiency of Christ and all of his grace
and all of his power to save. God uses that preached word as
a means to draw others irresistibly to the Lord Jesus Christ. God
has ordained the preaching of the gospel to draw His sheep
to Him. All that the Father hath given
to me, they'll come to me, and those that come to me, I'll never
cast them out. No man can come to me except
the Father which sent me draw him. It's pleased God through
the preaching of the gospel to call out his people. You know
what preaching really boils down to? And I've said this so many
times. It's one beggar telling another
beggar where he found bread. That's Christ. That's Christ.
He says his sheep will hear his voice and follow him, and he
gives them to them eternal life. But that's how he creates an
interest. That's how he convicts a sinner of his sin and shows
him that he's guilty through the preaching of the gospel.
Remember this important point. It is only after hearing about
the beloved Savior did the daughters of Jerusalem have an interest
to seek him, only after hearing about him. Faith, we read about
Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of the Lord. Let
me read this to you. This is familiar to you. In Roman
10, don't turn, let me just read it to you. For whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall
they call on him in whom they have not believed? How shall
they believe in him of whom they have not heard? How shall they
hear without a preacher? You can't believe and trust an
unknown Christ. And how shall they preach except
they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, that bring
glad tidings of good things." We must hear the true gospel
in order to trust the true Christ. We must hear the true gospel
of Christ in order to believe the true Christ of God. Did you get that? The Lord Jesus
Christ does not use the lies of men to teach men the truth.
Now you can't teach the truth by teaching a lie, can you? That's
impossible. Our Lord put it this way in 1
John 2. He said, I've not written unto
you because you know not the truth, but because you know it
and that no lie, no lie is the truth. You remember my dear friend,
pastor, preacher friend, Joe Terrell. Been out there in Iowa
now for about 40 years. But before, when I first met
him, was a young man. And when he was attending the
preacher school on 13th Street, he worked for Orkin. Orkin. And his job was to kill bugs
and rodents and pests. And he told me one time, he said,
you know, And 99% of the rat poisoning is good food. It's
just that 1% that kills them. And you can say a lot of good
things, but if you don't have the whole counsel of God in preaching
the gospel, it's rat poison. Won't help you a bit. It'll just
add to your condemnation. Now, verse one of chapter six,
where is thy beloved gone? O thou fairest among women, where
is thy beloved turned aside that we may seek him with thee? You know, believers are always
seeking the Lord. You're here tonight because you're
seeking the Lord. You're seeking to know him. You're
seeking to be one with him. You're seeking to believe him.
The church here is given an opportunity and an open door to direct an
interested sinner to the only Savior of sinners, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Wouldn't it be something if someone
asked you one day, where is your beloved that we may seek him
with you? Come and go with us, as Moses
said to his father-in-law. Come and go with us, the Lord
will do you good. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ came to save
sinners, didn't he? He didn't come to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
save sinners. People often say sometimes, well,
you know, I better not come to your worship service. The church
building might fall down on me. You know, I'm so wicked. No,
this place is for wicked sinners to come and hear the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And now notice, What she says
and the description the daughters of Jerusalem give, O thou fairest
among women. They noticed something about
the believer, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, that they
are most fair among all people. The believer, the fairest among
women, made lovely only by the power of his grace. Remember
back in chapter four, Verse 7, turn over there. Chapter 4, verse
7. Remember what the Lord says of His church, His bride, His
love? Thou art all fair, my love, there
is no spot in thee. You see, she recognized the daughters
of Jerusalem recognized that the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ is most fair. Most fair through His comeliness.
In chapter 7, verse 6. Turn over there, chapter seven,
verse six. How fair and how pleasant art
thou, O love, for delights. This is the Lord's description
of us in Him. That's lovely, isn't it? Where
is the Savior? that where is the Savior that
we might find him, that we might seek him, that we might be known
as the fairest among women, that we might be dressed in his beauty,
his glorious dress, that we might be dressed in his righteousness.
Now, this is a fair and honest and earnest question. Where is
the beloved Savior? I wish more people would truly
ask us about the gospel we preach. Sadly, in our day, folks aren't
lost. Folks aren't guilty. Folks don't
need a savior. It seems like everybody is joined
to some kind of church. Everybody has something. I don't
think I've ever met. Maybe all the people I've talked
to in the last 43, 42, 43 years, I don't think I've ever talked
to a person that didn't have some kind of refuge to rest in. It may be just the fact that
he had no religious refuge to hide in, but yet that was his
refuge. Most people have some kind of refuge. Sadly, it's a
refuge of lies, not truth. Having heard who He is, the daughters
of Jerusalem say, and we could say an interested sinner, having
heard who He is, they ask, where can we find Him? How can we seek
Him? Where can we find such a Savior
as this, that delight to save sinners, that came to justify
the ungodly, to bless them with all spiritual blessings? Where
can we find such a friend of sinners, who is altogether lovely?
Where can we find a great physician to operate upon our hearts? How
can we find such a one? Where is thy beloved that we
might seek him, thy beloved Savior, the beloved Lord, that we might
seek him? Those who are truly convicted of sin don't seek temporary
relief in religious tradition of men or of the ceremony of
religion. That will not satisfy a convicted
conscience, a guilty broken heart, that will not do. We must have
Christ. Give me Christ or else I die.
We must have Him. Now we have several examples
in the scripture and we're most familiar with what is given to
us in Mark chapter 10 about blind Bartimaeus. You remember blind
Bartimaeus? He heard the crowd and the commotion
as the Lord Jesus Christ was passing by and he cried out because
he had a great need, didn't he? Thou son of David, have mercy
on me. And the folk told him to hush,
just hush. He doesn't have time for you.
And he cried out the more because he had a need. Thou son of David,
have mercy upon me. And the Lord stood still. And
the Lord healed him. He cried out for mercy, and the
Lord healed him. The Lord never turned the mercy
beggar away. That's why He said, Come boldly
unto the throne of grace, that you may obtain mercy, and find
grace to help in time of need. Now look at verse 2. My beloved... Oh, we want to seek Him. Tell
me where He is. My beloved has gone down into
His garden. The garden here is the garden
of His church. to the beds of spices, to feed
in the gardens, and to gather His lilies, and gather His people
out. Now here's a confident answer,
isn't it? Believers can speak with confidence and assurance
about the blessed Redeemer because of who He is. Their soul shall
be a watered garden, Jeremiah says, and they shall not sorrow
any more at all. Hold your place there and turn
over here just next door, over here to Isaiah. 5811 talking
about the Lord in his garden, the Lord in his garden. 5811,
I was looking at this while I was studying this message and this
reference came up, Isaiah 5811, the Lord shall guide thee continually
and satisfy thy soul in drought and make fat thy bones and thou
shalt be a like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose
water shall not fail. You remember he told that woman
at the well, you drink of that natural water, you thirst again.
You think you drink of that water that I give thee, shall be a
well of water springing up into everlasting, everlasting life. My beloved is among, my beloved
Savior, Redeemer, is among the garden of his people, among the
redeemed in glory. He's even among his people, and
while he's among his people, he's with his redeemed in glory.
They sing unto him who loved us and washed us from our sin
in his own blood. This man, after he'd offered
one sacrifice for sin forever, sat down on the right hand of
God. Where is the Lord Jesus Christ right now? On the throne
of glory. Who's with him there? His redeemed
people. I like what David said, where
is thy beloved? The heathen asked David, you
remember in Psalm 115, where is your God? David, we know where
our God is. He's over there in the pagan
temple and we whittled him out of stone. We know where he is.
He can't move unless we move him. David, where is your God?
Our God is in the heavens and he has done whatsoever he has
pleased. Where is the Lord of glory? He's among, he's seated
on the throne in glory, and he's among the redeemed upon the earth.
He dwells among his garden, among his church, among the entire
body of believers, among all the elect of God. You see, we're
one with him. As I quoted earlier, he said,
where two or three are gathered together in my name, I'm in the
midst. Look back at chapter 4 verse
12. We've seen this garden before. It's the garden of his planting.
It's the garden of his purpose. Song of Solomon chapter 4 verse
12, a garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse, a spring shut up,
a fountain sealed. In chapter 5 verse 1, Again,
we see this. I'm coming to my garden, my sister,
my spouse. I've gathered my myrrh with my
spice. I've eaten my honeycomb with
my honey. I have drunk my wine with my
milk. Eat, oh friends. Drink, yea,
drink abundantly, oh my beloved. You see, the church, the Lord,
is among his people today. The church is the Lord's garden.
Very precious to Him. Very precious to Him. Garden.
Guarded by Him. Chosen by His grace. He chose
us in Christ before the foundation of the world. We're bought with
His blood. See how precious we are? We are
redeemed with the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
fences His garden up and He plants His lilies in the garden. And
we're protected, his garden is protected by his power. We're
talking about the church of the Lord Jesus Christ now. We're
kept by the power of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
We're watered by his word. The word of truth, that's the
water of life. We're cultivated by his love
and his mercy. You know, all those things we
do in our garden naturally, don't we? We buy a piece of ground. We
scope it out, and plow it, and till it, and water it, and cultivate
it, and put the seed in the ground. We do all those things. And then,
Lord willing, it brings forth some fruit. And then this garden,
I'm talking about the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, cultivated
by his love and mercy, for he delights, he show mercy, fertilized
by his spirit. I used in my garden back here
for the first time this year, I've used some fertilizer, some
not organic, but 12-12-12 fertilizer. Never done that before, but I'm hoping that it'll bring
forth much fruit. God the Holy Spirit so fertilizes
His church and so cultivates His church and so blesses His
church that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, meekness, temperance. His garden does bring forth fruit,
doesn't it? According to His will. Now notice
what the Lord is doing among His church. The Good Shepherd
feeds the sheep from His garden. You remember Psalm 23, the Lord
is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads
me in the paths of righteousness for His sake. Through His servants,
the Lord feeds His church with the preached word. Remember Paul
said, I'm not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.
He told those elders there from Ephesus, he said, feed the church
of God, which he purchased with his own blood, feed them. He
also, now watch this, to feed. Our beloved has gone down into
his garden, to the beds of the spices, to feed in his garden,
to gather his lily. The Lord himself also feeds among
the garden. That is, he enjoys the fruit
of his redeeming blood. He enjoys the fruit of his everlasting
love, having given himself for them, here in his love, not that
we love God, but that he loved us. We enjoy him, but he also
enjoys us. He enjoys being with us and to
bless us. He loved us so much. Think about
this. He loved us so much that he gave himself for us. He dwells among them to gather
them, gather the lilies. These are the flowers produced
by his grace. He gathers them from among the
thorns and briars and briar patches of this world and makes them
new creatures in Christ. that we might show forth the
praises of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous
light. He gathers his people, his elect, from this world below
to the heavenly glory above. One day we'll all be with the
Lord. Our Lord prayed in John 17, and
I've used this at funerals for so many years. Every time a believer
died, this prayer is answered. Father, I will that they also
whom thou hath given me, be with me where I am, that they may
behold my glory, which thou hast given me. For thou lovest me
before the foundation of the world. When our dear loved ones
die, who are believers, they immediately go to be with the
Lord, and they behold him face to face." Oh, what a great meeting
that'll be. He picks his lilies one by one.
Today, soon, there will be a glorious general harvest of all the sheep
out of this world when he comes again. He'll divide the goats
from the sheep, and he'll say to the sheep on his right hand,
come ye blessed to my father, inherit the kingdom of God prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. Verse 3, in closing, I am my
beloved's, I'm his. I am my beloved. He's a beloved
savior. And my beloved is mine. I am,
I belong to him. I am his and he is mine. And my beloved is mine. He feeds,
he feeds among the lilies. Now this has been said before
in chapter two, verse 16, as we read earlier. And then here
also down in chapter seven, verse 10, where it says, I am my beloved's
and his desires toward me. Think about that now. You see
it there in verse 10, chapter 7, I am my beloved and his desire,
all his desires for me, for me. Now, it is true and reassuring
and comforting and encouraging unto us when he says there, I
am my beloved and my beloved is mine. I am my beloved, that
is, I belong to Him. Given to Him in that covenant
of grace, all that the Father has given to me, they will come
to me. Nothing I've done caused Him to choose me. Nothing I've
done caused Him to love me. It's all of His sovereign grace,
isn't it? Grace in the beginning, grace
in election, grace in glorification all the way through. It's grace,
grace, grace. He said, I'll love them freely,
I'll justify them freely, and I'll bless them with all spiritual
blessing and heavenly in Christ. 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 belong to him. I am my beloved.
And then, secondly, my beloved is mine. The believer fully lays
hold of the Lord Jesus Christ and claims him. He's mine. He's
mine. I totally own him and submit
to him by faith. He's mine. With the arms of faith,
we receive him. With the hands of faith, we reach
out and lay hold upon him. As all of our salvation, the
eye of faith spies him out and looks to him alone and says,
he is altogether lovely. He is altogether lovely. David
on his deathbed put it this way, although it be not so with my
house. God hath made with me an everlasting covenant, orders
in all things, and ensure this is all my hope, all my desire,
and all my salvation. Isn't that a glorious statement? I am my beloved's and my beloved
is mine, and that he feeds among his people. He feedeth among
the lilies. He is among his people in this
world by his spirit, by his gospel. The Lord said, I'll never leave
you. I'll never forsake you. I'm with
you always, even to the end of the world. Thanks be unto God. who giveth us the full, complete
victory over sin, he put it away, over death, he said, I'm he that
liveth and was dead, behold, I'm alive forevermore, over death,
hell, and the grave, he said, I'm with you always, he said,
I'm he that liveth and was dead, behold, I'm alive forevermore,
he said, because I live, you shall live also, John 14, 19.
And our beloved Savior, Now Paul writes about it this
way. He said, thanks be to God who
always causes us to triumph in Christ Jesus. Believers are not
losers. They're winners. You want to
be on the winning team? Seek to be found in him. Seek
to be found in him. Seek the Lord. Seek the Lord. Paul writes in Romans 8, in all
things we're more than conquerors through him that loved us. or
conqueror through him that loved us. All right, we'll pick up
there next time.