Okay, this evening now we're
going to look at Song of Solomon, chapter 5, beginning at verse
9, down through verse 16. And what a glorious description
of our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm taking the title
for the message from what is said in verse 16. His mouth,
His mouth is most sweet. sweet. His words are sweet, aren't
they? Yea, he's altogether, not somewhat,
altogether lovely. This is my beloved and this is
my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. This is my beloved and this is
my friend. That's the title of the message.
Christ is my beloved my beloved, and he's my friend. He's a friend. It'd be nice to have a friend
like that, wouldn't it? Almighty God, tender Savior. It is true he is our Lord, our
God, our Savior, but he is also our true, faithful, enduring
friend, powerful friend, eternal friend. Proverbs 18, 24 says,
a man that hath friends must show himself friendly. And there
is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. He is our brother. That is the Lord Jesus Christ.
We read a moment ago in Matthew 11, the son of man came eating
and drinking. They say, behold, a gluttonous
man, a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom
is justified. of her children. He is the friend
of publicans and sinners. He didn't come to call the righteous.
He came to call sinners to repentance, sinners to repentance. Our Lord's
family is made up of his friends. He calls us sons of God, children
of the Most High God. He calls us his elect. is elect
children. Behold what manner of love the
Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called sons of God.
His children all over this world, He has a people out of every
tribe, kindred, nation, tongue, people under heaven, redeemed
by his precious blood. You remember from our study in
the Revelation, chapter five, verse nine. Now, as we study
these verses today, found in Song of Solomon, chapter five,
verse nine, down through verse 16, you remember this is a love
story between Christ and his church. I think we come to the
high point of this love story, this love letter between Christ
and his covenant children. Here is a believer, the church
is describing the glorious beauty of her savior, her husband, her
bridegroom, and she says in verse 16, well, he's just everything. He's just everything that you
could even imagine. He's altogether, altogether lovely. And truly, this is the way every
believer regards the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our Savior. We
regard Him as everything in salvation, don't we? He is lovely in His
person, though there's none like Him. Well, He's the most high
God. He's lovely in His priestly work,
for He redeemed us with His own precious blood. We think of His saving mercy
to us. He didn't come to call the righteous
but sinners. He came to seek and to save the
lost. He's lovely in His person. He's lovely in His priestly work. He's lovely in His saving mercy. For the scripture says that He
delights to show mercy. Peter puts it this way. You remember
in his letter, his epistle, 1 Peter chapter 2, to you who believe,
He is precious. To you who believe, he is, boy,
he's it. He's it. None can enter in as
none could enter into the Holy of Holies, but the high priest
on the day of atonement. Even so, none can enter into
the beauties and mysteries of this love story between the believer
and those who know and love the bridegroom, for the bride is
consumed with the glory of the Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. No unbeliever can enter into
that glorious relationship and that union that we have with
the Lord Jesus Christ. When you think of him, don't
you think of him in high and holy and precious thoughts? He's
all together in every way, every way in his person, in his work.
in his mercy and his salvation. Well, it's all together. Everything
about him is altogether lovely, is it not? Now, the question here is asked
in verse 9, what is my beloved? What is thy beloved more than
another? Oh, thou fairest among women. What is thy beloved? The fairest among women, I think,
is referring to the church of the redeemed. O thou fairest
among women, what is thy beloved more than another that thou dost
so charge us? Now, here's a vital and important
question. What is so special about our
beloved Lord, Savior, Redeemer, and God? What's so special about
him? I mean, they used to have a bumper
sticker going around years ago, remember, said, Jesus is my co-pilot. He's not my co-pilot. He's much
more than that. He's our Lord. He's our Savior.
He's our God. He's our righteousness. Before
God, every soul, every person has some sort of beloved. To
some, it's riches. To some, it's fame and fortune.
To some, it's self-glory, health, or self-beauty. But to the believer,
it is Christ alone. His name is Wonderful, Counselor
of the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father. I hesitate to use that
word wonderful in reference to anything but the Lord Jesus Christ. He is Wonderful, Counselor of
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father. To the believer, the
Lord Jesus Christ is everything. And in the light of that, everything
else is nothing when compared to Him. What is this life compared
to Him? Well, it's a vapor. It's a vapor. You remember in Colossians 3
where it says that Christ is all and in all. Christ is all. He's everything. What motivates
us to worship him only? Oh, he's altogether lovely. What
arouses us to such interest in his person? Well, he's everything
to us in salvation. What stimulates us to strongly
contend for the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and not compromise,
not back down boldly, contend for the faith once delivered
unto the saints? Well, he's altogether lovely,
is he not? What is Christ compared to anything
What is Christ compared to everything or anything or anyone else? Compared
to him? What is it compared to him? Nothing,
isn't it? Paul said when he counted all
his religious doings and religious works in comparison to the Lord
Jesus Christ, he counted all things but lost for the excellency
of the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. He counted everything
else but, you remember the word he used? Dumb. Compared to the
Lord Jesus Christ, nothing compares to him. He's altogether lovely. He's made unto us all that we
need, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
Everything God has for us is in the beloved Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ. What is my beloved more than
another? Oh, he's everything to you who believe. He's everything. All else must fade away into
utter insignificance I like the way John the Baptist put it.
Remember, we read this recently. He must increase, I must decrease. I'm on the decrease. Oh, he never
decreases. He never increases either. He
doesn't change. He's always, always the eternal
unchanging God. In verse 10 now, down to verse
16, the answer is given. The bride speaks and says, let
me tell you about my beloved Lord, my husband, my special
friend, my Redeemer. He's all together lovely. Look
at verse 10. What is my beloved? Well, let
me tell you. You got a minute? My beloved, or my Lord, my Lord
Jesus Christ, he's white and he is ruddy. Now that word ruddy
means red. Adam, if you look that word ruddy
up in the Hebrew, it's A-D-O-M, Adam, Adam. Adam means red man
of the earth. The Lord Jesus Christ is white
and holy because he is the eternal God, and yet he's a man Born
of a woman made under the law. Ruddy, ruddy. And he's the cheapest
among, the cheapest among 10,000. Now three things are given unto
us here. My beloved is white, that means
he's divine. He's holy, he's full of grace
and truth. He's fully and totally God. In him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. All the fullness of God dwells
in Christ. In the beginning was the word,
and the word was with God, and the word was God. He's the brightness
of God's glory, the express image of his person. My beloved is
white. He's holy. He's eternal. He is the sovereign God. And
then it says, secondly, my beloved is ruddy, ruddy. And that word
means red earth, referring to Adam, And that word Adam means
red man out of the red earth. Our Lord Jesus Christ took a
union to his deity, our humanity. There we see that dual nature
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Fully God, totally God, and fully
man. The word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. And we beheld his glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and full of truth, without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness.
God, think of it, was manifest in the flesh. Now how can that
be? God who inhabits eternity inhabited the body of a man.
That's beyond our understanding, but by faith we believe, don't
we? He is both God and man and one blessed person. The old timers
called him the God-man mediator. One mediator between God and
man, who is it? The God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. And then it says there thirdly,
he's the cheapest. He's the cheapest. There is none
greater than him. He's King of Kings and Lord of
Lords. He's the cheapest among 10,000. That same Jesus, Peter
said to those Jews who you crucified, God has made him both Lord and
Christ. He's the cheapest. There's no
one greater than him. There's no one who has more power
than him. He's the cheapest among whether
it be 10,000 kings or 10,000 lords. Well, he's greater than
all. He's greater than all. He's the
Lord of all things. He's in charge of all things.
In creation, he created all things by the word of his power. In
his providence, of him and through him and to him are all things.
And especially in salvation, he will have mercy on whom he
will. He'll have mercy, not of him
that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that shows
mercy. So my beloved is holy. Even in his humanity, he's holy.
He's a real man, ruddy, real man of the earth. And he's the
cheapest among 10,000. That's a good start, isn't it?
Now look at verse 11, he's not done. His head is as most fine
gold. His locks, the locks of his hair
are bushy, bushy, black, black as a raven. His head is crowned
with glory and honor. with most fine gold, no dross,
no alloy, no impurity in his lordship, in his sovereign dominion. Like gold, his rule as lord and
king is beautiful, strong, valuable, enduring, precious, and desired
to be desired above all. He is head of the church, and
he's a head and sovereign of everything. Whatsoever the Lord
please, that's what he does in heaven, earth, seas, and all
deep places. He is the head. That is, he is
the top one. He's the king. He's God Almighty. And he's most fine. His locks
are bushy, curled, black as a raven. Usually when you see someone
that's young, they have dark, curly head full of hair, don't
they? Usually speaks this hair that's
bushy and curled and black as a raven. Speaks of his beauty,
his unending eternality, his character. He's altogether, altogether
lovely. Speaks of his eternality. before
the mountains were brought forth, wherever the earth was formed
from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. He never changes. He said, I am the Lord, I change
not. This blackness denotes his strength
to carry out and execute his office as prophet, priest, and
king, which he did to the fullest extent, didn't he? Has the Lord
ever failed on any mission? I mean, failure's not a possibility.
It says in Isaiah 42, 4, one of my favorite verses, he shall
not fail. He cannot fail because he's God.
He's God. Our Lord said, in the matter
of accomplishing our salvation there on Calvary 3, before he
yielded up the ghost, he said, it's finished. It's finished. It's done. It's over. His eternality locks Bushy, black, black as
a raven. But there's another thought here
that, remember in the Revelation chapter one, there his hair is
white as snow. Remember Revelation chapter one?
White as snow. But here it's black as a raven.
And I thought about this. With our sin charged and laid
upon him, we see our sin as black as a raven made to be his. Having put away our sin by the
sacrifice of himself, he stands in glory now with his hair as
white as snow. He took our sins to himself.
He said, for innumerable evils have compassed me about. My iniquities
have taken hold upon me. They're more than the hairs of
my head. When he was made sin for us, he was made sin for us
truly as that can be. truly as it really is, and having
fully put away our sin, he stands in glory, pictured there, white
as snow. Now here's the good news to us.
Turn one page to Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 1 verse 18. Come now, let us reason together,
saith the Lord. Though your scant sins be as
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like
crimson, they shall be as wool. Because he was made sin for us,
he bare our sin in his own body on the tree, having put away
our sin by the sacrifice of himself. Now his blood cleanses us from
all our sin. he became black as a raven with
our sin imputed and reckoned unto him. That's why that there
was three hours of darkness upon that cross. All the sin of God's
elect laid upon the Lord Jesus Christ and blotted out the sun. Now look at verse 12. His eyes Someone said the eyes are the
window of the soul. I don't know much about that,
but that's an old wise saying. His eyes are the eyes of doves
by the rivers of waters washed with milk, fitly, fitly set. His eyes toward his elect, toward
his children, his church, are like the gentle eyes of a dove,
loving and kind, captivating and charming. Peter writes about
it. He said, the eyes of the Lord
are over the righteous. His ears are open unto the prayer.
The eyes of the Lord, Jesus Christ, he always has an eye upon his
people, and it's all-knowing, all-seeing eye. And his eyes
toward us are gentle, loving, and kind. But toward the rebel,
the unbeliever, You remember in Revelation 114, his eyes were
as a flame of fire devouring and destroying the enemy. His
eyes, says Zerah, washed in milk, the purity and holiness of his
eyes. He's of a purer eyes than to
behold iniquity. Habakkuk says in chapter 1 verse
3, fitly set, fitly set, unchanging, unchanging, fitly set. His mercies
are new every morning because His compassions, they fail not.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, forever.
He never changes. His eyes are fixed upon His church
and He never takes His eye, He never has a wondering eye. His
eye is always upon His people, always upon His children. He's
looking out for our good. When our kids were little, And
we used to take our kids over here to Little League and they'd
play baseball. And there's always a lot of little
ones running around, four, five, six years old, running around
all over. And it's right on that creek bank over there. And I used to be a little bit
concerned about who's watching those kids. I come to find out
that Mama's always got an eye on them little ones. I mean,
it may not appear that Mama's watching, and it may not appear
that someone else is watching over those children, but Mama
knows where they're at, and Mama's got an eye. She has an eye for
those that belong to her. And that's true of our Lord Jesus
Christ. His love and His all-knowing eye and His love towards us never
fails, never fails. Because He doesn't change. He
said, I'm the Lord. I change not. I change not. Now look at
verse 13. His cheeks, or His face, are as a bed of
spices, sweet, sweet flowers. His lips, like lilies, dropping
sweet-smelling myrrh, speaking sweet, sweet words. His cheeks,
or a bed of spices, sweet-smelling flowers. The very sight of His
face is like a pleasant and fragrant garden, refreshing, reviving,
pleasing. Believers find sweet rest, comfort,
and assurance in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are, Paul said, the
true Israel which worship God in the Spirit, that rejoice in
Christ Jesus, and we have no confidence in the flesh. His
lips like lilies dropping Sweet-smelling myrrh, grace. His mouth is most
sweet, sweet as honey. His words are sweet as honey.
His word is pure, free from deceit and human logic. His words as pure words as silver. Psalm 45 said grace pours forth
from his lips. Words of grace and truth. His
cheeks are as a bed of spices. We rest upon His person and work. Sweet, sweet, sweet rest we have
in Christ. His lips, they speak words of
grace. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily and in Him we are complete. Look at
verse 14, His hands. You reckon His hands are strong?
Powerful. The arm of the Lord, his hands
are as gold rings set with barrel, firm, strong, powerful. His belly is as bright ivory
overlaid with sapphires. His hands are generous hands. It says in Psalm 145, when he
opens his hand, he satisfies the desire of every living thing.
His hands are generous hands. His hands are powerful hands.
Remember Daniel 435, none can stay his hands or say to him,
what doest thou? His hands hold us secure, don't
they? Look right across the page at
chapter 8 verse 3. His left hand should be under
my head and his right hand should embrace me, should embrace me
and hold me. Back in chapter 2, don't turn,
let me read this to you. In chapter 2 verse 6, his left
hand is under my head and his right hand doth embrace me. Remember
our Lord said in John 10, my sheep hear my voice, I know them,
I give unto them eternal life and no man can pluck them out
of my hand. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all and no man can pluck them out of his hand.
His hands hold us secure, don't they? His hands are eternal. The work of his hands are eternal,
eternal works. You can turn with me if you want
to over to Psalm 111. The work of his hands, how about
the work of his hands? Well, they're eternal, aren't
they? Psalm 111, he has showed me,
verse six, he has showed his people the power of his work,
that he may give them the heritage of the heathen. The work of his
hands are truth and judgment. And all His commandments are
sure. They stand fast forever and ever,
and they're done in truth and uprightness. He sent redemption
unto His people. He commanded His covenant forever.
Holy and reverend is His name. His hands hold us secure. His hands are generous. His hands
are powerful. The work of His hands are eternal.
Then it talks about His belly. His belly is as bright ivory
overlaid with sapphire. His belly, talking about his
inward parts, vows of mercy, is as bright ivory overlaid with
sapphire. That is, he's full of compassion.
He delights to show mercy, bright and strong as ivory, his excellent
love and his sacrificial love. and the richness of his love
we see in Christ. But God, he was rich in mercy
for his great love wherewith he loved us. His belly is full
of bowels of compassion toward his people. The richness of his
love, the greatness of his love, he delights, he delights in love
so much that he gave himself for us as a sacrifice for our
sin. You see what a picture? Look
at verse 15. His legs are as pillars of marble. Our legs are the foundation for
our body, aren't they? But when you've got weak knees
and weak legs, man, you just wobbly everywhere. If you've
got strong legs, you can stand like a pillar, like a pillar
of marble. And the Lord's legs The foundation
he's laid for his church is certain and sure, isn't it? His legs
are as pillars of marble set upon sockets of fine gold, and
his countenance, his appearance is like Lebanon, as Lebanon,
excellent, excellent as cedars. His legs are as marbles. As legs support our bodies, so
the support and foundation for the church is the Lord Jesus
Christ himself. He said, I will build my church
in the gates of hell, shall not prevail upon it. Behold, I lay
in Zion for foundation of stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone.
Oh, what a foundation we have. We rest upon his legs. He carries
us. His legs are as pillars of marble,
set upon sockets of fine gold. And then his countenance, his
countenance, his appearance, It's like the imposing mountains
of Lebanon, excellent as the finest majestic cedars of Lebanon. His appearance to the believer
is like a high mountain peak or like a sweet-smelling, enduring
cedar tree. They tell me that cedar wood
just endures, endures, endures, and it smells so special, doesn't
it? His countenance. His appearance
is something. His appearance is something.
There's none grander than the Lord Jesus Christ. His gospel
is excellent as the finest cedar trees. None more desirable than
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is only the gospel
of God that saves sinners. It's the power of God unto salvation. His legs and His countenance.
His appearance. When John, you remember in the
Revelation when John got a view of His appearance and the glory
of His appearance. You remember what happened? John
fell at His feet as a dead man. You ever get a sight of Him? Oh, He's a humblest woman. And
this is the way the Lord describes Himself to us. And he puts it in words that
we can understand. He talks about his head, his
eyes, rivers of water washed with milk fitly set, his cheeks, his lips, his hands, his belly,
things we can understand and get a hold of, his legs, his
countenance, and then it says his mouth is most sweet. Everything
he speaks is absolute truth. He said, heaven and earth gonna
pass away, my word will never pass away. His word, in his mouth,
lips, out of his lips, the lips of his mouth flows the sweet
words of salvation to his people. And then he says, summing it
all up, he says, yea, let me tell you, He's just altogether
lovely. He's just altogether lovely.
Altogether lovely. In case we missed something,
something about him, everything about him and the gospel is altogether
lovely, isn't it? His incarnation, God with us. His sacrifice that fully, completely
put away our sin. His salvation by the free grace
of God. Isn't that altogether lovely?
Oh, it is, isn't it? This is my beloved. We are accepted. You know what we're accepted?
Everybody talking about in religious circles, they say, have you accepted
Jesus as your personal savior? That's not the issue. That's
not the question. Has he accepted us? Ephesians
chapter one says we're accepted in the beloved. The same beloved
here. This is my beloved. We're accepted
in the beloved, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is my beloved. We're accepted in him. And then
it says, he's my friend. He's my friend. Remember the old saying about
certain people, they say, be careful what you say about him.
He has friends in high places. What was that old country song?
I have friends in low places. But they're just saying that
certain people, be careful what you do with them. They have friends
in high places. Well, those friends may be fair
weather friends who may desert you in a time of your need, but
Christ will never leave us. He'll never forsake us. He's
a friend indeed. Oh, what a friend we have in
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the most powerful friend
that you'd ever want to have. All power is given unto him in
heaven and earth. He is an unchanging and eternal
friend. He never changes. He's always
been a friend to his people. He's a wise friend. Ever go to
a friend and ask him for wisdom? He's the wise friend. He's the
wisest. All wisdom dwells in him. and whom are hid all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Colossians 2 verse 3. He's a
faithful friend, faithful until the end. Our salvation is based
upon his faithful obedience unto death. Everybody wants to have a rich
friend, don't they? He's the richest friend. You
know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich,
yet for your sake he became poor, that you through his poverty
might be made rich. Every believer can say, can't
you say this in your heart? He's altogether lovely to me.
He's my friend. He's my friend. He's my friend. I hope all of us can say that.
Turn back over here, and I think this is, turn back to chapter
2, look at verse 16. Chapter 2, verse 16. My beloved
is mine, and I am his. He feeds among the lilies. My
beloved is mine and I am his. And he says that again in chapter,
we're going to see this next week, chapter six, verse three.
I am my beloved and my beloved is mine. He feeds among the lilies. He feeds among the lilies. I
hope all of us can say that. My beloved is mine and I'm his. He's altogether lovely.