Now, Song of Solomon, Chapter
5, Verse 1. I'm taking the title for the
message from what is said in Verse 1. Christ is come into
his garden. He declares that in Verse 1 of
Chapter 5. I am come. Who is the I am? I am that I am. The Lord Jesus
Christ is the great I am. I am the way, the truth, the
life. I am the bread of life, I am the light, I am, the great
I am has come into his garden. It's my garden, he says. My sister,
my spouse, and I have gathered, I have gathered all that belongs
to me. It's my myrrh, my spice, and
I've eaten my honeycomb with my honey. I have drunk my wine
with my milk." Now he says, eat, eat, oh friends, eat, oh friend,
drink, yay, drink abundantly. You cannot, you cannot ever run
the well of God's salvation dry. Drink and eat abundantly. With him is the abundance of
mercy, the abundance of grace. Oh friends, drink. Oh, friends,
eat. Oh, friends who are my beloved. My beloved is mine. You remember
over here in chapter 2 verse 16, my beloved is mine and I
am his. He feeds, he feeds among his
garden. He feeds among the lilies. So, what amazing love and grace
this is, the believer's heart, is compared to a fruitful garden
prepared by the Lord in which he greatly delights and takes
great pleasure to dwell within the hearts of his people. His
garden. You remember in John 17, in his
priestly prayer, he said, I in them, thou in me, that they may
be made perfect in one, that the world may know that thou
hast sent me and hast loved them, Has loved them as thou hast loved
me. I in them and thou in me. Now in chapter four, Song of
Solomon, verse 12, down through verse 15, the Lord describes
his church as a fruitful garden, protected and well watered. Look at verse 12 again, chapter
four. A garden enclosed. is my sister, that's his church,
that's his bride, that's his wife, my spouse, a spring of
well, spring water shut up, a fountain sealed, and the plants are an
orchard of pomegranates with pleasant fruits, camphor, spikenard,
saffron, calamus, cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh,
and alloys, with all cheap spices, a fountain of gardens, a well
of living waters, and streams from Lebanon, streams from Lebanon. Let me read this to you over
here in Isaiah 12. Verse two, behold, God is my
salvation. I will trust and be not afraid.
For the Lord Jehovah is my strength, my song. He has become my salvation. Therefore, with joy shall you
draw water out of the wells of salvation. You can't run this
well dry. There's a well of everlasting
mercies in him. A well of living waters, he says
in verse 15. A fountain of gardens. and a
well of living waters, streams of mercy, stream from leaven,
streams of mercy, never cease saying, we sang a moment ago,
oh, to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be.
In John 14, you remember the Lord told that woman at the well,
whosoever drinketh of this water that I shall give him shall never
thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in a well of
water springing up into everlasting life. I like what her response
was. You remember? Lord, give me that water. That's
what I say, don't you? Lord, give me that water of salvation,
your salvation. His church and believers who
make up his garden are truly and eternally blessed, and we're
complete in him. In him dwells all the fullness
of a Godhead bodily, and we stand complete. complete in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now look at verse 16 in chapter
4, Song of Solomon, chapter 4, verse 16. Awake, wake up, O north
wind, and come, come, thou south, south wind, blow upon my garden,
that the spices may flow out, that my beloved Come into his
garden and let my beloved eat all his pleasant fruit. Now,
the first part of this verse is the Lord of Glory commanding
the winds of his love to blow upon his church, to blow upon
his garden. to blow upon his children, to
blow upon his loved ones. Now, whenever we read about the
wind in scripture, it's usually symbolic of the Holy Spirit,
God the Holy Spirit. The second part of this verse
is a desire and prayer of the church for the Lord to come into
his garden and eat. his pleasant fruits. The Lord,
we know, first of all, the Lord does command the winds. We don't
control the wind. The wind blows as it will. Not
only the north wind and the south wind, but what about the east
wind? and the west winds. Out in the
mountains where I used to live, there was a mountain range called
the Wasatch Front that went from northern Utah down to the southern
Utah. And we'd get that strong east
wind. It would blow over 100 miles
an hour, just blow and blow and blow, a strong wind. Well, who
controlled that wind? Why doesn't it just run out?
God controls the east wind, the south wind, the north wind, the
west wind. You remember the disciples were
out in that little boat, and a great storm came up. The boat
started taking in water. The wind was boisterous, and
the ship was going down, and the Lord is over there sleeping.
And they went over and woke him up and said, Lord, don't you
care that we're going to perish? We're going to drown? And the
Lord stood forth and rebuked the wind, and there was a great
calm. You remember what the men said? The men marveled, saying,
what manner of man is this that even the winds and seas obey
him? What manner of man is this? He's
the God-man, the mediator. The Lord at his sovereign will
causes the wind to blow, where, when, and in what direction?
We've had that here lately, haven't we? The wind blows and the trees
just sway and blow. You can't see the wind, can you?
But you can see the effects of the wind. The wind blows as He
causes it to blow. Remember our Lord said to that
religious man Nicodemus that you must be born again. He said
you must be born again. Except a man is born again, he
can't see the kingdom of God. Except a man is born again, he
can't enter into the kingdom of God. And then he said the
wind blows where it will and you hear the sound thereof, but
you cannot tell from whence it come and whether it go. So is
everyone that's born of the spirit of God. It's a mysterious, the
wind sovereignly blows as it will and God will have mercy
on whom he will. Naturally speaking, the north
wind brings the cool, dry air, doesn't it? We get that blast
of cool, dry air from the north. And then the south wind brings
the warm, moist air up from the gulf. and waters the garden,
waters the land. Both work the will and purpose
of God, don't they? The north wind cools us down
and the south wind, I'm ready for some south wind. To get some
nice, warm, moist. But spiritually speaking, the
Lord does send the north wind of the Holy Spirit to chill us,
to invigorate us, to energize us when we grow slow and lazy,
to perk us up, to enliven us, that we might serve the Lord
in the newness of the Spirit. We get sometimes lethargic and
lazy, and the Lord sends that north wind to enliven us and
to wake us up. The apostle writes this in Romans
7, but now are you delivered from the law that being dead
wherein you were held, that you should serve in the newness of
spirit, not in the oldness of the letter. And that's what he
does when he sends that Holy Spirit in our heart. It enlivens
us. The Lord likewise sends the Holy
Spirit like the south wind to blow upon our garden, his people,
to his people, to warm them, warm our hearts. when our hearts
grow cold, to bring the rain of the gospel to water our soul,
that it may bring forth fruit unto his glory, that we might
grow in grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, that
the spices of his spirit may flow out. Remember the fruit
of spirit is what? Love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, meekness, temperance, kindness. That's the fruit of
his spirit that flows out when he does that work of grace in
our heart. And then the second part of verse
16, the church's desire and prayer, let my beloved come into his garden." That's our
prayer, isn't it? Lord, come into our garden. Meet
with us. Come into the garden of my heart.
Come into the garden of your church. When we meet together,
meet with us. Let my beloved come into his
garden and eat his pleasant, pleasant fruits. This is not talking about his
first or second coming. This is his continual coming
into our hearts, the hearts of his people. For it's Christ in
you is a hope of glory. He's continually coming into
our heart. He's continually blowing the
wind of God the Holy Spirit upon us. Our Lord said in John 5,
If a man love me, he will keep and believe my words, and my
father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our
abode with him. He abides with us. He lives within
us. Lord, blow with the wind of the
Holy Spirit upon the garden of this church that the fragrance
of his mercy, his love, and his grace may flow out from this
church. Come, my beloved, into the garden
of my heart. Eat your pleasant fruit. Partake
of that which you have wrought within us by his spirit. It's God who works in us both
to will and to do of his good pleasure. Delight thyself with
the work you've done in us in justifying us by your sacrifice
for our sin and the great work of grace not only done for us
and justifying us freely by His grace, but that sanctifying work
of God the Holy Spirit within us. For salvation is a work done
for us, right? It's also work done within us.
God who has begun a good work in you, He will perform it. He will perfect it. He will finish
it. Truly we are His garden by His
will. Right? His will, not our will,
His will, by His purpose, by His grace, given us in Christ,
when? Before the foundation of the
world. Remember that verse I quote all the time, 2 Timothy 1, 9? or it says that God who saved
us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our
work, but according to his own purpose and grace, given us in
Christ before the foundation of the world. We are his workmanship
created in Christ Jesus. We are his work. We are his garden,
selected by his choice. Now, where did you plant your
garden? You planted your garden over there behind your house,
just exactly where you chose to put it, right? Who made that
choice? You did. Why did you? It's your
garden. I have a garden back here. Why did I put it back here
instead of over there? I wanted it back here where I
could sit in my study and look out my back window and look at
my plants grow. I enjoy it. I love it. I loved
it. I love to have a garden. But that garden spot was selected
by my choice. And God selects his people too. He said he didn't choose me,
I've chosen you. God has blessed us according
as he has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the
world. So we've selected this garden of his, it's selected
by his choice, purchased by his blood. You're bought with a price,
therefore glorify God in your body and your spirit, which are
God's. They belong to God. Conquered
by His power, the gospel is the power of God and the salvation.
Indwelt by His Spirit, there is that indwelling Holy Spirit
within the heart of every believer. He resides within us. Let's consider verse 1 of chapter
5 for a minute. And here we see the answer of
prayer, our heart's desire and prayer. We pray, Lord, let my
beloved come into his garden and eat. And the Lord said, I
am. I am come into my garden. Here's an answer to our heart's
cry. Lord, come into my heart. Come into my life and bless me.
I am come. My sister, my spouse, I have
gathered my myrrh with my spice. I've eaten my honeycomb with
my honey. I've drunk my wine with my milk. Eat. Now eat, old friends. Eat,
old friend. Drink. Yay, drink abundantly. Oh, oh, my beloved, my beloved. Our Lord Jesus Christ boldly
announces he has come into his garden to enjoy his pleasant
fruits. He's promised to be with us at
all times. We're going to study several
months from now in Hebrews chapter 13. You remember where the Lord
said, I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. He has
boldly said so. He has said that we may boldly
say he'll never leave us. He'll never forsake us. When
the Lord ascended, to glory after his resurrection, he said to
his apostles, go and preach the gospel in all the world. And
remember, remember, I am with you always, even to the end,
even to the end of the world. I'm with you always. Go and preach. He said, where two or three are
gathered together in my name. Let's see, one, two, three. One,
two, three. Where two or three are gathered
in my name, two, one, two. Where two or three are gathered
in our name, I'm in the midst. The Lord's with us right now.
He's with us. What does it mean to gather in
his name? Well, to gather in his name is to gather believing
on his name, trusting him alone as our only mediator, our only
savior, our only Lord, and all of our salvation. Neither is
there salvation in any other. That's what it means to gather
in his name. We trust him, God giving him a name which is above
every name, that at that name every knee should bow and every
tongue should confess that he's Lord to the glory of God the
Father. Together in his name is together to worship him, to seek his glory, to seek his
righteousness which revealed in Christ, to seek his redemption
from our sin in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Father seeketh such
to worship him in spirit and in truth. What a blessed promise
Christ has given unto us that he will meet with us. When we
meet together, he will meet with us. Turn in your Bible to Isaiah
43 for just a minute. Isaiah 43. Just a few pages over. Isaiah 43. He's promised to meet with us, he's promised
to bless us. Isaiah 43, look at verse one,
but now let's say to the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, he
that formed thee, O Israel, fear not. Why? I have redeemed thee. I've called
thee by thy name. Thou art mine. When you pass
through the waters, I'll be with thee. Through the rivers, they
shall not overflow thee. When you walk through the fire,
Thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.
For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior.
I gave Egypt for thee, thy ransom, and Ethiopia and Saba for thee.
Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honorable. I have loved thee. Therefore
will I give men for thee and people for thy life. Fear not,
I am with thee. I'll bring thy seed. from the
east and gather thee from the west. I'll say to the north,
give up to the south, keep not back, bring my sons from far,
my daughters from the ends of the earth, everyone that is called
by my name. For I have created him for my
glory, I have formed him, yea, I have made him. Stay right there
in Isaiah and turn over a few more pages, find Isaiah 57. Isaiah
57, 15. For thus saith the high and lofty one, Isaiah
57, 15, that inhabits eternity, whose name is holy. I dwell in
a high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and
humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the
heart of the contrite one. The Lord will meet with us and
bless us all the time. And then notice, he says, I am,
the great I am, I am that I am. I am come, I am the resurrection
and the life. I am the light, I am the water
of life. I am coming to my garden, my sister, my spouse. I have
gathered my myrrh, my spice, I've eaten my honeycomb. With my honey, I have drunk my
wine with my milk. Now, he knows how many times
he says, mine, it's mine, it's mine, it's mine. Eight times
I counted. Eight times. All things, he says,
are mine. Every good gift and every perfect
gift comes from who? Comes from God, doesn't it? All
pleasant and lovely things are his. He finds satisfaction among
his garden as a farmer would find satisfaction among the fruit
of his field as you do and find delight in your own home garden. The Lord delights in his people
because of the grace of the gospel that resides in their hearts.
God had freely imputed unto us all righteousness, all justification
by his grace. He delighted his people because
the grace of the gospel that resides in their hearts, all
love, faith, humility of mind, and meekness, these things he
gives us in our heart. He says in verse seven of chapter
four, thou art all fair, My love, there is no spot, speckle, deformity,
defect in thee. That's the way he sees us. As
he is, so are we in this world. Thou are all fair. No blemish,
holy, unblameable, unreprovable in his sight by his grace. He's
able to keep us from falling and to present us faultless.
before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. To the only
wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power
both now and forever. What a menu of sweet, savory
delights. Wholesome food in which the redeemed,
the redeemer is satisfied with and delights in. So much so that
he calls us to eat with him. He said, I've drunk my wine with
my milk, and now he says unto us, eat, oh friends, partake of these
blessings, drink abundantly, oh my beloved. He calls us his
friends, he calls us his spouse, calls us his bride, he calls
us his beloved, all these different things. Be drunken. Notice what it says
there in the marginal reference. Eat, old friend, and drink, and
be drunken with love. Drink abundantly. Be drunk with
his love. Be filled up with his love. The
Lord graciously calls his friends to come and dine with him, doesn't
he? Come and dine with him. Turn back over here to Isaiah
55. Isaiah 55. He mentions there the wine and
milk. Have we read that before somewhere? Look at Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55, verse 1. Isaiah 55, verse 1. Ho, everyone
that's thirsty, come ye to the waters. He that hath no money,
come, yea, buy and eat. Yea, come and buy wine and milk
without money and without price. Wherefore do you spend money
for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which
satisfies not? Hearken diligently unto me and
eat that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear and come. Here
on your soul shall live, and I'll make an everlasting covenant
with you, even the sure mercies of David. Come and eat wine and
milk. Drink abundantly, abundantly. He calls us his friends. You see that? Oh, friends. You remember what it said of
Abraham? Abraham was called the friend of God. By nature, what
are we? Enemies. The carnal mind is enmity
against God. By nature, we're enemies, but
by his mighty, almighty grace, he's reconciled us to himself. God within Christ reconciling
us unto himself. Romans 5, verse 10 says, for
if when we were enemies, We were reconciled to God by the death
of his son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. You remember this verse in Colossians
1, we've read it so many times. You were sometimes alienated,
enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
you. through the body of his death
to present you holy, unblameable, unreprovable in his sight. In
his sight. John 15, he says this, henceforth
I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what
his Lord doeth, but I've called you friends. For all things that
I have heard of my Father, I've made known to my friends. Abraham was called the friend
of God. In James 2, he said, the Scripture
was fulfilled, which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed
to him by righteousness, and he was called the friend of God. He was called the friend of God.
And then not only are we friends, he calls us his friends. He's
the friend of publicans and sinners too, isn't he? Old friend, drink,
yea, drink abundantly. Oh, he said, my beloved, my beloved. He calls us his beloved. All
are objects of his grace. All who are objects of his grace
have been eternally objects of his sovereign love. For he's
loved us with an everlasting love and with loving kindness.
What does he do? He draws us to himself. We talk
about his redeeming love, don't we? Here is love, not that we
love God, but He loved us and laid His life down for us. Talk
about His redeeming love. We talk about His electing love
as He had chosen us in Him. Blessed is all spiritual blessing
in Him according as He has chosen us in Him. In love He has chosen
us. There's His electing love, saving
love, sovereign love. He has saved us with an everlasting
salvation. Believers are called to the feast,
to feast upon Christ and to drink abundantly in Him. You remember
this verse in John 7, in the last day, the great day of the
feast, Jesus stood and cried saying, if any man thirst, Let
him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the
scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers, rivers
of living water. Like that woman, I can say, Lord,
give me that water. Give me that water. The food
and drink of faith. What is the food and drink of
faith? The food and drink of faith? Christ. The Lord Jesus
Christ. His person. and his work, eating
his flesh and drinking his blood. Remember what we read a moment
ago? He said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat
my flesh and drink my blood, except ye eat the flesh of a
son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Now,
he's not talking about cannibalism. He's talking about living by
faith upon his person and his work, his flesh and his blood. His person who shed His blood,
God Almighty, purchased the church with His own blood. Except ye
eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, you have
no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood hath eternal life, and I raise him up at the last day.
We feed upon Him by faith. The food and drink of faith is
Christ Himself. Always, always in Him. There's never a danger of feeding
upon Christ, the bread of life, of running out of food, is there?
He's the storehouse of mercy. There's never a danger of running
out of food. There's never a danger of overeating. We all have a problem with that,
don't we? There's never a danger of overindulging. Feast upon
the bread of life too often, too much, too great. He said
over here in the text, he said over here, drink abundantly,
drink abundantly, be drunken, be filled up with Christ. Feasting
upon the bread of life and the water of life, the wine of his
love, the wine of his love and the milk of his word. Remember
His Word, desire the sincere milk of the Word that you might
grow thereby. The wine of His love, the wine
of His grace, and the milk of His Word. The Lord Jesus Christ
to believers, Christ is all and in all. Remember our Lord in
John 21, I was looking at this earlier today, when the risen
Lord After his resurrection, I don't know how many days passed,
but Peter and James and John and some of the other apostles
said, Peter said to them, we're going fishing. We're just going
back to fishing. Well, they fished for a while,
hadn't caught nothing. And then the Lord Jesus Christ
was standing over the risen, exalted Lord Jesus Christ. And
he said, have you caught anything? Nope. passed the net over here
on the right side, and they did. And they gathered a great, great
host of fish. And then the Lord said to them,
as they pulled that net to the shore, he said, All things are
ready. Come and dine. All things are
ready. All things are prepared. All
things are finished. Come and dine at the table of
His grace. Come and eat. Why would you stay
away? It's free! Everybody wants something
free today, don't they? The only thing I know that's
truly free is His grace. You remember the story of my
Phibishep? The crippled son of Jonathan,
when David came to the throne, Jonathan and David had made a
covenant. Jonathan knew that he wouldn't live long, but he
made a covenant with David and said, when I'm dead and when
I'm gone, will you promise me, swear to me that you'll take
care of my son Mephibosheth? David said, you got my word.
Well, Saul and Jonathan, they died in battle, and David was
true to his word. Where is old Mephibosheth? You'll
go fetch him, bring him to my table, and sit him down at my
table." Remember? All things are ready and prepared,
Mephibosheth come and dine. And it says in 2 Samuel 9, it
says, he did eat continually at the king's table. David provided
for him all the days of his life. And that's exactly what the Lord
Jesus Christ does for us. Look at verse 1 again in chapter
5. I am come, I am come, the great
I am, into my garden, my sister, my spouse, my friend, my beloved. I have gathered my myrrh, I have
gathered my spice, I have eaten, of my honeycomb with honey. I've
drunk my wine with milk. Eat, eat, oh friends. Drink, yea, drink abundantly. There's an abundance of mercy.
There's an abundance of grace, abundance of redemption. He's
plenteous in redemption. Oh, he says, my beloved, my beloved.