Song of Solomon chapter 4. I'm taking the title for the
message from verse 12. Song of Solomon chapter 4 at
verse 12. Let's read verse 12 again. A garden enclosed is my sister. He's talking about the church.
My love, my sister. How fair is thy love, my sister,
my spouse, in verse 10. A garden enclosed is my sister,
my spouse. A spring that shut up. A fountain, a fountain that sealed. A garden enclosed is the church
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Protected, sealed, and protected. A spring shut up. We read a moment
ago in John chapter 4, whosoever drinketh of the water that I
shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give
him shall be in him a well of water springing up, springing
up into everlasting life. And then it's a fountain sealed. Remember from our study in the
Revelation, he said, let him that a thirst come, and whosoever
will, let him take of the water of life freely. a spring shut
up, a fountain that sealed, look at verse 15, a fountain of gardens,
a well of living waters, and the streams, streams of mercy,
streams of grace from Lebanon. Now in the Lord's sovereign will
and His pleasure and His eternal purpose, He's been pleased to
give unto us this beautiful, beautiful love story. It's quite
intimate, this love story is, between Christ and his bride.
Christ is in love with his church, and the church is in love with
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is to us all together lovely,
and the bride's love to Christ, as it says in verse nine, not
once but twice, thou hast ravished my heart my sister, my spouse. Thou hast ravished my heart."
Our Lord delights that his people are in love with him. Something
that he says here of his church several times, she's my spouse
and she is my sister. You see that in verse 10. How fair is thy love. How beautiful
is thy love, my sister. We're one family. We're in union
with him, my spouse. How can the church be his spouse
and his sister? Quite interesting. We are his
spouse in that we are his bride, beloved and chosen and redeemed
by the Lord Jesus Christ in that eternal covenant of grace. He
loved the church and gave himself for it. Remember in our study
in the Revelation, The Lord Jesus Christ calls his bride and is
called the Lamb's wife. And that's who we are. We're
married unto the Lord Jesus Christ. And then we are his sister. He
says that, my sister, my spouse, in that he identified with our
humanity, God in human flesh, he became one with us. He took
unto himself our humanity apart from sin. He's not ashamed. Remember,
we studied in Hebrews 2. He's not ashamed to call us brethren.
We're his family. We're his sister. We're his spouse. We are married to him. We are
united to him. We are truly one family in him. We are sons of God, children
of God, by his purpose, by his will, by his choice. Our Lord
said, behold, what manner of love Father has bestowed upon
us that we should be called sons of God. Think of it, sons of
God, sisters, brothers, family. Whosoever shall do the will of
my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, my sister,
my mother. We're one with Christ. He considers
us that way. Isn't that precious? How fair
is thy love, my sister, my spouse? How much better is thy love than
wine and the smell of thine ointment, than all spices? The way he sees
us and the way he describes us is the way we really are in his
sight, without spot, holy, unblameable. You remember verse seven, thou
art all fair, my love. There's no spot in thee, no defect,
no deformity, perfect in Christ Jesus. Now look at verse 8. We'll
look at verse 8 down to verse 16 for a few minutes. Come with
me. Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse. With me from Lebanon. Come with me. Look from the top
of Ammanah, from the top of Shinar and Hermon, from the lion's den,
from the mountains of the leopards. Come with me. Come with me. Here's
the effectual, irresistible call of God's grace. Come with me. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of his power. He calls us to himself. He calls
us to himself. You remember, it's a call of
love, isn't it? All you that are laboring, heavy
laden. He said, come unto me, all you that are laboring and
heavy laden. Come with me. It's a call of
God's grace, irresistible grace. Our people shall be willing in
the day of his power. It's a call out of the kingdom
of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear son, into his marvelous
light. It's a personal call. He calls
his spouse to himself. He calls his bride, his church,
his sister. How does he call us? With the
gospel, with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It pleased
God to choose the means of preaching of the gospel to call out his
people. Remember we read so many times
in 2 Thessalonians, Behold what manner of love, he said, the
Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called sons
of God. God hath from the beginning chosen
you unto salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth, whereunto he called you. by our gospel to the obtaining
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's an irresistible
call of love. How does he call us in love?
He makes himself to us irresistible. We must have him. We must have
him. It's a powerful lasting call.
He said, look away from the mountains of this world, from the mountains
that appear pleasant to the flesh, but there are dangers within
those mountains. That's what he's saying there
in those mountains that he mentions there. The mountains are full
of lions' dens. Satan goes about as a roaring
lion, doesn't he? From the mountains of the lepers.
He calls us from these dangers. He calls us to himself. There
are dangers within these mountains. The fashion of this world, what's
it doing? Fading away. He calls us away
from this world unto himself. The Lord calls us to leave that
which is contrary to the gospel and come with him where true
joy is, eternal joy, and where eternal salvation is found. The Lord calls us away from the
enemies of the gospel unto the true and living God, the gospel
of God. Therefore, we say with the apostle,
I count everything else lost, dung, and ruined, that I may
win Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the grace of
God, the faithfulness of God in Christ. Now, look at verse
nine, Psalm Solomon chapter four, verse nine. And our Lord says
that his church, his bride, that she has ravished his heart, or
in the marginal reference, has taken away his heart. He's taken
up with us. Thou hast ravished my heart,
my sister, my spouse. Again, he says this. He repeats
it. Thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with
one chain of thine neck, looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. is ravished with our love. One
writer said this, of this phrase, ravished, thou hast seized my
heart. That's the way he sees his church.
He's taken up with her love to him. It's a love that he's placed
within our heart. By nature we love darkness rather
than the light. But he gives us his love. He
manifests. He sheds abroad his love in our
heart by the Holy Spirit. His love for us precedes our
love for him, for he's loved us with an everlasting love.
And we love him only because what? He first loved us. He first
loved us. His love for us is infinitely
greater than our love for him. But every believer can say with
Peter, Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you. I remember
reading something years ago by John Newton. He said, I don't
love the Lord like I ought to, like I should, like I will one
day, but I do love him. I do love him. And we love him
only because he's shed abroad his love in our heart. Now notice
these two statements. With one of thine eyes, with
one, just one look to the Lord Jesus Christ, the look of faith
has ravished and moved his heart. The single eye of faith looks
to Christ. One look at him ravishes his
heart. What a blessed thing faith is,
to look, given, God-given faith to look to the Lord Jesus Christ.
You remember Hebrews 12, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured
the cross, and is set down at the right hand of God. One look
of faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ moves his heart. Isn't that amazing? That's amazing,
isn't it? With one chain of thy neck. Believers,
you remember we studied about that in verse 4 of this chapter,
Psalm 44, thy neck is like the Tower of David, builded for an
armory. where we have a safe, vital refuge,
a vital union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Believers are vitally
joined to Christ, we are in union with him, and being joined unto
him with one chain of that neck, being joined to him like the
head to the body, ravishes his heart, moves his heart. Thou hast seized my heart. I
in them, thou in me, that we may be made perfect and one in
Christ. Isn't that precious language?
You ever think about our faith and our love to the Lord Jesus
Christ, seizing his heart, ravishing his heart, moving his heart?
What a precious thing. No wonder faith is called the
precious gift of God. Now, look at verse 10. How fair is thy love? How beautiful is thy love, my
sister, my spouse? How much better, how much better
is thy love than wine? How much better is faith toward
the Lord Jesus Christ and all those animal sacrifices? Christ
is better, isn't he? That's the message of the book
of Hebrews. Christ is better. How much better is thy love than
wine and the smell of thy anointment? than all spices. This is an ointment
of God the Holy Spirit anointing us with eyes of faith and life
in him. Here the Lord Jesus describes
his precious bride's love in his sight. How fair is thy love. It's bright, it's beautiful,
it's lovely, it's delightful, it's grateful, it's acceptable
in his sight. How Fair is thy love, my sister,
my spouse. How much better is thy love than
wine, than wine? His love for us is the great
love wherewith he loved us, and because he has shed his love
in our hearts, We love him. The theme of this book is mutual
love for each other, isn't it? Our love for him and his love
for us. You remember how we started?
Look back one page. Chapter 1. Chapter 1. Look at verse. It's a mutual love for one another.
He loves us and we love him. Song of Solomon chapter 1, let
him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for thy love is better
than wine. Because of the savor of thy good
ointments, thy name is his ointment poured forth. Therefore, do the
virgins love thee? Draw me, and we'll run after
thee. The king hath brought me into his chambers. We will be
glad and rejoice in thee. We'll remember thy love more
than wine. The upright love thee. Oh, He's in love with us, and
we're in love with Him. It's an intimate love story,
isn't it? Think what grace this is, that the love of poor, worthless
sinners should be highly esteemed in His sight. And it is only
because it's the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, isn't
it? Surely it is only because His love has been imparted unto
us by His sovereign grace. You remember this scripture found
in Roman chapter 5, God committeth His love toward us in that while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. But God, who is rich
in mercy for his great love, wherewith he loved us, even when
we were dead in sin, hath quickened us together with Christ Jesus,
the great love wherewith he hath loved us. How much better is
thy love than wine? Where sin abounded, what? Grace does much more abound. Everything about the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ is better, better, better. Everything is
better. Now look at verse 11. Thy lips, thy lips, O my spouse,
drop as the honeycomb, a constant dripping, dripping, dripping,
dripping like the honeycomb, full of honey. What does it do?
It drips out, doesn't it? Full of God's goodness, full
of God's mercy, full of God's love. He's filled us with his
grace. and there's a constant dripping
of his love, his mercy, and his grace. Honey and milk are under
thy tongue. The smell of thy garments is
like the smell of Lebanon. Now, two things are given here.
The believers' lips speak of the greatness and goodness of
the Lord. As David said in Psalm 103, bless the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Those who are
in love with Christ and those who have seen his glory, what
do they talk about? They talk about him, don't they? Remember, our Lord writes this
in John 12, when Isaiah saw his glory, What did he speak about? He didn't speak about Isaiah,
did he? When Isaiah saw his glory, he spake of him, of him, like
the honeycomb, constantly dripping, dripping, dripping the honey
and the sweetness of his grace. Believers constantly talk about
him. When we talk about salvation,
it's him. When we talk about redemption,
It's Him. When we talk about the forgiveness
of sin, it's Him. Everything we have is in Him. He's blessed us with all spiritual
blessings and heavenly's in Christ. We talk about Him, His person,
who He is. God Almighty, the God-man mediator,
our advocate, our intercessor, our mediator, our surety. When
we talk about the gospel, we talk about not only His person,
but we talk about His work, don't we? What He did. who he is and
what he did. We talk about his glory. God
forbid, which is glory saved in the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is, as it says over here in
chapter five, you remember over there, turn over there. Chapter
five, verse 16, his mouth is most sweet. Yay. He's altogether
lovely. This is my beloved. This is my
friend. You see, he's altogether lovely.
We love to talk about him. You ever notice how grandparents
talk about their grandchildren? They always take it up. If someone mentions their grandchildren,
oh, they perk up. You talking about my grandchild?
We love to hear about the lips of those whom we love. We love
to talk about them, don't we? To you who believe he is precious,
we talk about him all the time. The believer's garments, secondly,
smell of the sweetness of his righteousness that Christ has
wrought for us and imputed unto us. Milk and honey are under thy
tongue. It's the honey of his word and
the milk of his word. The smell of thy garments is
like the smell of Lebanon, the cedarwood of Lebanon, enduring,
lasting wood. Now, by nature, what do we smell
like? Filthy garments, filthy rags.
But because of the sweetness of his grace, we have the sweetness
of his righteousness been imputed unto us. Blessed is the man to
whom the Lord imputes righteousness without works. God made him to
be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. So he's imputed to us his righteousness
and he's imparted unto us in a new birth a new nature, a new
nature that loves him, hates self, but loves him, the garments
of salvation. If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature. He clothed us with the robe of
righteousness and he's given us the garments of salvation.
Thy lips, look at verse 11 again. I look to this all day today. Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as
a honeycomb, just full of honey, just drip, drip, drip, sweetness
of that honey. Honey and milk, desire the sincere
milk of the word that you might grow thereby. The garments of salvation He
has put upon us. They smell glorious in His sight. His sacrifice is a sweet smelling
savor unto God. Now look at verse 12. A garden.
Verse 12 down through verse 15 talks about He compares His church
to a fruitful garden. A lot of people putting out gardens
this time of year, aren't they? Always talking about our gardens.
Well, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ is His garden. He
selects the ground, he selects the plants, he cultivates the
ground, he plants the seed, and he watches over it, he waters
it, he sends the sunshine, he sends the fruitfulness, he sends
the bees to pollinate, he sends all these things. That's our
natural garden, but when he talks about the church, he does that
and more. He compares his church to a fruitful
garden, as we are truly blessed in him. Now, a garden enclosed,
look at verse 12. A garden that's enclosed. The marginal reference there
says barred, barred. I have a neighbor over here next
door who has a garden. And he had put a fence around
his garden. And he's put ribbons in the wire
around his garden. And he's fenced it all in. It's
a garden enclosed. Why did he do that? Try to keep
the deer out? Try to keep the deer out. A garden
that's selected and protected by God. That's what he calls
his church. It's not a wilderness, but a
pleasant garden. by His grace, land that's set
aside for the hug of men's use as the Lord Jesus Christ sows
the seed of life in the soil of His garden and it brings forth
fruit unto God. Through the Spirit is what? Love,
joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, meekness, temperance, a garden
enclosed, a garden protected, walled around by His sovereign
grace. Now you may remember this, I've
told this before, but when we visited Williamsburg, Virginia
years and years ago, that's one of the first settlements that
they settled in this country. But when they settled that town
of Williamsburg, they didn't fence in the livestock. The livestock,
the horses, the cows, the pigs, they just wandered all through
the city. You know what they fenced in? The garden. And we
took a tour, we took a tour, and the tour guide said that
they built these fences horse high, bull strong, and pig tight. You remember that? All these animals run around
in town here, but they protected the garden. How much more does
the Lord enclose us and protect his church? Protected and walled
around by his sovereign grace. He mentions here a spring that
shut up, or a fountain sealed, protected, a well of living water. Look at verse 15, a fountain
of gardens, a well of living waters, and the streams from
Lebanon, rivers of His mercies, river of His grace in Christ
Jesus. A fountain sealed up. And I thought
about this verse over in Ephesians chapter 1. You were sealed with
the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance
until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of
his glory. A garden, oh, it's enclosed,
a spring shut up, and a fountain sealed. And then he talks about
the plants, the plants. The garden is a fruitful, fruitful
garden. Look at verse 13. The plants of this garden are
an orchard, an orchard of these juicy red pomegranates, pleasant
fruits, camphor with spike bird, all the different plants planted
by God's purpose, planted by God's grace. He's planted the
seed of the word of truth in our hearts, made us new creatures
in Christ. Pleasant fruits, camphor, spikener,
saffron, calminus, cinnamon, all speak with the fruit of the
spirit within the believer. He makes us fruitful. Now by
nature, we're barren, we're fruitless, aren't we? But by his grace,
he's made us fruitful. And he talks about not only the
plants, But he talks about, verse 14, the trees. This garden has
plants. This garden has trees. Trees
of frankincense, myrrh, alloys, with all the chief spices. These trees, these trees are
the planting of the Lord. You remember from Isaiah 61,
we're called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord. Let
me read this to you from Isaiah 61, to a point unto them that
mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of
joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness,
that they might be called trees of righteousness, the plenty
of the Lord, that he may be glorified. Now, turn back to Psalm 92, just
a few pages back, Psalm 92. You remember this from our study
in the book of Psalms, Psalm 92, look at verse 12. Psalm 92, verse 12. Trees of
righteousness, the planting of the Lord. He is the true vine,
we are the branches. Remember John 15? Psalm 92, look
at verse 12. The righteous shall flourish
like a palm tree. He shall grow like a cedar in
Lebanon. Those that be planted in the
house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They
shall still bring forth fruit in old age. They shall be fat
or full and flourishing, flourishing, green, to show that the Lord
is upright. He is my rock. There is no unrighteousness
in him. trees of righteousness that are
planted in the house of the Lord. We're planted by His grace. The
believer's heart is a fruitful garden, hearts that bring forth
fruit unto His glory. There's no such thing as a barren,
fruitless believer. Where there is grace in the heart,
there is grace in the life. There's the fruit of grace manifested. You remember the parable of the
sower from Matthew 13? the seed sown in the good ground
that's prepared by God. When you plan your garden, don't
you prepare the ground before you put the seed out? I know
I do. I've tilled, and my neighbors
plowed my garden twice, and I've tilled my garden a couple times,
and I'm going to till it some more. You prepare the ground
before you plant the seed. And that's what the Lord does
in our heart. He plows up the ground and he puts in the good
seed. The seed sown in the good ground
brought forth fruit in that parable, some 30 fold, some 60, some 100
fold, but all bring forth fruit unto his glory. You know why?
We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto his glory,
unto good works that glorify him. A fountain of gardens, verse
15, a well of living waters, Our Lord said to that woman,
if you knew the gift of God and who it is that saith unto thee,
you'd ask of him of that living water, and he'd give it to you. I'm going to ask, aren't you?
Lord, give me that living water. Give me that salvation that's
all of God's grace. Now look at verse 16. Awake,
awake, O north wind, and come, thou south wind, and blow upon
my garden. Now whenever we see and read
about the wind in scripture, what is that a symbol of? The
Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit. Don't turn.
Let me see if I can find this for you. I was thinking of this
scripture earlier today. When he talks about marvel not
that I said unto you, you must be born again. The wind bloweth
where it lifteth. You hear the sound thereof. You
cannot tell whence it come or whether it go. So is everyone
that's born of the spirit. Now, who commands the wind? I mean, we don't command the wind.
He blows the north wind and he blows the south wind. And our
garden, our garden, the garden of His grace, it needs the north
wind and it needs the south wind. And the Lord commands these winds
to blow at His sovereign will. The Lord blows the wind of the
Spirit upon the garden of our heart that the fragrance of Thy
grace may flow out to His glory. Come, my beloved. Lord, come
into my garden, the garden of my heart, and eat your pleasant
fruit. Look at verse 16. Awake, O north wind, and come
thou south wind. Blow upon my garden. Isn't that
our prayer? Lord, blow upon our heart. Do
a work of grace in our heart. Let the spices flow thereof. Flow out. Ever walking out in
the outdoors and you pass by different shrubs and different
flowers and different things that often get a hint of that honeysuckle. And when the wind blows, then
you get a whiff of that honeysuckle and you think, oh, how pleasant
that is. Away go north wind, come now south. Blow upon my
garden that the spices may flow out. and that's what he does
in our heart. Let my beloved come, here's our
prayer, let my beloved come into his garden and eat his pleasant
fruit. And then we're gonna see next
week, chapter five, verse one, I am coming to my garden, my
sister, my spouse. I have gathered my myrrh with
spice. I've eaten my honeycomb with my honey. I have drunk wine
with my milk. Eat, oh friend, drink, yay, drink
abundantly, oh my beloved. It's his garden by his sovereign
will and purpose, not of him that willeth nor of him that
runneth, but God that showeth mercy. It's his garden by his
choice. He chose us. We didn't choose
him. He first chose us. It's his garden by his purchase.
We're bought with his blood. You are bought with a price.
Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which
are God's. It's his garden by the power
of his grace. It's God who saved us and called
us for the holy calling, not according to our work, but according
to his own purpose and grace, giving us in Christ Jesus before
the foundation of the world. Verse 16, again, awake, O north
wind, come thou south wind and blow upon this garden that the
spices from those trees and those plants that new heart we have
in Christ may flow out. Let my beloved come, come my
beloved into his garden, it's his garden, garden of his grace,
it's his church, and eat, let him eat of his pleasant fruits.