This evening, we want to look
at Song of Solomon, chapter 4. I'm taking the title for the
message from what is said in verse 1. Behold. That is, take a good look at
this. Thou art fair, my love. He says it again. Behold, thou
art fair. Beautiful, lovely. Again in verse
7, he says, thou art all fair. entirely, completely fair, beautiful. And he refers to his church as
his love. We are the object of his love,
object of his mercy. He's loved his church with an
everlasting love, hasn't he? And because he's loved us with
an everlasting love, he draws us into himself. Thou art all
fair, my love." Now, why would God love such a one as us? I mean, there's nothing in us
lovely. Everything in us is ugly. Everything
in us is sinful. The reason for his love can't
be found in you. The reason for his love is found
in himself. God is love. Thou art all fair,
my love. There is no defect, blemish,
not even a speck, not even a spot of unrighteousness, not even
a spot of sin in my love in the church. Now, this is glorious
language, is it not? You just think about what we
know about ourselves as God described us in his word. as guilty, ungodly,
and all these things, and yet He takes these sinful creatures
and He makes us altogether lovely, and He does it in His sight,
in the sight of God Almighty. So I'm taking the title for the
message from verse 7 and verse 1. The Lord Jesus Christ is of
His church, His bride, His spouse, His sister, His wife, as He calls
her, Thou art all fair. No spot, no blemish, no stain,
no deformity, completely whole in Christ. What the Lord says
of His church, His elect, is absolutely true. It's true. In Christ, we are without sin, holy, unblameable, as it says
in Colossians 1, 22, In his sight, he presents us
to the Father spotless, without blame. Herein is our love made
perfect, John says in 1 John 4, 17, that we may have boldness
in the day of judgment because as he is, so are we in this world. The way when God said, this is
my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased, God Almighty, God the
Father says that of every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. All
together, lovely. Now remember, as we study through this book,
this is a spiritual love story between the bridegroom and the
bride, between Christ and his church. It's not to be interpreted
as an earthly relationship of Solomon, Solomon and his many
wives. You remember how many wives Solomon
had? 700 wives. It says he had 300 concubines. Not to be interpreted of Solomon
and his many wives, 1,000 or so, but even in that, We see
the Lord Jesus Christ has a multitude of sinners called his children,
his bride, his sister, his spouse. Out of every tribe, kindred,
nation, tongue under heaven, even in Solomon's downfall of
those many wives, we see even in that a picture of Christ having
many, many that he's called out of darkness into his marvelous
light. It speaks of this intimate relationship and loving communion
that exists between the Lord Jesus Christ and His believing
people. This song expresses their love
and affection for Him and His love and affection for them. It goes back and forth, doesn't
it? The church says of Him, you remember, turn one page over
here to chapter 5. Verse 16, his mouth is most sweet. And this is the bride talking
about the bridegroom, the Lord Jesus. His mouth is most sweet.
He's altogether lovely. This is my beloved and this is
my friend. He's altogether lovely. Altogether
lovely. They're madly in love with each
other, the church and his bride. They love each other. We only
love him because he first loved us. We don't love him by nature.
We love him by the grace of God. God committed his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Now, verse 1 and verse 7, And
also in chapter one, verse 15, turn back over there. We've seen
something of that expression before. Look back at chapter
one, verse 15. Behold thou art fair, my love. Behold thou art fair, thou hath
dove's eyes. So we've seen that before. So
three times in these two verses here, four times counting that
verse we just read. Behold thou art fair, my love.
Behold thou art fair. Again, he says it, verse seven,
thou art all fair. My love, there's no spot, no
spot in thee. We see in these verses, the Lord
expresses the beauty of his church, what he has made us by his grace
of his fullness. Have we all received grace for
grace? I am what I am by the grace of
God. The Lord declared that his church
is perfect in his beauty. and in his righteousness. For
he is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
Remember the story in Ezekiel 16 about the cast out infant
and the Lord passed by and said it was a time of love. You remember
Ezekiel 16 and here's what one verse says in that chapter. Thy
renown went forth among the heathens for thy beauty for it was perfect
through my comeliness, perfect through my beauty, which I had
put upon thee, saith the Lord. There's that cast out infant.
Everybody threw it out, away with it. And the Lord passed
by in that time of love and washed it and cleaned it and decked
it and dressed it and says, you're beautiful through my righteousness. And that's a picture of what
he does for us. Now we all admit and quickly confess, that is
God's people do, believers, that there is no beauty about us naturally,
is there? We're all black, unclean, all
of our righteousnesses are our filthy rags. You remember back
in chapter one, turn back over there, look at verse five, chapter
one, verse five. You remember this verse where
it says, and here's our confession, I'm black. I'm guilty. I'm a sinner. Chief of sinners,
wretched man that I am, but I'm comely too. How can that be? That's a great mystery, isn't
it? In my flesh dwelleth no good thing, but in the Lord Jesus
Christ, I'm perfect. I'm perfect in him. In our own
esteem, in our own eyes, we say with the apostle, with the apostle
Paul, oh, wretched man, not that I used to be, that I am. And
we can say with the Apostle Paul, the Lord Jesus Christ became
sinners, came to save sinners, and he said, I'm the chief one.
At our best state, we are nothing but vanity, vanity, vanity. But in the eyes of the Lord Jesus
Christ, we are perfect. Now, I thought about this. It
says three times, twice in verse one, once in verse seven, three
times, but in the eyes of Christ, in the eyes of God the Father,
in the eyes of the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son, in the eyes
of God the Holy Spirit, they all three agree, Father, Son,
Holy Spirit, he says of his church and the triune God said, they
are fair, complete, all fair, no spot, no blemish, no stain,
no defect. Isn't that amazing? You see,
something of the power of the gospel of God, the way he sees
us is the way we really are in his sight. Now, I see myself
as totally sinful, totally depraved, wicked, guilty. But in the Lord
Jesus Christ, he says of his bride, she's lovely, lovely. In him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and in Christ we are complete, complete. in the body of his flesh through
death to present you holy, unblameable, unreprovable in his sight. Get
a hold of that. That's the amazing mystery of
the sovereign love and grace of God. How he can take vile
sinners and make them just like Christ and do it in a way that
honors every attribute of his character and not violate his
holy character. All fair. In him and in his eyes
we stand complete. He has taken away all our sin
by the sacrifice of himself. So thoroughly and throughly is
the blood atonement of Christ that he said their sin and their
iniquity, no more. They don't exist. He has imputed
unto us a perfect righteousness. Blessed is that man whom the
Lord imputes righteousness without works. He is the Lord, our righteousness. And in the new birth, he is imparted
to us a holy divine nature. Paul talks about it in Ephesians
4 to put on the new man. which after God is created in
righteousness and true holiness. We are, as believers, partakers
of a divine nature. Remember we studied in Hebrews
chapter 3, verse 1, he calls us holy brethren, partakers of
a heavenly calling? In glory, in that last day, when
the Lord comes back, takes us to himself, he will present us
to the Father, unblameable, unapprovable in his sight. There is therefore
now no condemnation to those who are in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, let's look at some of these
details that are given here. How the Lord describes his bride,
his church. Again, this is a spiritual picture. It's symbolically and figuratively
language picturing what the believer is in Christ. And he mentions
seven different things, seven different things of an anatomy
of a body, but it describes what we are in Christ and what he's
done for us in Christ. You remember this number seven
is the number of completeness. Now, here's the first one, eyes
like doves. You see that in verse 1? Thou
hast dove's eyes within thy locks, or within thy veil, or behind
the veil. The bride's eyes are peaceful
as the dove's, the bird's, the bird, dove's eyes. We are to
live in peace and enjoy the peace we have been given in Christ,
being justified by faith. We have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. He made peace for us. with his
own blood, the eyes of the believer, the eyes of his understanding
have been enlightened by God the Holy Spirit. The eyes of
faith, God-given faith, the faith of God's elect, look to and are
fixed upon the Lord Jesus Christ for all of our salvation, looking
unto him who's the author and finisher of our faith. The dove's
eyes within thy locks. He gives us eyes to see him. who was altogether lovely. The
second thing he mentions here is the hare. Thy hare is as a
flock of goats. Now, how many goats are in a
flock of goats? I don't know. Could be 50, could
be 100, maybe 1,000, maybe 10,000. But can you count all the hare
in a flock of goats? That's a lot, isn't it? And he
says, thy hair is as a flock of goats that appear or that
eat in Mount Gilead. Now, a couple of things here.
God's people are described as 10,000 times, 10,000 and thousands
of thousands, redeemed out of every kindred, tribe, nation,
tongue under heaven, like the hair of a flock of goats. You,
could you count those? We couldn't count them, but the
Lord counts all his people and he knows them by name. He said
the hairs of your head are even all numbered. The hairs of our
head are all numbered. The Lord is acquainted with all
our ways. He knows our every thought. He
knows our every need. He's able to meet all our needs
according to his riches in glory. Christ knows his sheep and numbers
them like the hairs of our head. They're all precious to him.
None can be missing without his notice. He knows where his sheep
are. He bought them with his own blood.
The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord
knoweth them that are his. How long has he known them? He's
known them from all eternity, right? Now, here's the third
thing. He's talked about the teeth.
You see that in verse 2? The teeth are like a flock of
sheep. Now, sheep don't have teeth like
wolves. They don't have fangs to tear
meat apart. The sheep are tame sheep. Their teeth are just no edges. They're just all smooth where
they eat that grass. They just eat it down to nothing.
The teeth are like a flock of sheep, even the sheep that have
been shorn, that have been shaved, which come up from the washing.
They're all clean sheep. Washing of the water by the word
we read in Ephesians chapter 5 where up where? Where of every
one of those sheep they bear twins and none is barren among
them Teeth Like the flock of sheep the believer
likes to chew on the word of with the teeth God has given
us, the teeth of his grace, the teeth of understanding. For we
have tasted that the Lord is gracious. We desire the meat
of the word to meditate upon, to chew upon the word of God. We study in the first Timothy
four, meditate upon these things and give yourself wholly to them. In the word of God that we chew
upon, that we meditate upon, tells us of the washing we have
through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice the sheep,
they're shorn, they're clean sheep through the washing. We're
clean through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ in whom we
have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sin. That
makes us to be a fruitful flock, as it says there, none of them
is barren, but rather every one of them bear twins. And that
means in the original, Bear Twins, it means complete. We are complete
in Christ. There's no teeth missing in these
sheep. They have a full set of teeth
whereby they chew on the grass, the green pastures of his word,
and meditate upon it, and they get nourishment and life and
refreshing as they chew upon the green pastures of his word.
And all that is talking about the believer. In Christ, we have
no teeth missing. We have no false teeth. None of our teeth are decayed.
We have a perfect set of teeth. Wouldn't that be something? I've had all kind of dental work
done because I've got missing teeth. Implants and crowns and
all these different things. But in the Lord Jesus Christ,
the sheep of Christ have a perfect set of teeth that they might
eat the green pastures of his word and be nourished, nourished
up. Like those goats from Mount Gilead,
he leads us in the pastures of his word. He makes the barren. He makes
us to be fruitful. None of them are barren. Every
one of them bear twins. and we're complete in Christ.
Now look at verse three. He talks about the lips. The lips, thy lips are like a
thread of scarlet. Now, when you think about a thread
of scarlet, what does that, does that bring up any memory? Any remembrance of a story? Rahab
the harlot, put out that scarlet line. Thy lips are like a scarlet
thread." What was that a picture of? Redemption by the blood?
Thy lips, they speak of the redeeming blood of Christ. Scarlet thread. Thy speech is beautiful. Comely
is the word. Thy speech is beautiful and comely
because we talk about Christ who is altogether lovely. The
lips are like a thread of scarlet. Thy speech is beautiful, comely,
seasoned with grace. Lips are an instrument of speech.
We praise his name and preach his gospel." You can't speak
any words with your lips closed, can you? Some people can do that, but
I can't. But the Lord gives us our mouth, our teeth, our lips,
our tongue, that we might declare the praises of God, that we might
declare the gospel. Paul says, for as much as in
me is, I'm ready to preach the gospel. Bless the Lord, O my
soul, who's blessed us with all spiritual blessing in the heavenlies
in Christ. Listen to this scripture, Hebrews
13, through him, then we may offer up sacrifices of praise
always to God that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks unto
God. We use our lips to praise his
name, don't we? Lips and speech of scarlet. Talking about the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ that cleanses us from all our sin. Let me show you interesting scripture
on that. Just a few pages over. Find Isaiah
chapter six. Isaiah chapter 6, you remember
the story of Isaiah when King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord high
and lifted up, verse 5. Isaiah 6, then said, I, woe is
me, I'm undone, I'm a man of unclean lips. I dwell in the
midst of a people of unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen
the king. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live
coal in his hand, which he'd taken off the tongs from the
altar, and he laid it on my mouth and said, Lo, this hath touched
thy lips, and thy iniquity taken away, and thy sin is purged. That's the message he gives us.
Also, I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I sin?
Who will go for us? Then I said, well, my lips have
been touched. I'm ready to speak the word of
God. Here am I, send me. Send me. Send me to declare the
gospel of God's grace. Because he touched our heart,
he touched our lips. You remember, out of the abundance
of the heart, the mouth speaketh. When he does a work of grace
in our heart, what do we talk about? We don't talk about what
we've done for Jesus, do we? We talk about what he's done
for us. Salvation depends upon what he's done for us. Now the
last part of verse 3, thy temples are like a piece of pomegranate within thy locks. That word locks
means veil. The temples, and I'm talking
about this right here, this anatomy part of the body, a temple. A
temple is something between the eye and the ear, right? It's
very sensitive. You can get a pulse from your
temple. Temples are the upper part of
the cheek between the eye and the ear, part of our face. The
beauty of the church is not on the surface. One may look pious
on the outside, but unclean within, full of dead men's bones. Our
Lord said to the Pharisees, they made the outside clean, but within
was all uncleanness. The beauty of the believer is
within his heart, his mind, his temple. Christ in you, the hope
of glory, like the pomegranate. Now, I don't know much about
a pomegranate piece of fruit. But what I've read, it must be
cut open to see the real red juicy part. I mean, just looking
at the pomegranate, it doesn't look like much. But you cut it
open and there's that red flavor, smell, juicy smell. And that's
what he's talking about. Christ in us. is a red, juicy,
real fruit, a fragrance of his grace. It's not what men see
outwardly, it is what he beholds inwardly in the heart. You remember
our Lord told Samuel, God looks on the heart, not on the outward
countenance. Our temples are like a pomegranate. You cut open into the believer's
mind and heart, and you see that red, juicy fruit of the love
of God through the redeeming blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 4, talks about
the neck. Thy neck like a strong, like
a strong tower of David, built for an armory. For the tower
of David, an armory, a fortress. were on their hang a thousand
bucklers, that's shields, and all the shields of mighty men. Boy, it must have been some kind
of armory, some kind of a tower that David built. As the neck connects the head
to the body, we see a vital union. So the believer is strongly connected
to our head, even the Lord Jesus Christ. What a strong, lasting,
sure, vital union we have with him. Stronger than a thousand
shields of mighty men, nothing can separate us from the love
of God, which is in the Lord Jesus Christ. We have, and nothing
can break that eternal union that we have with the Lord Jesus
Christ, because we're one with Him. Listen, this scripture,
we had it recently in Hebrew chapter two. For both he that
sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all one, for which cause
he's not ashamed to call them brethren. Brethren, he's not
ashamed of us. He that sanctifies, and they
who are sanctified are all one. In John 17, let me read this
to you. That they may all be one as thou,
Father, art in me, and I in thee, that thou also may be one in
us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me, and the
glory which thou gavest me I've given them, that they may be
one even as we are one, John 17, 23. 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 as thou hast loved
me. Thou art fair, my love, my dove,
my undefiled. Here's the seventh thing, verse
five. Thy two breasts are like two young rose that are twins
which feed among the lilies. That's where he feeds. He feeds
among the lilies. You remember chapter two, verse
16? Look right across the page. My
beloved is mine and I am his. He feeds among the lilies. Where
he feeds, that's where we like to feed. Where he is, that's
where we want to be. Thy two breasts are like two
young rose, two young deer, two young fawn. The language here
is very intimate, isn't it? Some think it refers to the two
testaments, the Old Testament and the New. Others have the
opinion that it's talking about the law and the gospel. Yet others
talk about the two ordinances given to the church, some to the breastplate breastplate
that is worn by the great high priest. But to me, it's the breastplate
of faith and love, these two twins. Here's the scripture.
Let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate
of faith and of love, and for him with the hope of salvation,
the breastplate of faith and love. For God hath not appointed
us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. He
is the breastplate of our righteousness. Stand fast, therefore, having
your loins girt about with truth, having on the breastplate of
righteousness, Christ our righteousness. One thing is certain, the Lord
is speaking with the light of his bride. She is lovely in his
eyes because her beauty is totally derived from him. She has no beauty in herself,
all because of him. Verse six, until the daybreak
and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh
and to the hill of incense. This mountain and this hill may
be meant the church of Christ gathered together in the gospel
purpose and will of God It's immovable. The Lord said,
I'll build my church and nothing can destroy it. I will get me
to the mountain of myrrh, the mountain of his grace and the
hill of his mercy that cannot be moved. I turn one, two pages,
Isaiah chapter two. Isaiah chapter 2, look at verse
2, 1 and 2. Isaiah 2, verse 1 and 2, the
word that Isaiah, the son of Amos, saw concerning Judah, Jerusalem,
it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of
the Lord's house shall be established. And the top of the mountain,
and it shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall
flow unto it. Out of every tribe, kin, nation,
tongue, under heaven, Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, takes
pleasure and delight in his people to dwell with them. He said,
we're two or three are gathered in my name. That's where I am.
He takes pleasure and delight in his people to dwell with them
until he comes back the second time to receive them to himself
forever. Remember he said, I'll go away
and I'll come again and receive you to myself that where I am
there you may be also. He'll never leave us. He'll never
forsake us. until the daybreak and the shadows
flee away, I'll get me to the mountain, to the mirror, to the
hill. Now, let me read this verse to you. Zephaniah chapter three,
verse 16, 17. In that day it shall be said
to Jerusalem, fear thou not, and to Zion, let not thy hand
be slack. For the Lord thy God in the midst
of thee is mighty. He will save, He will rejoice
over thee with joy. He will rest in his love. He will joy over thee with singing.
It's the same message, isn't it? Thou art fair, verse seven. Thou art all fair. My love, there's
no spot in thee. Now you just think about that
a while. What amazing love and amazing
grace we have in our blessed Savior.