I think that's the way it's supposed
to be. The more you look at the Word, study the Word, and meditate
upon the Word, we sing that one song in that book, Revealed,
I see the Lord. And that's what it is. We see
the Lord in this book, Revealed. Now, Song of Solomon, Chapter
2, I'm taking the title for the message from what it said in
verse 16. my beloved. Of course, we know
talking about the beloved, the Lord Jesus Christ, this is the
church saying and declaring that the beloved Savior, he's mine. He's my wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. He's mine. My beloved is mine
and I'm his. I'm his because he chose me in
that eternal covenant of grace. And then, my beloved, he feeds
among the lilies. He feeds among his people. He
comes and he takes care of us and he feeds us and provides
for us. So the title of the message,
my beloved is mine and I am his. Just think about that a while. Someone said, What a happy and
glorious truth that this declares. Someone made a statement, said,
this is the happiest verse in the Bible. This is the happiest
verse in the Bible. My beloved is mine. I'm his. It reminds us of what is said
there in first chapter of Ephesians, doesn't it? To the praise and
the glory of his grace, wherein he had made us accepted in the
beloved. in whom we have redemption through
His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches
of His grace. We are accepted, not in our works,
not in anything we do, we're accepted in the Beloved, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, just take a look at verse
14, 15, 16, and 17 this evening. In verse 14 and 15, the Lord
speaks to His church, His bride, And then verse 16 and 17, the
church admires and worships the Lord Jesus Christ. And we continue
as we look at these words and study this song of Solomon, we
continue to learn more about the glorious intimate union and
relationship between Christ and his church. They're one. They're
made one in Christ. What a glorious love story. He
loved us with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness
does he draw us to himself. It's a beautiful love story.
Sovereign love. What a happy marriage between
the Lord and his church. He's always loved us and chosen
us in Christ. They're madly in love with one
another. He loved the church so much that
he gave his life for her that he might present it to himself
a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. John put it this way, we love
him and we do, not like we should, not like we will one day. We
love him only because he first loved us. That's true now, isn't
it? In a most gentle and loving tone,
the Lord speaks to his people and deals with his children graciously
tenderly. Verse 14, oh my dove, oh my dove. You remember Isaiah 42, a bruised
reed, shall he not break a smoking flax, shall he not quench. He's
a tender, compassionate, merciful Savior. The Lord calls his church
by a new name. He called her before, my love,
now he says here, you're my dove. We're his love and we're his
dove. A dove washed in his blood and made righteous in him. He compares the church to this
bird, a dove. Innocent, lovely, humble, faithful,
peaceful. A dove is the symbol of peace.
It's a symbol of God the Holy Spirit too, isn't it? When our
Lord sent his apostles out to preach, he said, behold, I send
you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves Be wise as serpents
and harmless as doves. Dove is a bird of peace. It seeks
peace. This is what God makes us by
his almighty sovereign grace. He makes his people gracious,
loving, merciful, and kind because it's the fruit of his spirit.
Remember? The fruit of the spirit is love,
joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, temperance, these things.
And then he says, you're my dove, you're my love, you're my undefiled. And then he says, you're in the
cleft of the rock, in the cleft of the rock, like Moses of old,
safe and eternally secure in Christ. hidden in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Remember the words of that song
by Augustus Toplady, Rock of Ages cleft for me, let me hide
myself in thee, let the water and the blood be my sanctification and my cleansing,
my justification, the water and the blood. Christ has put us
in the cleft of the rock. that is in him, in him. He took our sin, the punishment
for our sin, and he gives us his righteousness. And then he
mentions there, in the secret places of the stairs, let me
see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice, for thy voice is sweet
as thy voice, and thy countenance is comely. The secret places
of the stairs. Our life is hid with Christ in
God. The psalmist said this, for in
a time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion, in the secret
of his tabernacle shall he hide me and he shall set me upon the
rock. Remember our Lord said to Peter,
upon this rock I'll build my church and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against that. hidden in the Savior's side by
the Spirit sanctified in Christ. O my dove, thou art in the cleft
of the rock, Christ our shelter, Christ our refuge, Christ our
hiding place, in the secret place of the stairs. Now what is he
talking about here? The Lord has revealed unto his
bride the only access and the glories by the stairs of his
blood by the stairs of his grace, by the stairs of his righteousness. We only come to God in the Lord
Jesus Christ. These are the secret things that
have been hidden from the wise and prudent and revealed unto
his babes, his little ones, the secret places. of the stairs. Not everybody sees how to approach
God in the Lord Jesus Christ. He hid these things from the
wise and prudent, hadn't he? And revealed them to his babes.
In the secret places of the stairs, he made himself known unto us by his sovereign grace. He said,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. When Moses said, show me your
glory, that was God's answer, my mercy. The secret place, secret
place, let me see thy countenance, let me see thy appearance, thy
face that's looking toward the Lord Jesus Christ in saving faith. That's how we look to him, in
saving faith. He said, look unto me and be
ye saved. All the ends of the earth, I am God, beside me there
is no other. And then he says, let me hear
thy voice, for thy voice is sweet. Our prayers and our cry unto
the Lord is sweet unto him. He hears the cry of his children
and he answers the cry of his children. All that our Lord has
done for us and is doing for us is out of covenant love, sovereign
mercy. He delights in his children calling
upon him and praising him. and coming unto Him. When He
said, Come unto Me, all you heavy laden, don't you know the Lord
delights to see us continually? To whom coming, as Peter said,
to whom coming. He delights in His children turning
to Him, trusting Him, looking unto Him. He delights in their
face and our heart being turned toward Him. in saving grace,
looking unto the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me see thy countenance. Let
me see thy face. Let me hear thy voice. For sweet
is thy voice, and thy countenance is beautiful. Beautiful. You
remember what he said over here in chapter 1 about that countenance,
that being comely? In chapter 1 verse 5, I am black,
we are sinful, guilty, but comely. What a glorious thing. I'm a
sinner through and through, but in the Lord Jesus Christ, we
have his beauty because we have his righteousness. Saving faith
is always looking to the Lord Jesus Christ, who's the author
and finisher of our faith. Saving faith is always crying
unto the Lord for mercy. Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner. For sweet is our voice. But if
we really knew and believed that our voice, our cry unto the Lord
is sweet unto Him, shouldn't we cry unto Him all the time?
Lord, help. Lord, have mercy. Lord, show
us the way. What a wonder of His grace to
have such worthless and sinful creatures saved by His grace,
because He delights in us out of His love toward us. Don't
turn, let me read this to you. It's familiar with all of you
there in Romans 5. He said, For when we were yet
without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly.
For scarcely for a righteous man would one die yet for adventure,
for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commended
his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. Much more than being now justified,
we shall be saved from wrath through him. He died for who? He died for the ungodly. He commended
his love toward us while we were yet sinners. And we sing praises
unto the Lord, don't we? All the way through the book
of Psalms we've seen that. How many times? Bless the Lord,
O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. And he says, your countenance,
your appearance is comely and righteous in my sight because
we are in him altogether righteous. Look what he says over here in chapter 2 verse 10. He said, my beloved spake and
said unto me, rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. He says it again in verse 13,
the last part. Arise, my love, my fair one,
and come away. And then look at chapter four,
verse seven. Thou art all fair, my love. There is no spot in thee. Completely cleansed by his blood,
justified in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now look at verse 15. Take us, take us the foxes, or
take for us, defend us against the foxes. The foxes would be
our adversary, our enemy. Defend us. Take for us the foxes. Spoil the foxes, the little foxes
that spoil the vines. So our vines have tender grapes.
What he's saying is this, seize for us those who are against
us, the little or big foxes. Here's good advice, beware of
the foxes, even the little foxes that spoil the vines. We cry
unto the Lord to seize for us or defend us or help us. Let us as believers beware of
foxes. What would they represent? False
prophets, ministers of Satan that would turn us away from
the true Christ and spoil the tender grapes of his mercy and
his grace toward us. Lord, seize those foxes. Defeat those foxes. You remember
Paul writes this in 2 Corinthians 11, for such are false apostles,
deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles
of Christ. And no marvel for Satan himself
is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore, it's no
great thing if his ministers also be transformed as ministers
of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their deeds,
their works. So Lord sees for us these foxes,
whether they be big ones or little ones, that would spoil, that
would spoil, our love for Christ that would spoil our faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us always be on the lookout
for the enemies of the gospel, those little foxes of doctrinal
error or all that is contrary to the grace of God. Let us beware
of those little foxes. The little fox of free well works
religion must be kept out of the Lord's vineyard. Our Lord
said of Herod, Go tell that fox, behold, I cast out devils. He
was a fox too, wasn't he? God help us to be vigilant in
this matter. God help us to contend for the
faith once delivered unto the saints. Let us beware and sound
the warning when little foxes creep in, little foxes of doubt,
little foxes of unbelief. that would distract us from our
devotion and worship unto the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us beware
of these little foxes, these distractions. We have so many
distractions in life, don't we? There's so many distractions.
These little foxes. Our prayer is, Lord, keep us,
keep us, and spoil these little foxes. Don't let these little
foxes spoil the joy we have in Christ, in the comfort we have
in Christ. For we are but tender grapes. We are just tender, tender grapes. When I was in Boy Scouts when I was a kid,
you had different ranks, but the first rank was a tender foot. A tenderfoot, and a second class,
and first class, and then a star, and a light, and finally an eagle.
But we're just tender. We're just tender grapes. We're
no match for the foxes. The Lord has to come and help
us, and sustain us, and save us, and keep us, and secure us.
Now look at verse 16. My beloved. My beloved is mine. He's all
mine. Now every believer can say that.
Christ is mine. Christ is all and in all. In
Him was all the fullness of a Godhead bodily and in Him we are complete. My Beloved is mine and I'm His. He feeds among His people, His
lilies, His people, His people. Again the church declares the
love we have for the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe it was Robert
Hawker I read that said this is the happiest verse in the
Bible. My beloved is mine. I tend to agree, don't you? My
beloved is mine. Just think about that. Meditate
upon that. Someone else said of this verse,
a short but most comprehensive verse as found anywhere in the
Bible. Short and comprehensive. My beloved,
my beloved Savior, my beloved Redeemer, He's all my salvation. As Simeon said, Lord, let me
die now. I've seen thy Savior. My beloved
is all mine. He's all my hope, all my peace,
all my righteousness, and I'm His. I'm his because he chose
me. I'm his because he bought me.
I'm his because he called me out of darkness into his marvelous
light. I'm his because he saved me.
And then he feeds us. He dwells among his people. My
beloved is mine, and boy, I am his. He says this again over
here. Look over here at chapter 6.
Turn one page over here to chapter 6. Look at verse 2 and 3, chapter
6. My beloved has gone down into
his garden to the beds of the spices to feed in the garden
to gather his lilies. Talking about the garden of his
church, the garden of his people. I am my beloved's and my beloved
is mine. He feeds among the lilies, among
his people, among his lilies. You remember he said, I'm the
rose of Sharon, the lily of the valleys, as the lily among the
thorns, so is my love among the daughters. My beloved is mine. He's my savior. He is my redeemer. Do we have any other hope? Is
there any salvation and any other than the Lord Jesus Christ? He's
all of our salvation. God the Father in that eternal
covenant of grace had given us to the Lord Jesus Christ. He
chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. He's blessed us
with all spiritual blessings in Christ according as He has
chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be
holy without blame before Him in love. He chose us in that eternal covenant
of grace. God the Father did, God the Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ has redeemed us with his precious blood. The
blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all our
sin. He bought us with his own blood.
And God the Holy Spirit confirmed this calling, confirmed this
by calling us out of darkness into his marvelous light and
made us new creatures in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the spirit
that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing, our Lord said. The words
that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. My beloved is mine and I'm his. I'm his. Christ alone in the
covenant of grace has made us to differ. Who made you to differ from another?
What do you have that you didn't receive? He has made us to differ. Many see no need of Him. Many
have other things that are beloved to them. They see no beauty in
Him. But by His sovereign grace, we
love Him like we love no other. Look over here at chapter 5,
verse 16. Song of Solomon, chapter 5, verse
16. His mouth is most sweet. Yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved. This is my
friend. He's a friend of sinners. O ye
daughters of Jerusalem, my beloved is mine and I am his. To you who believe the Lord Jesus
Christ, you remember Peter write, to you who believe he is He's
precious, he's precious. Those who know him, love him. Not like we should, not like
we want to, not like we will someday, but we can say with
Peter, when the Lord asked Peter, Peter, do you love me? Yeah, Lord, you know all things,
you know I love you. By nature, we don't love the
gospel. We love darkness rather than
the light. But by His grace, He manifests the love of God
as yet are brought in our heart by the Holy Spirit. Those called
by the gospel do love Him. They do love Him. My beloved
is mine, and I am His. He feeds, He feeds His people. For all who trust Christ alone
for salvation, we joyfully declare this with assurance. Not presumption,
but with assurance. My beloved is mine and I am his.
This assurance comes from looking to the Lord Jesus Christ, not
to my feelings, but to his fullness. Not to my experience, but his
exceeding grace and his mercy revealed to us in Christ. we
have the precious promises of God in the Lord Jesus Christ,
remember, called exceeding great and precious promises. I'm persuaded
like Abraham, aren't you? That all that God promised, he's
able to perform. Not one word of his promise will
fail. We're looking to the Lord Jesus
Christ for all of salvation. We don't look to our repentance.
but to his ransom. We don't look to our works, but
his worth. We don't look to our prayers,
but his promises. We don't look to our faithfulness,
but we look to his faithfulness. Our salvation is based upon whose
faithfulness? Based upon his faithfulness,
isn't it? Listen to this scripture. Knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ. Not by the works of the law,
for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. You see, our salvation is based
upon the doing and dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's based
upon his love for us, not our love for him. It's based upon
His love for us, based upon His faithfulness. It's not based
upon our sacrifices, it's based upon His great sacrifice. This is my beloved. He said He
feeds among the lilies. The Lord is still pleased to
feed among his people today. We are the lilies. He's made
us lilies of his choice, his doing. The Lord is still pleased
to meet and feed his people. He said where two or three are
gathered together in my name, that's where I am. He meets to
feed his people as the good shepherd. He leads us in green pastures
of His Word, and because the Lord is our shepherd, we can
say, I shall not want for any good thing. I shall not want
for righteousness, redemption. I shall not want for salvation.
We have all these things in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now look at
verse 17 in closing. Until the daybreak, and the shadows
flee away, turn, my beloved, and be like
a roe or a young heart upon the mountains, a beater. You remember
verse 9, we had this before in verse 9, I believe over here. Yeah, verse 8, I charge you,
O daughters of, or verse 7, Jerusalem, by the rows, by the hinds of
the field, that you stir not up and awake my love, till he
please the voice of my beloved. Behold, he cometh leaping, upon
the mountains, skipping upon the hills. My beloved is like
a roe or a young heart, a young deer. Behold, he stands behind
our wall, looketh forth at the window, showing himself, flourishing
himself through the lattice. Now, verse 17, chapter 2, verse
17, until the daybreak and the shadows flee away. Don't we have a lot of shadows
in our life? A lot of fear, a lot of doubt, anxiety, until the
daybreak, the day dawn, the day stars arise in our hearts, and
the shadows flee away. Our prayer is, Lord, turn, turn,
turn like a, turn quickly unto us, my beloved, and come quickly
and relieve us and help us in our time of need. The believer
looks to the Lord with great confidence and delight that our
beloved will continue to turn us and quickly drive away the
shadows of fear, doubt, difficulty, separation, and that word there,
be there, the mountains of division. Lord, take away these mountains
of separation and division and make the light of your grace
to illuminate our soul until the day dawn and the day star
arises in our hearts. Make the shadows flee away. Look
at verse 16. My beloved is mine. He is the
beloved Lord, the beloved Savior, and I'm his by his grace. And he feeds us daily, cares
for us daily as our good shepherd, as our chief shepherd, as our
great shepherd.