This evening we're going to take
a look at Song of Solomon chapter 2. Song of Solomon chapter 2. We're going to look at verse
1 down through verse 7. And I'm taking the title from
what is said in that first line. I am the Rose of Sharon. I am that I am. The Rose of Sharon. Now evidently,
I tried to look this up today, but I couldn't really find much
information on it. This place called Sharon, it
must have been a place that was noted for growing the best roses,
the most colorful roses, the most fragrant, fragrant roses. The Lord said, I am the rose
of that best place, the rose of Sharon. Now this is a good
description Entitled for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ
just the way it begins there. I am I am But we know that he
is the great I am Well, he has accomplished all our salvation
Everything about him is great He's accomplished our salvation
for those whom he has loved and he loved his church forever the
love the Lord has his church does not have a beginning and
It does not have an end. He loved us with an everlasting
love. He said in John 13, having loved
his own which are in the world, he loved them to the end. He
loved them so much that he gave his life for them. He laid down
his life for us. I read a good statement by Robert
Hawker today from his commentary. Very good, very good commentary
on the Song of Solomon. He said, this is the Lord's love
letter written to his church, written with his blood. And that's
so, it's written with his blood. You see, it is the blood of everlasting
covenant that we have salvation in Christ. Now there's, but one
thing that runs all through this book, this Song of Songs, which
is Solomon's, the Lord Jesus Christ, One great theme runs
through this whole book, and we're going to see it repeated
again and again. That is the mutual love that
the Lord has for his church, and in turn, we love him because
he first loved us. So that mutual love for Christ
and then his church for him. They are intensely, deeply, And
spiritually, the church and his bride, they are intensely, deeply,
spiritually in love with one another. They're in love with
one another. All other relationships pale
in comparison to this vital union between the believer and his
Lord. We used to call and use that term sweetheart love. The
Lord Jesus Christ is our sweetheart love. We love him above all things. To you who believe, he is precious. Now we have loved ones. We have
a love relationship, husband and wife, mother, daughter, father,
son. And those are good and those
are right. And there's a proper husband
and wife. But those are temporary. But the love the Lord has for
us and our love for Him in turn, nothing compares to that love.
Nothing compares. That love will never end. You
remember that chapter on love. Now about His faith, hope, and
love. And the greatest of these is love. Hope will end in reality. Faith will end in sight. But
love will never end. This love we have for Him and
His love for us. Now remember, we only love Him
because He first loved us. By nature, we love darkness rather
than the light because of our evil deed. Now the first word
of this first verse, I am the rose, the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valleys. That rose is known as a symbol
of love, isn't it? On Valentine's Day, what does
the husband or the wife send one another? It's a dozen roses,
isn't it? It's a symbol of love. Symbol
of love. The first word ought to grab
our attention. I am the rose. I am the love
of God toward His people, toward His church. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the great I am of the Gospel, for the Gospel is all about Him.
All about him. Remember I told you it's a him
book. H-I-M. All about him. We read all through
the book of John. He said, I am the bread of life.
I am the door. I am the light of the world.
I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. We read in John 15, I am the
true vine. We only have life as we are vitally
connected to the vine. And the Lord has called, I am,
he said, I am the good shepherd. I am the rose of Sharon. I'm
the good shepherd who laid down his life for his sheep. In John
chapter 8, our Lord said, if you believe not that I am, you'll
die in your sins. The Lord Jesus Christ is that
great everlasting God in whom is all salvation. Here the Lord
describes himself as the rose. The rose of Sharon has to be
the best place, the best ground where roses in that part of the
country were grown and cultivated. The prettiest red Roses can be
pink, roses can be white. He is the rose of the best rose
there is. The best flower, he's the best
flower, he's the perfect flower. The flower of his love. Now this
rose, if we consider it as a red rose, this speaks of his humanity,
like Adam was made of the red earth. He was a real man, the
Lord Jesus Christ. But also, this speaks of his,
not only his red humanity, his real humanity, but also speaks
of his, whenever you think of red, what do you think of? His
blood. We are redeemed with the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Precious blood. He bought the
church with his own blood. He on purpose from all eternity
determined to shed his blood and give his life that he might
redeem us from all sin. Remember the scripture says without
the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sin. Had he not
shed his blood for us, we would have no salvation. We would have
no pardon. We would have no forgiveness
of sin. Though the shedding of his blood in Christ crucified
is abhorred and despised by the ungodly, to the believer it's
not foolishness, it's the power and wisdom of God unto salvation. He is most precious, and his
redeeming blood is the sweet fragrance of pardon From all
our sin, we are pardoned with his blood. His blood cleanses
us from all our sin. You remember Ephesians chapter
two, where it talks about his blood being a sweet smelling
savor unto God. The Lord God Almighty is satisfied
with the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. So he is that rose
of sharing. He is that love of God. The love of God is shed abroad
in our hearts. He is that love of God to his
people. He loved us so much that he gave
himself for us. And then he's called here the
Lord Jesus is not only the I am rose, but he's the I am lily,
the I am lily of the valley, the redness of the rose, correspond
to his precious blood atonement. The lily here represents his
holiness. The word in the original indicates
purity and whiteness. The lily represents his holiness
or his deity or his righteousness as God our Savior. He had no
sin, knew no sin, and did no sin. Such a high priest became
us who was holy, harmless, and undefiled. We have that mediator
that we need, who's altogether holy, yet he's merciful. It's who he is that gives infinite
value and merit to what he did. The One who is God Almighty in
human flesh died to put away our sin. Not with the blood of
bulls and goats, but with His own blood, He obtained for us
eternal redemption with His own blood. In Matthew chapter 6,
our Lord said, Solomon in all his glory is not arrayed as these
lilies of the field. And he is the lily of the valley
for the whiteness and purity and glory of his person. Now
look at verse 2. So there the Lord describes himself. Now we see the Lord speaks of
his church. As the lily among the thorns,
so is my love among the daughters or the sons of men. Believers
are called by the Lord the lily among the thorns. He calls his
church what he calls himself, the lily, a lily. For what is
true of the head is true of the body. Christ and his church are
one. That which makes the believer
righteous and holy in God's sight is what? Christ. He is the lily
of the valley. He is holy, and we are holy in
Him. We are His body. We are His bride. You remember the description
of the bride we studied in Revelation 19. To her was granted that she
should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white. For the fine
linen is the righteousness of the saints. What is the righteousness
of the saints? The Lord Jesus Christ himself,
he's the Lord, our righteousness. He's clothed us with the garments
of salvation. He's robed us with the robe of
righteousness. Blessed is that man. Blessed
is that man to whom God imputed righteousness without work. That's a blessed man. That's
a blessed man. Although believers live among
briars and thorns, our sinful nature, of our sinful nature
in this sin-cursed world. Remember the Lord said in Genesis
3, thorns and thistles shall it bring forth, and thou shalt
eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shall
they earn your living all the days of your life. We live among
thorns and thistles, don't we? Every time I weed my garden,
I think about that. Thorns and thistles. How'd those
weeds get in there? I didn't plant them. They just volunteered. They volunteered to show up. We live in this ungodly world.
We live among thorns and thistles. Yet in his eyes, we stand complete
in Christ without sin. Without sin. Holy, unblameable,
unreprovable, in his sight in Christ. He presents us that way
before the Father. He presents us as the lily, pure
and white, not in ourselves, but in my substitute, in my Savior. The church wears and bears his
name. She is owned as his love. The
Lord regards her with the eye of delight. and one day soon
will remove his church from the thorns and briars of this ungodly
world into that heavenly paradise." We're going to study in Hebrews
chapter 2 that he's bringing many sons unto glory. Many sons he's bringing them
unto paradise. The Lord shall descend and take
us home to glory and there shall we ever be with the Lord. But
while we're here, we live among the thorns, we live in this sinful
flesh. As the lily among the thorns,
so is my love, my loved ones among the daughters or the sons
of men. Now look at verse three, the
apple tree, the apple tree. You know, the apple tree is also
a symbol of love, isn't it? I have in the back of my mind
somewhere, some of you older ones probably remember the song
that said, don't sit under the apple tree with anyone else but
me. That apple is, and the apple
tree is a symbol of God's love. Symbol of God's love. The Lord
Jesus Christ is the fruitful tree of life unto every believer,
and the church speaks concerning him. As the apple tree among
the woods, so is my beloved, my beloved. The apple tree among
all the trees of the wood is a special tree. It's a fruitful
tree, full of life, full of nourishment. That's my beloved. So is my beloved
among the suns. I sat down Under his shadow,
under the shadow of this apple tree, I sat down, and I delighted
to sit down, as a marginal reference says, under the shadow of this
apple tree with great delight. And his fruit was sweet to my
taste. Sweet to my taste. I remember
as a young six, seven-year-old boy, we had a big apple orchard. near to the house where I used
to live, and we couldn't wait till those apples would set on.
And we'd always go out there and get those green apples. And
they were, they were, they were very bitter. And we'd always find, sour is
the word I'm looking for. We'd always take us a salt shaker
to try to help the bitterness. But his fruit is not a sour apple. His fruit is most delicious.
You know, they have apples called red delicious. That's what the
Lord Jesus Christ did. He's not a wine sap. He's a red
delicious apple. As the apple tree among the trees
of the woods, so is my beloved that I sat down under his shadow. I want to sit down in his presence,
don't you? And I sit there with delight.
And we enjoy the fruit, his fruit, the fruit of spirit, love, joy,
peace, longsuffering, gentleness. And it's sweet to my taste. Sweet
to my taste. What was we read there a moment
ago? Yes, over in verse 14, the same
chapter. Oh, my love thou art. in the
cleft of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me
see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice, for sweet is thy voice."
His voice is sweet. And the fruit of his apple tree
is most, most, most sweet, most sweet. The beauty, for the beauty
and usefulness and fruitfulness, the apple tree excels all other
trees. Even so, the Lord Jesus Christ,
he is altogether lovely. To you who believe he is most
precious in his person, in his character, in all of his office
work as prophet, priest, and king, all blessings are found
in him. Temporal blessings, spiritual
blessings, eternal blessings are all found in Christ. Believers know him and enjoy
him now and forever. And we sit down with great delight
under the shadow of his presence, the shadow of his gospel, and
we partake of that fruit that he provides for us. Christ himself
is the apple tree. Christ himself is called the
tree of life. The water of life. We rest under
the shadow of the refuge and shelter he's provided for us.
Christ is our refuge. And we feed upon the apples of
his love, for he provides all things for us, doesn't he? That's
a delightful verse, isn't it? I sat down under his shadow.
Not the shadow of the law, but the shadow of the tree of life.
And I did so with great delight. and his fruit, the fruit of spirit
that shed abroad our heart by the Holy Spirit, sweet to my
taste, sweet to my palate. His fruit was most sweet. We
have tasted of the Lord that he is gracious. You remember
Psalm 34. Psalm 73 says, Whom have I in heaven but thee? There's none upon the earth that
I desire besides thee. My flesh and my heart faileth,
but God is the strength of my heart, my portion forever, and
are delighted to rest in the refuge he has provided and feed
upon him. We delight to find refuge in
him, and then we feed upon him. We feed upon him. Now look at
verse four. He brought me He bought me, and
then he brought me. He bought us first with his own
blood, and then he brings us. He brings us. You remember chapter
1, verse 4? We will run after thee. The king
hath brought me into his chambers. We will be glad and rejoice in
thee. He bought me and then he brought
me to the banqueting house. It's the banqueting house of
wine, as the marginal reference says. His banner over me was
love, love, love of God. Every believer does acknowledge
the reason why we delight in him. The reason why we delight
to feed upon him is because he brought us. He brought us to
himself. You remember he said, no man
can come to me except the father which sent me draw him. He draws
us to himself through this house of wine, rejoicing in the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He brought us into his family.
He chose us to be His own. He adopted us by His grace. He brought me. He brought me
with His sovereign grace alone and brought me to Himself, not
because we were deserving. It is because He is merciful
to His people. He delights to show mercy unto
us in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me read this to you. In the fullness of the time,
God sent forth his son made of a woman, made under the law to
redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the
adoption of sons. And because you are sons, God
has sent forth the spirit of his son into your heart, crying,
Abba, father, wherefore thou art no more a servant but a son. And if a son, then an heir of
God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Galatians chapter four. He brought
me, brought his people into his family. He made us his own, his
own family. He said, you're no more foreigners
and strangers carried about by every wind of doctrine. But he
says over here, he says, therefore, you're no more strangers and
foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household
of God and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and
prophets, Jesus Christ, the chief cornerstone. He brought me to
the banqueting house. Now watch this. And his banner
over me, and that word is standard. We think of a flag. Our country
has a flag and a lot of states have a flag. That's the standard. He brought me to the banqueting
house and his banner over me, his flag over me was love. Love. Love of God. Sovereign
love. You remember that song? Our friend,
Brother Parks, used to sing, or still does sing, Hail Sovereign
Love that first began a scheme to rescue fallen men. Hail, matchless,
free, eternal grace that gave my soul a hiding place. Sovereign
love. And then we talk about electing
love. Electing love. I remember the
first time I read that statement in somebody's book. Electing
love. And that's what election is.
It's out of love. God's love for us. It's redeeming
love unto him who loved us and washed us from our sin in his
own blood. It's regenerating love. You had the quickened who
were dead, but God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith
he loved us, even when we were dead. dead in sin quicken us
together with Christ. His love over us is sovereign
love, electing love, redeeming love, regenerating love. God
commanded his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. Nothing can quench that love.
Nothing can separate us from the love of God, which is in
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's his banner over us, his
love, his love. You remember those seven names
of Jehovah? Jehovah, Jireh, Jehovah, Sid Canu. One of those names
is found in Exodus 17, where it says, Moses built an altar
and called the name of Jehovah Nisa, Jehovah Nisa. You remember what it means? The
Lord is our banner. And his banner over us is love.
We wave the flag of His love unto Him who loved us and washed
us from our sin in His own blood. To Him be all the honor and glory
forever and ever. Amen. Now look at verse five. He brought me into the banqueting
house, banqueting house of His house of wine, of refreshment,
reviving, salvation, and His banner over us was love, Now,
verse 5, stay me with flagons, flagons, comfort me with the
apples, for I am sick. I'm sick. Not I'm sick of love,
I'm sick with love. Love sick. Stay me with flagons. Sustain me, feed me with these
vessels of wine, the milk of his word and the meat of his
word and the wine of his word. Stay me with these flagons, fullness
we have in Christ. He's able to meet all our need
according to his riches in glory through Christ Jesus. Support
me and comfort us with the apples, all the apples of his promises,
the sweet promises of the Lord, exceeding great and precious,
are they not? Everything God has promised, and he made a lot
of promises, not one word, not one promise will fail. All the
promises of God in him are yes, and in him and amen. Now watch
this. The last part of verse five,
I'm sick with love. I'm sick with love. I'm consumed
with his love. Sick with love. I wrote this
down. Let me be infected with his love. I want to catch that sickness.
Don't you? I want to be infected with his
love through and through. I want that virus of his love
shed abroad in my heart. That's a good thing. to be infected,
to have a virus of his love, to be consumed with his love. The believer is not satisfied
in this life to live without the Lord Jesus Christ. We must
have him. We must have him. So long as
we remain in this body of flesh, living among the thorns, we need
daily refreshing, daily reviving manifestations of his love toward
us. I'm lovesick for him. Lovesick
for the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, look at verse six. Talking
about his hand. His left hand is under my head. His left hand holds up my head.
And then his right hand, he does embrace me. Now you think about
the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. His hands were pierced to put
away our sin. Think about His hands. Our beloved
Lord knows how to comfort our troubled and distressed hearts.
Our salvation in Christ is sure, it's safe, it's certain, as His
powerful hand. Remember He said, my sheep hear
my voice, I know them, they follow me, I give unto them eternal
life. They shall never perish, neither
shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave
to me is greater than all, and no man can pluck them out of
his hand. No one. He says, you remember
in Daniel chapter 4, all the inhabitants are reputed as nothing,
and he does according to his will in the army of heaven among
the inhabitants of this earth, and no one can stay his hand.
or saying to him, what are you doing? You see, his left hand is under
our head. When you think of your head,
you think of your thoughts, your emotions, your thinking, and
his right hand does embrace us. He embraces us. Now, it reminded
me of a used to be, years ago, an insurance company, and it
is the insurance company that we have right now, our car insurance. You remember that commercial? You're in good hands with Allstate.
And I'm glad we've got insurance, and every time I've had a legitimate
claim, they've paid it generously. But we think about you're in
good hands with the insurance company. That's nothing compared
to what we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. We can say we're in good
hands. You remember the psalmist said,
I think it's Psalm 31, he said, my times are in thy hand. And
then the songwriter picked it up and said, my God, that's where
I want them. I want to be in his hands. Nothing
can be compared with what we have in Christ, because Christ
is all and in all. That's not an exaggeration, that's
a matter of fact, the matter of truth. Christ is all and in
all. Now let me give you several things
about these hands, and I've got an article, it'll be in the bulletin
this week. The believer, you're in good
hands, because you're in the hands of the Lord. being made
one with him were in good hands. His hands are tender hands, able
to say to the uttermost, his hands are tender hands. He said,
come unto me, all you labor and heavy laden, I'll give you rest.
His hands are strong hands, no one can stay his hand. His hands
are strong hands, able to keep us from falling. His hands keep
us, don't they? He's able to keep us from falling,
kept by the power of God. His hands are wise hands, for
he is our wisdom, his wise hands, able to guide us. We are the
people of his pasture and the sheep of his hands. You remember
Psalm 95? His hands are loving hands, caring
hands, aren't they? His hands were wounded to put
away our sin. Remember, he said to Thomas,
behold my hands. He still has those scars in his
hands, in his side, in his feet, demonstrating that he gave his
life for us. His hands are caring hands, caressing
hands, caring hands able to supply all our need. according to his
riches in glory. He is Jehovah Jireh, the Lord
will provide. His hands are victorious hands,
victorious hands. We are more than conquerors through
him that loved us. His hands are not defeated hands,
they're victorious hands. He's the captain of our salvation
who's bringing many sons into glory. He's won every battle for us,
hasn't he? His left hand is under my head. His right hand does
embrace me. Embrace me, Lord. Embrace me. Now look at verse 7. I'll let
you go. I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the rose, the
animals of the field, the hinds, the deers, the rose, the bucks, that you
stir not up nor wake, my love, till he pleases. The church and believers are
so taken up with the Lord Jesus Christ, all that he is, all that
he has done, all that he is doing. We don't want to be disturbed
from the sweet communion and worship that we have with him. Don't mess with that communion
and fellowship we have with the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't disturb
and wake my love until he is pleased to do so. Whatsoever
the Lord is pleased to do, that's what he does. I'm thinking about
We have that sweet communion and fellowship we have with the
Lord Jesus Christ. Let's not do anything to mess
that up. In our thoughts, in our lives,
the things we think, the things we do, let's be very, very careful. Very, very careful. I think of
a verse found in Matthew 17. when the Lord was transfigured
before the apostles, Peter, James, and John, and his glory did shine
forth. And Peter, in his zeal and his
emotion, he didn't want to leave. He just wanted to stay right
there. Let's not do anything to disturb this fellowship and
this communion. And then he said, let us just
build three tabernacles and stay right here. He didn't want to
leave. And that's the attitude I think
the believer has with that love relationship with the Lord Jesus
Christ. We don't want to disturb that.
We don't want to do anything to harm that communion and fellowship
we have with the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's just stay right put. Let's
stay right here and worship the Lord in spirit and in truth.