Psalm of Solomon. Psalm of Solomon
chapter 1. Look at verse 12. While the king sitteth at his
table, my spike-dirt sendeth forth the smell. It's the smell
of love. It's the smell of worship. It's
the smell of faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm taking
the title for the message from what it said in verse 12, sitting
at the king's table. What a blessing to sit at the
table of grace, at the banquet of mercy that the Lord spreads. While the king sit at his table,
that's where I want to be. I want to be with the king, at
the king's table. in the gospel of the king. Now
we know this verse is talking about the greater Solomon, the
Lord Jesus Christ. You remember that queen out of
the south, 1st Kings chapter 10, came from her kingdom all
the way up north to see Solomon and ask him many hard questions. And he answered all those questions.
And the Lord Jesus Christ said, behold, a greater than Solomon
is here. Solomon was a great king in Israel,
wasn't he? He was the son of King David.
Both David and Solomon were both personal types of the Lord Jesus
Christ in their office and in their anointing of God. Solomon
was given much wisdom and power to rule his kingdom, but he can
never be compared, it can never be compared to the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is king of kings. He is lord
of lords. The Lord Jesus Christ has all
wisdom, power, glory in the salvation of his people. Now Solomon was
a wise king, but Solomon made many, many mistakes and many,
many errors. The Lord Jesus Christ is without
sin. He's the perfect king. Solomon
was God's king, but the Lord Jesus Christ is king of kings.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal God. He said, besides
me, there is no other. I am God. Beside me, there is
no other. I'm the only just God and Savior. The Lord Jesus Christ is not
only our King, our God, and our Savior, but think about this. He's our husband. We're married
to him. We are one with him, and therefore,
we have an intimate spiritual communion with them at the table
of grace. Remember in John 17, the Lord
prayed, I in them, thou in me, that we may be made perfect in
one. We have one perfect union with
the Lord Jesus Christ. The old timers called it a vital
union. We have that vital union with
the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember Isaiah 54, For thy maker
is thine husband, the Lord of hosts is his name. Thy Redeemer,
the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth, shall he
be called. That's our husband. We're married to the King of
kings and the Lord of lords. What a beautiful love story we
have given unto us here. in these verses and this whole,
remember it's a song of songs. It's the song of songs. It's
the best love song, the best love story that's ever been told. It's a beautiful love story between
Christ and His church. The church of the Lord Jesus
Christ is totally taken up. The church of the Lord Jesus
Christ, believers are totally taken up with Him. For he is
altogether lovely, as we read in chapter five. And then Peter
said, to you who believe. Well, he's precious, isn't he?
His love to us is infinite, it's eternal, it's without beginning
and without end. You remember nothing can separate
us from the love of God, which is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
In Jeremiah 31, we read, the Lord has appeared of old unto
me saying, I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore
with loving kindness have I drawn you unto myself. I love what
it says over here in verse four of chapter one, draw me and we
will run after thee. You remember that verse? The
king has brought me into his chambers. We will be glad and
we will rejoice in thee. We will remember thy love more
than wine. His loving kindness draws us
to himself. That's how he draws us irresistibly.
He makes himself irresistible unto us. The Lord Jesus Christ
is madly in love with his bride, his church. It's his body. He
loved the church and gave himself for it. He laid down his life
to purchase and redeem us from all our sin. His love to us and
his love to us is an everlasting and eternal love. When he talks
about the love of God, here in his love, not that we love God,
but that he loved us. And he sent his son to be the
sacrifice for our sin. We only love him because he first
loved us. Now look at verse 12. Solomon,
chapter 1, verse 12. While the king sits, where does
he sit? He sits on the throne, exalted
to the father's right hand. The king sits at his table. It's
a table. It's a gospel feast. It's a banquet
feast. And then the bride says, my spike
nerd, send it forth, the smell of the rub. Just happy the bride,
so happy to be sitting at the table. Here our sovereign almighty
king, the Lord Jesus Christ, sits at the table of his sovereign
grace in the gospel, revealing himself to us. The unbelievers
do rejoice in him, being one with him in those eternal covenant
mercies. He is the good shepherd, the
good shepherd that prepares the table for us. Here we have, I
think in the first, a picture of true worship as we sit with
the king around his table. He seek us up to worship him
in spirit and in truth. When the king, the Lord, is pleased
to meet with us and bless us with his word by his power, and
His presence, what a blessed time of fellowship and worship
it is. When we meet together in His
name and He meets with us, and we take His word and read His
word and preach His gospel, that's a blessed time of fellowship,
is it not? It causes the sweet smell of our love, our faith,
that fills our soul, for His presence and His gospel draws
out that fruit of the Spirit in us, doesn't it? His love to
us draws our love out to Him. Remember the fruit of the Spirit
is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, temperance.
For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do His
good pleasure. We read a moment ago in John
chapter 12 when the Lord was in Bethany again sitting with
Martha and Mary and Lazarus, and then Mary came and anointed
the Lord's feet, the house, with that precious costly spikenard. The house was full of sweet aroma. And that's a picture of what
happens when the gospel is preached and when it's blessed by God
the Holy Spirit. The house is full of worship
to the Lord. When the gospel is preached,
the room is filled with the fragrance of His sovereign grace, His everlasting
love, and His eternal mercy. When the gospel is preached,
remember Ephesians 2, 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. His great
love wherewith He loved us. Now this spikenard and you can
read about it a lot in scripture, it's mentioned quite a bit. This
spikener, this spice or herb, in and of itself is a worthless
shrub in itself. But when it's harvested and processed,
it becomes very costly, highly esteemed, valuable, and precious. And that's a good picture of
our salvation. We are by nature worthless, like
that Spikener's shrub. You remember verse five where
he said, I am black? I am black, I'm sinful. But when
we are harvested by his grace, redeemed by his blood, called
and quickened by the Holy Spirit, made new creatures in the Lord
Jesus Christ, The believer found in Christ is holy without blame
and made righteous through his righteousness freely given unto
us. When the Lord does the work of grace in our heart, he makes
us an object of his love and a trophy of his grace. We know
the wages of sin is death, right? The gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord. I was reading Robert Hawker and
he made this statement And I jotted it down. He said, we have merited
hell, right? The wages of sin is death. The
Lord Jesus Christ made us fit for heaven. We merited hell. That's what we deserve. But the
Lord Jesus Christ made us fit for heaven. You remember this
scripture from Colossians chapter 1? Give thanks to the Father
who made us fit. to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light in Christ, who delivered us from the power
of darkness, translated us into the kingdom of his dear son,
in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness
of sin. He hath made us fit to be partakers
of the inheritance of his grace. He made us fit for heaven, didn't
he? by His marvelous, sovereign grace. Christ the Lord Jesus,
Christ is the whole enjoyment to the believer, for He is all,
He's our all and in all, and we're complete in Him. Now, I'm
sure I've told you this story before, but it's been a long
time, I think, since I repeated it. You remember the story of
a man by the name of Happy Jack? Happy Jack, any of you remember
that? Well, one old preacher years
ago told a story about a young man who lived in this certain
village over in England. And he was considered a poor
and simple man. But one day, by God's sovereign
grace, old Happy Jack was converted by the Lord's mercy. Well, the
church elders called him and ask him, when he came to church,
to ask him to explain how this came about. He said, well, I'm a poor sinner
and nothing at all, that Jesus Christ is my all in all. Well,
they weren't quite satisfied with that question, so those
wise church elders pressed him a little bit more. They asked
him more about their church doctrine and different things. He said,
well, I don't know much about that. But I do know this, I'm
a poor sinner and nothing at all, and Jesus Christ is my all
in all. Happy Jack. That's what I am. Christ is my all and in all. But of him are you in Christ,
who has made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. We have every reason to rejoice
like old Happy Jack. He's still happy today, isn't
he? Here we go, verse 13. A bundle of myrrh. A bundle of
myrrh. He's not just the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's just not myrrh, sweet smelling myrrh. But he's
a bundle of it. He's a bundle of it. A bundle
of myrrh is my, not only beloved, but my well beloved. I like that,
don't you? Well beloved unto me. A bundle
of myrrh is my well beloved unto me. He shall lie all night It twicks my breast, on my chest,
on my heart. He's near to my heart. Christ
is a bundle of myrrh to the believer. The Lord Jesus Christ is that
sweet-smelling myrrh, very costly, rare, and precious. Our Redeemer,
our Savior is precious. He's a rare gift to us. There
is none like Him. The Apostle Paul said, thanks
be unto God for His unspeakable gift. He's the unspeakable gift. He's a bundle of myrrh unto me. Myrrh is a token or type of the
beauty of his person and the richness of his grace. Myrrh
was mixed with all the sacrifices under the law, that burnt sacrifice
under the law, it was mixed with myrrh and the smoke gave a sweet
fragrance as it ascended. His sacrifice in Scripture is
called a sweet-smelling savor unto the Father, satisfying all
the demands of the law. You remember Ephesians chapter
2? Christ also has loved us and has given Himself for us, an
offering and a sacrifice unto God as a sweet-smelling savor. The Lord smells of the sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ and says, satisfied. That which makes us
accepted to God is what? Not our sacrifices, is it? It's Christ's sacrifice for us. We are accepted in the beloved. He is unto us a saver of life
unto life. Thanks being the God who has
always given us the victory, we're more than conquerors to
him that loved us. His sacrifice unto us is a saver
of life unto life. It's not a saver of death. It's
a saver of life unto life. And then verse 13, he shall lie
all night, all night long. By nature, we're in the dark.
He translated us as a kingdom of darkness into the kingdom
of his dear son. But even in the darkness, even
in the darkness of our depression and doubt and fear and unbelief,
even in the night of unbelief, the Lord Jesus Christ, he lies. betwixt our breasts. He's on
our heart. That's what he's saying there.
He's on our heart. He shall lie all night in my
heart and my soul as we meditate upon him. Throughout the long
night of our journey here and our pilgrimage in this life,
the Lord has said he'll never leave us. He'll never forsake
us. We have his presence with us
always, don't we? You remember Hebrews 13 verse
5, he said, I'll never leave thee, I'll never forsake thee.
No, he said, never. And then the ascended Lord in
Matthew 28, where he said, go preach the gospel to every creature. And then he said, remember this,
I'm with you always. He said, where two or three are
gathered together in my name, that's where I'm at. The Lord
Jesus Christ lives within the heart of every believer by the
dwelling of the Holy Spirit. Christ in you, the hope of glory. He's called our comforter. The
Holy Spirit is called the comforter. Believers are indwelt with the
presence of the Holy Spirit. He is called the Comforter. You
remember our Lord said, when He, the Comforter, has come,
He'll teach you all things, bring all things to your remembrance.
He said, the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father
will send in my name, He shall teach you all things and bring
all things to your remembrance whatsoever I said unto you. We
have the abiding presence of God the Holy Spirit with us.
Now look at verse 14. My beloved, He's all mine. Paul called the gospel on many
occasions, it's my gospel. David said, the Lord is my shepherd. The Lord is my light and my salvation. He's my beloved. He's my beloved. He's unto me a cluster, like
you would pick a cluster of grapes hanging down, a big cluster of
grapes hanging down. My beloved is just not a grape. He's a cluster. He's a cluster. In the vineyard of Engedi, The
vineyards of Enghetti were known like the Napa Valley of California
for the rich, lush vineyards of the grapes that are grown
there. My beloved is unto me a cluster
of camphor in the vineyards of Enghetti. Now that word, that
word camphor there is a very interesting word. The word is
translated in other places and I looked this up to make sure.
If you do a word search or look up in strong concordance that
word camper, the same exact word in the original Hebrew is translated
in other places ransom, covering, propitiation. What does that
remind you of? He gave himself a ransom for
many. He is our covering. He is our
propitiation. Remember the Lord set him forth
as the propitiation for our sin? Now the same word, the first
time it's used in Scripture is Genesis 6, 14. When it talks
about Noah's Ark, you remember Noah's Ark had that special wood,
what was it called? What was that wood called? Gopher
wood, wasn't it? But that gopher wood was covered with pitch. That's the exact same word. K-O-H-P-H-E-R in the original. Pitch, that is, that pitch was
a covering, a covering for that gopher wood to protect that ark,
Noah's Ark. In Job 33, where it said, deliver
him from going down to the pit, I found a ransom. Same word right
here. And then Isaiah 43, he said,
I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. I
gave Egypt for thy ransom. Temple, same word. I gave Egypt
for your ransom, Ethiopia and Saba for thee. The Lord Jesus
Christ is our ransom. He's our atonement. He's our
deliverer. The blood atonement of the Lord
Jesus Christ the God of peace brought again from the dead,
that great shepherd of the sheep to the blood of the everlasting
covenant, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is a cluster
of merit and righteousness to his covenant people, is he not?
He's a cluster of it. A cluster of oozing merit and
righteousness as he appears once in the end of the age to put
away our sin by the sacrifice of himself. God who commended
his love toward us, Romans 5, 8, and 9, in that while we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than being now
justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. He's a cluster. His atonement,
is his atonement enough to put away our sin? Is his ransom enough
to pay the price for our sin? Absolutely. How do we know it's
enough? God raised him from the dead.
He ascended in glory and He's seated right now on the throne
of God, at the right hand of God. His righteousness, is it
enough to justify us? He's called the Lord our righteousness.
You see, we have a cluster of redemption, we have a cluster
of righteousness, a reconciliation in Christ. Isn't that precious? Christ has
made to us all that we need. Is He enough? Is the Lord Jesus
Christ enough? If He's all you've got, you've
got enough. He's everything God provided. My God shall supply all your
need according to His riches in glory through Christ Jesus. What the Lord Jesus Christ is
in Himself He is to His people altogether lovely. Christ presents
us to the Father in God's sight without spot, without blemish. He's the cheapest of ten thousands
is my well beloved. Now look at verse 15. Here's
the Lord Jesus Christ now describing His church, His bride. Behold, thou art fair, my love. Behold, thou art fair. Thou hath
doved eyes. You remember over here in verse
5 where the bride says, I'm black, but comely. I'm black, but beautiful. Black, but beautiful. Behold,
thou art fair, my companion, my love. Behold, take a good
look at this. The Lord said, my church is without
blemish, without spot. And my church, my love, my bride,
she had eyes like a dove. Eyes like a dove. The Lord Jesus
Christ describes His bride and what they are in Him, sinners
saved by the grace of God. I am what I am by the grace of
God. Nothing so precious in all the
world to the believer as the Lord Jesus Christ, and nothing
so precious to Him as His church. Remember verse 8 from last week? If thou know not O thou fairest among women, go
thy way by the footstep of the flock and feed the kids." Fairest among women. Behold thou
art fair, my love, my companion. If you look at chapter 2 verse
10, he says this again. My beloved, chapter 2 verse 10,
my beloved spake. and said unto me, Rise up, my
love, my fair one, and come away. Look again at verse 13, the last
part of verse 13, chapter 2. Arise, my love, my fair one,
and come away. Look at chapter 4, verse 7. The
Lord Jesus Christ keeps saying this about His church. Thou art all fair, my love, there's
no spot in thee. Boy, His blood cleanses us from
all our sin. What a miracle of grace. The
Lord speaks of us with delight and satisfaction. In His eyes
we are perfectly beautiful, comely. The way He sees us is the way
we really are. Behold what manner of love the
Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called sons of God.
You remember that verse over in 1 John chapter 4? As he is,
so are we in this world. Now you get a hold of that. Get
a hold of that for a while. As he is, so are we in this world. We have no beauty in ourselves,
do we? Oh, wretched man that I am. All
our righteousnesses are filthy rags. But He delights in us as
He has made us beautiful and righteous in Him. You remember
Psalm 100, Know ye that the Lord, He is God, it is He that made
us, not we ourselves. He made us, not we ourselves. We are His people and the sheep
of His pasture. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. Old things are passed away, behold,
all things become new. And his people, it says there,
they have eyes like doves. How so? They have eyes guided
and enlightened by the dove of heaven, God the Holy Spirit.
Remember that dove descended from heaven, the Holy Spirit
descended from heaven in the form of a dove and lighted upon
the Lord Jesus Christ at his baptism? God's people have eyes
like doves. Their eyes have been opened and
enlightened by God the Holy Spirit, the dove of heaven. He commands
the light to shine, translates us out of the kingdom of darkness
in the kingdom of God, dear son. They have eyes that are loyal
and faithful. They have eyes of faith that
look, where do the eyes of faith look? Looking unto the Lord Jesus
Christ, the author and finisher of our faith. The eyes of faith
don't look in here. All we see in here is just sin.
The eyes of faith look at Christ. He's all our salvation. Now look
at verse 16. Psalm Solomon chapter 1 verse
16. Again here the church answers
back to the Lord. You can get this conversation. Behold, thou art fair, my beloved,
my well-beloved, yea, fair and beloved and pleasant, altogether
lovely. Also, you mean there's more? Also, our bed, our bed is green. Our bed is green. Thou art fair
and pleasant, my beloved. My beloved is mine, Song of Solomon
2, 16. My beloved is mine, and I am
his. Psalm 45 said, Thou art fairer than the children of men.
Grace is poured forth into thy lip. Therefore, God hath blessed
thee forever. Our bed, our bed is green. Now, again,
this is language that's symbolic and spiritual language. He's talking about the marriage
bed. It's undefiled. Our marriage to Christ is happy,
blessed, and a fruitful union. It's green. It's green. It's lively. Full like a tree
branch. He's the true vine. We're the
branches. Like a tree branch, it's full
of sap. You can bend it, but you can't
break it. It's full of life. That's our
bed. It's full of life because of
Christ, our life. Verse 17, the beams of our house, and notice
I'm emphasizing our bed, our house. You see, what's his is
ours. We've been made heirs of God
and joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. We have an inheritance,
incorruptible, undefiled, that fade not away. The beams of our
house are cedar. And the rafters of our house
are fir, fine wood. Our house is built with durable
and beautiful timbers. Remember the Lord said, I will
build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against
it. Our union with Christ is durable, lasting, eternal, because
we're kept by the power of God through faith in the Lord Jesus.
We read about the household of God in Ephesians chapter 2. Now
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 himself
being the chief cornerstone in whom all the building fitly framed
together groweth. unto a holy temple in the Lord."
Oh, this is a fine house. It's a very fine house because
it's built by the architect, the Lord Jesus. He's the builder
of his church. He's the chief cornerstone. Everything
in Christ, everything in Christ and from Christ is firm, sure,
everlasting, from the union and oneness between Christ and his
church. All that belongs to Christ as mediator, intercessor, advocate,
all that belongs to him belongs to us. What's true of the head
is true of the body. We're in him. We're one with
him. We are his body. He loved the church and gave
himself for it. Believers have communion with
his person, his name, his salvation, and his righteousness in Christ. He's called the Lord our righteousness. Again, quoting Robert Hawker,
all that Christ is, all that he is, he is for his people. All that he hath wrought is for
them. And that reminded me of this
scripture, 2 Corinthians 5, Now that he, now he that wrought
for us, wrought for us, w-r-o-u-g-h-t, wrought for us, the selfsame
thing as God, that is, he worked in us, who also hath given unto
us the earnest of the Spirit. Knowing that he raised up Jesus,
the Lord Jesus shall also raise us up by him and shall present
us with you for all things are for your sake that the abundant
grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory
of God. May our soul live to the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's my well beloved May we walk
with him by faith. May we rejoice in him always. May the Lord Jesus Christ be
our portion, our inheritance, our everlasting rest now and
forever. Amen. Amen.