Okay, this evening now back to
our study in the Song of Solomon. The Song of Solomon, chapter
1, verse 8. I'm taking the title for the
message from verse 8. O thou fairest among women, the
Lord Jesus Christ looks upon his bride And he has an eye for
his bride, and he says she's the fairest among 10,000. Fairest among women. That is
how the Lord sees his elect. If you look for just a moment,
turn one page over to chapter 4, verse 7. I was reading through
this this afternoon. I found chapter
4, verse 7. Thou art all fair, my love, there
is no spot in thee, no blemish. What did we read here just a
little while ago? that he might sanctify and cleanse
the church he gave himself for it with the washing of water
by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church,
not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should
be holy without blemish. How cleansing is the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He cleanses us from all our sin. Now we've studied verse 1 down
through verse 7, how the believer loves and highly esteems the
Lord Jesus Christ. It says there in the reading,
thy love is better than wine, better than anything in this
world. His love toward us, we could say it this way, his love
toward us is out of this world. It's infinite, for He's loved
His church with an everlasting love. He loved the church and
gave Himself for it. He is altogether lovely. We do love Him only because He
first loved us. And He's always loved His people.
He's loved them with an everlasting love. You remember in Romans
chapter 5 where it says, God committed His love toward us,
and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Now, our study today, we see
the high regard the Lord Jesus Christ has for his people. As
we think upon our sinfulness, we can identify with what the
bride says in verse five, I am black. I am sinful through and
through, in and out. As we think upon our sinfulness,
nothing is more heart-cheering and comforting to our heart to
know that in Christ and in his eyes and in him, We stand complete, complete in
him. Of his fullness have we all received
what grace upon grace, dressed in his beauty, his righteousness
that's imputed to us. We know that in our flesh dwelleth
no good thing, but in Christ we stand complete, holy, unblameable,
unrebukeable in his sight. He presents us before the Father's
throne faultless. Can you get a hold of that? Faultless. Can you imagine that? We say
with all the old saints of old, oh, wretched man that I am, chief
of sinners, less than the least of all the saints, yet in Christ,
the Lord Jesus Christ, through his blood and through his righteousness,
he presents the church, his bride, to the father Not ashamed to
call us brethren, he presents us thoughtless. That's a miracle
of grace, is it not? Miracle of grace. Black, but
he says, also in verse five, comely to that righteousness
that's imputed unto us. The Lord Jesus Christ is called
the Lord, our righteousness. That's how we really are in Christ
before God Almighty. as righteous as the Lord Jesus
Christ. You see, what's true of the head,
remember I've told you so many times, what's true of the head
is true of the body. He's the head, we are his body. If his
head is holy, his body is holy. We are one with him. I read from
last week, we read Ezekiel 16. You remember the cast out infant
that the Lord found and swaddled and cuddled in the time of love
and he said, You were perfect through my beauty,
through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the
Lord. In Psalm 50, out of Zion, the perfection of beauty God
hath shined. We have the perfection of beauty
in Christ. Yes, I'm sinful. Yes, I'm black. Yes, I'm ungodly. But in the
Lord Jesus Christ, perfect. Spotless. Unrebukeable. And God has shined in our heart
that we might see that. And that's the only way we'll
see it. The only way we'll see that we're sinners and the only
way we'll see that Christ is our righteousness. As God commands
the light to shine in our heart. and gives us a revelation of
ourself and of him. And we say he is altogether lovely. In the answer to the question
that is asked in verse seven, tell me, O thou whom my soul
loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest
at noon? Why should I be turned aside
from the flocks of these companions? And the answer to the question
is, that is asked in verse seven, here is the way the Lord views
his church, fair and beautiful in him, and that is the way we
truly are in his sight. In his sight. You remember John
17, he said, I in them, thou in me, that we may be made perfect
in one. The Lord, what it says in verse
eight, If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way,
go forth by the footsteps of the flock. The Lord gently rebukes
in love, whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. He rebuked the
believer for their ignorance. If thou know not, O thou whom
my soul loveth, where do you feed? That question is asked
in verse seven. And then the Lord said, don't
you know? Don't you know if you know not? Or since you do not
know, O thou fairest among the women, since you do not know
where the great shepherd feeds his flock after all the evidence
that has been given to you, thou are yet ignorant of me. We are
by nature ignorant of God. Remember, Philip asked the question,
to the Lord after he'd been with him those three years. You remember
what he said? Philip the Apostle, Lord, show
us the Father and we'll be satisfied. And the Lord said to him, have
I been so long time with you that you don't know me, Philip?
He that has seen me has seen the Father. How sayest thou,
then show us the Father? I hath not seen, ear hath not
heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man the things
which God hath prepared for them that love him, but he hath revealed
them unto us by his Spirit." Has to be a revelation. Because
by nature, since you do not know, and by nature we don't, he's
hid these things from the wise and prudent, and he has to reveal
the gospel unto us. I don't get mad and upset at
people. who don't understand and don't believe the gospel.
They're blind. I can't make them see. All I
can do is preach Christ the light and pray that he turns on the
light switch, that they may see him. But here's the Lord's instructions. Since you are ignorant and since
you don't know, O thou fairest among women, go thy way, go forth,
go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock. Go the way that
the flock is walking. Walk in their footsteps. Walk
in their footsteps. I just thought of a scripture
just popped into my mind just a moment ago when I read that.
The go thy way forth by the footsteps, by the footsteps. Here's what
just popped in my mind. The steps of a good man are ordered
of the Lord. Go thy way by my footsteps, and
he delighteth in his way. God must order our steps. Now, go thy way forth by the
footsteps of the flock. These are the paths of faithful
believers, the footsteps of the flock, the man whose steps are
ordered of the Lord. These are the paths of the faithful
believers, that have walked in the past, such as Abraham. Our
Lord said, Abraham, rejoice to see my day. He saw it. Walk like
him. Abraham believed God. I want
to walk like Abraham. He was called a friend of God.
I want to walk like Moses. Our Lord said, Moses wrote of
me. He said to those Pharisees, had you believed Moses, you would
have believed me because Moses wrote of me. Walk in the footsteps
of Job. Job, the man who was so sorely
tried of God that the Lord gives, the Lord takes away. Blessed
be the name of the Lord. And then I like what he says,
he said, I know my Redeemer liveth. Walking away as David, the sweet
psalmist, the man after God's own heart. The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want. Walking that way, looking to
the good shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ. How about Peter? The
Lord redeem me with his blood. How about James? Of his own will
begat he us with his truth. How about John? Behold, behold
the Lamb of God. Walk in these paths of faith,
love, trust, and submission, looking unto the Lord Jesus Christ. bowed to his lordship, keep walking
in the way of salvation by his grace, keep looking unto the
Lord Jesus Christ, who is the author and finisher of our faith. Go thy way, go forth by the footsteps
of those who have walked before. These all died in faith, persevering
in faith. In the book of Jeremiah, we read,
thus saith the Lord, Jeremiah 6, 16, stand ye in the ways and
see and ask for the old paths where it is a good way and walk
therein. What was that old commercial
years ago about the yellow book? Let your fingers do the walking.
Walk in that way. Walk looking to the Lord Jesus
Christ and you shall find rest for your soul. It's a good way.
Walk therein, the old paths. I don't want to hear anything
new. The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is the ancient gospel.
There's nothing new about the gospel. It comes newly revealed,
but it's as old as God. Our walk is a walk of faith.
The just shall live by faith. We walk by faith, not by sight. That's the old paths. The footsteps
of the flock, that's his sheep. The flock there is his sheep.
We walk looking to the Lord Jesus Christ who is the way. He is
the way. He says, I am the way, the truth,
the life. And then he says there, verse
eight, by the footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kid beside
the shepherd's tent. The shepherd's tent. The Lord
is my shepherd, I shall not want. Now who are these shepherds?
They're the under shepherds. The Lord himself is the good
shepherd, the great shepherd, the chief shepherd. These shepherds
are the under-shepherds, the pastors, the preachers of the
gospel. Faithful, God-sent preachers
of the gospel who feed the sheep by the preaching of the gospel.
They preach Christ. They do not preach another gospel. They preach the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. We are to feed the church of
God, which he purchased with his own blood. You remember the
risen Lord, Peter and John, some of those men, you remember in
John chapter 21, the risen Lord had gone away and they thought
they were just out of the ministry. And some of the old writers think
that Peter, when he said, I'd go fishing, He's walking away
from the ministry and going back to his old trade. And they were
out there fishing, and the Lord Jesus Christ came along the scene. And he asked Peter, said, Peter,
do you love me? Yeah, Lord. I'll feed my sheep. What are you doing out here fishing?
I told you I was going to make you the fishers of men. Not out here fishing for fish. Peter, do you love me? Feed my
sheep. Peter, do you love me? Yeah.
Yeah, Lord, you know all things. You know I love you. Then he
said, what? Feed my lambs. Feed my lambs. Only that church or that tent
by the shepherd's tent where the gospel is preached, that's
the shepherd's tent. Only that man who is preaching
the true gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ can say he's preaching
the sheep, the shepherd's gospel in the shepherd's tent or the
shepherd's church, that dwelling place. We preach Christ, nothing
more, nothing more, nothing less, and nothing else. Christ in him
crucified. Christ in him crucified. Feed
the church of God, which he purchased. God promised in Jeremiah three,
he said, I will give you pastors according to my own heart, which
shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. And that's
what we try to do when we preach the gospel. We preach the gospel
determined to know nothing among you, but Jesus Christ in him
crucified. We preach not ourselves, but
Jesus Christ the Lord, the only Savior. And then notice he said
there, feed the kids. And I thought about this. What's
he talking about? Feed them babes in Christ. Feed
the sheep and feed the lambs, the babes in Christ. They need
food too. They need food also. Save some
for the, I used to go years ago, preach once in a while to a church
up in Cottageville, West Virginia. This is back in the 80s, 40 some
years ago. And there was an old brother
in that church. Every time I'd go there, he said,
now, make sure you save some preaching for the lambs. For the sheep, make sure you
have something for the babes in Christ, for the lambs. I never
forgot that. And then he calls the church
the fairest among women, though black in her own eyes and in
the eyes of others, yet the fairest among all. Surprisingly fair,
beautiful in his eyes, fairer than all others. His love and
his salvation to us is an everlasting, unchanging love. Nothing can
separate us from the love of God, which is in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Notice how the Lord speaks of
his bride in verse 15. Behold, thou art fair, my love. Behold, thou art fair. Thou hast
dove's eyes, gentle, meek, humble, Nothing can separate us from
the love of God, which is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Many trials
and troubles cannot quench the love that He has given to us.
That love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit,
isn't it? Now, verse 9, 10, and 11, He compares His bride, the fairest
among women, Behold, thou art fair, my love, He says in verse
9, I've compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses and Pharaoh's
chariots. Now, they tell me that Lexington,
Kentucky is the horse capital of the world. And every spring
they have that Keeneland thoroughbred sale, don't they? People from
all over the world come to see those beautiful horses. in the
bluegrass of Kentucky. Solomon here, he went and bought thousands of horses down in Egypt. He went down to Egypt. And evidently
they had a horse sale of all of the pharaoh's great chariot
horses and he bought, he bought, you know how many horses he bought?
He bought 40,000 horses. He bought them. He bought them. What a comparison the Lord gives
his church in compares them to specially chosen horses who are
made beautiful through his comeliness. Horses in those eastern countries
were highly valued, just like the thoroughbreds in Lexington,
Kentucky. If you're going to go to that
horse sale, you're going to have to have a lot of money. Solomon
had all the money in the world, and he went down to Egypt, and
he bought His horses. The Lord has chosen us. I think probably Solomon individually
selected each one of those 40,000 horses. He said, I want that
one. I want that one. I want that one. He chose them. It was his choice. It was his
will. It was his money. He bought what he wanted. Isn't
that true what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us? He spotted
us out. He chose us, He elected us, He
redeemed us, and He made us His own. Isn't it quite remarkable
that when we studied Revelation 19 and we saw the Lord Jesus
Christ, the King of Kings, on His white horse? Remember, and
the armies which were in heaven followed Him upon white horses. See, He compares us to a company
of horses. The best! He makes them the best. And the Lord Jesus, He chose
out His people. He elected them unto salvation. How can the Lord's church be
compared to horses? Well, for their strength. Horses
are strong animals. For they're strength not in themselves,
that is his people, but strong in Christ. He's our refuge, he's
our strength. They're especially chosen, distinguished
by his grace. We are called a royal priesthood,
a chosen generation, that we should show forth the praises
of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. He
makes us strong. He's distinguished us by his
grace. Who makes you to differ from
another? What do you have that you didn't receive? We're brought
with a great price, his blood, he redeemed us. You reckon Solomon
took good care of those 40,000 horses? Oh, they had the best
care, didn't they? They had the best care. And we're
under his care. well fed with the finest wheat,
corn, and the best oats, the bread of heaven, the manna from
heaven. Those 40,000 stalled horses of
Solomon, they didn't have a care in their world, in the world.
Clothed, housed, watered, well fed, taken care of. How much
more the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, under the best guidance,
These horses here weren't a bunch of wild Mustangs. You know, there's
still thousands and thousands of wild Mustangs running wild
out in Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, all them different places. Thousands
of them. Sometimes I watch those YouTube
videos about those wild horses. They just run wild. These horses here, are under
strict guidance. They're in submission to the
captain of their salvation. God's people are not a bunch
of wild mustangs going in different directions, but under the yoke
of his love, joined and coupled to his chariot, doing service
under the master, pulling together in one direction. When he put
those horses and yoked them together, pulling that chariot, they have
to work as one, don't they? They can't be going this way,
that way, back. They got to work as one. And
they do because they're under submission to the one who is
the Lord over them. And that's a good picture of
God's people in Christ. Verse 10 is still describing
this company of horses or this company of believers. He said,
their cheeks, thy cheeks are comely. Their cheeks are beautiful.
with rows of jewels, thy neck with chains of gold. We will
make thy borders of gold with studs of silvers." Now, he keeps
describing these beautiful horses, and the Lord is describing his
bride, the cheeks, or someone has suggested the ears, or the
face. adorned with costly jewels, typical
of the costly gifts given to his church, the forgiveness of
sin and all spiritual blessings. Have you ever been in a... We went to a parade one time
in Ketchum, Idaho. Ketchum, Idaho. Where is that? You ever heard of Sun Valley,
Idaho? That's Ketchum, Idaho. We went to a parade one time
out there And it was a parade that had nothing but horses.
The whole parade was horses. Horses after horses after horses. And they were decked and jeweled. And down their bridles, they'd
have their bridles and their saddles and all the different
decorations. And the bridles, they would have
jewels just flowing down. They're beautiful. That's the
way the Lord has ordained us and adorned us, that's the word
I'm looking for, and ordained us and adorned us with comely
rows of jewels, your neck with chains of gold. Beautiful in
Christ. Chains of gold, golden chains
of salvation which cannot be broken. Not one link can be broken. You know the thing about a chain?
You take a chain, you know a log chain, like a 3H log chain. Clark,
you've got a lot of these log chains. That chain is only as
strong as the weakest link. In this chain of salvation, there
is no weak links. Whom He predestinated, then He
also called. And whom He called, He also justified. And whom He justified, He also
glorified. Those five links in that chain
of grace, not one weak link. Not one weak link. The borders,
verse 11. We will make, we will make. Now why didn't it say I will
make? Why does it say we will make? By borders of gold with studs
of silver. Notice it says we will make. Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Salvation
involves the whole blessed Trinity. The Father choosing, The Son
redeeming, the Holy Spirit calling and quickening. That's what we
read in Ephesians chapter one, isn't it? To the praise of the
glory of his grace. Remember our Lord in the creation
said, let us make man in our image. He said to Isaiah, who
will go for us? For us. Father, Son, Holy Spirit,
these three are one. He told the church to baptize,
go and make disciples, preach the gospel, baptize them in the
name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And notice, we will
make thee borders of gold. We will make, we are his workmanship
created in Christ Jesus. We see the grace of the Lord,
the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit. We will make
thee. We are his workmanship in Christ
Jesus unto good works. By the grace of God, I am what
I am. We are his workmanship. Remember
Psalm 100 verse 3, know you that the Lord, he is God. It is he
that made us, not we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep
of his pasture. He made us. We will make thee
borders of gold, solid gold with studs of silver. Borders of gold,
I think, symbolic of the foundations laid by our Lord Jesus Christ,
solid, durable, everlasting gold, as good as gold. God said, I
lay in Zion for foundation of stone, a dried stone, a precious
cornerstone. Paul said, other foundation can
no man lay than that which is laid, which is Christ the Lord. If any man build upon this foundation,
gold, silver, precious stone, with studs of silver. Silver and gold. He crowns his work with precious,
the precious metal of his grace. He gives us all grace now and
all glory forever. I want to close by having you
turn with me to Isaiah 62. Isaiah 62. Look at verse 1, Isaiah 62 verse
1. For Zion's sake will I not hold
my peace, for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest until righteousness
thereof go forth as brightness and salvation thereof as a lamp
that burneth. And the Gentiles shall see thy
righteousness, and all kings thy glory, and thou shalt be
called by a new name. which the mouth of the Lord shall
name, thou shalt be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord,
a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Thou shalt no more be
termed forsaken, neither shall thy land any more be termed desolate,
but thou shalt be called Epsahba. Look at the marginal reference.
That is my delight. My delight, he delights in his
church. For the Lord delighteth in thee
and thy land Beulah that is married. He delights in us and he has
married us. For the Lord delighteth in thee
and thy land shall be married. What a glorious picture. Aren't
you thankful the Lord chose a people, married them in that eternal
covenant of grace, and adorns them with robes of righteousness,
clothes them with the garments of salvation, and he makes us
in his sight all together lovely.