Song of Solomon chapter 1. Song
of Solomon chapter 1. Last week we looked at verse
1 down through verse 4. And today we want to try to look
at this evening verse 5 down through verse 7. If we go back
for just a moment and look at verse 4. Song of Solomon chapter
1 verse 4. The bride says to the Lord Jesus
Christ, her beloved, draw me. Draw me, Lord, and we'll run
after thee. You draw me with cords of love,
cords of everlasting mercy, and we will run. The king brought
me into his chambers. Now, this is the king of kings,
the Lord Jesus Christ. The king brought you into his
chambers. We will be glad. We will give thanks. We will
rejoice in the Lord. If you just even think about
this in a fleshly way, if the great king in some country, as
Solomon was, he was a king like no other in his day. All the
other kings from different countries, remember the queen of Ethiopia
came to see the wisdom of Solomon. If you lived in that kingdom
and the king drove through your neighborhood and spied you out
and said, come here, I'm going to take you home and take you
into my inner chamber and be one with you, wouldn't that be
a glorious thing for the king, an earthly king to do that? But
think about the king of kings, the Lord of lords, Jesus Christ. He brings us by His grace, and
He makes us to be glad, and He makes us to rejoice in the Lord
always. And again, I say rejoice. And
then we, the church, the bride said, we will remember that I
love more than wine. the upright, those who are blessed
in the Lord Jesus Christ. We do love the Lord. Now, he
must bring us or we'll never come. He must call us or we'll
never answer. You remember, look at chapter
two, verse four. He brought me to the banqueting
house and his banner over me was love. He brought me Look
at chapter 2, verse 10. My beloved spake and said unto
me, rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. Come away. That's the call, that irresistible
call of grace. Peter says in his epistle, Christ
once suffered for our sins, the just for the unjust, that he
might bring us to God. Bring us to God. We're gonna
study in the book of Hebrews chapter two where the captain
of our salvation is bringing many sons into glory. He brought
me. Oh, I'm so thankful the Lord calls
his people with irresistible grace. This chamber here is a
symbol of our marriage unto the Lord. unto the Lord as his bride. Remember, he loved the church
and gave himself for us. When this union is formed in
our heart, and then the cry of our heart is this, my beloved
is mine, and I am his. Look at chapter 2 again, verse
16, and this is repeated several times. Look at chapter 2, verse
16. My beloved is mine, and I'm his. I'm all yours. I'm his. He feedeth among the lilies. And then look over at chapter
6. Chapter 6, verse 3, he says this again. I am my beloved's. and my beloved is mine, and he
feeds among the lilies. Isn't that sweet and tender?
What the Father hath purposed in that eternal covenant of grace,
the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, bought us with his own blood,
and God the Holy Spirit comes and conquers us. He conquers
us, he enthrones himself in our heart. Now the sinner is brought
to be one with his Lord, Christ in you, and we know it and we
realize it, Christ in you is a hope of glory. God who has
begun a good work in you, he'll finish it. He'll finish it. He'll
draw his people. What are these chambers? He brought
me into the banqueting house and his banner over me was love.
Says that in chapter, he brought me into the banqueting house
and his banner over me was love. His eternal love that is experienced
in grace when Christ is formed in our hearts and shed abroad
his love in our heart by the Holy Spirit. I found these comments
by Robert Hawker. 1800s, early 1800s, those chambers
of the king therefore seem to mean acquaintance, knowledge,
communion into which the Lord brings poor sinners when he shows
his love to them in the covenant, when he reveals to them his mercy
and brings them intimately, more intimately acquainted with their
own corruption and their need of him. When he opens to them
the scriptures of truth, pours out upon them the gracious manifestation
of himself, gives them ravishing views of his glory, and reveals
himself to them more than he does to any other people. You remember Matthew 11, 25,
he hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed
them unto his babes, unto his church, unto his bride. And the
response of that is, we will Rejoice and be glad. We have
so much to rejoice in, his dying love, his saving grace, his sovereign
mercy, his complete pardon, our complete pardon from all sin,
complete pardon we have in him, accepted in the beloved, in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Can't you say in your heart,
my beloved is mine. He's mine. Christ is all and
in all. and I'm all his. Take me, Lord,
I'm yours. And we will remember thy love
more than anything else in this world and in the world to come. Believers do truly love him,
not like we should or we will one day, but we can say with
Peter, Lord, you know all things. You remember the Lord asked Peter
three times, Peter, do you love me? Feed my sheep. He asked him
three times, and Peter finally said, Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you. Not
like we will one day, but we do love him. We only love him
because he first loved us, right? Now, look at verse 5. Here we
see in these next three verses a true picture of faith. Faith. I'm black, but I'm Beautiful. Black but comely. O ye daughters
of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, beautiful as the curtains
of Solomon's temple. How beautiful were the curtains
in Solomon's house. I'm a sinner. That's the confession
of faith, isn't it? I'm a sinner, but in Christ.
How can this be? I'm a sinner, but I'm a saint.
How can that be? I'm black, but in Christ, I'm
beautiful. I'm sinful, but in Christ, I'm
righteous. Here's a plain and open declaration
of the believer's confession of his own depraved heart, as
well as confidence in Christ, who is all our righteousness.
Don't you see that in yourself? I'm a sinner. Like that cast
out infant, born in sin, shapen in iniquity. I'm black. I'm a
sinner. Not was. People often say, well,
I used to be a sinner. That's not a good statement.
Because sin is what we are. Born in sin, shapen in iniquity. The Apostle Paul, when he writes
in Romans 7, he says, O wretched man that I am. Not was. am. Who shall deliver me from
this body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Go through the scriptures and
look at these apostles. Paul says on another occasion,
I'm less than the least of all the saints. He says I'm the least
of the apostles and then he goes on to say I'm less than the least
of all the saints. And then he says, I'm the chief
of sinners. You know what that is? That's
growing in grace. As we grow in grace, we see just
how sinful we really are and how beautiful the Lord Jesus
Christ is. Isaiah, remember Isaiah 6, when
he saw the Lord high and lifted up, what did he say? Woe is me. I'm a man of unclean lips. Read
through the book of Job, and Job finally confesses, behold,
I'm vile. I'm vile. And then he said, I've
heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye seeth
thee, wherefore I hate myself. Black is the tents of Kedar.
I'm black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of
Kedar, as the curtains, beautiful as the curtains of Solomon. What
are the tents of Kedar? Well, the tents of Kedar, I believe,
were some of the descendants of Ishmael, black as the tents of
Kedar. Shepherds, these were shepherds
out in the wilderness whose tents, their tent covers were burnt
black by the scorching heat of the sun. The covers on their tent just
turned black. And that's a picture of what
we are. Sin is mixed with all we do because of what we are. Born in sin, shaped in iniquity. Totally depraved and corrupt
before God. You remember our reading from
John chapter 1? We said, if we say we have no
sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we
say we have not sinned, we call God a liar because he said you've
sinned. By nature, loving darkness, our
Lord said, this is condemnation. Light has come into the world
and men love darkness rather than the light because their
deeds are evil. Loving darkness, hating light.
Loving self and hating God. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. That's a confession of faith.
I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner before God. Now, if you compare one sinner
with another, that's just one worm comparing itself with another
worm. But if you compare a worm to
God, what is that worm? I'm black. I'm black, but here's
the mystery of the gospel. I'm beautiful. Beautiful as the
curtains in Solomon's house or even Solomon's temple. Solomon's house or Solomon's
temple. In Christ, we are perfectly righteous. In Christ, every believer is
a saint. In Christ, every believer is complete and made whole. Notice
chapter 4, when the Lord describes the bride. In chapter 4, verse
1, look at the words of what the Lord, how He sees us in Christ. All together lovely. Behold,
thou art fair, my love. Behold, thou art fair. Thou hast
dove's eyes within, thy locks in thy hair is as a flock of
goats that appear from Mount Gilead. Thou art fair, my love. He sees us complete in Christ. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead. By Him we stand complete. You
remember from our study in the Revelation, it talks about the
saints of God. the bridegroom and her garments,
fine linen, clean and white. The fine linen is the righteousness
of the saints. That's the curtains in Solomon's
house. We are clothed in his righteousness. Now, we know our righteousness
is What? Filthy rags. But we're clothed
in His righteousness. You remember Isaiah 61? If you
want to turn there, you can. If not, just let me read it to
you. Isaiah 61, verse 10. He says,
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful
in my God. For He clothed me with the garments
of salvation. He has covered me with a robe
of righteousness as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments
as a bride that adorns herself with jewels. So the Lord will
cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all nations. He is the Lord our righteousness.
Now how righteous do I need to be to stand before God? As righteous
as God? How can that be? Only in Christ. We stand in Him, don't we? And
He presents us before the throne of God faultless. In Christ,
every believer is redeemed from all their sin, and He's given
us His righteousness. That's substitution and satisfaction. He took our sin, He bare our
sin in His own body on the tree, and then He gives us His righteousness.
That's grace. That's love. That's mercy. We
are perfect and complete through His comeliness. We read in Ezekiel 16, I girded
thee about with fine linen, I covered thee with silk, the silk of His
righteousness. Blessed is that man whom the
Lord imputeth righteousness without works. Ezekiel 16, Thy renown
went forth among the heathen for thy beauty, for it was perfect
through my comeliness which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord.
He makes us righteous in Christ. Notice the words of verse 15
in chapter 1. The eyes of Christ, His church
is beautiful to Him. In the eyes of Christ, His church
is beautiful to Him. Look at verse 15. Behold, thou
art fair, my love. Behold, thou art fair. Thou hast
dove's eyes. That's the way we really are
in Christ. That's the way He sees us. The
way He sees us is the way we really are. In 1 John chapter
4, Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in
the day of judgment, because as He is, so are we in this world. Think about that statement. As
He is, so are we in this world, that we may have boldness in
the day of judgment. Now look at verse 6. Look not
upon me, because I am black. The sinner that knows what he
is doesn't say, Lord, look upon me and have favor upon me because
I'm so beautiful. I mean, I've done so much for
you. I mean, I've merited your favor. I've merited your love.
No, those who know what they are say, Lord, don't look upon
me. I'm so sinful. Remember what
Peter said to the Lord? Lord, depart from me. I'm a sinful
man. Isn't that what we feel? Look
not upon me because I'm black. Because the sun hath looked upon
me. Now, let me give you a homely
illustration. Sometimes I walk around here
with the curtains open and usually when I come in in the morning,
I'll have the curtains open. And because I walk around and
I look out the windows. But often times the sun, the
sun sets right over that way. Often times the sun will beam
through that window and I see all these little things floating
in the air. And if I took my hand over there
on that pew over there and hit that cushion, all them dust particles
would just go all over. They're there all the time, but
I don't see them until the sun exposes them. And that's what
the light of the Word of God does. It exposes our dirt. It exposes what we are. In the
light of His Word, we see our sin revealed, don't we? Look not upon me, Lord, I'm not...
What did Jacob say? Lord, I'm not worthy of the least
of Thy mercies and of Thy truth. A man who thinks he's earned
God's favor or earned God's merit or has earned His love, Lord,
save me because look... Look what I've done. You remember
the publican? He said, God, I'm a sinner. Be
merciful to me. The Pharisee bragged on himself,
God, look what I've done. Certainly, I deserve your favor.
The old sinner said, smote his breast and said, God, have mercy
on me. Look not upon me, O Lord, because
I'm so sinful. Because the Son, the light of
His law and the light of His word has exposed me. exposed
all my dirt, all my sin. My mother's children were angry
with me. Now this is interesting. They made me the keeper of the
vineyards, but my own vineyard I've not kept. Now what do you
see here? Well, Ishmael persecuted Isaac. My mother's children were angry
with me. Ishmael persecuted Isaac. Esau
persecuted Jacob. Even so, our carnal relationship,
when the work of grace is wrought in our soul, carnal and earthly
relationships become strained. I've experienced that in my family
so vividly. Galatians chapter 4. But as then
he that was born after the flesh, Ishmael, persecuted him that
was born after the Spirit, so even so it is now. Our Lord said a man's foe shall
be of his own household. When you tell some of your family
or your friends what the Lord has done for you and what the
Lord has taught you, now remember, Back when the Lord used His Word
to teach me the gospel of His saving and sovereign grace, and
I thought, well, certainly all my religious friends would want
to know about the good news of God's electing sovereign mercy.
I found out they were my enemies. They hated what I loved. My mother's
children made me the keeper of the vineyards. They expected
me to work out my own righteousness and keep the law. And this is
true of false brethren, false churches. But my own soul, he
said, but my own soul, my own vineyard, he said there in the
last part of verse 5, but my own vineyard I've not kept. False religion expects us to
work out a salvation. And he says here, my own vineyard
I've not kept. Indeed, I have sinned and come
short of the glory of God, not able to produce one grape. I've not kept my vineyard. Not
able to produce one grape of righteousness before God. Because
man at his best aid is altogether vanity. Only in Christ, who is
the true vine, do we bring forth any fruit unto God. The fruit
of the Spirit is what? Love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, meekness, temperance, these things. True faith seeks
Christ alone where He's found. Look at verse 7. Tell me! Tell
me! O thou whom my soul loves, where
do you feed? Where can I find bread? Where
do you feed your flock? Where do you make your flock
to rest? For why should I be as one turned aside by the flocks
of thy companions? Here the redeemed of the Lord,
truth they seek Christ where he's found. The believer, the
lover of Christ, is no longer addressing the daughters of Jerusalem,
as in verse 5, but rather the Lord Himself. Tell me, O thou
whom my soul loveth, where do you feed your sheep? That's where
I want to be. The world of unbelievers and
the world of false religion will never understand our love for
the sovereign Christ because they don't know Him. Even in
all our sin and blackness, we do love Him. for who he is, for
what he has done for us, and all that he has given unto us
is by his grace. I am what I am by the grace of
God. Our love for Christ grows as we learn more about him and
his great love for us, how he commends his love toward us,
and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Our love
for Christ motivates us to serve him, not out of fear of punishment,
not out of promise of reward, But as Paul said, the love of
Christ constrains us. Tell me, O thou whom my soul
loved, verse 7, where do you feed your people? Where do you
make them to rest? I don't want to be turned aside
from thee. Tell me where the good shepherd,
the great shepherd, the chief shepherd, Tell me where he feeds
his sheep. Someone asked me today, what
do you do here? And I said, I feed the sheep.
That's what I do here. Tell me where the flock can get
food. Tell me where you make them to
rest at noon. I don't want to be turned away
from thee. I don't want to be turned away
from thee. Where does a good shepherd feed
his sheep? In the pastures of his word,
among his people, with the preaching of the gospel, with the bread
of life. The apostle Paul told the elders
of Ephesus, feed the church of God which he purchased with his
own blood. Where does a good and great shepherd
cause his sheep to rest at noon, in the heat of the day, in the
heat of trial, in the shelter that he has provided? The Lord
is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green
pastures. Why should we be turned away?
Why should I be turned away? Or why should any turn away from
Christ? These companions are typical
of detractors of the gospel. enemies who would parade as friends,
who promote schemes of worship and doctrines contrary to Christ,
who would, if they could, turn us away from the true Christ
of God to the Antichrist, who would turn us aside from the
grace of God through works of the law, from works, from faith
to work, from mercy to merit, from righteousness to Christ
alone, to other things besides Christ
alone. Why should I be as one turned
aside by the flocks of thy companions, companions who are contrary? I've got to be careful here. I'm going to get this fixed,
Lord willing. I've got an appointment Monday
to see a orthopedic surgeon. Now here's what I'm driving at.
Satan does not care what he turns us to as long as he turns us
away from the gospel. He doesn't care what he turns
us to as long as he turns us away from the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Remember our Lord, In John chapter 6, when he said,
not once but twice, no man can come to me except the Father
which sent me draw him, and I'll raise him up again at the last
day. No man can come to me. And then many of those disciples
who followed, supposed so-called disciples that followed him,
turned and walked away. Some think that 5,000 in that
crowd that he fed that day, they turned and walked away. And he
said, no man can come to me except the Father which sent me draw
him. And then he turned to the 12 and said, Peter, John, Andrew,
Philip, he said, if you want to leave, now's the time to leave. Will you also leave, he said?
Remember what they said? Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou
hast the words of eternal life. We believe and are sure thou
art the Christ. May our great God and Savior,
our great shepherd, be pleased to keep us in the way. And thank
God, he says, thank God he will. You remember from Jeremiah 32,
he says, I will be your God and you shall be my people. Tell me, O thou who my soul loves, where you feed your flock. That's
where I want to be, where he feeds his sheep. Remember, he said, my sheep,
they hear my voice, I know them, and they do follow me, and I
give unto them eternal life.