I want you to open your Bibles,
first of all, to the book of 1 Kings. There's some very, very
interesting material here in 1 Kings chapter 4. The love of Christ and His church
is my subject and my text will be the Song of Solomon, but that
inquires a little bit into the one who wrote the Song of Solomon,
the man God used to write this Scripture. First of all, God
gave Solomon great, great power and great ability to rule, rule
over men and keep the peace. In 1 Kings 4 verse 22, in Solomon's
provision, for one day was 30 measures of
fine flour and three scores, 60 measures of meal, 10 fat oxen,
20 oxen out of the pastures, 100 sheep besides the hearts
and roebucks and fallow deer and fatted fowl. And he had dominion
rule over all the region on this side of the river. from Tisza
even to Eza, over all the kings on this side of the river. And he had peace on all sides
round about him. And Judah and Israel dwelt safely,
every man under his vine and under his fig trees, from Dan
even to Beersheba, all the days of What a ruler. A man of plenty,
power, and peace. And then God gave Solomon great
wealth. Just really astronomical wealth. Awesome. The queen from the south
came up. She'd heard about Solomon and
his wisdom and wealth. And when she made a tour of the
kingdom, She said the half has never been told. Look at verse
26. He told you a while ago about
his daily provisions. Solomon had 40,000 stalls of
horses for his chariots. 40,000 stalls. 12,000 horsemen. And those officers
provided vittles. for King Solomon and for all
that came unto King Solomon's table. Every man in his month,
they lacked nothing. And verse 29, God gave Solomon
great wisdom. Look at verse 29. God gave Solomon
wisdom and understanding exceeding much, largeness of heart, even
as the sand that is on the seashore. And Solomon's wisdom excelled
the wisdom of all the children of the East country and all the
wisdom of Egypt, for he was wiser than all men. And then verse
32, God gave him great talent, great power, great ability to
rule, great wealth, great wisdom, and great talent. Verse 32, and
he spake 3,000 proverbs and wrote 1,005 songs. But back here in verse 29, I
noticed something. And I looked it up in some of
the commentaries, and I don't think they're saying The commentaries
are all saying what God's saying here. In verse 29, And God gave
Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and, three words,
largeness of heart. Some make this to mean a continuation
of that wisdom. God gave him great wisdom and
largeness of heart. But that's, it says God gave
him great wisdom, and, Largeness of heart. And you know what I
believe this largeness of heart is? I believe it's love and affection
and generosity. When I was growing up, they used
to use a term for a generous person. What was it? Big hearted. You remember? Big hearted. That's what they said. What did
that mean? Largeness of heart. Generous. Generous, loving, kind,
and generous. He's big-hearted. And when you
say a person is big-hearted, you mean that he's generous,
he's kind, he's loving. But I thought this too when I
looked at that. Big-hearted, largeness of heart,
generous, kind, loving man. How could a man be the wisest
man on earth and not be generous? How could he have the wisdom
of God and not have the mercy of God and the grace of God? Couldn't, could he? No. Well,
this man with the greatest wisdom and the largeness of heart wrote
3,000 proverbs and 1,000 songs. And I want you to turn to his
most profound and beautiful work, the Song of Solomon. All right? The Song of Solomon. This is
one of the 1,005 songs of Solomon. God used the man of greatest
wisdom to write on the greatest subject. Paul said, now about his faith,
hope, and love, the greatest of these is love. So he used the man with the greatest
wisdom to write on the greatest subject. The love of Christ and
His church. Chapter 2 is what I want to look
at tonight. My text is verse 16. And Mike
just sang about it, he and Desi. My beloved is mine and I'm his. My beloved is mine and I'm his.
He feedeth among the lilies. In this chapter 2, I want to
begin at verse 1 and then get to my text in a little while.
In this chapter, there's a conversation between the Lord and His church.
Between the church and the Lord. They speak of one another. The
church sets forth the beauty and the excellency of Christ. And Christ sets forth the beauty
and the excellency of the church. And in this chapter, the church
expresses her love and admiration and her delight for His presence
in person. And Christ expresses His love
and delight for His church. And you might write, I don't
want you really to do it, but you might think about it, over
this chapter, for believers only. You see signs, it says for women
only, for men only, for members only, This chapter is for believers
only. Believers only. A person cannot
enter into this chapter who doesn't love Christ. Just couldn't do
it. Alright, chapter 2. Let's run
through this and then get to the text down to verse 16. The
Lord Jesus speaks first of Himself. He says, I'm the rose of Sharon.
I'm the lily of the valley. Now you've heard that all your
life. Christ, the rose of Sharon, the lily of the valley. When
I think of a rose, I think of two things. When I think of a rose, when
I picture a rose in my mind, I picture two things. It's red. Oh, you say there are many colors
there. I know, but there's a red, red rose. When you think of a
rose, you think of a red rose. And then you think of the fragrance.
The smell. And that's Christ. The red is
His bloody sufferings. His suffering for His people.
His blood which He shed for the remission of our sin. And when
you think of Christ, you think not only of His sufferings, but
the sweet savor and fragrance of His mercy and grace to us.
He's a rose. Rose of Sharon. What do you think
of when you think of a lily? Well, when I close my eyes and
think of a lily, there's two things that come to mind. One,
it's white. Lilies are white. You might make
them other colors, but lilies are white. There's a white lily.
And He's pure. That's what He said over there
in what I read a while ago in chapter 5. My Beloved is white,
pure, holy, immaculate, without stain, spot, or sin. When you
think of a lily, you think of white. And you think of beauty. I don't know about the odor of
a lily, but it is beautiful. And that's our Lord Jesus Christ.
His whiteness is His purity and His beauty. And look at what
He says about His people, verse 2. He said, As the lily among
the thorns, so is My love among the daughters. Now here He's
talking about the church. He said, I'm a rose of Sharon.
I'm the lily of the valley. My church is a lily, white, sanctified
in Christ, washed pure. Come unto me, though your sins
be as scarlet, I'll make them white as snow. White as snow. My church is white, pure and
holy, and beautiful. And Ezekiel 16 tells us that,
I read it this morning, His beauty is our beauty. Now look at this. thorns. Among the thorns. What that's talking about is
she grows. The beautiful church, the beautiful
bride grows among unlovely people in an unlovely world. Beauty
among ugliness. Where you find one of God's children,
he's different from those about him. If you find him in the workplace,
if you find him in the store, if you find him in the school,
if you find him in the factory, if you find him in the home,
he's different. He's among thorns. That's right. That's what that says. Now look
at verse 3. I'll move quickly. This is such a beautiful chapter.
As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, all the other trees,
all of the trees, the barren trees of the forest. You drive
down the highway and you look on either side and there's all
these trees, pine trees and maple trees and birch and locusts and
all these trees. But he says, the church is speaking
here, and the church says, as the apple trees among the woods,
the trees of the woods, so is my beloved among the suns. When
a weary pilgrim walks through the woods, A pine tree, not much
for him. An oak tree, a lot there for
the squirrels. A birch tree. But he comes up
on an apple tree. And that apple tree furnishes
him shade and fruit. And he sits down under the apple
tree. Look, he says, and I sat down
under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my
taste. Our Lord is the apple tree among
all the barren trees, fruitless trees. They serve their purpose,
but not like Him. And I'll tell you this, in the
Song of Solomon, if you're occasioned to read some more of it, and
I wish you would, the apple tree is a symbol of love. That's it. Years ago, if you look at chapter
8, verse 5, Chapter 8, verse 3, the apple
tree signifies love. Here it says in verse 5 of chapter
8, Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning
upon her beloved? I raise thee up under the apple
tree. There thy mother brought thee
forth, and there she brought thee forth that bare thee. Used
to be years ago when you threw an apple to someone, you were
signifying your love for that person. And so this apple tree
is chosen here, not at random. It provides shade, it provides
fruit, refreshing, and it's a symbol of love. I sat down under the...
Remember that old song when we was in the Navy, don't sit under
the apple tree with anyone else but me, till I come marching
home. That's where that came from. The apple tree, didn't
say don't sit under the pear tree, or the peach tree, the
apple tree. And when you talk about something
being real special, it's the apple of your eye. Isn't that
right? That's right. All right, verse
four. He brought me to the banqueting
house. We sang about that, Mike did,
and Desi a moment ago. The banqueting house. Here's
how. He brought me to the feast. Come
and dine. He said, Go out and invite them
to the feast. All things are ready and prepared. He brought me to His house, and
it's a house of feasting. He takes me to His table and
serves the bread and wine, symbolic of His broken body and shed blood.
He brings me to the fellowship, the feast of love, fellowship
with His children. He brings me to the children's
bread, the Word of God is the children's bread. And his banner
over me is love. If you go to a patriotic rally,
they'll have an American flag flying. That's the rallying point. That's the banner over a patriotic
rally. If you go to a political party,
they'll have GOP or the DEM or the elephant or the donkey or
something. If you go to a religious gathering,
they'll have a cross. If you go to an Olympic game,
they'll have the insignia with those circles. If you come to
His house, what's the banner over us? Love. That's what... His love for us and our love
for Him. That's why we're here. We love
Christ. And He loves us. His banner over us at His house
of feasting and fellowship and refreshing is love. Verse 5, stay me. Right in there,
sustain me. Sustain me with flagons. Flagons
are vessels for wine. You notice, Mike, in that song,
how all these things, that's what that song, Sands of Time,
was taking, this scripture, right? That's right. Stay me with flagons. Refresh me. Sustain me with the
wine that makes the heart merry. And comfort me with apples. Comfort
me with reminders of your love for me. For I am sick of love. No, I'm not sick of love. I'm
sick with love. Just mark through that of. Sometimes
our translators, well, they knew what they were saying back in
old English. But here, what does this mean,
I'm sick with love? I am desirous to know Him more. I'm taken up with Christ. I'm
overwhelmed and overcome with my love for Him. I'm sick with
love. And then look at verse 6 here. He not only feeds His church
and loves His church and comforts His church, but He takes hold
of His church in both hands and supports His church. His left
hand is under my head and His right hand doth embrace me. He
holds His church like a lover holds his beloved. I will not
let you go. No one can pluck us out of our
hands, and my Father which gave to me is greater than all. No
man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. They're
held tightly, securely, and they'll never perish. And here's the
church speaking again here all the way through here in this
part. I charge you, O ye daughters, I charge you by the rose Daughters
of Jerusalem, by the rows, by the hands of the field, you stir
not up nor wake my love till he pleases." There's a little
discussion here about who's speaking. I said it's the church speaking,
and I believe it is. Because this can only refer to
our Lord who does as He pleases. Don't disturb my Lord until He
pleases. So no force, no power, no person
can change Him, disturb Him, or alter His purpose till He
pleases. That's the reason we wait on
the Lord. Where is your God? They said
to David. My God's in the heavens. He hath
done whatsoever He pleases. Whatsoever the Lord pleases,
that did He in heaven, earth, the seas, and all deep places.
Now, verse 8, the voice of my beloved. She knows His voice. She delights in it. His voice
is heard before He is seen. She says, the voice of My Beloved,
and I have a little difficulty with these next two verses. I
just, there's a little difficulty with all of it, but over here,
Behold, He cometh, leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon
the hills. My Beloved is like a roe, or
young deer, He comes quickly. These animals are known for their
swiftness. He comes. Behold, He comes, like a roe
or a young heart. Behold. Now here, He standeth
behind the wall. That may be the types of the
Old Testament. Christ is revealed. His voice
is heard, but He's not seen clearly. And she said He comes quickly,
but He's behind the wall. Hidden in the types and the shadows
and the pictures. But then he comes closer. He
looks forth at the windows. There's illumination. He showeth
himself through the lattice. I see him. Not like I want to. Not like I need to. I see him.
I see him in the types and the shadows. I see him through a
glass dimly. I know in part, but I know his
voice. She said, I know his voice. I
hear his voice. I don't see Him clearly, but
I know His voice. And my boy, here's what He said
to me. My beloved spake and He said to me, rise up my love,
my fair one and come away. Come with me. Rise up. Rise up. Rise up from where you are. Rise
up from what you're doing. from whom you're with, rise up
and come with me." And come with me. I heard his voice. I saw
him dimly. I saw him through a glass darkly.
I saw him through the ladders. I saw him behind the wall, heard
his voice. He kept coming to me. And that's
what he said to me, rise up. Rise up and come with me. He
says it down in verse 13. See the last line of verse 13,
rise my love, my fair one, come away. I heard the voice of Jesus say,
come to me. Come away. Come up. Rise up from
where you are. Rise up from whom you will. Rise
up from what you're doing. You're mine. I chose you. I died for you. I called you. Now you come with me. And watch
this now, verse 11. The winter's past. The rain is
over and gone. What is that? That's the winter
of darkness and sin. It's over. And the rain and the
storm is over. It's over. He loved me and he
bought me. The war is over. Mike thinks
about it. It's finished. The winter's over. The darkness
is gone, the rain and the storm is gone. Listen, the flowers
are blooming. It's springtime. The flowers appear on the earth.
And the time of the singing of the birds is come. And the voice of the turtle,
right in your margin there, turtle dove. That's the turtle dove. The turtle dove's heard. And
listen, and the fig tree puts forth her green figs. And the
vines with the tender grapes give a sweet smell. What's going
on here? He's redeemed us. He's come where
we are. I read that in Ezekiel. I passed
by you. The time was a time of love.
And I said, Leah, come with me. Come with me. Come with me. The winter's over. The storm
is over. The birds are singing. The flowers
are blooming. The fig trees are putting out
the figs. The tender grapes, you can smell
them in the air. Come with me. Come with me. And he speaks in verse 14, Oh
my dove. He calls his church a dove because
she's harmless. Innocent. Holy. Beautiful. By his grace. He calls her a
dove because she's weak. We have doves in our yard. We
feed the birds. Friday, Darcy was out there and
there was a little dove, a new dove. He was just a little fella
under the sweet shrub, Paul. Do you remember what a sweet
shrub was? The little dove was under the sweet shrub. Darcy
said, look, he's under the sweet shrub. That was his mama and
another dove. They're so weak and they mourn. Have you ever heard a dove? It's sad. His church, he said,
my dove, weak, innocent, gentle, harmless, harmless. And I went out there Saturday
and the little dove was dead. I felt so bad. I thought, what
happened to him? I reached down and picked him
up. He hadn't been dead long, his body was warm. And I called,
I said, he's dead. The little dove, something's
killed him. Something's killed my dove. But that's his church. Oh, my dove! My dove! Harmless, innocent, mourning
because of trials and troubles. Exposed and weak. Probably some
dog or cat killed that little dove under that sweet shrub bush.
There's where he was laying. But watch verse 14. My dove,
you hide in the cleft of the rock. Who's the cleft of the
rock? That's Christ. You'd be alright
there. That little dove, if that little
dove had been in the cleft of the rock, he'd been alright.
But he wasn't. He's out in the open. But you're
hiding in the cleft of the rock. And in the secret place of the
stairs, the stairs are steep mountains. Steep mountains. But they have these hiding places.
Like the, you know it talks about in the scripture. The coney runs
to the rock, hides in the rock. And you little dove, you hide
in the cleft of the rock. You can't make it alone. Now,
don't you get out on your own. Don't you think you're so big
and strong and smart, you can make it on your own. You better
hide, because you're just a dove. And you hide in the cleft of
the rock, and you hide in the secret places there, in the steep
mountains, hiding places. And let me see your countenance. Let me see your countenance.
Let me see your face and hear your voice in praise and prayer
and worship. Don't hide from me, hide in me. Don't hide from me, hide in me. And let me see your face. Come
often before the Lord. Come often, often in prayer,
in worship. Come often, for your voice is
sweet to me. You wouldn't think that, would
you? But it is. It's sweet to me. Your voice
is sweet to Him. Do you know that? His voice is
sweet to us, but our voice is sweet to Him. Oh, I fumble and
stumble. I do too. I hear down somewhere
recently in my television programs on there, they said, you're going
to come watch the program. I said, I'm not going to watch
it myself. Every time I watch it myself, I want to quit preaching.
My words, I can't say it like I want to. But my voice is sweet
to Him. And your voice is sweet to Him.
Let me hear your voice. Let me see your face. Let me
hear your voice. For sweet is your voice, and
your countenance is comely to me, said the Lord. And verse
15, take us the foxes, the little foxes. Be careful of the little
foxes. Be careful of the little foxes. What are the little foxes?
They spoil the vines. The little foxes war against
the soul. Our vines have tender grapes.
And we're going to have to watch these thoughts. Like Ronnie prayed
a while ago, that old deceitful heart. We still got a problem
with it. Be careful of those little foxes,
the things that war against the soul. For our vines have tender
grapes. Don't let it overwhelm you and
overcome you. Now, verse 16, I'll close. He says, my beloved is mine. The church is talking here, and
I'm his. There are five reasons why my
beloved is mine and I'm his. I'll give them to you briefly.
Number one, he's mine because the Father gave him to me. John
17, 6, he said, Thou gavest them me. He's mine and I'm His because
the Father gave me to Him. That's why He's mine and I'm
His. The Father gave Him to me and me to Him. That marriage
was arranged like they did years ago. The Father got together
and said, I want this boy for my daughter and my daughter for
this boy. That's what the Father did. He's mine and I'm His by divine
union. He's the vine, we're the branches. That's pretty close. He's the
head, we're the body. That's pretty close. But more
personal, it's the marriage union. Two shall be one flesh and Christ's
church is married to Him. We have His name by marriage. I show you a mystery, Christ
and the church. Ephesians 5, He is our husband. We carry His name. Thirdly, He
is mine and I am His by purchase. He bought me. You are not your
own. You are bought with a price.
He redeemed me. I am redeemed not with corruptible
things as silver and gold. He redeemed me with His blood.
You are bought with a price and what a price it is. for us with
His blood. He bought us from the law and
justice and nobody has any claim on us now. I'm His. I'm His. The law can't touch me. I wish
these people that argue about eternal security would get off
that treadmill and get into the Word of God and see these things.
We're His. He's ours. My beloved is mine
and I'm His. By the arrangement of the Father.
By divine union. By purchase. He bought me. He
redeemed me. And fourthly, He's mine and I'm
His by mutual affection. He loves me. I can't explain
that. I cannot explain why He loves
you and me. I can't explain. I can explain
why I love Him. That's not hard to figure. That
fellow asked her over here Chapter 5. What is your beloved? Let
me got two or three hours. I'll tell you I Know why we love
him, but I know why he loves us The cause is not found the
cause for our love is found in him the cause of his love is
not found in us That too is found in him He loved us I'm his and
he's mine by mutual affection And then I want you to turn to
John 17, and this is the last Scripture. I'm His, and He's
mine forever. I'm going to make a strong statement
here, but it's true. It's true. This is a strong statement. But it's so. And when a person
understands the grace of God, and the sovereign purpose of
God in Christ. And he understands what I'm going
to say. I'm his and he's mine forever. The union between Christ
and His church. And I'm not talking about the
Baptist church or the Methodist church or Church of Christ or
these man-made organizations and so forth. I'm talking about
His church, church of the firstborn. The church whose name is written
in heaven. The church which He purchased with His blood. Christ
and that church, that union, can no more be dissolved than
the union between the Father and the Son. Is that too strong? It's so isn't
it? And I can back it up with the
Word of God. Now listen, John 17, verse 21. Verse 20, let's read verse, Now
neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall
believe on Me through their word, that they all may be one as Thou,
Father, art in Me, and I in them, that they also may be one in
Us, that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me, and the
glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be
one as We are one, the Father and the Son, I in them, and thou
in me, that they may be made perfect in one, that the world
may know thou hast loved me, and loved them as you love me."
There she is. Now you can just take all these
arguments about once saved, always saved, he turned scared and all,
just throw them out the window and be done with them. It's a
waste of time. If you're in Him, you're in Him
like the Father's in the Son and the Son's in the Father.
And that union can never be dissolved. It can never be dissolved. Who
can separate me from the love of Christ? Nothing. Nothing. Not anything. Oh, that's comfort. That's such encouragement to
those who do believe on Christ. Alright. I think a good song,
Mike, is Hallelujah, What a Savior.