Ponga Solomon, chapter 6. You know, when Marvin preached,
I thought of several things, but you know, our Lord Jesus
Christ, whatever he touched, it never polluted him. You know,
we pass our pollution on, our corruption on to our children,
and our grandchildren, our great-grandchildren. But our Lord Jesus Christ, even
in touching us, is touched with the feelings
of our infirmities. And though he bore our sin, he
himself was not a sinner. And when he touched that leper,
he took away the leprosy and did not become a leper. And he
can touch us every day and is not polluted by anything
he does for us. Oh, what a Savior, what a blessed,
blessed Savior we have. And a sinner must have three
things, and God requires them. You've got to have a priest.
You can't approach God without a priest. And the priest must have a sacrifice,
and he must offer it for you. And he must have an altar to
put it on. And our Lord Jesus Christ is all three. Amen. All right, let me read
these first three verses here if I can, and will, and pray
the Lord bless them. I guess a preacher at home is
just finishing up. If I was at home, that's what
I'd be, just finishing up. Now I'm just getting started. Whither is thy beloved gone?
Oh, they're fairest among women. Whither is thy beloved turned
aside that we may seek him or seek thee? My beloved has gone
down into his garden to the beds of spices to feed in the gardens
and to gather lilies. This is my subject. I am my beloved's
and my beloved is mine. He feedeth among the lilies. I am my beloved's. What a blessing,
what a blessing God gives a man and a woman if He gives them
someone to love and someone who loves them in return. Oh, what
a blessing to have a beloved. And it's wonderful to have someone
to share life with when you're younger, when you have fire,
when you have zeal, and you have lots and lots of dreams for the
future. Oh, what a blessing. And then
middle age comes along. Middle age comes along. What
a blessing. What a blessing from God to have
to belong to someone and have someone you belong to. You belong to one another. You
settle down. You enjoy staying home. You enjoy
life together. And then old age stills on. And you get old, you need someone
to watch over you, to make sure you're taken care of, that nobody
mistreats you. And when you're sick, they take
care of you and help you through your old age. And so it's a wonderful thing to be
this way. And I tell you, beloved, it's
how sad it is for people to go through life and never have anyone to belong to or you to belong
to them. But I'll tell you something about
believers. They always have a beloved. They
have someone that's beloved to them, and he's their beloved too, and he loves
them too. They're never, never, never alone. And look what it says here in
verse 6. So we're never alone. I have
a beloved, and my beloved loves me. I am his, and he is mine. Ain't that what it says? I am
my beloved's, and my beloved is mine. You know, he says, where
is my beloved gone? Where is he gone? And he says,
O thou fairest of women, O how the church The Lord Jesus Christ's
people, they're fair to Him. How come they're fair? They're
made perfect in His comeliness. They're complete in Him. And
He says, Where is thy Beloved turned aside? And oh, we want
to go seek Him. We want to go with Him. We want
to find Him. We want to see Him. He said, My Beloved is going
down into His garden. And the Scripture says that we
are garden enclosed, planted by the Lord, nurtured by the
Lord, Bring forth of the Lord everything we do. His garden,
we're enclosed by His blessed grace. And He's going down to
the beds of spices. He's going to make us all smell
good. He's the sweet savor of Christ. And He went down to gather
lilies. Lilies. And He is the lily of
the valley. The rose of Sharon. And He says,
And I am my Beloved's, and my Beloved is mine. And He comes
down and He feeds among the lilies. I want to talk about my Beloved.
I am my Beloved's. I am my Beloved's. When did we
become Christ's Beloved's? I say He's my Beloved. I was
His and beloved of Him before time ever began. Before
time ever began. You know He says, According as
He hath chosen us, in Him, before the foundation of the world.
I want you to look with me over in 2nd Timothy. This is the verse
of scripture that God used to teach me the gospel with. Right
over here in 2nd Timothy 1.9. This is the gospel that Christ
used to teach me the gospel with, right here. You know, I was His
beloved, I and my beloveds, and I was His before time ever began.
You know, He says, Who is He that condemneth? Who's going
to condemn? Who's going to lay anything to
the charge of God's elect? Who is? Who's going to lay any
charge to the God's elect? It's Christ that died. Not only
did He die, but He rose again. And He sits there to make intercession
for us. And then it says this, well who
is He then that's going to condemn us? It's God that justifies us. So this all happened before I
ever existed. And I found out about it through
the preaching of the gospel, through men like this preaching
the gospel. But look what he said here in
2 Timothy 1.9. This is the verse of scripture God used to teach
me the gospel. Who hath saved us? Who did? God did. Hath saved us. And you
know all of salvation is always in the past tense in the scriptures. He hath done, He hath done, He
hath done. It's always in the past tense.
In the present tense and past tense. But look what He says
here. Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling. Not according
to our works, but according to His own purpose. Bless God, He's
got a purpose. And if God's got a purpose, who's
going to disannul it? Who's going to turn back His
head? Who can ever change Him from His purpose? And I tell
you what, and He get on account of His purpose and grace. And
when was this purpose and grace given to us in Christ Jesus before
the world ever began? That just blesses my heart all
over the place. I'll tell you what, he said,
yea, I've loved thee with an everlasting love and with cords
of loving kindness have I drawn thee. And you know before Jeremiah,
he told Jeremiah, he said, before you was ever born and before
you was ever formed in your mother's womb, Jeremiah, I called you
to be a prophet. I called you to put my words
in your mouth before you ever was. You was a preacher when
you was in your mama's womb. You was, that's what God does.
That's the way he does things. And oh, listen, what Paul says,
when it pleased God. who separated me from my mother's
womb, and called me by His grace to reveal His Son in me. So you
see, beloved, I was my Beloved's before the world ever began.
And then I'll tell you how else I'm Beloved's. I'm His because
the Father gave me to Him. When did He give Him to Him?
before the world ever began. I want you to see several things.
I'm going to take my time this morning if I can. And look over
here in John's Gospel, Chapter 17. Look here with me for a minute. John 17, talking about being
given to Christ. You quoted it this morning. All
that the Father gives me. Gives me. So there's a people
being given to Christ. And they was given to Him in
a covenant of grace before the foundation of the world. And
Christ gave us to the Father. And I tell you what, when He
got me, He didn't get anything. I got everything, He got nothing.
That's the way it works, ain't that right? I got healed and
all that he is and all he got was me and my feebleness and
my sin. I got his righteousness, he got
my sin. He got my death, I got his life. He got my disobedience, I got
his obedience. But look what He said here, talking
about I was given by the Father. Look what He said in verse 2,
John 17. As thou hast given Him power of all flesh, that He should
give eternal life to how many? As thou hast given Him, given
Me, given Him. Look what it says down in verse
6. Oh, I've manifested Thy name unto the men which Thou gavest
Me out of the world. Verse 9, I pray for them, I pray
not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me. They
belong to you. Look down in verse 12, while
I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name. Those
that thou gavest me of, I kept, none of them's lost. None of
them's lost except the son of perdition. And oh, look down
verse 24. Oh, I love this. Father, I will. I will that they also whom thou
hast given me be with me where I am, that they may be with me. Oh my, you reckon that prayer
was answered? You reckon that prayer will be
answered? I will that they be with me, those that you've given
me be with me. Our Lord Jesus Christ, God gave
us to Him. You know what we were when God
gave us to Him? We were like Lazarus. corrupt. God said, Lazarus, come forth,
and he that was dead came forth. We were self-righteous like Zacchaeus,
and the Lord Jesus Christ said, Come down, and down we came. We was blind and born beggars,
and our Lord Jesus Christ touched our eyes and says, Now go and
see. And oh, that's the way we was,
born in sin, and yet Christ bore our sin in His own body on the
tree and put it away by the sacrifice of Himself. When we were yet
without strength in due time, Christ died for who? The ungodly. He says, maybe, maybe for a righteous
man, a fellow might die. Maybe there's a good man out
there that a fellow say, listen, it's better for me to die than
this good man. But God commendeth his love toward us. And that
while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Oh my, while we
were yet, we got him. He got us. Who got, who got the
most? I'm His, I'm my Beloved's before
time began. I'm my Beloved's because the
Father gave me to Him. And I'm my Beloved's because
I've been purchased by Him. I've been redeemed by Him. He
bought me and He paid for me. You know, He said in 1 Corinthians
620, He says, No you're not. You've been bought with a price.
With a price. Therefore, glorify God in your
body and in your spirit. We were redeemed. Redeemed. How I love to proclaim it. Redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb. And redemption means to pay the
price for something with the intent of releasing it and letting
it go. To pay the debt that was owed
against it. And we were redeemed, not with
corruptible things like they did under the law with silver
and gold that we had to pay for redemption price to make the
tabernacle, but with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without
spot and without blemish, who verily was foreordained before
the foundation of the world. And I'll tell you, bless His
name, we were redeemed by the blood of Christ, justified freely
by His grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. And when
we talk about redemption, the only way in the world we could
be redeemed was for the shedding of blood. Without the shedding
of blood, there's no putting away of sin. And how in the world
can we be set free from sin Redemption. How can we be set free from bondage? Redemption. How can we be set
free from our corruption? Through His redemption. Through
His blood shedding. And when we pay for something,
we expect to get it. Don't you? If you go pay for
something, you expect to get it. Well, our Lord Jesus Christ paid
for a people. And He's going to get every single
one of them. Every single one. There's people that's not been
born yet that Christ shed His blood for. And I can say here
this morning, there's not many guarantees a man can make, but
I can guarantee you this. If Christ died for them and shed
His blood for them, and they ain't been born yet, they're
going to hear the gospel. And they're going to believe
that gospel. And that Christ's blood is going to cleanse them
from all their sins. That blood is going to make them
acceptable to God. That blood is going to take away
everything that's against them. Because He's going to nail it
to His cross. You know Jacob loved Rachel. Loved Rachel. How long did he labor for Rachel?
Year after year after year. You can't have her unless you
do something. You can't have her unless you labor and labor
and do what I tell you. Jacob labored and labored and
labored for Rachel. And then he gave him Lynn. He
had to labor and labor and labor again for Rachel. And our Lord
Jesus Christ, bless His holy name, He came here and God gave
Him a work. And He gave Him a people. But
all those people had sin. They had corruption. They were
dead. Everything about them was against
God. And our Lord Jesus Christ came into this world, made of
a woman, made under the law, and to redeem them that were
under the law. He was made a curse to redeem
us out from under the curse of the law. And our Lord Jesus Christ
came down here and in grace and in love, He bore our sins in
His own body on that tree. And when God saw that sin on
Him, He treated Him the way we should have been treated. Death
is our do, Christ bore our death. Hell is our do, Christ bore our
hell. You know what made Him be able
to do it? It's because of who He is. It's not how much blood
was shed, it was whose. It's not how long he was on the
cross, but who was on the cross. It's not how much sin he bore,
but it's whose sin he bore. And our Lord Jesus Christ's grace
brought him to this world. Grace caused him to go to the
cross and love did. And God drew out his sword of
justice. Oh, what a sword of justice.
Rise, O sword, against my fellow. Rise, O sword, against my shepherd.
Smite the shepherd. And I, Lord Jesus Christ, when
He got him in the garden getting ready to take him out, He said,
You seek Me? These got to go their way. And
the God's sword of justice come out, and He took that sword of
justice and plunged it deep, deep, deep into the heart of
His blessed Son. And when He brought it out, He
wiped it off and put it back in His sheath, and it'll never,
never be taken out against one for whom Christ died. God gave us grace as if there
was no justice, and justice as if there was no grace. We are
as much saved by God's justice as we were by His grace. Listen, we can face whatever
life throws our way. You know why? Because nothing
can destroy us. Death can't destroy us. Hell
can't touch us. I told one fellow one time, you
know, I was preaching and I said, listen, I was talking about, you know,
people talk about, you know, that I said, I never was close
to hell. I said, boy, so many people got
down so close to hell. I said, according to the gospel,
I never got in spitting distance of it. Why? Because Christ bore
it for me. He said, that can't be right. He stood up and said,
that can't be right. I said, well, it is. He had a PhD. You know what that
is? You know how to dig post holes. He had so many doctors degree,
he could go into 360 degrees. Thought he was so smart. Oh,
the gospel confounds it, but I'm telling you, God gave us
justice as if there was no grace. And He gives us grace as if there
was no justice, but He does it all in His blessed Son. Can justice come and touch anybody
for whom Christ died? When we come time, you know,
the satisfaction, Christ made such satisfaction. And that He
satisfied justice, He satisfied God, He satisfied holiness. And
when our Lord Jesus Christ, listen, that's why, you know what's going
to comfort our dying pillar? Satisfaction. God's satisfied
with Christ. Never satisfied with me, but
He's satisfied with Christ. I could never do nothing to any
way, shape, form, or fashion make God look at me with satisfaction
for anything I've ever done. But He can look at me and look
at you with complete satisfaction because He don't view you as
you. He views you as any son. And then I tell you another way
I'm His, my beloved. I'm His by conquest. He conquered
me. I throwed up my hands and said,
I surrender. Old Scott used to say, you're in a war that you
can't win. Oh, listen, He conquered me. He conquered me. In fact,
not only did He conquer me, but He conquered every enemy that
was against me. He had conquered every enemy
that was against His people. Everything that was contrary
to us, everything that was against us, He took it out of the way.
What did He do with it? He nailed it to His cross. Huh? Nailed it to His cross. And then
He made a show openly, openly, just exposed them to what they
are. No power, no strength, death, hell, sin, justice, righteousness. He just, He showed them. and triumphed over all of them.
Oh, the battle. He fought that battle by Himself. He by Himself purged our sins. He by Himself purged our sins
and entered into glory. Isaiah 65. Isaiah 65. Oh, and He conquered us. He conquered us. How did He conquer
us? You know how He conquered us? He conquered it by love. He conquered
us by grace. He conquered us by the power
of the gospel. Oh my! In the day of His power,
in the day of His power, the power of grace, the power of
the gospel, the power of the Holy Spirit, He made us willing. I'm here as willingly, willingly. People say, well, I wish, you
know, you all, the way you all talk about God does everything.
He does. And I'm telling you, I wished I was a, I wished I
was almost like a robot and everything I'd done, God could, you know,
made me do it just exactly right. That way I would have to, you
know, I wish I would have, you know, say, well, you know, you're
not puppets, but I wish I was. And the Lord Jesus Christ was
controlling the strings. That's how, that's how, that's
how conquered we want to be. We want to be so conquered that
Christ works in us completely and entirely. But Isaiah 65, 63, excuse me,
I, man, I can't, Look what he said here. He said,
Who is that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Basra,
that is glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of
his strength? I that speak in righteousness,
mighty to save. Wherefore art thou red? Why did
you become red in your apparel? Why is your garment like him
that treads the wine fast? I have trodden the winepress
alone, and of the people there was none with me. I'll tread
them in my anger, I'll trample them in my fury, and their blood
shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I'll stain my raiment. For
in the day of my vengeance is mine heart, the day of vengeance
is in mine heart, and the year of my redeem is come. That's
us, stained with our blood. And I looked, and there was none
to help. And I wondered that there was
none to uphold. Therefore, my own arm brought
salvation unto me. My fury upheld me. He bore it
all by himself. He did it by himself. David said,
he told David, seek ye my face. David said, thy face, O Lord,
I will seek. And I surrendered to one so gracious
He won my heart. I'm my beloved. And I'm my beloved
by relationship. By relationship. Lots of relationships
we have with the Lord Jesus Christ. First of all, we're His spouse.
Paul said, I've espoused you as a virgin to Christ. We've
been espoused to Christ. We're the bride of Christ. We're
the church of Christ. And that's why David says, you
know, he said, I'm just the voice here. He said, when they hear
the voice of the bridegroom, he said, that's when they start
rejoicing, when they hear the voice of the bridegroom. And
I'll tell you, he says, the time of the bridegroom has come, and
the bride has made herself ready. And also, we're his spouse to
Christ. He's the bridegroom, and we're
the bride. Well, one of these days, he's
gonna Go to that bride, that marriage supper of the Lamb.
And then we're called His sons. We're a son, born again by the
Spirit of God. He says, I'm not ashamed to call
them brethren. Christ is not ashamed to call
us brethren. And then we're called as His
children. We're children. And He takes care of us like
children. And then He says we're members of His body, bone of
His bone, and flesh of His flesh. Oh, we have so many relationships
to Christ. Oh my. So I am my Beloved's. And then look what else it says
here. Back over in verse 3. It says, I am my Beloved's. And then He says, and my Beloved's
mine. He's mine too. Not only am I
His, but He's also mine. And just like I was given to
Him, He gave Himself to me. Gave Himself to me. And gave
Himself not only to me, gave Himself for me, and He did it
in eternity. So He's my Beloved. My Beloved. He says, O Lord, it's written
in my heart, I delight to do thy will. Thy law, thy law is
written in my heart. Not only my beloved, but my beloved
is mine. And I tell you, he's only mine
because he gave himself to me. That's what Paul said. He said,
I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet it's
not I that liveth, but it's Christ that liveth in me. And the life
I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God
who loved me and gave himself for me. And then my beloved,
he's my beloved by gracious, gracious union. You know, they're
talking about these union. I missed it a minute ago, our
relationships to him. But there's a union between God's
people and Christ. That's closer than any union
you'll have on this earth. Closer than any union. You know,
He says we're bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh. And when
you talk about a bride being the bride of Christ, that talks
about a union of love. A union of love. And that's what
you do. You know, you'd marry people
you love. And we have this union with Christ, and this union of
love is abroad. And then as the body of Christ,
we have the union of life. Our life is just by Christ that
we live and have our being. Christ is, our union is with
Him. Our life, He's the vine, we're
just the branches. And separated from Christ, we
have no life. And we're one with Him in all
things. was one with Him when He lived,
one with Him when He died, one with Him when He resurrected,
one with Him when He ascended. The Scriptures tell us we're
seated together in heavenly places in Christ. You can read in Ephesians
2 at your own leisure, but look how many times there says together
with Him, together with Him, together with Him, together with
Him. Everything He did, we did together with Him. And not only
is my beloved mine because He gave Himself to me and for me
by a gracious union, but by His indwelling, by living in us,
by living in us. Colossians 1.27 says this, Christ
in you. That's the hope of glory. Christ
in you. What's your hope of glory? Christ
in me. You know when David preaches or Marvin preaches or anybody
else preaches here, you know what answers, you know, as Christ
is preached from the scriptures, Christ in you answers to Christ
in the gospel. So when you're preaching and
we're talking about him, your heart answers back because Christ
in you answers back to Christ in the scriptures. Christ in
you responds to Christ from the gospel. Christ in you responds
from the word. And so if Christ is in you, then
you respond to the same Christ that's in the scriptures. You
say, yeah, that's right. I understand that. I get that.
Oh, Christ in you. And Christ formed in you. That
spiritual union, that spiritual life that's in you. This is how
come we know Christ is in us. You know why? It makes us look
to Him. It makes us seek Him. Makes us
seek Him. Oh, nothing else will make us
seek Christ, but Christ in us. What makes you desire Christ? What makes you desire Christ?
What makes you seek Him? What makes you understand His
Word? What makes you say, Christ is my life? It's Christ in you. Christ in you. That's why people
that don't understand this, they don't understand it. You know, they got to be doing
something. Listen, Christ does it all. And Christ in you answers to Christ. And it makes
you seek Him, makes you want Him, makes you desire Him, makes
you need Him. Need Him. And oh, when Paul said,
when Christ who is our life shall appear. You know why we come
to services like this? Because Christ is our life. Christ is our life. It's not
just going to church. It's not just going to church. And then I tell you what, not
only is He by my beloved by His indwelling, living in us, but
He's ours personally. You remember when Simon, I mean
Thomas, he hadn't been there when Christ appeared to the twelve.
And Thomas told him, said, I ain't going to believe. I'm not going
to believe he's risen from the dead. I'm not going to believe
anything you fellas say until I can take my own hand and stick
it in the riven side and put my fingers in those holes in
his hands. Because I seen him die. And I
ain't gonna believe. He no sooner said that than Christ
said, reach here there, Thomas. If that's what it takes, you
reach here, Thomas, go ahead. And you know what Thomas did?
He just fell on his face and said, my Lord and my God. My Lord and my God. Ain't that what we say, my Lord
and my God? Mary, she went to the tomb on
Sunday morning. She looked and looked and looked
for Christ. He wasn't in the tomb anymore.
She was walking around just weeping and weeping and weeping. And
she turned around and she saw a man standing there. And she
thought he was the gardener. And she said, sir, Wherever you've
laid him, wherever you've laid him, whatever you've done with
his body, please take me and show me. I need to see it. I
got to see it. And I'll take him away and I'll take care of
it. I'll deal with him. I'll take
his body. And about that time, the Lord
Jesus Christ said, Mary. She said, Oh, master, my master,
my master. Oh, I tell you, when we're alone
like that, He'll call us by name. Call us by name. Oh, all He is
is ours. All He did is ours. He is ours
personally. And I tell you, my beloved's
mine. Not only are we His, but He's also ours. And He is always
ours. Always ours. Never more at one
time than another. Never more at one time than another.
We feel like sometimes that you know he's not present
or something, but he's always ours. He's never more at one
time than another. Oh, if you knew how I feel. He
does. Yeah, he does. If you know how sinful I was,
He does. If He knew how burdened I was,
He does. If He knew how weak I was, He
does. He does. He does. You see, He
doesn't come and go by our feelings. He doesn't come and go by our
feelings. He doesn't come and go by our
temperament. And ain't you thankful for that?
What if he left you first time you popped off? You know, you
got upset with somebody and start telling them off. And he said,
I ain't have nothing to do with him until he gets straightened
out. There ain't that much straightening
in the world, but he's always ours. He doesn't come and He
doesn't go. Feelings come and feelings go
and feelings are deceiving. Not else is worth believing but
God's blessed word. He doesn't come and go by our
feelings and by our temperaments. I was talking to a fellow the
other day, Wayne Boyd. And you know, sometimes David
will tell you this and Jonathan and other ones that preach here.
Sometimes you come into the service to preach and you're dead. You're
just as lifeless and as cold and you feel as empty. It's the
most awful thing in the world. And you pray for the congregation
and say, Lord, have mercy on this people today because they've
got to deal with me this morning. And you're just as lifeless and
as dead. Then you get up, and the Lord
blesses you, and you preach, and then just as soon as you
get done, you're just like you was before you got in the poor. That, he never, he never changes. Never changes. Oh my. You know what our Lord Jesus
Christ said? I'll be with you all the way to the end. The end of this life is going
to be with us, and then we'll see Him face to face. He said
in Hebrews 13 and 5, there's five negatives there. And it
says this, I will never, no never, no never, no never, never leave
you or forsake you. Five times He tells us in one
verse, I'll never leave you, never forsake you. If He was
ever going to forsake somebody, He'd have forsook me years and
years ago. Oh, Christ is mine. Christ is
mine. He is my beloved. This is faith. I am His. I am His. This is faith working by love. I am my beloved's. My beloved
is mine. What a way to describe us. My beloved is mine. I have my
beloved. Thank you all so much. David,
thank you again for having me. Love you all. I appreciate you.
Oh, you listen so good. So good. Thank you.