Christ's Love: Better than Wine (Song of Solomon Part 1) - Tim Conway

Well, let's pray once again.

Father, we come to You,

Lord, we thank You.

Just singing these songs...

the hope that we have as those

who have been bought by the blood,

You'll never, no never forsake.

And we stand in that confidence

that our sins have been washed.

Lord, we recognize,

we gather together here,

2018,

the east side of San Antonio.

We're here. We're here collectively.

We're here as a people

because there is a Redeemer;

because Christ came into the world;

because He saved a people

and is continuing to save a people.

And it's real. Salvation is real.

And we are the fruit of that.

We thank You, Lord.

We thank You that there
is such a thing as salvation.

We thank You that we're not left

like the demons;

we're not left like the angels
who fell with no hope;

only the certainty of a lake of fire.

But there is a promise of salvation

to those who will flee to Christ,

and we thank You that there is

such a hope for the sons of man.

We have our brother Matt here today,

and the church in Saltillo

is without their leader, and we pray,

Father, may You encourage
the brethren there

and I imagine Ernesto is speaking.

Lord, whoever it is, I pray

that You would help down there.

Brother Matt reminded us

of our brethren in Poland.

And Lord, we think about
our brethren there fondly

and remember our recent visit,

and Adam and Alisa.

Lord, we pray for that little work there.

May Your hand be upon them for good.

We want to see that church grow

and be a real light and
influence in Poland.

We remember our brother
there in Manchester

and the church.

Lord, we have fond memories there too,

and I pray for those brethren.

Please do remember our brother Kevin

as he's sick today.

Father, I pray that You
would give him rest.

Rest for his physical body

and rest for his soul.

We pray that You would be with us now

as we seek to open up the Word.

I ask in Christ's name, Amen.

Okay, brethren, Ephesians 3.

We're just going to be there momentarily.

We'll read the text that
we've been looking at there

over the past weeks.

Ephesians 3:14,

"For this reason..."

Ephesians 3:14.

The Apostle Paul speaking

to the church at Ephesus.

"For this reason..."

Really, the reason is because these people

are the chosen of God.

They're the ones that God is at work in.

They're the ones that Christ

has brought near by His blood.

Because of that,

"I bow my knees before the Father

from whom every family in heaven

and on earth is named."

Or "from whom the whole family..."

I think the ESV is
probably not best there.

But the whole family in heaven -

there's one family.

There's one temple. There's one people.

"That Christ might unite all things

in heaven and earth" is
how this book started

back in chapter 1.

"From whom the whole family

in heaven and on earth is named,

that according to the riches of His glory,

He may grant you to be strengthened

with power through His Spirit

in your inner being

so that Christ may dwell in
your hearts through faith,

that you being rooted and grounded in love

may have strength..."

This is what we're dealing with.

"...Strength to comprehend
with all the saints

what is the breadth and length

and height and depth

and to know the love of Christ

that surpasses knowledge

that you may be filled with
all the fullness of God."

And I've been thinking,

okay, how do we do this?

Where are we going to go

to try to span some of these depths

of the love of Christ?

And you know, as I've thought about it,

as I've walked and prayed

and just tried to
contemplate this love of Christ,

personally, I keep coming back.

It's almost like the Lord is saying

take them to the Song of Solomon.

Take them there.

Brethren, if you look, if you just Google

the love of Christ,

probably what you will find -

at least one thing you'll find

is a sermon by Paul Washer.

"The Love of Christ."

Where could you imagine
that he preached from?

(incomplete thought)

How many of you have
listened to that message?

Yeah, a number of you.

Song of Solomon.

That's where he was.

There's a Puritan paperback.

Most of you know the
Puritan paperback series?

This is nice because you know,

if you got the full John Owen set,

it's big.

Plus Hebrews - it's real big.

This one is by Richard Sibbes.

If you got everything that
Richard Sibbes wrote,

it's a lot.

What's beautiful about the
Puritan paperback series -

Wendy, did you all buy the whole set

for the women's Grace House?

Do you have all of them?

Yeah, the set's pretty wide,

but the beauty of that set

is it's all of the best known Puritans

and their best-known writings.

This one - a lot of you
probably can't see it.

The Puritan Richard Sibbes.

It's called "The Love of Christ."

Now, just try to guess

what book he was preaching from

that became this book.

Yes, the Song of Solomon.

Listen to this.

Listen to what it says on the back cover.

I love this,

because this is what I want for us.

"The Song of Solomon

does not simply mouth a doctrine.

It's sensuous imagery sings its message.

It is as if this love story

is played on violins.

The reader is thus brought

not simply to understand,

but to taste and share the delights

of the lovers.

This is precisely what
Christ's people need

as Sibbes knew.

It's not enough to be
aware of Christ's love.

We must sense, grasp, and enjoy it.

Only then will we truly
love the Lord our God

with all of our hearts."

I'm convinced of that.

This book does not
simply mouth a doctrine.

It's sensuous imagery sings its message.

See, that's what I want.

Somehow to be able to speak to you

in a way that you feel the love of Christ

is being sung to you by Him, not from me.

But through me, you would hear Him

singing to you.

The Song of Solomon. Let's go there.

And this is where I want to be

for a number of weeks.

The Song of Solomon.

Obviously, it's in your Old Testaments.

It's comes after the Psalms

and the Proverbs.

Ecclesiastes.

It's right before the
major prophet Isaiah.

The Song of Solomon.

I suspect that it is probably

one of the least known,

least traversed Old Testament books

in our day.

In fact, if there were
a whole number of you

that had never read the
book through from end to end,

that would not surprise me.

The Song of Solomon.

I just want to read
the first seven verses.

Let's read these together.

"The Song of Songs

which is Solomon's.

Let Him kiss me with
the kisses of His mouth,

for Your love is better than wine.

Your anointing oils are fragrant.

Your name is oil poured out.

Therefore, virgins love You.

Draw me after You.

Let us run.

The King has brought me into His chambers.

We will exult and rejoice in You.

We will extol Your love more than wine.

Rightly do they love You.

I am very dark, but lovely.

O daughters of Jerusalem,

like the tents of Kedar,

like the curtains of Solomon,

do not gaze at me because I am dark,

because the sun has looked upon me.

My mother's sons were angry with me.

They made me keeper of the vineyards,

but my own vineyard I have not kept.

Tell me, You whom my soul loves,

where You pasture Your flock?

Where You make it lie down at noon?

For why should I be like one

who veils herself beside the flocks

of your companions?"

Now, I recognize that perhaps

there's one obstacle for us to get past

before I attempt to
preach on Christ's love

from this book.

The question is this,

is the Song of Solomon an allegory?

Are we to believe that this book

is symbolic?

Are we to believe that?

Where Solomon really isn't Solomon?

But we're to look past Solomon

and see Christ?

And the bride is indeed the church?

That's a good question.

Because just recently,

we were having a fellowship over
at the women's Grace House,

and one of the brothers

asked me this question:

(Kind of out of the blue)

He said, "Song of Solomon.
Is it allegory?"

And I said yes.

Not that I'm the authority on that,

but that's my conviction.

And I want to show you

why over the next coming weeks,

I am going to preach with such conviction

and enthusiasm from this book,

that this is indeed Christ's love

for the church being exhibited here.

And it shows us desires
about the church as well.

But I want to seek to convince you.

Washer thinks so.

Richard Sibbes thinks so.

And let me just tell you
a little bit historically.

Spurgeon in his New Park Street pulpit

and Metropolitan Tabernacle pulpit,

he preaches 63 - that's interesting,

because there's 63 volumes

in that entire series.

And in that 63 volume series,

he preaches 63 sermons

on the Song of Solomon.

Every single one of them:
Christ and the church.

I know he's not the authority either,

but we like to say
what Spurgeon does, right?

The well known missionary Hudson Taylor.

He wrote a book called,

"Union and Communion"

or "Thoughts on the Song of Solomon."

He sees Christ and the church
on every single page.

The old Calvinistic Baptist John Gill

wrote an exposition of the
book of Solomon's Song.

Again, he sees Christ everywhere.

Now, here's something very interesting.

Martin Luther - now see,
Luther would not be

the first guy that I would be thinking

would take me to the Song of Solomon.

But listen to this.

When Martin Luther first explained -

you remember where he was?

He was in Romans actually.

And I believe it was Romans 1:17.

And he says it was like the
doors of heaven were opened.

And he saw and he embraced the doctrine

of justification by faith in Christ.

Justification by grace alone.

And you know what?

It was to the Song of Solomon

that he turned for an illustration

of the reality of this doctrine

worked out in the life of Christians.

You see, in medieval Roman Catholicism,

Christ was a distant figure.

Christ was not approachable.

Mary was approachable.

But you always needed
mediators to get to Christ,

whether it was priests, the saints, Mary.

But for Luther, the understanding

that the relationship between

Christ and His people is a marital one.

It changed everything for him.

If Christ is the church's
loving Bridegroom,

what place is there for mediators?

I mean, if that is indeed the imagery

God wants us to have -

husband and wife

is Christ and the church.

He saw right away.

Luther got married.

He married a former nun.

He knew - he knew

in the intimacy of husband and wife,

there's no place for a mediator.

In fact, listen to his words.

Here's a quote from him.

"Let us often think of this nearness

between Christ and us,

and not be discouraged for any sin

or unworthiness in us.

Who sues a wife for debt

when she's married?

Therefore, answer all accusations thus.

If you have anything to say to me,

go to my Husband."

Jonathan Edwards argued

that the very title was enough

in his estimation to confirm

that this is allegory.

You say what do you mean?

Probably a lot of you just
looked down at the title.

I'll get to that in just a second.

But first, before I get to that,

I want to just have you think

about a number of things.

History aside.

Yeah, I like the fact John Gill,

Hudson Taylor, Charles Spurgeon,

Paul Washer, Richard Sibbes,

Martin Luther...

I like that there is historical weight

behind this interpretation.

But history aside,
I want to explain to you

some of the reasons

that I am going to preach
this as an allegory.

First, do you remember

when Jesus was speaking
to the Jews in John 5?

You know, one of the
things He said is this.

He said, "You search the Scriptures

because you think that in them

you have eternal life..."

But what did He say after that?

"They testify of Me."

Now here's the thing.

Here's the thing.

We're taught by our Lord Himself

to see Christ throughout Scripture.

And you see, this is the thing

that He was saying to the Jews.

He said, "You search..."

And you think you found
certain things in here,

but let Me tell you something,

that if you have eyes to see,

it speaks of Me.

You should find Me everywhere.

Do you remember the two

on the road to Emmaus?

You know when their
hearts burned within them,

what was it He was telling them?

You know what He was telling them?

He was showing Himself

all over the Old Testament Scriptures.

That's what it says there in Luke's Gospel

chapter 24.

"Beginning with Moses and all the prophets

He interpreted them in all the Scriptures

things concerning Himself."

Brethren, when you see Adam,

you should see Christ.

Not exactly - in some
ways it's the anti-type,

but the figures in the Old Testament,

have you ever read in 1 Corinthians 15

that Jesus is called "the last Adam"?

Scriptural authors tell us

Christ is the real Adam.

Or, Christ is David.

Now, not literally, but symbolically.

Have you ever read in Ezekiel?

Ezekiel was a prophet.

He came along long after David was dead

and yet listen to Ezekiel.

"God says, 'I will set up over them

(His people) one Shepherd.'"

Who? "My servant David."

Jesus is called David.

Why? "He shall feed them.

He shall feed them and be their Shepherd,

and I the Lord will be their God

and My servant David shall
be prince among them.

I am the Lord. I have spoken.'"

See, brethren, if we have eyes to see,

Abel, a righteous man.

His blood is shed and the blood speaks.

Christ is the true Abel who
has blood that speaks.

Or you think about Seth.

You see, it was said that
the seed of the woman,

and Seth is the idea of another seed -

the replacement for Abel.

Christ is the true seed of the woman.

In Moses, what do you have?

The lawgiver.

Christ is the true lawgiver.

In Joshua, the conqueror.

But we are supposed
to see Christ in there.

Boaz.

He is the kinsmen redeemer,

but who is the truest kinsmen redeemer?

Brethren, as you go through the books,

you see Mordecai. You see Boaz.

You know, you read these books

and it's like some of them
God isn't even mentioned.

Why are they even in Scripture?

What's the purpose?

It's because you're
supposed to find Christ there.

Joseph. Who is Joseph?

He was the one who was
hated by his brothers

and yet God raised him
up to save his brothers.

There is Christ if we have eyes to see.

Jeremiah. A man of sorrows. Ever weeping.

Was Christ not that Man of Sorrows?

David.

God calls Jesus David.

King.

Shepherd.

Now think with me about Solomon.

Because Solomon is the one

that we have to do with
in the Song of Solomon.

And I'll have you turn here.

Look at 2 Samuel.

Turn to 2 Samuel 7.

Or you think of Jonah.

Jonah, three days and nights

in the belly of the whale.

Three days and nights in the darkness.

Don't see Jonah.

See one greater than Jonah.

That's the intent of the Scriptures.

It's like everywhere
in Scriptures, arrows.

And they're all pointing
in the same direction:

to Christ.

Christ.

Solomon.

Are we to take Solomon
as a type of Christ?

Look at 2 Samuel 7:12.

God says to David,

"When your days are fulfilled

and you lie down with your fathers,

I will raise up your offspring after you."

Now who would that be?

"...Who shall come from your body."

Going to be direct bloodline here.

"And I will establish his kingdom.

He shall build a house..."

Who's going to build the temple?

Who builds the temple?

Who builds the true temple?

"And I will establish the throne

of his kingdom..." forever?

That sounds not so much like Solomon.

"I will be to him a Father,

and he shall be to me a son."

Now listen to this,

"When he commits iniquity..."

Now, that's not our Lord.

That is Solomon.

"I will discipline him
with the rod of men,

with the stripes of the sons of men,

but my steadfast love
will not depart from him

as I took it from Saul,

whom I put away from before you

and your house and your kingdom

shall be made sure forever before Me.

Your throne shall be established forever."

We can look at this and we can say

God's going to raise up
an offspring after David.

Is this Christ or Solomon?

Solomon? Yes.

Christ never commits iniquity.

But I will establish his throne

of his kingdom forever?

Are we to see Solomon here?

Yes, we're to see Solomon, but our eyes

are to go beyond it to One

who's kingdom is established

forever and forever and forever.

David's son must build the house of God.

The temple.

But who builds the true temple?

One who is greater than Solomon.

One who is greater than the temple itself.

From my Hebrew lexicon, listen to this:

Solomon - the meaning.

I know many of you know
that it means peace,

but much more than
the mere absence of war.

It means completeness,

wholeness, harmony, fulfillment.

Listen to this: "implicit in shalom..."

which is the word,

"is the idea of unimpaired
relationships with others."

And I think to have Solomon,

"the king of peace" is what that means.

Christ is the true Prince of Peace.

And to really focus in on that:

"unimpaired relationships with others."

What is the Song of Solomon about?

It is about moving in the direction

of an entirely unimpaired relationship

between God's people and Christ.

That's what we're going
to find in the letter.

Do you know if you go
to the book of Revelation

you find that Jesus Christ is portrayed

as a Lamb who was slain.

And He has horns.

Do you remember how many horns He has?

He has seven horns.

That's kind of strange imagery,

but it's not strange if you recognize

that the number seven has significance.

It means perfection.

It means fulfillment.

It means completion.

He has seven horns.

And do you remember what
else He has seven of?

Eyes.

Seven eyes.

That's the idea of all-seeing,

perfect vision.

Which it goes on to say
the seven spirits of God.

Seven is symbolic.

Could anybody take a wild guess

at how many times the name Solomon

shows up in the Song of Solomon?

Guess.

Maybe seven?

And then, here's another thing.

You know, the New Testament authors

seem to draw on this allegory.

And we could go to a number of places,

even here in Ephesians where we started.

But you just listen to John the Baptist.

Do you remember these words in John 3?

He said, "The One who has the bride

is the Bridegroom."

"The One who has the
bride is the Bridegroom."

He's referring to Christ and His people.

Or you think of the Apostle
Paul in 2 Corinthians 11.

He says this to the Corinthians,

"I betrothed you to one Husband

to present you as a
pure virgin to Christ."

Again, we have this imagery.

You are the virgins.

What Paul was doing in his ministry

is what we do in our ministry today.

It's to present you as
pure virgins to Christ.

That's the imagery.

Or you have it in Revelation:

"The marriage of the Lamb has come

and His bride has made herself ready."

Now also think about this.

Don't turn here, but just listen to this.

In 1 Kings 11,

"Now King Solomon
loved many foreign women."

That's bad.

"Along with the daughter of Pharaoh,

he loved Moabites, Ammonites,

Edomites, Sidonian, and Hittite women

from the nations concerning which

the Lord had said to the people of Israel,

'You shall not enter into
marriage with them.

Neither shall they with you, for surely,

they will turn your heart away

after their gods.'

Solomon clung to these in love.

He had 700 wives who were princesses

and 300 who were concubines,

and his wives his turned his heart away."

Now, here's the thing.

I find it hard to believe

that God would set forth Solomon

to lecture me on the love
I should have for my wife.

I can much more easily accept

that the Holy Spirit has used Solomon

in inspired fashion to
write not of himself

and his intimacy with one of his harem.

But rather that he's writing of another -

a greater than Solomon.

This is just kind of a
practical little aside point.

But you know, if you
actually had 1,000 wives

and you wrote a song
indicating you preferred

one above all the rest,

you're going to have 999 other people

that you probably just alienated.

But here's the thing
about the letter as well,

there's certain aspects
about the Song of Solomon

that you'd be really hard pressed

to make true of King Solomon himself.

You say, what do you mean?

Just this - look at the letter.

If you turned with me to 2 Samuel,

go back to the Song of Solomon.

Just park yourself in the Song of Solomon

for the rest of the sermon today.

But I want to show you something.

In Song of Solomon 1:7,

we're going to find a recurring theme

show up for the first time.

What is that? Namely this:

The repeated references to the fact

that whoever this King Solomon is,

he is a shepherd.

Do you know you find nothing at all

about Solomon being a shepherd?

David? Yes.

But never Solomon.

Solomon was not a shepherd.

But listen, Solomon 1:7,

"Tell me..."

This is the bride. This is the church.

"...You who my soul loves,

where You pasture Your flock,

where You make it lie down at noon?"

Now here's another
thing that's interesting.

Notice 1:4,

"Draw me after You..."

It doesn't say, "let me run."

"Let us run."

But keep reading.

"The King has brought
me into His chambers.

We will exalt and rejoice in You."

This would be very, very odd language

if we were talking simply

about a man and a woman

and marital intimacies here,

because they're bringing the crowd in.

And that happens repeatedly
through this letter.

I mean, notice verse 3.

Go one verse before this.

"Your anointing oils are fragrant.

Your name is oil poured out, therefore..."

Now, this is the bride.

Brides, let me ask you this.

Would you extol your husband this way?

Would you extol your husband as one

who the virgins love?

I mean would that be something

that I don't think you
would find a good thing,

if a bunch of young ladies

were desiring your husband.

Song of Solomon 6:1,

"Where has your Beloved gone?"

Yeah, go over there.

This is from a group of women.

"Where has your Beloved gone,

O most beautiful among women?

Where has your Beloved turned

that we may seek Him with you?"

Now, see, this makes lots of sense

if this is your relationship with Christ.

And you're saying,
"draw me," "let us run."

If we collectively are
the virgins that are here

and the virgins love Him.

See, that's imagery of 2 Corinthians 11:2

that I read for you.

We are the virgins -
all of us collectively.

You see, the beauty of this

is it takes us each personally

into this relationship with Christ,

but it's constantly looking up

and wanting to draw the others in as well.

Wanting the others to pursue Him as well.

Wanting the other virgins
to love Him as well.

Also, you have this:

Some of these things written in here,

could you imagine that they would have

actually been true of
one of Solomon's wives?

I mean, I'll just go to one of them.

There's various things here,

but Song of Solomon 5:7,

"The watchman found me.

As they went about in the city

they beat me, they bruised me."

Could you imagine one of the watchman,

one of the guards,

one of the military entourages

in Solomon's day beating one of his wives?

That probably wouldn't
be a good thing to do.

And then there's this repeatedly.

If you look at chapter 4:9,

you can find this over and over,

maybe six different times

throughout this book, but He says,

"you have captivated My heart,

My sister, My bride."

Now, see that would be an odd
thing for him to say as well.

"My sister."

But then, let's go to
what really convinced

Jonathan Edwards - the title of this book.

The Song of Songs -
now think with me here.

Think with me of the places in Scripture

where we have this kind of language.

The holy of holies.

The King of kings.

The Lord of lords.

The Song of Songs.

Think about when Scripture uses

that kind of terminology.

For one, just put it in the category

with those other realities

where Scripture would say

something is "the" holy of holies.

The Song of Songs.

The song of all songs
is what's being said.

And at first glance, that
may not mean much to you.

But consider this in
light of another verse.

Listen very carefully.

In 1 Kings 4, it says this about Solomon,

"Solomon's wisdom surpassed the wisdom

of all the people of the east

and all the wisdom of Egypt.

For he was wiser than all other men.

Wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite,

and Heman, Calcol, and Darda,

the sons of Mahal,

and his fame was in all
the surrounding nations."

And listen to this,

"He also spoke 3,000 proverbs."

Now we know about his proverbs.

We have a book called "Proverbs."

But listen to this - this
sometimes goes unnoticed.

"And his songs were 1,005."

Scripture records for us that he had

over a thousand songs.

But of all those songs,

this is the Song of Songs.

What do we mean when
we say the holy of holies?

Or the Lord of lords?

You know what Solomon is saying?

This is the greatest song of all.

Now, I'll tell you this,

that alone ought to confirm to us

that this is more than
an ordinary love song.

Listen, if this is simply about Solomon

and one of his harem,

that's not a very impressive song.

But if this is meant to take us beyond -

listen, if this is a book that shows us

the closest intimacies
with Christ and His church,

that is a song above all other songs.

Listen, it doesn't just say:

"Song of Songs" in some secular writing.

It says that in the Bible.

(incomplete thought)

This is inspired.

What God is telling us -

it's not just Solomon saying,

you know of all the 1,005 songs I wrote,

this is the best one.

It's God saying,

this is the chief song.

And if this is about a king

who wrongly and sinfully
took a thousand wives

from all sorts of pagan nations,

that is not an impressive song.

That is not a song above all songs.

That drives the thing home.

And here's the thing,

if you're in Song of Solomon,

just let your eyes go back

to the book right before this.

Look at the last chapter
of Ecclesiastes v. 8.

Just right before this.

Probably most of you, you can see

the beginning of where it says,

the Song of Songs,

and you can go back to Ecclesiastes 12:8

and notice how that verse starts.

What does it say?

What does it say?

Vanity of vanities.

And now just turn back in Ecclesiastes

to chapter 2.

Because I want you to see something.

This ought to convince everybody.

Look at v. 1.

Solomon says this,

"I said in my heart,

come now, I will test you with pleasure."

You know what some of the pleasures were

he tested himself with?

Having a thousand wives.

He tested his pleasure with women.

You say, how do you know that?

Just look down in v. 8.

Yes, silver, gold, treasure.

Singers - yep.

Many concubines,

the delight of the children of man.

He's saying I gave myself to all that.

V. 10, "Whatever my eyes desired,

I did not keep from them.

I kept my heart from no pleasure."

Including this one: the concubines,

the women.

"For my heart found
pleasure in all my toil

and this was my reward for all my toil.

Then I considered all
that my hands had done

and the toil I had expended in doing it.

Behold, all was vanity."

Now for him to say, you know what,

I gave myself to love.

I gave myself to sensuality.

I gave myself to women.

And in the end, it was vanity of vanities.

All is vanity.

For him to now turn around

and describe a relationship with a woman

and say, but, this
is the song of all songs.

It would be a contradiction
if he's saying,

oh, but, there was
one thing out of all of it

that wasn't vanity of vanities.

I did find one woman

who actually... no, you
don't want to buy into that.

John Gill discovered
where the ancient Jews -

the ancient Jews tried
to reckon with this book too.

What is this all about?

John Gill found that the
ancient Jews said this:

"They saw in this song

their redemption..."

They actually saw in this song

the resurrection of the dead.

"...The Sabbath of the Lord

which is and which was

and which is to come."

That's perceptive - the Sabbath, the rest.

Our rest in Christ.

That's even what the ancient Jews saw.

This, in other words, is the greatest song

that could be sung to you.

This is the song of all songs.

This is inspired language.

It's like God is saying,

"Not even I can give you a song

that trumps this song."

And it is the love that
Christ has for you.

It's the love that God has for you.

It doesn't get any better than this.

This is the highest.

Let's look at it just briefly

before we wrap up today.

Now, if you have an ESV like I do

you're going to notice right after v. 1,

I have a title.

There's a heading there that says,

"The Bride Confesses Her Love."

How many of you have that in your Bible?

Yeah, quite a bit of you.

I bet some of you don't.

If you don't have it,
don't worry about it.

I know that's not inspired.

I know that the ESV folks

that put this Bible together,

they stuck that in there,

but I just want to mention that perhaps

that's not the best expression

for describing these next six verses.

Is the church really
expressing her love here?

I mean, don't miss me here.

There's obviously love involved,

but is this really the best way to express

what's happening here?

It seems to me that what the bride

is expressing most of all

is her desire, not her love.

She's saying, not, "I love You."

She's saying, "I want You."

"Let me have You."

It's not just that I love Him, I want Him.

Draw me - you see that in verse 4.

Draw me.

You see verse 2:

"...Kiss me with the kisses of His mouth."

Let me drink of that love

which is better than wine.

She isn't so much saying, "I love You,"

as much as she's saying
to the one she loves,

"Give Yourself to me."

That's what the Christian wants.

Yes, she loves Him, but she
greatly, greatly desires Him.

Brethren, you know what I find here?

You know what I find
in those words right there?

"Let Him kiss me with
the kisses of His mouth."

What I find there is God telling us

it's okay to be discontent

if you're not experiencing His kisses.

It's okay to want not just
like Sibbes was talking about,

not just theory,

not just doctrine.

You want to experience it.

You want sensible manifestations

of His presence, but more than that,

of His love to you as an individual.

Not enough that He loves
this church collectively.

Not enough that He died for others here

or even that He died for you -

you don't just want forgiveness.

You want more than that.

Lord, don't just forgive us

and then be at a distance.

We want You to come to us.

We want You to be close.

And we want to feel that.

We want You to speak.

We want You to come to our ears

over and over and over again

and say, "I have forgiven
you and I love you,"

and to feel His embrace.

Oh, do you remember, some of you?

Martyn Lloyd-Jones would
describe the Christian life -

this wasn't so much
of a bride and the Groom

as much as the Father and a child.

And he said so often the
Christian life is like this.

He said you know how a father can walk

with the child and be holding the hand

and they're walking along,

and every once in a while,

the father reaches down
and he pulls the child

up into his arms and he gives
him a great big embrace.

That's what we want.

Who wants dead, dry religion?

And what this does,
brethren, is it gives us

a warrant to say it's okay to be

discontent if I'm not experiencing

as much of Him as I want.

It's okay.

It's okay to desire heartfelt experiential

communications of Christ's love.

You know what, some people may say,

that sounds fanatical.

That sounds so mystical.

You're just looking for an experience.

You know what this says?

It's okay to look at that person and say,

yes, you're exactly right.

That is what I want.

I don't want dry doctrine alone.

I want the doctrine to so explode.

You don't want doctrine-less Christianity

because whatever experiences
come there, be careful.

You want Christ to break forth from truth

and to ravish your soul.

It's okay.

But you know another thing that I find

about this letter?

It brings out one of the great realities -

maybe even we could call it

one of the great frustrations
of the Christian life.

And it's basically this:

He is not always with her.

What I mean - look, He promised

never to leave us or forsake us.

I'm not talking about

whether His presence is ever removed.

That's not what I'm talking about.

I am talking about His sensible presence.

I'm talking about feeling His presence.

Experiencing His presence.

And the truth is in that way,

He's not always with her.

What we find here is she's often looking.

She's often aching.

Look at Song of Solomon 3:1.

"On my bed by night,

I sought Him whom my soul loves.

I sought Him, but found Him not."

Or you go over to chapter 5:6.

"I opened to my Beloved,

but my Beloved had turned and gone.

My soul failed me when He spoke.

I sought Him, but found Him not.

I called Him, but He gave no answer."

Or look at chapter 1:7.

That's closer to home;

closer to where we're at right now.

This again is the bride,

and she's speaking to her Groom.

"Tell me, You who my soul loves..."

She's basically asking, "where are You?"

Where are You with Your flock?

"...Where You pasture Your flock?

Where You make it lie down at noon?"

Now notice this,

"For why should I be like one

who veils herself beside the flock

of Your companions?"

Now listen, in that day,

if you search through the
Old Testament Scriptures

and you just look for
that concept of veiling,

we know something about veiling.

Do you know why people veil themselves?

In Scripture, you can find

that those who are harlots
might veil themselves.

Those who are mourning

might veil themselves.

But the thing about a veil is it hides.

It basically hides somebody;

makes them unknown.

The truth is that whichever one,

whatever the meaning here,

they all imply estrangement

from the Bridegroom.

I mean, for somebody to be veiled

and seem like a harlot,

that's somebody who seems as though

they have no husband.

For somebody to be veiled

and be seen as a mourner,

that's like somebody who's lost a husband.

For somebody just to be veiled

in the sense of veiling
where they're unknown -

she's saying, "Why?"

"Why should I be like
one who veils herself

beside the flock of Your companions?"

You notice v. 4.

"The King has brought
me into His chambers."

I take that as salvation.

This is it.

Lord, You saved us.

Why should we be like one

who has to wear a veil.

Why, Lord? Why?

When You've saved us.

Why?

Can you see the true Christian?

Look, there are many people in this world

who simply say, you know what?

I just want to be forgiven.

I just want to figure out how to

get away from this hell thing.

But they're quite content

that Christ's presence be absent.

All they really want is
a ticket out of the fire.

Other company,

other preoccupations, they suffice.

But you know what? Not for the Christian.

Not for the true Christian.

Not for the one who knows

that they have been swept
up in the arms of Christ

and taken in to His chambers.

It's like Lord, I am
thankful there's no hell.

I am thankful to be forgiven.

But what? Shall I be then like one

who has to go about wearing a veil?

One who's estranged? One who's far off?

Tell me where You are.

Where do You pasture Your flocks?

I want to be there.

I want to be where You are.

The world can never be to such a person

what it once was.

No other society can compare

to the kisses of His lips, His love.

You see what it says there?

"His love (v. 2) is better than wine."

What's wine?

I mean, wine is a picture of just the good

and joyful things of this world.

Better than wine.

Wine is a Scriptural emblem

for the richest earthly joys.

His love is better.

And like her, once you've
tasted these things

it creates such a discontent.

Before you ever tasted it,

when you were content with His absence,

you remember how things used to satisfy?

They really didn't.
There was an emptiness.

But boy, you were just so convinced,

and we chased after these things.

But now there's such a
hollowness in all of it.

And notice v. 2.

I was telling one of the
brothers just recently.

We should always when
we're reading Scripture

have other translations -
English translations,

cross referencing.

I highly encourage you all to have

an old King James, a New King James,

a New American Standard,

maybe even a Holman Christian, an ESV,

and cross reference.

I often cross reference the old Tyndale,

the old Geneva, the NIV,

the New English translation,

Holman Christian.

But one of them that
is one of my favorites

to cross reference is
Young's Literal Translation.

The YLT.

He doesn't so much go for making it

the most readable translation,

but he tries to give you the words

in close to the order they're found

in the original.

And he tends to translate things

more accurately.

You can't see this in
any English translation

that I looked at except his.

You see there in v. 2 where it says,

"Let Him kiss me with
the kisses of His mouth"?

(incomplete thought)

Well, I was reading it from Young's.

"Let Him kiss me with
the kisses of His mouth.

For Your love is better than wine."

In the original, this is the way

that Young's Literal Translation -

"for better are Thy loves..."

"S" on the end. It's plural.

And that is the way it is in the Hebrew.

It's plural. "Thy loves."

"...are better than wine."

Christ's love is plural.

I mean, why could we imagine -

it's easy to imagine.

Why? Because He manifests
His love towards us

in so many different ways.

I mean, we're just
starting this series now.

That's what we want to look at

is all the ways.

But you just think,
eternally He manifested it.

We were chosen. He set His love on us

in eternity past.

We come to think of His
redemptive love towards us.

Brethren, you just start
thinking about the cross.

He's borne our griefs,

carried our sorrows.

Stricken, smitten by God, afflicted,

pierced for our transgressions.

He loved us so that when we looked up

and we beheld Him crucified,

those wounds...

I mean, the blood washed us.

What love there is in that!

Your conscience.

Remember, Scripture talks about

that cleansing of the conscience.

But there's His love.

The incarnational love.

Humbling Himself and becoming a man.

Enduring.

You think about, He mediates for us.

He speaks to us:

"My sheep, they know My voice."

And He speaks to us.

He made the Word alive for us.

He sent the Spirit of God for us.

He actually lets us take part

like Matt talked about.

The Lord could have caught
all those fish by Himself.

He let Peter catch them.

It's not just that we have a duty.

He is letting us enter in

to the very workings of His Kingdom.

And we're His bride.

And He's going to take us to be with Him.

And there's going to be the love

that He's going to
transform our lowly bodies

to be like His glorified body.

Loves.

You can write that right in your Bible.

Just put it's plural.

Draw an arrow to it. "Loves."

So that every time you
read that from now on,

it will just jump out at you.

That's better than wine.

Wouldn't you say?

His name.

V. 3, "Your anointing oils are fragrant.

Your name is oil poured out,

therefore virgins love You."

If you think about
even what "Christ" means,

it's the idea of oil poured out.

Anointing with oil.

That's what Messiah means.

It conjures the image of oil.

Therefore do the virgins love Thee.

Why? I mean, certainly,

because of the preciousness of His person.

That's the reality.

And it says there,

"...anointing oils are fragrant."

To be in His presence -

that word that Bunyan uses: "delectable."

The delectable mounts.

To be in His presence, it smells good!

That's the issue.

It's desirable.

"The virgins love You."

And there we are.

"I betrothed you to one Husband,

to present you as
a pure virgin to Christ."

And I just want to end with this today.

Look at verse 4.

"Draw me after You. Let us run."

The KJV says,

"We will run after You."

"Draw me and we will run after You."

You know what?

This verse right here,

I came across it as a young believer.

Of all of the things that are
said in the Song of Solomon,

this verse is most indelibly
inscribed in my mind.

I pray this verse on a regular basis.

I feel this one.

It means more to me
than I think any other.

Now if we go through this
book that may change.

But you know what?

This is a different sort of cry

than what you have in v. 2.

When you say, "Let Him kiss me..."

that's different than saying,

"Draw me."

You feel the difference?

I mean, when all your heart aches for Him

and aches for some
experiential manifestation

of His kisses,

you don't need to be drawn.

(incomplete thought)

There are times that's not our cry.

We're not saying Lord, draw me.

We sang it: Prone to wander,

Lord, I feel it.

You know what? It's when you feel that.

Lord, I don't ache for You enough.

I don't ache for
manifestations of Your love

to the degree that I should.

I find my heart cool.

My first love has faded.

That's when you cry that.

You see, you cry "let Him kiss me

with the kisses of His mouth"

when your heart is
very much aching for Him.

When it wants Him, you cry "draw me."

When you want it to ache for Him

and you know that it doesn't ache for Him.

This is so like us.

Like the ever changing tide.

The experience of the bride here is one

that ebbs and flows.

Do you know what?

There are times He
kisses us with His mouth

and it is satisfying.

In fact, it can actually be overwhelming.

Like Lord...

I don't know if I can contain all this.

There's other times when
that's not the case,

but the ache, the panting
after the water brooks,

the hunger, the thirst is so strong

that you're looking for Him: Where is He?

So you say let Him kiss me.

Let Him embrace me. Let Him come.

Then there's other times where it's:

Lord, I've got my feet
too muddied with the world.

I've been distracted.

My ache in my heart has cooled for You.

Please, Lord, draw me.

If You draw, Lord, we - we'll run!

All of us. We'll go.

Please draw us.

Lord, draw us.

Draw our hearts to You, Lord.

Draw us. We'll run.

We'll run - not the other way!

We're going to run to Him.

We're going to run to find Him.

We're going to be like the bride here.

We'll run.

This is an allegory.

Lord, draw me.

And let all of us run.

No one says that

about an earthly husband.

No wife says to the husband,

"Draw me...

and then a bunch of people
are going to run after you."

But of Christ, it's perfect.

Of Christ, it's obvious.

Of Christ it makes sense.

Let's pray.

Father, this is the cry,

as we're looking at Your love.

Lord, we want to ache for it. We want it.

We want what the old Puritans said.

We don't simply want to mouth the doctrine

of the love of Christ.

We don't want that to happen.

We want such imagery
that sings its message.

He said it's like a song
being played on violins.

Lord, we don't want it to be dry.

We want it to be a song

as one sung on the most
beautiful of instruments.

We want it to resonate in our souls.

Lord, I pray that You would do such things

as we go through this series

that would make us -

Lord, make us despise this world

and the things of this world,

and not to love the things of this world,

but to be very much enamored

and seeking and aching
for the love of Christ.

May it be so. Lord, draw us,

and we will run after You.

Draw me. Draw my brothers.
Draw my sisters.

And we will run.

Lord, why should we be
like one who wears a veil -

like mourners -

when we are the very bride

of the Bridegroom Himself.

The Song of all songs.

The joy of all joys.

Lord, we pray that it should be so.

We pray it in Your name.

We pray it according to Your blood.

Amen.