I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine (ii) (Quality: Very good)

[0:00] In the Lord's help, I will again direct your attention to the Song of Solomon, the sixth chapter, and the third verse.

[0:12] The Song of Solomon, the sixth chapter, and the third verse. I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine.

[0:24] He feedeth among the lilies. It is a great blessing for individual members of the body of Christ to enjoy the blessing set before us in the verse that we have read to you.

[0:54] The experience itself of necessity must bring peace and joy as we believe this great truth concerning ourselves.

[1:10] There are some that may assume and presume to the truth contained herein.

[1:23] And this has made others a little careful and a little fearful that they should not take to themselves that which they have not received.

[1:43] But there is a power with God. And when God speaks, we have to remind ourselves of what the Scripture says.

[1:58] Where the word of a king is, there is power. Furthermore, the Lord Jesus himself, just before his departure from this earth, he said, all power is given unto me in heaven and on earth.

[2:18] I am my beloved's, is the result of the love of God worked in our hearts by the Holy Ghost.

[2:35] In the epistle to the Romans, we read the manner in which this is brought about. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

[3:02] Not only so, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

[3:25] We concluded our discourse this morning by referring to the loving kindness of the Lord.

[3:38] And it was suggested that during the afternoon it may well have been profitable for us to look back over our lives and see how much we could trace of the loving kindness of God.

[4:00] If we were able to look a little more deeply than on the surface then we could not help but seeing the loving kindness of God continually.

[4:13] And having received the loving kindness hitherto we shall surely be encouraged to believe that that loving kindness will continue unto the end.

[4:31] It was an evident experience of the psalmist that having known over the years that the Lord was his shepherd had watched over him and taken care of him that he could finally say surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

[5:02] Now I am my beloved love between two persons naturally has something integral about it.

[5:18] It is a great mystery and it will always be a mystery because it is one of God's secrets. But when we come to consider the love of Christ for his church and the love of the church for his for her beloved we may well be all the more mystified and wonder how it is that we can find such feelings in our hearts.

[5:56] The reason is centered in the purposes of God the Lord doeth whatsoever he will.

[6:11] We read that he called Abraham alone and blessed him and the reason for it was that Abraham was loved.

[6:24] Similarly if God calls you alone and blesses you then it will be because God loves you. The way of God's working is so very different from our own.

[6:45] God comes suddenly to his temple the Lord comes suddenly into our hearts and breaks down all the barriers and manifests his love which is overwhelming.

[7:05] I am my beloveds. Now we will look at this as God may help us this evening in regard to some of those points that were raised in the chapters that we read.

[7:21] Thou shalt be no more termed forsaken and thy land shall no more be termed desolate for thou shalt be called Hepzibar and thy land Beulah because the Lord delighteth in thee.

[7:45] There is a great secret of the heart of the Lord in those words. Are we loved of God? What proof have we that we are loved of God?

[8:01] Do we find the word describing the case desolate to be appropriate to our own case? When the Lord sought us out in that same chapter we read thou shall be called sought out a city not forsaken and the people who are described in these words I am my beloveds are people that the Lord has sought out.

[8:38] He sought them out in order that he might save them. We often hear about the Lord Jesus as being a saviour and indeed we cannot hear it too often but we do not hear so often as the Lord Jesus being a seeker which is written I came to seek and to save that which was lost.

[9:18] It will be something of a very outstanding characteristic if God has sought us out when we were lost knowing not where we were going.

[9:36] I believe there are a lot of people in the world today who are lost and they feel lost and they do not know where they are going.

[9:51] It will be a wonderful thing if God wants to seek some of those out and manifest his salvation to them it is a true experience of God's children that sometime in their lives they will feel that they are lost.

[10:16] It is a painful experience to be lost. You may have had it naturally and if that is so then ought to find someone that will seek you out and if you should have been a child to have restored you to your parents.

[10:39] I am my beloveds. This is not an empty confession but it is the result of union with and communion with Christ.

[10:56] We cannot say these things unless God has told us something. It will become us to presume anything.

[11:10] It is clear from the scriptures that God speaks and he tells us clearly maybe we wonder where we are.

[11:21] Strange I am. John Newton says, I think it is John Newton, strange myself and paths appear. Well, we need somebody to explain to us and who is going to explain to us?

[11:40] Who is going to take the trouble to explain to us? And when we cannot understand to still take the trouble to explain to us, it must be somebody that loves us, it must be somebody that will engage in endless patience, patience as one of those graces which we need continually, patience in natural relationships and the patience of the Lord himself with us in this spiritual relationship.

[12:23] I am my beloved. Notice with what certainty the bride of Christ speaks in this verse. Yes, no, I think so, I hope so, I hope it may be so, but blessed with a close proximity of her beloved, she is able to say, I am my beloved.

[12:53] Now he that believeth hath a witness in himself. And then we have this, the spirit beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.

[13:11] Now, speaking out of the natural order, if you love a person, you will have that in yourself, you will know in yourself that you love that person.

[13:26] There is something attractive in that person. There is something which draws you to that person. and this love is of such a kind that whatever may happen subsequently, that love is not entirely lost.

[13:49] The bride of Christ in our text says, I am my beloved. The result of some gracious communion and conversation.

[14:06] Do we know anything about that kind of thing? Those that can say this have had some close communion with their beloved.

[14:19] love love I am my beloved. What may we expect to have come forward in such conversations?

[14:31] questions? There is the question of one's own shame. There is the question of one's own guilt, of one's own sinfulness, of one's own filthiness, of one's own disgraceful condition.

[14:52] will not this be discussed? Have we ever had any talks with Jesus? There was a book that appeared some years ago now entitled Walks and Talks with Jesus.

[15:12] It is a very interesting book and it will help all those who at some time or other will be able to say I am my beloved.

[15:27] Because I have walked and I have had talks with Jesus and he has not hidden from me that I am a great sinner.

[15:39] He has not moved into any kind of compromise. He hasn't lessened to the extent of my guilt. But he has gone on to explain to me how it is that matters can be put right.

[15:59] So we remember the words in Isaiah, Come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.

[16:12] Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wall. Now, souls wrought upon by the Spirit of God will be deeply concerned about love to Jesus Christ.

[16:31] And love to Jesus Christ is a matter of intimacy. It is not an engagement carried love to be done at arm's length, or at the end of the poles.

[16:49] But the love of Christ is manifested to the person who says, I am my beloved, because he has told me that he laid down his life for me.

[17:03] He has told me that he saw me in my shame and in my distress. And he has laid down his life. He has shed his blood.

[17:14] Can I doubt that I am his beloved? Can it ever be that I should question his faithfulness when he has spoken so clearly that all your sins, past, present, and to come, I have cast into the depths of the sea to be remembered no more forever.

[17:41] I am my beloved. Such love manifest and felt in the soul of the believer will make them anxious to repay that love.

[17:57] Love is not one-sided. How shall we repay the love of Jesus Christ? The last words that we read in the 63rd chapter of Isaiah were these.

[18:17] We are thine, though never have barest rule over them. They were not called by thy name. So, we come to the point, I am my beloved's because he has rule over me.

[18:39] It has ever been a teaching of scripture that the woman should be in subjection to her own husband. This is beautifully carried forward and enlarged upon and glorified when we look upon the church as being in subjection to our own husband, Jesus Christ.

[19:08] Now, when we come under his loving rule, then it is that we should be able to say, I am my beloved's love.

[19:20] Because I have that love to him that makes me willing in the day of his power to do what he says.

[19:36] The word of God is very searching because it speaks of those that hear and do not the things that are said.

[19:49] sometimes we have to wonder how many people professing godliness fall into that category.

[20:02] It is particularly solemn when we realize that the Lord classes such people amongst the reprobates, amongst those that with all their profession are lost in the end.

[20:19] love will bring about a tie. And that tie will have its repercussion like this.

[20:32] It is not we ourselves that are doing this and that, but the love of Christ in us, making us willing to do this and that.

[20:44] first of all, we shall be inquiring in regard to what will please our glorious head, our husband.

[21:03] What will please him? We find the apostle drawing attention to the question of the married state in the Corinthians when he says, the woman which hath an husband believeth not.

[21:29] No, that's not the word. The word is along these lines that she that is married to her husband will seek to please him rather than the Lord, or words to that effect.

[21:45] Now, it is good when we can transfer that to this spiritual marriage, this spiritual courtship, if we should more properly put it, when there is a deep concern to know what the will of the Lord is.

[22:06] The question is brought forth, if he loved me, keep my commandments. And you say that I am my beloveds.

[22:21] You profess that I love you. And yet, do you profess this and do not the things that I say? love, love, or defect supplies, makes great obstruction small.

[22:44] And some of the commandments of God we may look at, and then we look at our own defects, and we say I cannot.

[22:54] heart. Or then perhaps we look at the obstructions and the obstacles, which say they are too high. Well, love, all defect supplies.

[23:09] And the Lord himself will never ask any sinner, however weak, to do anything without giving them power to do it, and removing every obstacle out of the way.

[23:29] So then, when the Lord warms our heart, he puts strength into it. and our defects disappear.

[23:42] And the obstacles are removed out of the way. The mountains sink at once, the plains. And we feel that we can run the race that is set before us, because, having a close relationship with our beloved, we have discovered that he is able to give power to the faint.

[24:09] And to them that have no mighty increase his strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.

[24:22] They shall mount up on wings as eagles, they shall run, not be weary, they shall walk, and not faint. I am my beloved's.

[24:36] But then, let us pass on to the next part, and my beloved is mine. Now this is quite a different aspect.

[24:49] We have so many evidences, as we mentioned this morning, in the covenant of grace, and of the love of the Father in choosing his people and giving them to his Son to redeem.

[25:06] So there are so many things which when revealed to us, may cause us to see from that point of view, I am my beloved's.

[25:21] But it is another view of things to say, my beloved is mine. We're bound to say in respect to this, that this is a permanent thing.

[25:36] Whom once he loves, he never leaves and loves them to the end. And equally so, though there may be times when your love may be cold and faint, yet it never is extinguished.

[25:54] And sometimes there is a heavy burden upon the spirit because you cannot love him more. My beloved is mine.

[26:07] Now how can she say this? How can you say, my beloved is mine? Now what proof have you that this is true?

[26:23] Well, again aligning it with our usual customs, there is a time when the pair are joined together in an open profession.

[26:38] and in that, a ring is put on the finger. And that ring must ever be considered, when we come to think of God's work, as being the ring of the everlasting love of your beloved.

[27:01] You've got it. You can look upon it. everlasting love, round your finger, put on by your beloved.

[27:17] My beloved is mine. He has given me this token, this expression of his own love. It may be that you have been in that place where the psalmist expresses it like this.

[27:34] Show me. a token for good, that those that hate me may be ashamed. In other words, grant me this favor of the ring on my finger, that there may be no longer any question that I am thine.

[27:58] And we may look forward to the time ultimately when we shall be together at the marriage supper of the lamb. And my beloved is mine.

[28:16] This brings about a complete union and a union which will never be broken. and this is verily true in respect to the bride of Christ.

[28:33] How does it affect you? And how does it affect you and me? Is it that God has given us that into our souls that enables us to say my beloved is mine?

[28:48] I can hold on to him. In the previous chapter we read of a sleeping condition though the heart waked.

[29:07] Now Jesus Christ he knows what your weaknesses are like to be and he knows how sometimes you may be overcome with his sleepiness.

[29:18] weary with other things and then suddenly becoming aware of your beloved having come and gone away.

[29:32] How many of us are concerned about that? Of the Lord having come? Sometimes we can look at it like this.

[29:44] The blessing of God is poured out upon a person sitting in the same seat and not upon me. Well the beloved has been.

[29:58] It is clear because another has told me so. How is it didn't come to me? Was it because of my sleepiness?

[30:09] Is there any mirror left upon the handle? Is there any indication that he has been? Sometimes we can smell a sweet savor.

[30:26] We can be in the house of God and we can know that the Spirit of God has been present and it hasn't come to me.

[30:38] Now this stirred up the spirit of this Bride of Christ. Does it stir up our spirits when we hear of others being blessed and ourselves not having received the blessing?

[30:58] I open to my beloved but my beloved had withdrawn himself and was gone. My soul failed when he spake. I sought him but I could not find him.

[31:10] I called him but he gave me no answer. Now as we read on in these verses we shall see a very sound reason why the person in the text could say I am my beloved and my beloved is mine.

[31:38] She was able to describe him very acutely. What would you say about Christ? What do you think about Christ?

[31:49] Are you lost for words to describe his beauty? Perhaps you are but this person was not lost for words. how she has been enveloped with the love of God, the love of Christ.

[32:08] So she is able to say my beloved is white and ruddy, the cheapest among ten thousand. Purity is set before us in whiteness my beloved is white and ruddy.

[32:25] now would you be able to pick out your beloved because of his purity. We live in an impure world and therefore we are affected by the impurity of the world.

[32:44] but if we have a soul that is capable of understanding these words and the experience of them I am my beloved and my beloved is mine we must have a heart and eyes and ears to believe to see and to hear pure words.

[33:12] Now this is one way in which you can distinguish the words of Jesus Christ from any other person. They will be pure words and they will affect that pure part which is in you and which must be in you if you are ever able to say I am my beloved and my beloved is mine.

[33:42] purity oh purity there was purity in the work of Christ his whole life was a pure life the life of Christ has been sadly debased by the ungodly but the godly will still look upon the life of Christ in his holiness and purity and if they are asked to describe their beloved that has withdrawn himself they will immediately put this point my beloved is white now that's how I can recognize him and though my depraved part will never recognize him yet there is that in me which is pure which will recognize him I shall recognize his words because every word of God is pure with the result that it will have a pure effect and it will drag me away from all the vain things and evil speaking of life and shut me up within the embraces of my

[34:58] Lord and Saviour but not only is my beloved white but he is also ruddy this has often been spoken of as setting forth his dying love shedding his blood manifesting forth his glory in that way but then we come to a point that he is the cheapest among ten thousand and my beloved is mine to have Christ as your beloved the cheapest among ten thousand none other can come up to him he stands above all others now what about your beloved does he draw you from every other thing and every other person this will be the case when the experience in our text is enjoyed

[36:04] I am my beloved and my beloved is mine as a complete unity of thought complete unity of spirit one spirit one mind and my beloved is mine how do I know it because his left hand has been under my head and what has that done have there been times when it has seemed that we should go under and we needed support we needed our head as it were to be kept above the water his left hand is under my head and his right hand doth embrace me now if you can speak about being supported through life by the left hand blessings of God that is not to be despised but to feel the embraces of

[37:11] Jesus Christ will be an experience that cannot be forgotten when he draws you to himself it is a wonderful drawing to be drawn to Jesus Christ it is the power of God and the power of love of God's love that does it my beloved is mine well you will know that when you're in his arms when you're his arms around about you you are now given this unquestionable indication and token of his love we have referred already to the token that God gives of his everlasting love as a ring upon the finger and now we look at it again as his arms round about us and they are clasped together and there is no no missing link my beloved is mine you see sometimes there is a blessing in words that are spoken by love and sometimes there is the closeness of that person and the effusion of love in that closeness which conveys so much no under those circumstances

[38:52] I am my beloved and my beloved is mine sometimes in order that things might be brought out the providence of God brings God's children into varying places sometimes affliction takes possession of them and one of our poets has these lines sweet affliction that brings Jesus to my breast we shall remember that sweet experience more than the affliction although the affliction might identify the time and place now has God laid affliction upon us in order that he might put his arms of love and mercy around us and draw us to himself you know we read some amazing accounts in the scriptures of the effusion of love when there has been a falling upon the neck of one and another and a weeping and a kissing because the love of many waxes cold this act of love demonstration of love to a large extent is lost sight of in the present day even in the church of

[40:34] God but it's not lost sight of spiritually oh it's not lost sight of spiritually the desire in the soul of the person one of the persons spoken of in the song here is let him kiss me with the kisses of his lips of his mouth you see there was no desire to go with the present day lukewarmness there was no desire to say well it's not the done thing what would you think about that if the Lord was to say to you well it's not the done thing today to kiss you with a kiss into my mouth would be a very shattering experience I'm sure the desire of

[41:35] Christ's bride is this let him kiss me oh he has freedom to do it I give him complete permission to kiss me with the kisses of his mouth for his mouth is most sweet yea he is altogether lovely and then I am my beloved and my beloved is mine again love is demonstrated by the care and watchfulness for the other in Peter's epistle we have these blessed words casting all your care upon him for he careth for you what a blessing to know that the Lord cares for you and if you have an evidence in your life the Lord cares for you then have you not a witness and a token of what is expressed here

[42:48] I am my beloved and my beloved is mine he cares for me and he is willing to accept my cares this is one of the benefits of the marriage tie or should be that there is a sharing of the cares of life a sharing of the cares of life life and now when we come to this case this spiritual case there is a sharing of the cares of life can you say I am my beloved because when I poured out my heart and my complaint to him when I have expressed to him my burden spirit when I have spoken to him about the trials of the way when I have had to confess to him that I am plagued within and plagued without that he has patiently listened and what is more he has given me more grace and has reminded me of that which is written he giveth more grace and by that very token of his evidence of his evident feeling for me

[44:13] I can say I am my beloved and I don't say anything else and my beloved is mine and again I don't say anything else his care over me is wonderful and then a wonderful mercy and blessing from God is contained in this that this beloved can tell you what the future holds the future even if the future is only an hour can sometimes fill us with dismay and we are confined to caring for the day sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof and there's plenty of evil in one day that will surely prevent us from looking beyond the day but we need strength and support and we need upholding and we need care and we need understanding we're not always understood many times we're misunderstood but what will you say about a person that understands who understands a sigh divine our loved ones may sometimes utter a sigh we may say what is the matter and they cannot tell us but it is wonderful to have this beloved who is able to understand what your sighs mean and sometimes those sighs are on account of your own inabilities and own lack but then will God suddenly come and say but I understand and will

[46:19] Jesus Christ so deal with your soul that you will say I am my beloved obviously I am he is concerned about me he is anxious and he will surely do all he can to help when this comes to God then there is no question of failure men may fail they will do all they can but the scriptures declare that which is impossible with men is possible with God now what a beloved is the beloved of that person who can say but my beloved can do the impossible and that beloved is mine why how do you know well I know this because when he saved me from my sins when he saved me from my wretchedness he did the impossible and therefore

[47:29] I know that he is able to save unto the uttermost all that come unto God by him and my beloved is mine mine by an indissoluble union a union which can never break though earth should to its center shake rest delting soul assured of this that God has pledged his holiness he feedeth among the lilies this is a sweet word the lilies in the scripture have sometimes been referred to as the people of God the

[48:30] Lord's work was his meat he told his disciples my meat is to do the will of him that sent me it is instructive just to look at the words in the sermon on the mount where the Lord speaks about the lilies why take ye thought for raiment consider the lilies of the field how they grow they toil not neither do they spin and yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these consider the lilies of the field and here we read he feedeth among the lilies not round about the outside but it is his meat and drink to look after the lilies and to clothe them now this clothing as it respects the bride of

[49:48] Christ is that robe of righteousness but did the lilies toil for it and did the lilies spin no they did not it was a raiment which Christ himself wrought out in his life he spent all his life to weave this robe of righteousness now consider the lilies of the field how they grow and the robe of righteousness is adapted to their size they toil neither do they spin then the Lord Jesus draws the attention of his hearers to what was evidently the most splendid scene of all in the history that was Solomon in all his glory which attracted people like the queen of

[50:54] Sheba who when she saw the glory of Solomon she said the harp was never told and her breath was taken away she lost her strength and so when the Lord Jesus Christ reveals to a soul the wonder of his righteousness and all that entails every step of his life every stitch so to speak that was drawn through and the perfection of it how staggering it is oh it will be a blessing indeed if the spirit of God should show us a little not only of the robe itself but all that went into making the robe we often see a finished product and have little realisation what went in to making that robe what labour and what care now we can speak of the robe of Christ righteousness but have we ever thought of the care that went into weaving that robe bringing about that robe making it suitable to afford his bride well now he feedeth among the lilies we can look at it like this feeding is in some cases a time of conversation a time of explaining some of the intricacies of this great work that

[52:48] Christ did in preparing for the need of his bride throughout eternity surely the bride will be absorbed by that which is told and will give yet another emphasis to these words I am my beloved and my beloved is mine he feedeth among the lilies he has come down as it were to this earth the is you you