Address—C.E. Lunden
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You turn with me, please, to Ephesians 3. We'll read from the verse 16, a part of the Apostles prayer, the second prayer in Ephesians.
That He would grant you according to the riches of His glory.
To be strengthened with might by His spirit in the inner man.
That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. That ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able.
To comprehend rather apprehend.
With All Saints, what is the breath?
And length and depth and height.
And to know the love of Christ.
Which passeth knowledge that you might be filled with all the fullness.
Of God.
Now you turn with me to the.
Song of Solomon, please.
Chapter One.
I do not intend to read the book.
Or very much of it, but simply to point out a verse here and there in connection with the subject that we read in Ephesians.
The love of Christ.
I believe rather than this subject has been before us.
And I I believe we have a little pattern here that I'd like to call attention to.
You know the Song of Solomon.
Is sort of a conversation between 2:00.
That is the bridegroom and the bride.
The only thing is he's in heaven and the bride is on earth.
And so something like your pathway and mine as we go through this world.
As believers in communion.
In Communion.
We don't have anything much about sin or failure here.
But just communion.
And.
In this conversation, we know very well that the original intention was for Israel.
But the same principles apply to us.
Because there's only one love of Christ.
And there's only one object for the soul, whether it be for Israel or for the church.
It's true that our portion is heavenly, our portions in the Father's house.
But still the subject is much the same.
But we're going to speak this afternoon just briefly about.
That which applies to us as believers, that side of the application, shall we say, rather than the the real interpretation of the passage which might be for Israel.
So we'll read.
The first 2 verses of the Song of Solomon.
The song of songs, which is Solomon's Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth. For thy love is better than wine.
Solomon wrote possibly 3000 proverbs and many, many songs.
But this is the song of songs.
This is a special song.
And the Spirit of God has given it to us, I believe.
To draw our hearts out to Christ.
And in a pattern that will progressively do so and cause the believer to grow.
In the enjoyment of communion and love for the Savior.
Now a kiss and scripture suggests assurance of love.
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And that's the first thing, dear ones, that there must be if we're going to go on with God, if we're going on with our blessed Savior, there has to be the assurance in our souls of His love for us.
And here we see the bride. She's a long way off. We'll say he's up there, she's down here.
And she wants this assurance of his love.
We have the truth in the New Testament that the believer is in Christ. The Jew doesn't have that, nor did he in the Old Testament.
But you and I already know that we've been accepted in the Beloved.
But we have here experience, the experience of the bride, and she wants to know.
For sure that assurance before the path begins, that blessed path that ends in His presence.
And she says, thy love is better than wine. Now wine speaks of all earthly joys.
And may I ask my own heart this afternoon as I address you?
Is this true with you? With me?
I believe that's the real subject, isn't it?
Is his love better than anything I can find in this world?
Am I going to believe this from the start or am I going to have to prove it by experience?
No doubt the believer will learn it in the end. He may try to prove it, but no doubt he'll learn it.
That his love is better than any earthly joy.
And because of thy good savor, and the savior of thy good ointments, thy name is as ointment poured, For therefore do the virgins love thee.
Now that precious name of Jesus.
Because of its character.
Is as ointment no as ointment for and forth.
Poured forth.
And so how precious it is to carry that name as we go through this world. We may not always realize this as we go on, but just to carry that precious name, it says, ointment poured forth, a sweet savour that follows the braver through this world. If he's in communion.
And now she says draw me.
Draw me. Is that the desire of your heart this afternoon?
Draw me.
We notice the plural and as soon as you decide like like Ruth or Naomi, who had gone astray as soon as she decided to return to the land, she finds she has a companion we.
And you know, beloved, when you and I take a step that's wrong, we're going to find that we'll draw others away. But.
When we take a step that's right, be sure this you're going to draw someone with you. That's a principle of the word of God.
And wouldn't you like to be a blessing to others?
The King hath brought me into his chambers, and here we have gladness and rejoicing, and now we have the remembering of that love.
They now go to the fifth verse. We won't linger. I am black. Oh, it's so important for us to realize this.
We'll never appreciate that love that He speaks of here until we realize what we are in His presence.
That shows, so she brings out here.
In this short fifth verse, I am black.
But comely.
How could this be?
Well, it says.
O daughters, Jerusalem has the tents of Kedar.
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No. I suppose what is referred to are those tents of the children of Ishmael who live in the desert and they use the black goatskin for their tent cover.
And as others who have seen it have said, it looks like a sea, a Black Sea out over the desert.
And so she describes herself in this way.
Blackness.
Nothing but blackness. Is this the way you see yourself as you realize what you are in the presence of God?
The total depravity of man. There's nothing good in us whatsoever. This is the beginning of the path of blessing, is it not? But she had something.
Comely as the curtains of Solomon. Think of that beautiful temple in the curtains.
Now she likens herself to what Grace is brought to her, and she doesn't hesitate to speak of it either.
Do you?
Now the seventh verse.
The seventh verse we have dependence.
And.
7th and 8th versus we have dependence, and in the ninth verse we have obedience.
The two important basic principles of Christianity.
Tell me, oh, thou whom my soul lovest were thou.
Fetus, where thou makest thy flock to lie down.
To rest at noon.
For why should I be as one, I'm going to use another translation.
As one roving.
Roving.
Did you ever Rove about not knowing where to go?
Oh, there is a great deal of this today.
Going here and going there, trying to find something to feed on for your soul.
She says why should I be like such as one who's roving?
I believe this is a very important point for us to notice, especially dear young people.
I know of some who have just recently decided that they would leave the Lord's Table roving.
And there's a reason for this.
The eye is off of Christ.
She doesn't want to take this course, so she says to him, Tell me, Oh, thou whom my soul lovest?
Oh, how precious it is to go on in first love, no matter how little we know to go on in first love.
To have the object and the person before our souls.
Where thou fetus, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon? For why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions, or one that roveth?
Wanderer.
What a terrible place to be in for a Christian wandering here and there when we have a direct, absolute path laid out for us, which is known in communion with a sense of his love, and that's the only way it's known.
Now thou knowest not.
O thou fairest among women.
I want you to notice as we go on that he continually.
Gives her to see his thoughts about her and that's what's important.
Not what our thoughts are about him, but what his thoughts are about the bride. She's not yet the bride in the full sense, but she's on her way.
Go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock.
And feed thy kids beside the shepherds tents.
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Well, you'll never find a place in this world, dear parent.
Where you can bring your child, your children in safety like you will at the Lord's Table.
Among the Saints.
Where his shepherds are that feed the flocks.
Thus were.
She's to go.
Definite instructions here.
And immediately says I've compared thee.
He doesn't say I want you to be obedient to me. No, no, we don't get that in the Song of Solomon.
Because the believer, if he's rightly led, he's led by his heart.
Not by a whip.
It was once said, you know that.
That the Lord never uses dogs for his sheep.
Never.
Some may tend to their sheep with dogs, but the Lord never does.
No, he says. I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses and Pharaohs Chariots. Do you suppose that one of those horses would be out of step? Not in Pharaoh's chariot?
No, they've been trained how they've been trained.
Well, Pharaoh has seen to it that he has those that will train his horses and the believer who's in the communion.
Will be in in the stride as we have in the Old Testament those who knew how to keep rank.
Because they were in communion with the one who was leading.
Keeping in step. Oh how good this is.
Now that's obedience. And he doesn't say you have to do this. He says I've compared thee like this. I've compared this.
I want you to know this is the way I regard you as one who is walking in obedience.
And now we have.
The Table 12Th verse The King sitting at his table.
And as a result of the walk of communion.
A walk of dependence and obedience. We find the spikenard flowing out.
At the table.
You know spike nard is very costly and very hard to get.
It's produced from a plant that grows on the sides of the steep banks of the Indus River in India.
That's one of the places that's found, and also in a certain place in Palestine.
And those who who go after it will take.
Will be let down on a rope and they'll have a sharp knife and they'll cut into this plant and they'll catch the SAP or nectar as you please.
And this is what forms this spikenard or nard that is brought in the sole valuable.
And so it says here.
While the king sitteth at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof.
And so worship then is the result of one taking this path that we've followed so far.
If something as a result of a course, the enjoyment of the person of Christ and his love.
We won't take all these verses, but it says in the 14th verse.
My beloved is unto me as a cluster of I believe it should read henna flowers.
A a kind of a.
A flower that.
Blossoms like the snow flowing out.
I know the margin reads Cyprus, but.
I believe it's likened to a henna flower.
And in the.
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Vineyards event.
The other vineyards of Indeed, I was the place where David.
Would flee when he was haunted by Saul.
We have a picture all the way through of trials, but they they don't come to the surface very much.
And you know they won't in your life either, beloved, if you're really walking communion.
Those trials will be covered with that love.
Of Christ, you'll be able to go through them triumphant.
But here we have a picture, because actually the picture before us in this book is the Great Tribulation.
But we don't see much of that here, do we?
No.
It's a little remnant in the enjoyment of his love as they pass through the deep trials.
And the picture before us here in this verse.
Is like David and his band haunted of Saul and at the bottom of this side of the mountain where the vineyards going almost down to the sea.
And at the top were the caves and the rocks of the wild goats.
And that's where David was haunted by Saul. That's where he hit.
That's the picture we have here.
In the midst of trial.
The beloved was like this.
My beloved is unto me as a cluster of camper in the vineyards of Engidae.
Right in the midst of trial. Christ was precious in this way.
It was the one who who sustained the one who was being tried.
Under these circumstances.
And what's the result?
15 verse.
His answer, my beloved?
Or behold aren't fair, my love, Behold art fair. Thou hast doves eyes, that is, dies that look all the way home. That's the character of the dove.
As eyes that can see afar off.
It has other characteristics too, as we might notice, but eyes that can see all the way home, as it were, by faith.
That's the way he looks at her.
Thou art fear, my love, Behold art fear. Thou hast doves eyes.
Now she answers in the second chapter and she says.
I am the Rose of Sharon, really a Lily.
And the Lily of the city. No, the Lily of the valleys.
Oh, what a difference.
No, you and I don't belong in the city. These people belong in the valleys outside of the city, away from.
Contamination of this world. We belong outside in the valleys. She recognizes this as a result of being in His presence.
And she's now in hesitate to say what he's already told her that she is.
She doesn't hesitate.
And so he answers, and he says as the Lily among thorns. Oh, she's going through trials.
So is my love among the daughters.
He answers.
She answers again.
As the apple tree.
Or a certain tree that's in that place, that is.
As a special fruit that's most precious, she likens him in contrast to the ordinary trees.
To this, and then she sets down under his shadow, with under his shadow with great delight.
And the fruit was sweet to her taste.
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Now we have she has his support in the sixth verse.
The support of his affections.
And as a result of all this, we find in the eighth verse.
The voice of my beloved. Behold, he cometh, leaping upon the mountain, skipping upon the hills.
My beloved is like a roar, a young heart. Behold, he standeth behind our wall. He looketh forth at the windows, showing himself through the lattice. Not a clearer view yet.
No, she's down here and he's up there, but just a little glimpse of his person now and then. Oh, how precious as we go through this wilderness.
And now he's speaking to her.
And what's he's talking about? Notice.
Rise up my love, my fair one, and come away.
Is it not that which is constantly before us as our hope? You get that in Ephesians the 4th chapter. One hope and that's the Lord's coming. And He would constantly remind us of this because we won't be here long.
He's coming to take us home.
And you know when the little remnant of Israel often times you'll find in Isaiah.
They don't give up, they say How long?
That's the remnant. How long? How long? Oh Lord, it won't be long. And he'll be here.
14 First has been commented on today.
Oh my God, thou art in the clefts of the rock and all. How often we need this assurance, not only of that precious blood and that pierced inside, but the constant sense that were in His hands. I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. In the most trying circumstances, this is true. There's never a moment when you can say he's not near me.
Oh, there might be a time when you'll feel that he's far off.
But you can never say he's not near me.
He's at my right hand. I cannot be moved.
What scripture says.
The 15 first has been commented on.
The foxes. Oh how the slightest little thing will break communion. The slightest little thing will break communion.
And then the joy goes with it.
And now, she says, my beloved is mine.
How many things in this world do you this afternoon say, well this is mine, or that is mine, or the other thing is mine?
But the point is.
Do you put anything, any of these things ahead of the Lord Jesus? Oh, you say no, I wouldn't do that. But now just just check up for a moment and see whether you would or not.
You know, all of us here were just singing that little hymn. Have I an object, Lord, below that would divide my heart with Thee? But I asked, was I singing it from my heart? Were you?
Have I an object, Lord, the law that would divide my heart with thee?
Is this real with me?
The bride is being tested. As far as Israel is concerned, so are you and so am I.
And then we have my beloved is mine, and I am his. He feedeth Among where? In the city? No, among the lilies in the valley, of course. That's his people.
That's his people.
If you want to find him, you'll find him with his people.
So you'll find it.
He loves his people.
And then she says, until the Daybreak and the shadows flee away. Turn my beloved, or return my beloved.
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Just keep returning, just keep coming back all the time. I don't want you to leave me. Is that the spirit of you this afternoon?
You know this is what we need and have to have because otherwise we'd get lost, wouldn't we, if he didn't return?
We could never keep ourselves.
Return, my beloved, why don't you come back again soon?
By night on my bed, I sought him.
Have you ever grown dark in your soul as to the spiritual things?
A little later we find her going to sleep, but here are things have just grown dark. It's by night and your path gets sort of hard because everything is so dark and you don't know what to do.
And besides, you get mixed up on scripture. All these things come in at once in your soul.
I know young people like that right now.
I've had several young people breaking bread have said to me, Brother London, I'm not saved.
Not saying there were.
Darkness came in.
They were upset. Why?
Oh, that bright, precious object wasn't before their soul, the love of Christ.
Something else came in.
The foxes had been to work.
Something growing dark. You ever experienced that?
Now where does she go?
Just where she shouldn't go.
Oh, I've got it here sometime, just to stand still.
As God tells us, people in Isaiah stand still and see the salvation of God. But now she goes to the city, and that's the last place she should go to the city.
She couldn't find him there, but who she find in the city? The watchman. And thank God for the watchman because the watchman will stop you from going any further.
And if the watchman stops, you'll be sure and thank God for it.
Thank God for the Watchmen.
He may employ anyone he pleases to be a watchman, but thank God for the watchman.
She finds him.
Now in the 4th chapter.
Behold art fear my love, Behold art fear thou hast dove's eyes.
Within thy locks.
We have two things here.
Dove's eyes would speak to us further.
Not only of eyes that would see all the way home as in the first chapter, but.
Eyes that would always keep their keep on their mate. Wherever he goes, follow him. That's keeping your eye upon Christ.
But coupled with it we have.
The eyes looking through the locks.
That's modesty.
And that's what becomes the child of God.
Modesty, the locks.
Couldn't do that if you didn't have locks, did you? Could you?
And you know, we have here the one who's the bride of Christ.
And may I just say this, that when God made man, he made man and woman, and each one is supposed to keep their own character.
Because it's a picture of Christ and the Church.
And you know, just as the woman was necessary for the first creation, the woman is necessary for the new creation.
That's why we have this book.
Oh, what a day that's coming, when Christ with his companion will go out over the whole scene of the inheritance.
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In companionship.
What a day that will be.
Within thy locks.
We have two things here.
Dove's eyes would speak to us further.
Not only of eyes that would see all the way home as in the first chapter, but.
Eyes that would always keep their.
On their mate. Wherever he goes, follow him that's keeping the eye upon Christ.
But coupled with it we have.
The eyes looking through the locks.
That's modesty.
And that's what becomes the child of God.
Modesty, the locks.
Couldn't do that if you didn't have locks, did you? Could you?
And you know, we have here the one who's the bride of Christ.
And I just say this, that when God made man, he made man and woman, and each one is supposed to keep their own character.
Because it's a picture of Christ in the church.
And you know, just as the woman was necessary for the first creation, the woman is necessary for the new creation.
That's why we have this book.
Oh, what a day that's coming, when Christ with his companion will go out over the whole scene of the inheritance.
In companionship.
What a day that will be.
Thou hast doves eyes within thy locks.
Than thy locks.
Now I don't want to take too much more time, but in the sixth verse.
We have the Daybreak again.
In view, looking on, of course, to the blessed hope.
Until the Daybreak and the shadows flee away. The shadows, you know, plenty of shadows, but they're going to flee away.
The Lord says here, Bridegroom, I will get me to the mountain of Myrrh.
To the hill of frankincense. What's that? Well, I take it to be beloved as we may be privileged to gather around our blessed Savior in Lord's Day morning.
He regards it as a heel of Frank and Sense, and that's where he's going to be. Are you going to be there?
Are you going to be there?
I'll tell you what, if you're there, this is what you're going to hear from his lips.
Let's read it.
As a result of that.
Hour in his presence of worship, myrrh and frankincense, he's going to say to you.
Thou art fair. No, no, no. Thou art all fair, my love, there's no spot in me.
No spot.
Oh, he loves to come to that, to that place until the shadows flee away.
So on I will get me to the mountain of Burn, to the hill of Frankincense.
And there he is going to tell his pride.
Thou art all fair, my love.
There's no spot in.
But now there are dangers along the road.
And that great mount Hermon, with its various peaks, suggest to us the great things of this world that attract the heart of the believer as he passes through it.
But we have.
We have the Spirit of God showing us here how love draws the heart from such things. And so it says here on the part of the bridegroom, Come with me from Lebanon, from Lebanon. Come with me from Lebanon.
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It doesn't go. It's come with me from Lebanon. He's drawing our hearts away from that which would otherwise be a danger to us.
From the lion's den and from the mountains of the leopards.
Oh, how many things there are in this world that would attract the natural heart. Because we have a nature, you know, still it can be attracted.
We suppose that there is communion.
But if the will goes to work if the eye goes after an object.
Like that, there's danger of being turned aside. That's all, he says. Come with me from.
Lebanon, my spouse.
And then he says, Thou ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse, thus ravished my heart with thine eyes, with one, the one chain of thy neck, and so on.
Now he gives a description of his bride, as as he a fuller description than we have elsewhere of his thoughts of his bride.
And if we went on, which we won't, you'll find that she gives a description of what she thinks about him, but only after she's been aroused after asleep.
And were the daughters of Jerusalem awakened her to realization of what he is to her, until she finally answers.
In the 16 first of the of the 5th chapter.
She says.
His mouth is most sweet. Yay. He is altogether lovely.
All together lovely.
Die. This is my beloved, and this is my friend.
All daughters of Jerusalem.
And so we see in these few thoughts how that.
The Lord Jesus is drawing us to heaven.
Not with a whip.
With our hearts.
Is drawing our hearts.
In companionship, down through this world of shadows, as we have it here until the Daybreak, He's drawing us by our hearts.
Home to the Father's house.
In companionship with himself.