men this morning I'm preaching on an allegorical interpretation of the book
of Song of Solomon now many years ago I did a series where I went through Song
of Solomon on Wednesday nights so I preached eight sermons over the course
of eight weeks where I went through verse by verse and mainly just in that
series focused on the literal interpretation talking about husband and
wife talking about marriage and issues along those lines but this morning I'm
gonna preach about the allegorical interpretation and of course allegory is
a Bible word some people think that an allegorical interpretation is somehow
bad or that everything needs to be just literal but in reality the Bible tells
in the book of Galatians that the Old Testament stories are often allegories
and what is an allegory it's basically where things represent something other
than the obvious surface meaning okay so in this book of Song of Solomon we
have husband and wife but in the New Testament we have this verse Ephesians
5 25 where it says husbands love your wives even as Christ also loved the
church and gave himself for it so it says husbands love your wives as Christ
loved the church and so when we look at Song of Solomon we can approach it with
an attitude that it's not necessarily just talking about a husband and wife
but that it's talking about Christ and the church that's the allegorical
reading of it where Solomon represents Christ and the bride is representing the
church so when we start out here in the first verse it says in Song of Solomon
1 1 the Song of Songs which is Solomon's let me start out by saying that Song of
Songs what that really means is that this is the ultimate song so for example
you've probably heard the term Holy of Holies and Holy of Holies just means
that it's extremely holy or the most holy place or the holiest of all it's
the holy among the Holies well this is the Song of Songs meaning is the best
song all right this is the ultimate song which is Solomon's now how does Solomon
picture Christ well if we know the character Solomon from the Bible we know
that he's the son of David even as Jesus is the son of David we know is the king
of Israel even as Jesus is the king of Israel and Solomon was a man of peace in
fact the name Solomon means peace Jesus Christ is the prince of peace Solomon's
kingdom was characterized by peace David had fought all kinds of battles but
Solomon ruled over Israel during a peaceful time and it was really the
heyday of Israel it was the highest point when the nation prospered and
thrived more than at any other time and that pictures the millennial reign of
Jesus Christ where Jesus is going to reign for a thousand years it's going to
be a time of peace and prosperity and blessing so it's easy to see how Solomon
represents Jesus Christ and of course his love represents us or the church or
Christians so look at verse number two it says let him kiss me with the kisses
of his mouth for thy love is better than wine thy love is better than wine now
what is wine represent here wine in the Bible typically represents riches
abundance bounty it represents prosperity why because it's something
that you don't really need to live now a lot of people when they hear the word
wine their mind just automatically goes to alcohol because today in 2022 when we
use the word wine we are only talking about an alcoholic beverage what you
have to understand when you're reading the Bible is that the word wine is often
referring to an alcoholic beverage but it's also often just referring to fruit
juice in general the Bible doesn't use the word juice except in one verse where
it says the juice of the wine because the main word for fruit juice in the
31,000 some odd verses of the Bible is wine it only uses juice when it already
used wine so it doesn't want to say the wine of the wine so it says the juice of
the wine so often the the wine the Bible is just fruit juice often it's alcohol
you got to go by the context but here's the point though whether or not we're
talking about an unfermented beverage or fermented beverage in the ancient world
wine was expensive if you think about it today wine is cheap fruit juice is cheap
you could buy these things easily at the grocery store for just a spare change or
a few bucks but that's because of machines machines can harvest the crops
and squeeze the juice out of the fruit but back then they would have to
actually step on the grapes with their feet and so this took a lot of manpower
and they had to go through all these elaborate processes and there's a lot of
waste involved with juicing fruit and so therefore it represents luxury often in
the Bible it's used with wine and oil talking about just kind of the finer
things in life nice things let me just give you a few examples too about wine
representing prosperity or wealth or riches for example in Genesis 27 28 you
don't have to turn there but it says therefore God give thee of the dew of
heaven and the fatness of the earth and plenty of corn and wine right corn and
wine referring to just rich foods and bounty and blessing same thing in
Deuteronomy 33 28 the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine
Jeremiah chapter 31 verse 12 says therefore they shall come and sing in
the height of Zion and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord for
wheat and for wine and for oil and for the young of the flock and of the herd
their soul shall be as a watered garden and they shall not sorrow any more at
all so you know we could go on and on through a list of verses using wine to
represent prosperity riches wealth rich food and so forth so when the Bible says
in Song of Solomon 1 2 thy love is better than wine how we would interpret
that thinking about this between Christ and the church Christ and us as
believers is that the love of God is superior to the love of the things of
this world the riches of this world you know the Bible talks about and if you
would go to 1st John chapter 2 we'll come back to Song of Solomon go to 1st
John chapter 2 if you would the Bible talks about how when we're serving God
there are things that can enter in and choke the Word of God in our lives and
cause us to be unfruitful and it talks about the deceitfulness of riches or the
lust of other things entering in the cares of this world right those things
will come in and distract us from serving the Lord and we have to decide
that God's love is better than wine that God that serving God is more important
than the things of this world then our walk with God and communion with God is
more enjoyable and more satisfying than anything that this world has to offer
you know the Bible says in 1st John chapter 2 verse 15 love not the world
neither the things that are in the world that's what will be represented by the
wine in the verse if any man loved the world the love of the Father is not in
him for all that is in the world the lust of the flesh and the lust of the
eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father but as of the world and the world
passeth away and the lust thereof but he that do with the will of God abideth
forever God's love is better than wine okay people go out and they seek to
enjoy life either by means of an alcoholic beverage wine in that sense or
forget that how about just riches having nice things eating the fancy meals
wearing the fancy clothes and they think that those things are going to bring
them joy and happiness in their life but they're not those things don't satisfy
the Bible says he that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver you
know there's you're never going to have enough of those things to fill the
craving of what you need you know the Bible says that God's love here is
better than wine alright so the walk with God is more satisfying it has it's
more enduring it's not just going to provide you with a little bit of fun now
and then a few hours later it's gone maybe you know in the case of an
alcoholic beverage perhaps even a hangover okay where you feel worse
afterward God's love is enduring serving God has actual meaning and value above
chasing after the riches and things that this world has to offer so back in song
of Solomon chapter 1 so 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 because of the
savor of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth therefore do
the virgins love thee so what does the ointment represent in this verse
Solomon's ointment because when we're studying the book of Song of Solomon we
have to realize sometimes it's the husband speaking and sometimes it's the
wife speaking okay and so let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth who's
speaking yeah obviously so maybe not so obvious to some weirdos in 2022 but
anyway so you know that's the wife speaking let him kiss me with the kisses
of his mouth and then she continues speaking in verse 3 because of the savor
of thy good ointments talking about the husband thy name is as ointment poured
forth therefore do the virgins love thee what what does the ointment represent
well we're thinking about Jesus Christ as the husband here right so what does
ointment have to do with Jesus Christ well here are some verses that came to
my mind Ephesians chapter 5 verse 2 says this walk in love as Christ also had
loved us and have given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a
sweet-smelling savor so the Bible calls Christ being offered on the cross a
sweet-smelling savor and it also associates that with him loving us it
says Christ loved us and offered himself on the cross as a sweet-smelling savor
not only that but in John chapter 12 and if you would flip over to John chapter
12 we have this story about Mary putting ointment on Jesus Christ she
anoints his feet with a very expensive ointment and she wiped his feet with her
hair and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment and when the Bible
used the word savor or ointment it means the same thing in this context talking
about the smell okay and it says in verse number 4 of John chapter 12 then
saith one of his disciples Judas Iscariot Simon's son which should betray
him why was not this ointment sold for 300 pence and give it to the poor this
he said not that he cared for the poor but because he was a thief and had the
bag and bear what was put there in then said Jesus let her alone against the day
of my burying had she kept this for the poor always you have with you but me you
have not always so the savor of his good ointment in Song of Solomon chapter 1
verse 3 would represent the sweet smelling savor of his sacrifice to God
on the cross and also the savor of the ointment of his burial because the
ointment that was applied to Jesus was anointed to him for his burial so his
death burial and resurrection ultimately representing his love for us and what
does the Bible say we love him because he first loved us and so the Bible said
in Song of Solomon verse 3 because of the savor of thy good ointments thy name
is as ointment poured forth right Jesus Christ's name is poured forth into this
whole world the smell or the savor of that sacrifice that he made on the cross
is known all over the world every single country in the world has heard about
Jesus Christ dying on the cross for our sins being buried and rising again and
so his name is as ointment poured forth therefore do the virgins love thee we
love him we as the virgins right we love him because he first loved us is what we
could get from that verse 3 of Song of Solomon let's move on to the next verse
verse 4 it says draw me we will run after thee the king had brought me into
his chambers we will be glad and rejoice in thee we will remember thy love more
than wine the upright love thee again we're thinking about Jesus Christ she is
saying to him draw me we will run after thee the king has brought me into his
chambers the thing I want to point out here is that it is Jesus Christ who
draws us unto him it is not us who have sought him out but rather he sought us
out you know you you could think about an earthly relationship between boy girl
you know one of them initiates that relationship right one of them seeks out
the other and it's it's typically the the man that would initiate contact
with the woman right not girls chasing boys but anyway you know the point is
he is the one who has initiated this relationship with us he sought us out
okay so it says for example in John chapter 6 verse 44 it says no man can
come to me except the father which had sent me draw him and I will raise him up
at the last day so what did it say in Song of Solomon draw me we will run
after thee the king had brought me into his chambers so he's the one drawing her
attracting her bringing her calling her in and the Bible said in John 6 44 no
man can come to me except the father which had sent me draw him and I will
raise him up at the last day of course the Calvinist loved to read this verse
out of its context and totally ignore what Jesus says only six chapters later
in John chapter 12 verse 32 when Jesus says this and I if I be lifted up from
the earth will draw all men unto me so Jesus Christ said I will draw all men
unto me this he said signifying what death he should die so Jesus Christ
through his death on the cross his burial and resurrection his name is
poured forth as a result of him dying on the cross for our sins his name is as
ointment poured forth just as when Jesus was physically anointed with ointment
the smell filled the entire room when Jesus Christ died on the cross the
message filled the entire world it was preached in all corners of the world it
continues to be preached in all corners of the world the message goes out
everywhere and it's through his death on the cross that he will draw men unto him
and he said if I be lifted up from the earth meaning put on a cross lifted up
above the earth I will draw all men unto me and it says that he spake this
signifying what death he should die so the being lifted up is referring to him
being placed upon the cross now the Bible tells us by contrast in Romans
chapter 3 as it is written there's none righteous no not one there is none that
understandeth and don't miss this next part there's none that seeketh after God
they're all gone out of the way they're together become unprofitable there's
none that do with good no not one now human beings by nature know that there
is something missing from their lives they are religious by nature because
their spirit inside of them longs for communion with God in some way shape or
form so every single human being desires something spiritual which is why
all over the world people are religious everywhere even if they're not
worshipping the true God even if they don't believe in the Bible or the gospel
they've got some kind of a religious nature to themselves because this is who
we are as human beings but in spite of the fact that we as human beings know
that something's missing and in spite of the fact that we have a spirit inside of
us that longs for some kind of a communion with God we as human beings
are not going to seek out the true God of the Bible on our own we would be
basically just inventing false gods or or following after idols or vain
traditions in vain religious beliefs and so forth you know human beings must be
approached with the gospel they're not just going to go find it and figure it
out on their own Jesus has to draw us God the Father has to draw us it's the
death barrel and resurrection of Christ that is the lure that will draw men unto
him that means we have to preach the cross we have to preach Christ crucified
so that man will be drawn unto Christ the cross must be preached the death
barrel and resurrection must be preached his name must be poured forth as ointment
his name is what needs to be preached the name of Jesus and the gospel talking
about the death barrel and resurrection of Christ we can't expect the world to
come to us you know sometimes people will rebuke us for going out soul-willing
and we're knocking doors and they'll say hey if people want to come to your church
they know where to find it let them come to you let them look it up in the phone
book let them go on the internet and find it but my friend it's not our job
to wait for people to come to us it's our job to go out and find them and
approach them they're not seeking for the true God we must put them on that
right track and preach the gospel unto them we must draw them so that they will
run after Christ and not run after false messiahs and false religions and vain
things that cannot save so we have to draw them and it's ultimately Christ
death on the cross and his barrel and resurrection that draws them in it's
that saver of his offering that draws them in we must seek them the Bible said
in Luke 19 10 for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was
lost he's the one who when one of the sheep goes missing he goes into the
mountain to go seeking after the sheep and bring it back to the fold not just
like a little Bo Peep style evangelism where we just leave them alone and
they'll come home wagging their tails behind them that's not a Bible verse
okay that's a nursery rhyme we have 11 kids you have a lot of nursery rhymes
memorized in addition to scripture okay so it said draw me we will run after the
king hath brought me into his chambers and of course we think about being
brought into the king's chambers the scripture that comes to mind is John
chapter 14 and my father's house are many mansions if it were not so I would
have told you I go to prepare a place for you and if I go to prepare a place
for you I'll come again Jesus will come again right and receive you unto myself
and where that where I am there ye may be also and so the king has brought us
into his chambers he drew us we ran after him he initiated this relationship
he sought us and he has saved us he came to seek and to say that which was
lost and that's why he came into the world and then he says as my father sent
me so send I you so if Jesus came to seek and to say that which was lost
guess what our mission is to seek and to say that which was lost not just well
we're here we put an ad in the paper and you know if anybody's is seeking after
God they'll show up no no we need to go out and draw them we need to go out
there and actually do the fishing not expect fish to just jump into the boat
without us doing the actual fishing okay so let's move on to the next part of the
verse there it says draw me we will run after thee the king had brought me into
his chambers we will be glad and rejoice in thee of course we as Christians are
glad and rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ we will remember thy love more
than wine right at the end of our life when we look back over our life the
things that are really going to be meaningful to us are the spiritual
achievements not the wine that we drank not the good food that we ate not the
fancy clothes that we bought not the car that we drove and you know every once in
a while you'll get some old guy telling you about what car he drove as a
teenager but it's kind of like okay grandpa you know but honestly at the
end of the day what's really going to matter what are we going to remember at
the end of our lives is what we've done for Christ and a thousand years from now
that's all it's going to be remembered we'll remember thy love more than wine
and again wine representing the the good things that this world has to offer and
then it says this the upright love thee now we know that's true of Jesus the
upright love Jesus okay listen to what Jesus said well you flip over to John
chapter 3 you want you're gonna want to put a bookmark or something in Song of
Solomon 1 because that's where we always go back that's where the sermon is based
but if you want to turn to some of these other supporting scriptures you can just
mark that place but John chapter 3 is where you're turning while you're
turning there John chapter 8 verse 42 said this Jesus said unto them if God
were your father you would love me so Jesus told the unsaved unbelieving Jews
he said if God were your father you would love me for I proceeded forth and
came from God neither came I of myself modalists but he sent me I didn't I
didn't send myself I didn't come of myself the father sent me is what Jesus
is saying and he said if you if God were your father you would love me now
what does this word upright mean this word upright is not a word that we
typically use a lot today it's a little bit of an archaic word isn't it we don't
really talk if we said upright we mean something standing up straight we would
only today usually in 2022 use this in its literal meaning like an upright
piano unlike this piano where the strings are horizontal an upright piano
the strings are vertical so we understand that meaning of the word
upright well what does that mean when it comes to our character well it means
to be straight right to be standing up straight it means you're not crooked
okay often this is used as a synonym of the word just or righteous righteous
upright righteous you can even see the connection there
upright is not really a word that the New Testament uses in our King James
Bible yeah the King James translates many things in the Old Testament is
upright but it's something that's not used a lot in the New Testament we don't
really necessarily use it a lot in our vernacular but what does it mean it
means to be righteous to be just now there are two ways of looking at
righteousness in the Bible okay one way of looking at righteousness is the fact
that when it comes to us in relationship with God there's none
righteous no not one because God is so much more righteous than us and we've
all seen and come short of the glory of God so every single one of us has come
short of that uprightness or justice or righteousness that God demands so with
that respect everyone is unrighteous and the only way that we can be declared
righteous in the sight of God the only way God can look at us in his holiness
and see us as just or righteous or upright is through salvation through the
blood of Jesus Christ by means of faith we are justified justified you could
also say upright-ified or righteous-ified okay that's what that
because just righteous upright are the same thing justified made just declared
to be just in the sight of God where God looks at us he sees us as righteous he
sees us as upright he sees us as just so so when we talk about the righteous and
the wicked in one sense we could just be referring to the saved and the unsaved
because everyone without Christ is wicked in that sense and everyone with
Christ has been declared righteous so when it comes to the perspective of God
the Father in his holiness there's the just and the unjust that could be used
to talk about the saved and the unsaved that's why we could call a lot a
righteous man a just man even though his actions weren't necessarily very
righteous but he was saved so he was just in that sense okay but then there's
the more everyday literal sense of righteousness and unrighteousness which
has to do with our actions doing right okay so for example sometimes the Bible
will call someone a sinner because they're like a prostitute or something
now I'm in one sense we know that we're all sinners are we every single one of
us the center nobody's righteous but then in a more practical earthly sense
we would look at certain people and say hey this guy's a righteous guy this guy's
living a righteous guy this guy's an upright guy I mean if we looked at two
politicians we'd say they're both unrighteous all right next illustration
no I'm saying let's say Ron Paul was one of them okay you know if we have two
politicians we could say like okay this guy is upright he's not a crook he's not
stealing he's not lying he's not cheating does that mean he's perfect
that means without sin no but he's upright this guy's a crooked politician
he's taking bribes he's doing insider trading he's you know ripping off his
constituents so does everybody see that you know hey this guy's an honest guy
he's a righteous guy he's an upright guy no we're not really saying he's perfect
because we're not speaking in a sense of God's perspective we're speaking about
just in the in the everyday here on earth sense and both of those are valid
and the Bible talks about righteousness in both ways so we need to be sure to
rightly divide the word of truth and understand the context of what we're
talking about okay so when the Bible says that the upright love Jesus right
if we're using our allegory in Song of Solomon the upright love Jesus there's
basically two different things that we could get out of this number one those
that are saved love Jesus would be one thing that we would take from that now
every single person who is actually saved loves Jesus okay now obviously
again there's the we still have the old man and because if we're walking in the
flesh we're gonna do a lot of things that show that we don't love Jesus very
much in that sense but according to the inward man the new man deep down
everybody who's saved loves Christ maybe not necessarily when we're walking in
the flesh but the new man on the inside deep down the one who's truly saved
loves Christ so the upright love him the saved love him that's why Jesus could
say if God were your father you would love me what's he saying if you don't
love me if you have no love for Jesus then God's not your father if you're
rejecting or hateful toward Jesus obviously it makes sense you know you're
not saved God's not your father now again there's another level of if you
love me keep my commandments and so you know we want to actually love him with
our actions by putting on the new man so that the love of the new man actually
manifests our actions and so forth so we're walking in love versus walking in
the old man walking in the flesh our actions might not be expressing love for
Christ but deep down there's a new man in there that does love Christ and you
know sometimes he's real deep down for some people okay but he's in there
somewhere else you're not even saved I mean if you search the depths of your
heart and you have no interest in the things of God you don't love the Bible
or Jesus at all then you're not saved it's that simple because that's in that
should be in there now a lot of times it's it's choked out by all the weeds
of this world it's choked out by the love of money and the last of other
things entering in and you're so busy that it's getting pushed aside it's so
it's way on the back burner but it's there if you're saved we want it on the
front burner that's what Jesus means when he says if you love me keep my
commandments continue in my love walk in love bring the love to the forefront let
the love of Christ actually flow through your life so the upright love God one
thing we see there is that the saved love Jesus right but the second thing
that we could get has to do with the actions did I return to John chapter 3
also it has to do with our actions okay look at John chapter 3 verse 19 it says
this is the condemnation that light is coming to the world and men love
darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil for everyone that doeth
evil hateth the light neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be
reproved but he that doeth truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be made
manifest that they're wrought in God now Jesus Christ said I'm the light of the
world Jesus is called the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into
the world in John chapter 1 so Jesus is the light and the Bible is saying that
if you do evil if you're somebody who does evil you know you don't want to
come to the light you hate the light because you don't want the light to
shine and show how evil your deeds are so when we were talking about unsaved
people unsaved people there are two kinds of unsaved people really right
you got unsaved people that are pretty decent nice people and then you got
unsaved people that are just super rotten malicious wicked people now
neither one of them is righteous in the sight of God neither one of them is
saved or going to heaven they got to believe in Jesus for that but you know
obviously everybody who's unsaved isn't the same are they you got some super
rotten people and you got some other people that are pretty nice people you
know which ones are more likely to get saved the super malicious evil kind or
the kind that's kind of a nice person you know the nice person is more likely
to get saved and here's why because everyone that doeth truth cometh to the
light that his deeds might be made manifest that they're wrought in God
whereas everyone that doeth evil hated the light neither cometh to the light
wicked people tend to shine the gospel if they're of the malicious kind and so
the upright love him upright people people who are living right gravitate
more to the Word of God and to the Lord Jesus Christ than people who are not
living right they kind of want to get away from it okay but ultimately it's
the saved who are truly upright and who truly love Christ so the upright love
thee back in Song of Solomon let's move on I'm black verse 5 we must now cancel
the book of Song of Solomon in fact the sermons over I'm sorry I'm sorry I've
made a terrible mistake I didn't mean to preach this chapter how insensitive of
me and so we're gonna pray and go home and Song of Solomon is canceled there
are now 65 books in the Bible okay cancel culture strikes again cancel
claims another victim okay so what does this mean I'm black now this is not
actually I'm kidding because this is not actually saying basically that she's
African okay I'm sure there are some you know black Hebrew Israelites out here
that would like to make that case but when she says I'm black but come Lee
this is an exaggeration this is hyperbole this is not literal like
black black when she says I'm black but come Lee let the context define it it
says I'm black but come leo you daughters of Jerusalem as the tents of
keyed are as the curtains of Solomon look not upon me because I am black
because the Sun has looked upon me now black people aren't black because they
spent too much time in the Sun they're born that way they're born black okay
they're just that's that's their genetics they just have more melanin in
their skin they just have more protection against the Sun so the you
know they're very well suited for Arizona you know black people should
love Arizona this is where you were born to live here because you got just SPF
you know that we don't have as white people but the point is when it says I'm
black but come Lee what she's referring to is not racial but rather she's just
referring to the fact that she has become very dark from being in the Sun
for a long time now I don't believe that the ancient Israelites were white
Europeans but I also don't believe that they were sub-saharan black people either
you know they're probably somewhere in between those two things okay I would
say they were probably of a brown complexion and so people that are of a
brown complexion if they go out in the Sun a long time they can get pretty dark
or if they stay out of the Sun they could tend more toward light-colored
skin and it really just has a lot to do with how much time they spend in the Sun
and even white people could get pretty dark if they spend enough time in the
Sun they could get pretty dark some of you are so white there's no hope for you
to get tan but you you go outside for five minutes to get a sunburn but you
know most people you know can kind of get there and get a little bit of a tan
so when she's saying I'm black but comely comely means beautiful or pretty
she's saying I'm black but I'm pretty I'm beautiful I'm comely and then she
says look not upon me because I'm black it's like a self-consciousness a little
bit about being so dark tanned because the Sun hath looked upon me is everybody
following here so so the idea here is that she's been outside a lot now
typically throughout history it's men who are outside most of the time working
hard being out in the Sun taking in a lot of Sun and women don't typically get
as much Sun as men because they're indoors doing a lot of household chores
and obviously many of their chores are outside as well but they have more
chores inside than outside men do more outside than inside okay there's certain
professions that would keep you indoors all day but let's face it throughout
history 90% of people if we go back to ancient times 90% of people are farmers
so they're out in the Sun all day that's why if you look at ancient pottery
sometimes in very primitive styles of pottery like the very early Greek
pottery all of the males will be just represented as black because they're
only using two colors it's just black and red so if you look at these ancient
Greek pots the males are black and the females are either white or red if it
has a three color black red and white thing going on but basically that'll be
the difference between men and women just to make it real easy to tell you're
looking at a picture the men are just jet black and the women are just stark
white or yellow or red or whatever whatever the non black color is and it's
basically just differentiating between the men and the women that way and the
idea is that well the women they're not as dark because they're indoors the men
are out working and so just gets exaggerated into just black and white
even though it's not that just every single relationship in Greece was
interracial okay that's not that's not what's going on so you get the idea so
how do we relate this to our allegory because remember we're not looking at
the literal interpretation today I've already done that in other series we're
preaching about the allegorical Jesus Christ and the church is what we're
looking at in Song of Solomon or Christ and us as believers so then we would be
the ones that are black but comely we would be the ones on whom the Sun has
looked and the Sun has looked upon us we're black but beautiful we're black
but comely meaning super tan not really what we would think of as black okay
means super tan what does that refer to well if you stop and think about it it's
because the church is supposed to be outside working even though we are
Christ's bride even though he's the king we're supposed to be out there working
we're outside we're in the Sun and our beauty as the church is derived not from
being sequestered not from being confined or or separated out and kept
inside and secluded and kept really sheltered and pristine but rather our
beauty comes from us being outside in the world working God's vineyard that's
where the beauty comes from so our beauty doesn't come from the fact that
basically oh man look at us we're all so pure and so sinless and so separated and
that we just came and interact with anybody we came and interact with this
world and there are people out there that just they came to work a job
because every job is too sinful it's just nothing's holy enough so they can
and they're just like well I can't even live in Phoenix because Phoenix is just
too sinful it's just too ungodly you know I can't live in California it's just
too sinful you know you know I can't live in Arizona too much sin there there
are people who have this attitude don't they and so they want to go out and they
want to live in the middle of nowhere they want to have some cult compound in
the middle of nowhere where they never interact with anyone or like the Roman
Catholics they want to be in a monastery or a hermitage or something
they want to just withdraw from society and that is not what the church has been
called to do we are not supposed to as Christians withdraw from society go
inside the church lock the door shut the door in fact pull down the blinds and
let's just show how white we can be I'm gonna we're gonna be so white you won't
even believe it because we're so pure we're so sheltered is that what God is
teaching us here in Song of Solomon chapter 1 no he's teaching us that you
know we as his bride we're beautiful unto him but we're out there working and
we're out there in the Sun we're out there baking in the Sun and if you look
at our church if you looked at Faithful Word Baptist Church it's not gonna be
some pasty white boy that you be looking at you know what you're gonna look at if
you look at Faithful Word Baptist Church you're gonna see a serious tan I
mean Faithful Words got a tan Faithful Word is a black church okay Faithful
Word Baptist Church I've always thought the name Faithful Word Baptist Church
kind of sounded like a black church you know it is a black church in the sense
that spiritually we've been tanned by the Sun because we're out there knocking
the non soul-winning church is the one that lacks the tan and then you know and
they may think oh look how beautiful we are because we're so white and you know
there have been styles like that throughout history where women would
just see how white they could get who knows what I'm talking about right now
there were times when what did women sometimes do to make themselves whiter I
mean obviously they put powder and makeup so I see like the Japanese women
where their face is white and also European women's just they just make it
like super white and they like want to make sure their skin like never sees the
Sun's they can just be like glowing white and that's their concept of beauty
that's a thought that's out there that that's a conception of beauty but that's
not the beauty that the local churches to have of like hey look at us we never
sin and we never get around sin we never talked to any sinners we're just so pure
and holy and righteous and we're all locked indoors that's not the plan now
if you would flip over to John chapter 17 we're supposed to go out there into
the world and work under the Sun and God still sees us as beautiful okay so the
beauty isn't the kind of beauty that comes from stained glass windows and a
hundred thousand dollar pipe organ and a bunch of fancy artwork and things you
know the real beauty is the work that gets done out there and think about the
virtuous woman that's another thing that we could tie in with this the virtuous
woman works hard okay well the virtuous church works hard Christ's Church is
supposed to work hard for him and get out there in the Sun now is it gonna
affect our complexion a little bit yeah it's gonna darken us up a little bit but
so what you can still be beautiful and get the work done at the same time look
at John chapter 17 verse 15 it says I pray not that thou shouldest take them
out of the world but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil they're not of
the world even as I'm not of the world sanctify them through thy truth sanctify
means make them holy sanctify them through thy truth thy word is truth as
thou has sent me into the world even so have I also sent them into the world so
we are sent into this world we're not to withdraw from the world and try to just
seclude ourselves we're to get out there and interact with unsaved people
interact with the people of this world and you say well but if I go outside I
might see something sinful so so what are you gonna do then you're just gonna
lock yourself up and just never get around anybody and there are people who
do that they're called monks and nuns and they're not in the Bible there's no
monk in the Bible there are more monkeys in the Bible than monks because because
he because Solomon imported monkeys no monks no nuns no hermits in the Bible in
the Bible every Christian is supposed to be out there sent into the world
interacting with sinners and winning people to Christ he says for their
sakes I sanctify myself that they also might be sanctified through the truth
neither pray I for these alone but for them also verse 20 which shall believe
on me through their word that's why we're sent into the world so that other
people can believe on Jesus through our word and if we're not there how are they
gonna get saved how shall they hear without a preacher and so look not upon
me because I'm black because the Sun has looked upon me my mother's children were
angry with me they made me the keeper of the vineyards but my known vineyard have
I not kept now what does the vineyard represent well the vineyard is a theme
that Christ used over and over again in his parables for example in Matthew
chapter 20 verse 1 it says the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a
householder which went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his
vineyard we are those hired laborers that God sends out to work his vineyard
the world is his vineyard okay and this vineyard has weeds in it and it has good
grape vines producing good fruit it has both and at the end of the world there's
going to be a reaping of both the grapes and the good fruit and the good grain
are going to be gathered into Christ's barn and the tears are going to be bound
in bundles to burn them and they're going to be cast into the winepress of
the wrath of God and so there's going to be a harvest at the end of the world
there's a vineyard out there we as Christians are called to work God's
vineyard meaning winning souls to Christ Matthew 21 28 what think he a certain
man had two sons and he came to the first and said son go work today in my
vineyard later in the same chapter here another parable there was a certain
householder which planted a vineyard and if you would flip over to this one
because this one gets good Matthew 21 verse 40 planted a vineyard and hedged
it roundabout and digged a winepress in it and built a tower and let it out the
husband and went into a far country look at verse 40 of Matthew 21 when the Lord
therefore of the vineyard cometh what will he do unto those husband men they
say unto him he will miserably destroy those wicked men and will let out his
vineyard unto other husband men which shall render him the fruits in their
seasons Jesus saith unto them did you never read in the scriptures the stone
which the builders rejected the same has become the head of the corner this is
the Lord's doing it is marvelous in our eyes here's the key folks therefore say
I unto you the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation
bringing forth the fruits thereof now we know this is talking about taking the
kingdom of God away from the physical nation of Israel and giving it to
Christians right he's taking it away from them he's giving it to a nation
made up of believers a spiritual nation instead of a physical nation he said
he's going to give it to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof Israel
didn't bring forth fruit we are to bring forth fruit as Christians and so we go
out in the vineyard we bring forth fruit the fruit of the righteous is a tree of
life and he that winneth souls is wise we go out there we win souls to Christ
we work the vineyard so that someday in the harvest there will be less weeds and
more good fruit to be harvested for the Lord that more people would go to heaven
versus hell we go out there we preach the gospel to every creature and so they
made me the keeper of the vineyards but my own vineyard have I not kept what are
we saying here we're saying look our lives as Christians our church is not
about keeping our own vineyard in the sense of well let me make sure that my
finances and my household and my family and my everything's great and that's
everybody else well I know I'm going to heaven so nuts to everybody else I'm
saved burn them all no rather we don't want to just spend our whole life on our
own vineyard we are out there working in Christ vineyard and so you know what
does the Bible say look not every man on his own things but every man also on the
things of others so we want to keep other people's vineyards right and and
we're really keeping the Lord's vineyard but let me ask you this who benefits
when we keep the Lord's vineyard obviously the Lord benefits because he
wants all men to be saved but when we work Christ vineyard we're also
benefiting unsaved people because we're getting him saved so when we go out
there and we work the vineyard for the Lord we're actually helping whom unsaved
people because we're getting them saved when we go out and knock doors we're not
doing that for our health we're not doing that because it's our own personal
vineyard we don't get anything out of it we're doing it because of the Lord's
vineyard who benefits the Lord benefits yes but also they benefit the unsaved
people benefit some of those unsaved people could even be hostile toward us
we could knock on a door and they could say get the blankety-blank out of here
but we're why are we there we're actually there for them we're there
because we love them we're there to help them and even that person who says get
the blankety-blank out of here they might even get saved down the road they
might get saved later ultimately we're there for them ultimately our attitude
is father forgive them for they know not what they do and we're out there trying
to reach and be a blessing to people that in many cases don't like us and
don't want us to be there but yet we come to them anyway and hopefully they
will get saved and many of them do so it says in verse 6 there in Song of
Solomon I'm just about done here as you can see the allegorical interpretation
of Song of Solomon is very rich because we've been talking about it here for
almost an hour and we're only in verse 6 and we've only been talking about the
allegory and it's all very clear here this is not me just kind of like Oh
making things up or what I mean it's all strong allegory here you know you read
this and it's like yeah this is what it's saying so it's a very rich
allegorical interpretation of the book of Song of Solomon we're only six
verses in and we'll call it good at verse six but it says here my mother's
children were angry with me they made me the keeper of the vineyards but mine
own vineyard have I not kept so again she is the keeper of the vineyard for
the sake of the mother's children who are angry with her but yet she's working
for them this is our ministry to the unsaved the world hates us am I right
the world in general hates us the Bible says if the world hate you know that it
hated me before it hated you Marvel not my brother and if the world hates you
the Bible says the world hateth us the world out there is who we're trying to
reach that's who we're trying to help our works are done yes for Christ but
our works are done for them why does our church exist does it just exist you know
for us to just pat each other on the back and edify one another hey we do
that and that's important but we also exist to evangelize Phoenix we exist to
ultimately evangelize the world go into all the world and preach the gospel to
every creature God so loved the world but at the same time the world hateth
us so her mother's children are angry with her but she's keeping their vineyard
we're preaching the gospel to the lost even though they're angry with us we
still want to reach them with the gospel we don't want to let that be like well
fine everybody's mad at us and nuts to it we'll just go you know get a commune
out in the middle of nowhere and just that no we keep going we keep trying we
keep on preaching the gospel even if the mother's children are angry now the
mother's children you could look at it this way the mother is Eve right Adam
and Eve Eve is the mother of all living and so our mother's children are angry
with us meaning humanity human beings our fellow man is angry with us but yet
we are working the vineyard on their behalf we are winning souls because we
love Christ yes but also because we love them and so we are trying to reach them
that's why the Bible says bless them which persecute you bless and curse not
love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you pray
for them which despitefully use you and persecute you now of course we know
there are reprobates out there and that's a whole nother sermon but in
general those who persecute us often they don't know what they do and they
don't realize that we're actually on their side and that we're trying to help
them we're trying to get them saved and so just as the mother's children were
angry with her our mother's children are angry with us meaning our fellow humans
descended from the woman descended from Eve but yet we work their vineyard
anyway ironically we work for them and so as we can see I'll leave it at that
because we've done enough here just in these first six verses as you can see
Song of Solomon yes a beautiful poem yes it is a great text to learn about love
and marriage and a relationship between a man and a woman you know I did a
series on that I preached through that surface aspect of it but you can
actually just put that completely aside and just only look at the allegorical
interpretation and still find it to be very rich in meaning about Christ and
about us and our walk with God and our works that we do and so the Bible is so
wonderful the Bible so deep there's so much there on the surface and then
there's so much more on the next layer and these aren't even the only two ways
to read Song of Solomon you could read Song of Solomon a third way and you
could go down the list of all the different layers of interpretation God's
Word is truly marvelous I hope that you'll spend time reading God's Word
loving God's Word and ultimately take that love and knowledge of God's Word
and let it translate into you getting out there and working in the vineyard
because I don't want to see you looking all pasty because you never get outside
and I'm not I'm not talking about literally I'm talking about spiritually
now I want you to get some spiritual Sun out there get a spiritual tan and I'm
not talking about some tanning booth where you can get all orange and fake
looking or whatever spray on tan a bunch of fake churches with their spray tan
evangelism program I'm talking about the real evangelism program that actually
gets you out in the Sun gives you a real tan it's bar rides and I've word of
prayer father we thank you so much for this great book Lord I pray that we
would be a beautiful church in your sight Lord you would look down and you
would see us as black and comely and out there working in the vineyard Lord and
we thank you for your great love for us your love is truly better than wine and
it's in Christ's name we pray amen