men tonight I'm continuing my sermon from this morning where I was preaching
about the allegorical interpretation of the book of Song of Solomon of course
many years ago I did a Wednesday night series where over the course of eight
weeks I preached through the book of Song of Solomon and I focused more on
the literal interpretation talked a lot about marriage husbands wives and things
of that nature but this time we're going through and looking at the allegorical
interpretation the Bible says husbands love your wives even as Christ loved the
church and gave himself for it and so you could look at the book of Song of
Solomon as Christ and the church that's another way to interpret it and there
are even more ways than that to interpret the book of Song of Solomon
but as we saw this morning there's a lot there when you look at it from that
angle of Christ and the church there's actually a lot of great teaching a lot
of great truth embedded here so I'm not going to repreach this morning sermon
but I'm just going to pick up where we left off because we had left off in
verse number six look not upon me because I'm black because the Sun had
looked upon me my mother's children were angry with me they made me to keep her
the vineyards but my known vineyard if I not kept that's where we left off this
morning we're going to get into verse 7 now the Bible reads in verse 7 tell me
O thou whom my soul loveth where thou feedest 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 now up to this point we haven't really seen this idea of the
shepherd this is a new thing now because in the first several verses we talked
about the king and the woman's beauty and all those type of things but now
we're getting into this idea of the male in the story here actually being seen as
a shepherd right and we know that Christ is the Good Shepherd and so this fits
perfectly with our interpretation now we're all familiar with Psalm 23 one of
the most famous Psalms in the Bible the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want and
so forth but Jesus Christ in the New Testament if you'll flip over to John
chapter 10 keep your finger in Song of Solomon 1 go over to John chapter 10 but
Jesus Christ identifies himself in verse 14 of John chapter 10 I am the
Good Shepherd and he's referring back to that Psalm 23 reference of the Lord is
my shepherd referring to Jehovah God and Jesus saying I am that Good Shepherd I'm
the Good Shepherd also in Hebrews chapter 13 it calls Jesus Christ that
great Shepherd of the sheep and so if you look at John chapter 10 verse 4 it
says and when he putteth forth his own sheep he goeth before them were in John
10 4 and the sheep follow him for they know his voice and a stranger will they
not follow but will flee from him for they know not the voice of strangers
then of course verse 14 I am the Good Shepherd and know my sheep and am known
of mine verse 27 my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I
give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any
men pluck them out of my hand my father which gave them me is greater than all
and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand so Jesus Christ is the
Good Shepherd of the sheep and the ones who are his sheep according to the Bible
are the ones who have eternal life right if you have eternal life if you're one
of his sheep you know the voice of the Shepherd and you can tell the difference
between the authentic Shepherd Jesus and a fake imposter this is why when the
Antichrist comes on the scene no one who is truly saved will be deceived by him
the Bible says that he'll be so slick that if it were possible he would
deceive the very elect but it's not possible because a stranger will they
not follow a stranger will they flee from they know not the voice of
strangers they can tell the difference between the authentic Shepherd and the
fraud the imposter the fake Jesus or the fake Messiah if you will and so if we
look at that in John chapter 10 and then take that over to Song of Solomon
chapter 1 verse 7 the woman is saying tell me O thou who my soul loveth where
thou feedest where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon so we could look
at this as us as Christians us as a church we're saying to Jesus tell me
where it is that you feed where do you make your flock to rest at noon for why
should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions what she's
basically saying is I don't want to follow the wrong Shepherd I don't want
to get the wrong guy I don't want an imposter I don't want an imitation you
know I want to make sure that I don't just find any Shepherd but that I find
you to be the one who's going to lead me and so she says you know why should I be
as one that turned aside by the flocks of thy companions meaning other shepherds
other guys and so for us this would be you know we don't want to end up in some
wrong flock following a wrong Shepherd we don't want to go to some bogus church
with a bogus Shepherd that's not actually following Jesus Christ now if
you think about it Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd is the bishop of our souls
the Bible says bishop means overseer he's the shepherd of the sheep but
pastors are the under shepherds that are under Jesus now the word pastor if you
would flip over to Acts chapter 20 but the word pastor just literally means
Shepherd that's all it means it's just another word for Shepherd and you can
see that it's also related to the word for pasture you know where you would
actually have the sheep graze they graze in the pasture and then the guy who
leads them there is the pastor you know and and so the Bible says here in Acts
chapter 20 verse 28 take heed therefore unto yourselves and this is Paul talking
to pastors take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over
the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers the word Bishop is synonymous
with overseer to feed the Church of God which he had purchased with his own
blood for I know this that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter
in among you not sparing the flock also of your own selves shall men arise
speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them therefore watch and
remember that by the space of three years I cease not to warn everyone
night and day with tears so there's a real danger of following the wrong
people isn't there you know I mean the Apostle Paul say man I've been warning
you for years I warned you with tears you know I I wept over this he said in
Philippians chapter 3 follow us so you have us for an example because many
walk of whom I've told you often and now tell you even with tears that they are
the enemies of the cross of Christ here in acts 20 verse 31 he said I cease not
to warn everyone night and day with tears I mean he feels very strongly
about this don't follow false teachers don't follow false prophets there are
some bad shepherds out there there are some wolves and sheep's clothing there
are even some people that will rise up from within the ranks of a good church
and they will speak perverse things crooked things twisted things and they
will draw away disciples after them they want to get their own following
that they can lead away from the truth you know they'll come here where we've
already brought together a group of people that are interested in the right
kind of preaching and so forth and they'll want to get people deceived and
fooled and off track and following a bogus Shepherd okay who's not following
the Good Shepherd and so that's what we see in Song of Solomon chapter 1 verse
7 this idea of you know tell me where you feed where you make your flock to
rest in you I don't want to be you know following one of the flocks of thy
companions you know I want the real thing and so this kind of shows us in
verse 7 as well we don't just want to go to church wherever you know or I think I
saw a sign on a lot of trucks I don't know if this is still popular but it
said like attend the Church of your choice this Sunday or something like
that which I get what they're trying to say there you know go to church but
really it's not really just the church of our choice you know we should really
attend the Church of God's choice and I'm sure there are some choices within
that I'm not saying that there's only you know one okay church in Phoenix
there are lots of churches that Christ would look at in the Phoenix area as a
scriptural church as a biblical church as a right church a good flock that's
following Christ and different churches are going to have their pros and cons
there are lots of good churches out there but let's face it most churches
are bogus I mean look at all the denominations that are out there there's
all kinds of false teaching works based salvation churches teaching you can lose
your salvation churches preaching from these modern corrupted Bible versions
churches that refuse to preach on sin churches that have no evangelism and we
could go down the list of all of the problems in churches all over the place
and so we want to make sure that we find Christ's flock and that we don't turn
aside at some imitation flock so let's look at the answer here in verse number
eight of Song of Solomon so she says tell me where the flock is tell me where
you make your flock to feed the shepherd responds in verse 8 if thou know not O
thou fairest among women go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock and
feed thy kids beside the shepherds tents if thou know not of our first among
women go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock and feed thy kids beside
the shepherds tents so ultimately if I'm on this earth and I'm asking Christ
where do I go to church where's the flock where do you feed your flock Lord
where do I go I'm not going to get an audible voice answering me from the sky
so the way that I find the answer to that if I'd know not as it says at the
beginning of verse 8 is that I go by the footsteps of the flock I need to
basically find other people that are following Christ and walk in their
footsteps and figure out who they're following where are they going to church
and I have to follow other people and it says feed thy kids beside the shepherds
tents multiple shepherds we could see this as the pastors or the under
shepherds you know we need pastors or Christian role models on this earth that
we can follow because Christ is not literally physically here talking to us
now we have the Word of God we have the Bible this is the closest thing we've
got to having Christ right here with us as far as in a physical tangible way of
course we know that when we assemble as believers and the Holy Spirit is in our
midst and also Christ said that where two or three are gathered together in my
name there are my in the midst but we're not going to hear an audible voice so we
need to follow the footsteps of the flock we need to follow other believers
we need other Christians that we can follow we need other shepherds that we
can follow pastors and teachers and people that we can follow now a lot of
people have this attitude that says well I don't follow man I only follow God
this is usually a sign of a very immature Christian or someone who
doesn't know the Bible when they just I don't follow anybody's follow God
they're they're basically insecure they're like a little toddler like I
can do it by myself I don't need help I do it myself but in reality we are
supposed to follow human leadership on this earth this is what God has ordained
it's not biblical to have this attitude of I just only follow God and you know
people will often bring up the part where people are getting a little bit
too into a certain leader where they say well I'm of Paul I'm of Apollos I'm of
Cephas right and Paul's rebuking those people and rightly so because we
shouldn't just divide and get into factions based on a personality you know
one guy that we're following you know it should be that we'll listen to any right
biblical teacher and that we don't just get obsessed with one teacher or think
like oh well you're going to Verity well I'm going to faithful word it's like
well okay oh you go to Valley Baptist well I go to faithful word you know hey
you know the people that go to Valley Baptist out in Mesa you know that's a
flock of God as well you know we're a flock over here they're a flock over
there you know Verity Baptist over there you know it's not really about which
church we go to it's just about the fact that we're going to a biblical church
that's preaching the Bible that's winning souls it's not about a certain
personality or anything like that but you know when he's rebuking those people
who are saying I'm of Paul I'm of Apollos I'm of Cephas you know there's
another group that says well I'm of Christ and they're also in that same
factional attitude like well I don't follow anybody I follow Christ they're
also being called the carnal immature for having that attitude okay and so we
don't want to get this attitude that just says well I don't follow anybody
but at the same time we don't want to just get obsessed with one teacher and
just anything they say is right and we'll follow them off the cliff and you
know where it becomes a cult-like mentality so there's a balance here
isn't there of following leadership on this earth as that leadership follows
Christ but not being obsessed with that leader or anything like that there's a
lot of scripture on this I already quoted the scripture from Philippians
3 17 brethren be followers together of me and mark them which walk so as you
have us for an example use us for an example follow us the Apostle Paul said
in 1st Corinthians 11 1 be ye followers of me even as I also am of Christ and
then he said in 1st Corinthians 4 16 wherefore I beseech you be ye followers
of me these are pretty clear verses aren't they flip over to Hebrews chapter
13 so he flat-out says follow me be a follower of me be followers of me even
as I am of Christ brethren be followers together of me I mean just explicitly in
three totally different passages says be a follower of me follow me Paul but then
you have people that turn around say well I'm not gonna follow any man I'm
not gonna follow a human being that's not a biblical attitude all throughout
the Bible God uses leaders in fact if you study the story of the Old Testament
it's really a story that centers around these larger-than-life men of God and
women of God throughout the Old Testament that really drive the action
forward I'm sorry but that's what happens when you read the Old Testament
isn't it I mean how can you read the book of Genesis without focusing on the
kind of big names in the book of Genesis I mean if I were to ask you you know you
have 30 seconds to tell me everything that's covered in the book of Genesis if
somebody just like hit a stopwatch said okay you got 30 seconds go I'd be like
okay well you got you know Adam and Eve Cain and Abel you got Noah you've got
Abraham Isaac Jacob Joseph the patriarchs okay I'm out of time you know but you'd
probably start running through those big names of the characters you got the
story of Noah you got the story about Abraham then you get in the story about
Isaac then you get in a story about Jacob then you get into stories about
Joseph and that's kind of the main driving principle then what would we say
is Exodus about I mean we start out with Moses it's about the birth of Moses his
life if going into exile coming back he leads a children it's all from his
perspective right then we get into Deuteronomy it's 100% from Moses
perspective in the book of Deuteronomy then we have Joshua the book of whoa
it's a person's name Joshua then we get to judges and what's judges about judges
which are people which are leaders which are key men of God that he's using he
uses this guy then he uses this guy then he uses this guy that he uses this gal
and then he uses this guy that he uses this guy that he uses this guy and he
goes through in the book of Judges and everything rise and falls on leadership
then we get into the monarchy and what do you know okay let's not skip the book
of Ruth right we got Ruth and Boaz right characters then we get into the monarchy
and it's a succession of kings it's Saul it's David it's Solomon right down the
list of all the divided Kingdom monarchs and then you've got these larger-than-life
prophets Elijah and Elisha and we go through all that then as we move forward
in Scripture and we get into the prophets whoa they're named after dudes
Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel Daniel it's like oh I follow a man you know I have five
and you make a big tube in you make a big deal about preachers make big deal
about me um yeah that's how the world works that's how life works God uses
leaders and even our personal lives we grow up from the moment that we're born
with a leader dad dad is our leader it's like I'm not gonna follow you dad I'm
only following God I only take orders from God Almighty um excuse me you're
four years old you know what I mean is that gonna work sorry mom I know I'm
only five but I only answer to God only God can judge me mom you think that's
gonna work no you start out from the moment that you take your first breath
following the leader mom and dad right you grow up you've got tutors and
teachers and you have coaches and you have people training you and you have
supervisors at your job and you've got the foreman and the boss and and
whatever this is life everything rises and falls on leadership you follow
people's leadership you don't just have said well I just follow God and you know
you're so carnal because you follow man no you're a big baby if you have this
attitude that says well I have to do everything myself and I can't follow
anybody and I can't listen to anybody that's baloney the New Testament's the
same way because when we get into the acts of the apostles that's really a
couple people am I right I mean reading the book of the acts of the apostles
you're really reading about a couple guys you pretty much start out reading
about Peter for a while you read a little bit about Stephen read a little
bit about Philip and then it becomes the Apostle Paul show for pretty much the
whole rest of the book okay and you get a little Barnabas in there you get a
little Silas in there but it's a whole lot of the Apostle Paul so the point is
that we need to follow other members of the flock follow the footsteps of the
flock and we need shepherds both because not only are you gonna follow a shepherd
shepherds will be pastors that could be like pastors of churches but also you
could just follow the footsteps of the flock because also young ladies are
gonna need some female role models to follow in their lives right they're
gonna have female people to look to where they're gonna follow in their
footsteps or you're just gonna have other male role models that are not a
pastor maybe you're following your role model in other areas of your life you
know like someone else who is doing the job that you want to do someday or maybe
they just have good skills in other areas or aspects of the Christian life
or soul winning or missions or whatever you know you're gonna have different
people that you look to different role models different gurus if you will that
you're gonna follow in your life and not just say well I just follow God I'm only
following the Lord you know we need to learn to have other people also guiding
us through things you know we can think of all kinds of examples of this even
just carnal examples like for example you know I've had different people who
coached me on swimming you know teaching me how to swim better how to do a swim
stroke you know and that's someone that basically could be like a swimming role
model or a running role model or something they could teach me those
athletic things right or you know maybe a cooking role model or something you
know someone who kind of guides you through cooking or sewing or whatever
hobby or whatever skill or whether it's carpentry or whatever right you learn
something well guess what the Christian life is the same way you kind of have a
soul winning mentor right you have somebody taking you out and showing you
the ropes of soul winning right you have people that are maybe teaching you how
to preach or teaching you how to lead singing or teaching you how to play the
piano or whatever you have different people that teach you how to be a good
wife how to be a good mother how to be a good husband how to be a good father you
have all of these members of the flock that are role models in various ways
that you kind of look to and follow their lead you follow in the footsteps
of the flock and you also feed your kids besides the shepherds tents because you
also want to follow the shepherds pastors God gave us pastors and teachers
for the edifying of the body of Christ don't just say I don't need that what
does the Bible say Hebrews 13 7 remember them which have the rule over you who
have spoken unto you the Word of God whose faith follow considering the end
of their conversation whose faith follow right follow in the footsteps of the
flocks feed your kids beside the shepherds tents hey how am I going to
know where Christ is feeding his flock well I'm going to follow other believers
that have trod the path before me and I'm going to follow them as they follow
Christ and as I follow them it leads me closer to Christ and following the path
that he wants me to follow so that's what we take from this in Song of
Solomon verses 7 & 8 there now moving on to verse 9 in Song of Solomon if you
want to flip back there it says I have compared thee oh my love to a company of
horses in Pharaoh's chariots now what's cool about this particular reference is
that it's plural because we're remember looking at this as Christ represented by
Solomon himself the protagonist the male the husband Solomon is Christ and then
the wife the female the spouse is the church is Christians in general and this
works out great because it's a company of horses well if you think about a
company is a group and the church is a group so this actually fits really
nicely for this allegory comparing his love unto a company of horses and
Pharaoh's cherries you know before I move forward I'm sorry I forgot to
mention one thing there are lots of different interpretations of the book of
Song of Solomon and I'm not necessarily saying that you know there's only one
right interpretation because I do believe that this book can be understood
on many levels and that there are many legitimate ways to read this book for
sure the literal interpretation is legitimate just as a love story between
man and woman and that's profitable and I already did eight sermons on that but
you know we see for sure that this has great relevance to Christ and the church
I'm not gonna say that those are the only two valid interpretations or that
there aren't many other valid ways to read this but I also don't necessarily
think that every interpretation is valid and you know I've heard some
interpretations of Song of Solomon where basically they try to make it out that
it's like this love triangle and that basically there's King Solomon but
that's not her true love she's really in love with this other shepherd dude and
it's like Solomon's bringing her into the harem but she really wants to be
with this other shepherd dudes I'm not buying that for one second I don't think
that's legitimate I'm just let me just come out and say that right now I've
heard sermons like that I've heard old series is like that and you know I'm not
buying it just to let you know where I'm coming from I'm not saying that I know
all the answers or that my interpretation of Song of Solomon is the
only one that's correct but I'm just saying personally I don't buy into that
particular interpretation I think it's kind of ridiculous I can't really even
wrap my mind around how they could come up with that but hey whatever the point
I want to make though is that you know there does I guess need to be some
explanation here about you know King Solomon doesn't really seem like the
kind of guy who's out tending the sheep as a shepherd so it's kind of like
what's going on here why is Solomon portrayed as a shepherd well first of all
I would say that part of it is just for the symbolism so that it could be a
great passage for Christ and the church because that's really what God always
had in mind all along when he's writing this book but obviously it needs a
little explanation I would say this that if we remember David is sort of the
consummate shepherd in the Bible am I right I mean David is taken from the
flock he's the shepherd and then God takes him from being the shepherd of
literal sheep and he makes him the shepherd of his people Israel and that's
the symbolism there of taking the shepherd David and making him the king
Solomon is his son so Solomon is sort of continuing in that he's also the
shepherd of the people and if you think about it being a shepherd is sort of the
flagship occupation of Israelites obviously Israelites are doing
agriculture obviously most of them are probably farming and great Israelites
throughout history farmed and even going back to Isaac we see Isaac being a you
know a great farmer and so forth but isn't their culture kind of a culture
that exalts or glorifies or romanticizes the pastoral life because if you
remember Abraham Isaac and Jacob they dwelled in tents they had flocks and so
you know it's sort of like I think about the Navajos right we have the Navajos
here in northern Arizona and obviously the Navajos they have done all kinds of
things throughout history they do all kinds of things but they kind of really
look at themselves as being a pastoral people a people who are shepherds of
sheep and goats and so that's kind of how they look at themselves even though
that's not necessarily what they're all doing it's kind of just part of their
culture they're kind of a nation of shepherds or a pastoral culture and so I
think Israel is the same way where that's kind of how they see themselves
as and that's how the Bible is portraying them and you know going back
to even Abel you know glorifying Abel versus Cain and having Abraham Isaac and
Jacob and so forth following that lifestyle even when they go into Egypt
with the twelve patriarchs they are people who do cattle they're people who
have flocks and herds and and remember every shepherds and abomination to the
Egyptians and by the way that's what they said right in Genesis and by the
way every real shepherd in 2022 is also an abomination to the Egyptians so
there's no new thing under the Sun but that's a whole nother sermon that shall
be preached in another time that's actually a good sermon title every
shepherd is abomination to the Egyptians right I don't know if I'm quoting that
exactly right but throw that on the list so what we see here is that I think that
what Solomon is doing is basically just writing a fictional song I mean let's
face it this is a song this is not a true story this is not like a history
this is not a history book and we need to rightly divide the word of truth when
we're writing the Bible when we're reading the Bible I'm sure somebody will
take this out of context and say pastor Anderson thinks the Bible is a work of
fiction but what I'm saying is that this is a poem this is a song this is
basically a story I don't think it's meant to be taken literally this is not
first chronicles we're not reading the book of second Kings or something we're
not reading a historical book it's a poetic book and so I believe it's just a
song and so it's not meant to be taken literally and so in that sense it's
probably fictional weren't you the one that just were you the one that was
asking me about that yeah so basically it's it's a song so he's basically
portraying himself as a shepherd because it's symbolic he's the shepherd of the
people he's not necessarily out there literally grazing a flock because he's
kind of a powerful guy but you know what I wouldn't even be shocked if he didn't
even do a little of that because throughout history Kings like to do
stuff like this like they like to go out hunting and stuff they don't really need
to hunt for food but isn't that what they do they kind of go out and they
look at King Ahab he's got his garden of herbs he's not a farmer but he's still
doing some agriculture Kings like to go out and do a little hunting why because
they want to feel like normal people and they want to be seen as normal people
and they want to kind of connect with the people so it wouldn't even shock me
if King Solomon didn't kind of fool around with a little shepherding just
for grins just to kind of be an Israelite you know because that's kind of
what leaders do don't they throughout history we can see it even now leaders
pretending to be normal and they're not normal but they're pretending to be
normal so you know there could be an aspect of that where he's just kind of
seeing himself as a shepherd portraying himself as a shepherd in the story which
is not a history that we're reading in Song of Solomon I mean later on the book
of Solomon Song of Solomon you know when she goes out I saw it my beloved and
she's getting beat up while she's seeking her beloved you know this is not
I do not believe that this is actually a story I think it's a song it's all
symbolic and metaphor and and whatever please don't say that I think that the
Bible is fictional okay the Bible is true this poem is probably not a true
story because it's true in the sense that it's true about emotion it's true
spiritually it's true but it's not trying to tell a history of something
that actually literally happened I hope you can understand what I'm saying right
now so basically that's that's what I think I don't think there's a third I
don't think it's like oh there's three people King Solomon the shepherd and the
woman now I'm pretty sure that the Shepherd and King Solomon are the same
person they both represent Christ Christ is the king of Israel Christ is the
Great Shepherd and I spent way too much time talking about that but I just
wanted to clear that up okay the company I've compared the oh my love to a
company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots this is pretty odd to say about one
person to compare one person one lady baby you are like a company of horses in
Pharaoh's chariots this is a little bit odd but you know what it works out great
for the illustration for the allegory it's perfect and for those of you who
weren't here this morning you know if you don't know what the word allegory
means by the way allegory is a King James Bible word because in Galatians
chapter 4 the Bible talks about Old Testament stories being an allegory and
the word allegory if you look at the etymology of the word what it literally
means is saying something else that's what the word allegory literally means
something that is saying something else meaning that it's really talking about
something else other than what it appears to be talking about so on the
surface is just talking about a man he's in love with the woman but what's
it really talking about also it's talking about Jesus and the church right
does everybody see that so it's an allegory now if you think about the
church as a company of horses and Pharaoh's chariots what kind of
attributes would a company of horses have strength when we study the Bible
and see how the Bible references horses it talks about them being strong so
strength how about endurance you know horses have incredible endurance they
can go great distances there are even 100 mile horse races where people will
ride a horse for a hundred miles now you know a typical horse can't really run a
hundred miles but typical human can't run a hundred miles either but there are
some humans that can run a hundred miles and a train trained horse can also be
trained to run a hundred miles so that's a lot of endurance so horses have
strength they have endurance when we think of a company of horses and Pharaoh's
chariots we think of teamwork unity working together working as a team also
obedience because we put bits in the horses mouths that they may obey us and
we turn about their whole body the Bible says and so horses represent strength
endurance teamwork unity and obedience and this is what the local church
should be right we should we should be unified we should work together as a
team we should be strong we should endure hardness as good soldiers of
Jesus Christ we should obey Christ and so forth so it actually works pretty
good for the allegory let's move on to verse 10 it says thy cheeks are comely
with rows of jewels thy neck with chains of gold we will make the borders of gold
with studs of silver and you could think about the chains of gold or the
borders of gold as being as having to do with the the law of God or the Word of
God or the boundaries that God has set up in his statutes and ordinances and
laws and the things that he's commanded us now flip over to what is Psalm 19
Psalm chapter 19 while you're turning to Psalm 19 I'll read for you Proverbs 1 8
Proverbs 1 8 says my son hear the instruction of thy father and forsake
not the law of thy mother for they shall be an ornament of grace under thy head
and chains about thy neck so the commandments that our parents give us
when our parents have rules for us those rules according to the Bible are an
ornament of grace to our head and chains about our neck and so this is the same
type of illustration here with the woman she has the the chains of gold the
borders of gold what's a border you know a border is a boundary a border is an
edge or an extremity it's a line chains can be seen in two different ways chains
could be seen as something that is a that are that is an oppression right
like chains could be something holding me down holding me back or chains could
be what a necklace when the Bible says here chains of gold it's not talking
about like a big kind of a chain that you would like use to hook your trailer
to the back of your truck or some kind of a huge chain like chaining something
down or chaining a padlock to a what's that fence called with all the metal
grid what chain link fence sorry I'm it's it's been a long day I was gonna
say what's that fence called that you that you climb on that Nintendo game
okay double dragon that's what no okay so anyway anyway you know that's not the
kind of chain that we're talking about when when the Bible talks about you know
Daniel getting a gold chain around his neck what are we talking about we're
talking about like a necklace we would call it a necklace and even today we'd
probably call it a gold chain right you walk into a jewelry store and say I want
to buy a gold chain they're not just gonna be like excuse me and they're gonna
know exactly what you're talking about gold chain so isn't it interesting how
this word kind of has two meanings right because chain could be like something
oppressive that holds you down or it can be something that actually gives you
style or class or something that shows wealth or status or decoration or
something like that and isn't that kind of how you could look at rules too
because your parents rules the Bible says shall be an ornament of grace under
your head and chains about your neck now some people are like yeah man my
parents rules do feel like chains around my neck man got this chain around my
neck my parents have me on a leash they got me on the choker chain you know or
you could look at it as a blessing you could look at it as privilege right as
that you know the buzzword today my Christian privilege you know what
growing up with parents who teach you right from wrong that's a blessing
that's gold that's valuable that's gold unto you oh man it's weighing me down
man well you know what it's just it's a gold chain you weakling it's not that
heavy look at Psalm 19 verse 7 the law of the Lord is perfect converting the
soul the testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple Psalm 19 verse 8
the statutes of the Lord are right rejoicing the heart God's statutes are
right his rules are right his commandments are right get happy about
it rejoice the commandments of the commandment of the Lord is pure
enlightening the eyes the fear of the Lord is clean enduring forever the
judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether more to be desired
are they than gold yea then much fine gold sweeter also than honey and the
honeycomb so God's rules his statutes his commandments they're like gold your
parents rules are like a gold chain on your neck so again we could apply that
to the Song of Solomon scripture and say thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels
thy neck with chains of gold will make the borders of gold with studs of silver
these adornments are basically Christ's commands statutes his laws his rules
their boundaries their borders their borders unto us but they're also a
decorative border because isn't the border here a decorative border yeah but
you know what they do both don't they they're a border and then they're kind
of changing us down man but you know what they're doing they're actually
holding you back from making an idiot of yourself and ruining your life so yeah
you could look at it as oppression or you could look at it as a beautiful
value that you've been given with these gold chains so at this point I'm running
out of time here I'm kind of like debating what to go to next here but
let's let's just let's just move to the next verse here verse 12 and Song of
Solomon because I'm trying to get through as much as I can tonight verse
12 it says while the king is said at that his table my spikenard sendeth
forth the smell thereof so again we're going back and forth between who's
speaking right sometimes Solomon speaking sometimes the wife is speaking
so he's saying to her thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels then she is
responding to him while the king said at his table my spikenard sendeth forth the
smell thereof okay so what's going on here go if you would to second
Corinthians chapter 2 second Corinthians chapter number two now spikenard is only
mentioned a few times in the Bible and spikenard happens to be the exact
ointment used to anoint Jesus when the woman comes and anoints Jesus in the
Gospels she anoints him with spikenard and he said she's anointing me for my
burial and so we talked about it this morning from the respect of the husband
in Song of Solomon when his name was as ointment poured forth that was talking
about you know the death burial and resurrection of Christ and that message
going out into all the world and so forth from his perspective but now she
is saying while the king said at his table my spikenard sendeth forth the
smell thereof so we've talked about the aroma of the man now we're talking about
the aroma or the fragrance of the woman she's putting out the scent of the
spikenard which again is connected to the burial of Christ look at second
Corinthians chapter 2 verse 14 this is this is a great passage I love this part
in second Corinthians chapter 2 verse 14 now thanks be unto God which always
causes us to triumph in Christ and maketh manifest the savor and again
savor can be either taste or smell the savor of his knowledge by us in every
place we're talking about the smell but it could be either taste or smell for we
are unto God a sweet savor of Christ in them that are saved and in them that
perish so everywhere we go we're supposed to be a savor of Christ we're
supposed to put forth the aroma of Christ we are bearing about in our
bodies the dying of the Lord Jesus the Bible says and so his death burial and
resurrection is something that we carry around with us and we're to be a savor
of Christ around everyone that we meet but here's the thing we're gonna be a
savor of Christ both in the saved and in the unsaved we're not only going to have
an effect on the saved we're gonna have an effect on the unsaved we're the
savor of Christ for both now among the saved we're a sweet savor of Christ
we're unto God a sweet savor of Christ it says in verse 15 in them that are
saved and in them the parish to the one where the savor of death unto death so
some people that are rebellious against the gospel that don't want to hear the
gospel that are rejecting of the Lord Jesus Christ we're still a savor of
Christ unto them but it's not a sweet smell to them we're stinking up the joint
as far as they're concerned we're the savor of death unto them now think about
how bad dead bodies smell death smells bad you know we were just out so winning
on I'm trying to remember was it Wednesday when we walked by a corpse of
it was that you Miriam yeah we're all soul winning and we walked by it wasn't
a human corpse okay sorry sorry to freak you out there for a second I walk by
this corpse of a cat there's like ah with his mouth open like it looked like
you know it looked like it didn't die without a fight cuz they look like it
was like frozen in a growl and like ah didn't it look like it was in mid fight
yeah so you know let it not be said that he died without a fight so this thing
was just like ah but man it stinks to walk by something like that and man
size we'd be so winning up on the rez and there just be I get dead dog corpse
laying in the road and it'd be flies I mean man it just stinks so bad you know
it's horrible and you know you don't you see sometimes the haters of the Lord man
they get so angry at the gospel at the Word of God and biblical preaching man
the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing and they are just foaming
at the mouth and gnashing on the righteous with their teeth why because
we are the saver of death unto them we are the saver of literal death that's
what we smell like to them and so we're the saver of death unto them and to the
other to the to the saved to those who are saved we're the saver of life unto
life it's it's a life-giving refreshing scent around our fellow believers and
around those who are not saved and don't want to get saved man it's a saver of
death unto them and who is sufficient for these things you know what does that
mean who is sufficient for these things you know what it's really saying is that
like none of us is really worthy to be that ambassador of Christ none of us is
really sufficient because it's so awesome of a responsibility to be the
saver of death unto the unsaved and to be the saver of life unto the saved you
know to be that ambassador of Christ it's like overwhelming to think of if
you actually comprehend it to where Paul has to just pause here and just say man
who is sufficient for these things like wow you know he's kind of blowing himself
away even as he writes this epistle like wow I'm the saver of life I'm the saver
of death I'm an ambassador of Christ wow I'm putting forth the same sweet saver
of Christ who is sufficient for these things now of course we're not in and of
ourselves ever going to be worthy of these things but you know God has given
us this this privilege even though we don't deserve it even though we're not
sufficient in and of ourselves he empowers us through the Holy Spirit so
that we can be that ambassador of Christ now how are we an ambassador of Christ
because we're the sweet saver of Christ the sweet saver is the ointment
specifically spikenard and of course that was the anointing that was also put
upon Jesus well you could also look at this anointing as the Holy Spirit
because if you think about it you know anointing in the Bible is symbolic of
the Holy Spirit when the oil is poured upon them and anointed with oil or
anointed with an ointment or whatever that's a picture of the Holy Spirit's
anointing being anointed with the oil of gladness being anointed with the Holy
Ghost and so what empowers us to be the ambassador what allows us to put out the
right aroma is that we get an as Christians we get anointed with the Holy
Spirit and when we're anointed with the Holy Spirit when the Holy Ghost is upon
us when we're filled with the Holy Spirit now boom we're putting out that
spikenard aroma we're putting out that aroma which is either a saver of life or
saver of death so here's the thing if you're not filled with the Spirit if you
don't have the Spirit of Christ upon you then you're not really okay yeah people
don't love you people don't hate you nobody cares because you're just they
there are you even a Christian whoa you're saved you're a Christian wait you
go to church okay yeah because they didn't really smell that about you you
know what I'm saying but when you're when you're filled with the Holy Spirit
you're putting out that aroma and basically people are gonna have a
reaction to that does everybody see what I'm saying that's why all that will live
godly in Christ Jesus I'll suffer persecution because when you're the
aroma of death unto people you're gonna get persecuted you know and but but you
also get to be the aroma of life and you know it's a privilege who is sufficient
for these things and then he says in verse 17 for we are not as many which
corrupt the Word of God but as of sincerity but as of God in the sight of
God speak we in Christ you know if you're speaking the Word of God
sincerely you're the saver of Christ unto this world if you have the Holy
Ghost resting upon you if you have that anointing you're the saver of Christ
unto this world and who is sufficient for these things so that's what it means
when she says when the king stood at his table my spikenard sendeth forth the
smell thereof basically what does she have she has the same anointing that he
has Christ was anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power we're anointed with
the Holy Ghost he had a certain saver and we're the sweet saver of Christ so
we've got we're putting out the same aroma that he's putting out my spikenard
is sending forth the smell thereof but it's him he's the source of the
ointment though the black but comely maiden here that's brought in to the
king's chambers and made his wife she's not she didn't come with her own like
suitcase full of spikenard you know it's expensive stuff he's the one that
it comes from the king it's coming from his supply and so that's the connection
there that's really about all that we have time for tonight but you know again
as we go through Song of Solomon here there's so many great pictures of Christ
in the church let's just do a quick review before I'm done just let's just
read through this first part again and just see how it all kind of comes
together just kind of get into context then we'll close in prayer it says in
verse 1 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 right the love of God
serving God is better than the fine things that this world has to offer
because of the savor of thy good ointments that's Christ's ointment thy
name is as ointment poured forth all over the world everybody knows the name
of Jesus Christ throughout this world the gospel has gone to all nations the
therefore do the virgins love thee we love him because he first loved us
because that savor of his ointment has to do with his death barrow and
resurrection as we saw this morning draw me we will run after thee the king has
brought me into his chambers he's the one who initiated this relationship not
us we will be glad and rejoice in thee we will remember thy love more than wine
when we get to the end of our lives the spiritual things are going to matter
more than the times that we wind and dined only what's done for Christ is
really going to matter the upright love thee right the upright love Christ I'm
black but come Leo you doubt as of Jerusalem as the tents of Kedar as the
curtains of Solomon 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 and again if this is the
church they're out in the Sun getting a tan not just shut away sequestered us
for no more but they're out there reaching people with the gospel out
under the Sun doing work and the beauty comes from the work not from just how
pristine and perfect they could be we keep other people's vineyards look mod
every man on his own things but every man also on the things of others work
the very people whose for whose benefit we're keeping the vineyard they're angry
with us the mother's children the world's angry with us but we're out
there trying to reach the world with the gospel and help them work in the vineyard
of God for them tell me how thou my soul loveth where thou feedest where thou
makest thy flock to rest at noon for why should I be as one that turn aside by
the flocks like a pace I don't want to be following some bogus shepherd some
bogus flock going to some bogus church man I want to get in a church that's
following Christ I want to get with shepherds that are following Christ and
so I want to follow the flock that's following Christ and follow their
footsteps not have an attitude that says well I don't follow anybody I want to
follow the flock that's following the right Shepherd so I don't end up falling
the wrong guy if thou know not of the first among women go that way forth by
the footsteps of the flock and feed thy kids beside the shepherds tents I've
compared thee all my love to a company of horses and Pharaoh's chariots that's
what we ought to be unified strong having endurance obedient to Christ
working together as a team in the local church like a company of horses thy
cheeks are comely with rows of jewels thy neck with chains of gold we will
make thee borders of gold with suds of silver Christ's rules the Bible's rules
God's statutes our parents rules they actually beautify us and they actually
give us value and worth and status they're not a drag unto us the borders
are there for our safety and the chains are there not to bind us but actually to
give us glory and then while the king sit at his table my spiken art send it
forth the smell thereof because I've got the same anointing that he has and so
I'm putting out that sweet saver of Christ unto the world at large whether
they be saved or unsick now look I think it's pretty clear as we read this as we
look at these 12 verses in light of an hour explaining it this morning and an
hour explaining it tonight this is a pretty strong allegory here it's pretty
hard to ignore and say no I think that that I think that's just pastor
Anderson's imagination running wild or other preachers their imagination to run
wild you know this isn't exactly just you know the hammer in the hand
everything's looking like a nail I mean this is clearly intended to be
understood this way it's it's it's obviously a love story yes okay but at
the same time it's also meant to be understood as an allegory about Jesus
Christ which makes sense because you know the whole Bible is about Jesus at
the end of the day and and at the end of the day you know romance is important
and the the husband-wife relationship is a beautiful thing and that's why I
spent eight weeks talking about it you know because I do think that that's an
important component of this book I think that's meaningful but at the end of the
day that's not really the most meaningful thing about our lives you
know if you think that the most meaningful thing in life is the man
woman relationship well then you're a teenager okay but guess what I mean I
mean you're wrong is what I meant to say you know if you think that that that's
the most meaningful thing in life you're wrong because guess what that that is an
aspect of life that is a component but if you think that that's what life is
all about you've been listening to the radio too much or watching too many you
know movies or whatever because guess what life is about serving the Lord
Jesus Christ life is about God and the Spirit and the Word of God and church
and so now look family is super important marriage is important romance
within marriage is important it's big it's it's important it's throughout the
Bible but it's not the number one thing you know it's not Christ is the number
one thing Christianity is the number one thing the Word of God is the number one
thing these things are more important than our relationships on this earth
with the opposite gender it's just it's just that simple you know and so don't
get sucked into this attitude that says old life is all about that and you know
because our culture has almost made like an idol out of the male-female
relationship and just everything is just I live only for you and it's if first of
all it sets up an unrealistic expectation and then people get married
and then after a few years all of a sudden their whole universe doesn't
revolve around that person anymore and it's like oh I mean it's not that I
don't love him anymore it's just that we're not in love anymore you know and
then they just have to move on to someone else because they just keep
wanting more it's like it's like a drug that they just keep wanting more of that
drug and then they just keep switching partners and switching spouses and
switching girlfriends boyfriends whatever and and it's just like they
just can't get enough of that because they've been told that that's like the
meaning of life or something well guess what it's not the meaning of
life and it's a beautiful thing but guess what when you've been married for
years and years and years you can't always expect it to just be that
Hollywood romance every single day I mean I know it is for us honey but
we're the exception but the point is you know it's not just gonna be that
just just beautiful Hollywood wonderful you know floating on air feeling every
single day or else maybe I married the wrong person or something no you didn't
it's just called reality it's called life okay don't get sucked into that
viewpoint okay so look it's great to read Song of Solomon and just think of
it as a love story between man and woman just forget the allegory and just
enjoy it for that okay great amen but you know what read it again and actually
find something even more important find something even deeper which is Jesus
Christ which is way more important than your relationship with your spouse or
your romantic love life nothing could be more important than your walk with God
that's a fact and you know maybe you teenagers might not understand that you
might think that it's just you know you're just gonna marry that special
someone and it's just gonna be unicorns and rainbows for the rest of your life
well sorry but that's not the way life works and you know what that is going to
be very you know I really hope for you that being married will really give you
a lot of fulfillment in your life and then you'll get a lot of joy and
fulfillment out of that but if you expect that if you expect marriage and
romance and love if you expect that to round out your life completely and
you're just gonna just have everything you're wrong because once you're married
you know what you're gonna want something else something else whatever
that is and you know people chase all kinds of things in this life don't they
they could chase after romance but they could also chase after money they could
chase after power being famous whatever the occupation whatever the job whatever
the career all of those things but the end of the day the only thing that's
really gonna give true meaning and fulfillment to your life is the Lord
Jesus Christ serving God is going to provide fulfillment now I'm not saying
you don't need to eat and drink and I'm not saying that you don't need a wife
because guess what for the vast majority of people a wife needs to be part of
that equation just like food and drink and clothes and a house a wife is part
of that occasion you know are a part of that equation some you know some dudes
like the Apostle Paul are gonna be single hey amen but for most people a
wife is gonna be part of that let every man have his own wife you know I'm not
saying don't worry about it I'm saying hey it's part of our life but guess what
is my life just all about the food I eat you know ever since ever since I started
getting the food that I wanted I've achieved a hundred percent fulfillment
in life give me the right breakfast the right lunch and the right dinner I don't
care about anything else I am just satisfied I don't care nothing else
matters food is life and the rest is just details okay now look is that true
okay but it's just as absurd to say that insert anything into that blanket it's
just absurd it's just sports give me the right sports and man is no man just just
you know all that matters to me is just man if I can just marry my soul mate and
the love of my life it's just that's all it's not gonna be all food isn't all
clothes aren't all the job isn't all work isn't all education isn't all your
occupation isn't all Fame the respect of other people isn't all family isn't all
wife isn't all husband is all Christ is all I'm speaking the truth tonight
whether you recognize it or not I'm telling you the truth and those that are
older and wiser in here they're all saying yep he's right the youths are
skeptical but those who are older they understand what I'm saying that anything
that you go after in this life does not provide ultimate satisfaction only the
Lord ultimately satisfies not to say we don't it doesn't mean we're not gonna
get hungry and thirsty it doesn't mean that we don't want to be married it
doesn't mean that we don't want to you know play sports or something but those
things are not just gonna do it for you okay but the Lord even if you lack
everything else can do it for you there are people out there who even don't have
the food and they don't have the drink and they don't have the wife and they
don't even have the clothes and yet they're happy right now they're in a
prison cell having been beaten chained between two guards and what are they
doing they're glorifying God praising God marriage isn't always going to do
that for you you know yeah hey honey I got no job we got no money there's no
food in the fridge the bills aren't paid we're getting evicted and you know we're
going to prison but you know hey I love you so much honey it's so good what we
have I mean it's just you know prison walls can't keep our souls apart you
know what I mean we love each other but you know what stick me in prison with
Christ in my heart I'm gonna be okay I don't want to go to prison but if I go
to prison I'm gonna be praising God in prison I'm gonna be happy and loving God
and praising God if you say how you'd be happy but I'm gonna be happy anywhere
because of the Holy Spirit because of Christ those pirates have word of prayer
father we thank you so much for this book of Song of Solomon Lord I I pray
that that the sermon was edifying tonight Lord and that we would
understand the fact that Christ is all and that the Bible is so deep that yes
it has a great beautiful surface meeting but it also is all about Jesus
and Lord thank you for this beautiful word that you've given us in the Song of
Solomon Lord and help us to be edified by it and help us to learn from it and
Jesus name we pray amen