(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

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