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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