Ministry

Let's read first of all the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 2. There are some words that were quoted in a reading this morning. Matthew chapter 2 and verse number 11. And when they were come to the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down and worshipped him.

And when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts, gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. Now turn back please to the Song of Solomon, chapter 5. Song of Solomon, chapter 5, and verse number 8. I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my love, that ye tell him that I am sick of love. What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou first among women? What is thy beloved more than another beloved that thou dost so charge us? My beloved is white and ruddy, the cheapest among ten thousand.

His hair is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy, and black as a raven. His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk and prickly sap. His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers.

His lips like lilies, dropping sweet-smelling myrrh. His hands are as gold rings set with the pearl. His belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires.

His legs are as pillars of marble set upon sockets of fine gold. His countenance is as lebanon, excellent as the cedars. His mouth is most sweet.

Yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. Now we know that God will bless the meaning of his precious word.

Now we're all very familiar with those people that we call the wise men, and the gifts that they brought. And it was mentioned in prayer that these are men that at the birth of the Lord Jesus they put the purple robe upon them. Where is he, the born king of the Jews? And then we were reminded as well that there was a man that put the purple robe upon them in his death.

And he said, Lord, remember me when thou comest unto thy kingdom. But these gifts that they brought, gold, frankincense, and myrrh, we often apply them, and maybe you have applied them yourself. And I was asked one time what they meant.

Actually I was asked by Mr. Paisley. And you know, when you answer, you're not going to make a mistake, I'm sure. If you're like me, anyhow, you will.

But we all know that the gold speaks of Christ as a king. I think we're all settled on that. The frankincense or the incense would speak of him as a priest.

And he said, now what about the myrrh? Well I said, that must be the prophet. Well he said, how does it speak of him as a prophet? And of course that's where I had my own idea, but it wasn't his idea, and I think his idea was right. I thought, well, the myrrh speaks of his death.

And how could that be a prophet? Well, I thought, maybe that's where the love of God was told about at Calvary. And not much wrong with that, but he pointed me to the Song of Solomon. And in the Song of Solomon, we read about this wonderful person.

And we read about the gold, and we read about the incense, or the spices and so on, the smell, the flowers that have sent him to God. And we read as well, gold and the frankincense and the myrrh that speaks of his death. Now Song of Solomon is a beautiful book, and it's a great contrast with the book that precedes it, that's the book of Ecclesiastes.

In the book of Ecclesiastes, it's often been said that it's things that are under the sun, looking at things in an earthly way, a worldly way, whereas in the Song of Solomon, it's under the shadow. I sat down under a shadow with great delight, and its fruit was sweet to my taste. And it's also been said that in Ecclesiastes, you have all the world, it can't fill the heart of one man.

There's nothing there that satisfies all this vanity and vexation of spirit. But when we come to the Song of Solomon, there's one man, and he can fill all the desires of our hearts. And I'm glad that in the Bible readings we have been occupied with this person, not just with all the great things that we have entered into, we're glad of those, but it's all because of this one, this person.

And that someone has said as well that these two books were reminded of another verse in John chapter 4, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again. That's Ecclesiastes. The world can't satisfy our thirst.

But it says, Whosoever drinketh of this water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but it shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. So, you can see there's a great contrast. Now there's also a contrast, and I'm not going to go into every detail, I'm going to leave plenty of time, I'm going by this clock here, a little different from mine, but anyhow, maybe there's a reason for that.

So, there's a contrast when I read these words, I think of Nebuchadnezzar's image. And you remember Nebuchadnezzar's image, it started with a head of fine gold, but it didn't finish with the, I'm talking about his dream now, it didn't finish with the fine gold, but it was clay mixed with iron. There was a deterioration.

Nebuchadnezzar thought, it would seem to me, that not only that he may reign a long time, but his kingdom would go on forever because he built another image, but he didn't build it out of different materials, he built it all out of gold. Which is to say, I'm not just a head of gold, I am the whole thing, and this kingdom's going to go on, but God, of course, had a different design. So there is a deterioration, but not here.

It starts with a head, it's most fine gold, and then we read about his legs are colours of marble set upon sockets of fine gold, of a fine gold. There is no deterioration in this wonderful person. Most of us, the closer, the nearer you get to us, you'll find the flaws.

There's lots of them, even I have a few, but anyhow, you know all about that. We all have the flaws, but here's one. All is perfection.

I wonder what we would say if someone asked us, what is thy beloved more than another beloved? Well, why is this man attracted to you in this way? There were some, and they said, Rabbi, where dwellest thou? He said, come and see. I don't know why they were attracted to him, I'm not sure just why. There was a great attraction, and they wanted to be with him.

It should be an even greater attraction for us, because we are on the other side of Calvary. And we see this man in all his perfection, with the head of gold, and then it speaks as well of his hands of gold. I would think that that's the eternal work that he accomplished, and the perfection of everything that he did.

And what about his gold in the feet, so on the legs? Well, you know, that's the one that came from the glories of heaven. It's what? There was a woman that anointed him. She stood behind him, and she anointed his feet.

Why did she anoint his feet? Sometimes you say it was anointed, there's a different thought up there, but I think she realized, here I am, I was a great sinner. 500 pence sinner. But there's one who came from the glories of heaven.

He walked, he came on a journey from heaven, right to where I was, and she stood behind him and she wept. Wonderful, isn't it? Such an affection for the Lord Jesus. Let down her hair, and he used her hair as a towel.

There's a progression in Luke's gospel, because she stood at his feet. You come to chapter 10, there's a woman that sat at his feet and listened. And you come to chapter 17, there's a man that fell at his feet.

Frosty at his feet. Appreciation, one out of ten. Go, show yourself to the priest, so that you will be pronounced clean.

But you know, there was only one return. He didn't go to the priest. You say, did he disobey the Lord? I don't think so.

I think he was the one that really went to the right priest. Besides, it tells us he was a Samaritan, so he had no right to go to the temple in Jerusalem. But he went to the Lord Jesus, and he prostrated himself at his feet.

Now, we read, I should explain, of course, what I was talking about, about the myrrh. And the frankincense, the fragrance, his cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers. Think of the beauty of the flowers, and the beautiful scent from the flowers.

This is the Lord. What about his lips? His lips are like lilies, rocking sweet-smelling myrrh. There's the problem.

Lips like lilies. Think of the words that came from his lips. I was thinking about another comparison with the Song of Solomon, what we have read here.

And that would be with the book of Romans chapter 3. And in Romans chapter 3, what does it say? Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. The poison of asps is under their tongue. What a contrast with this wonderful person.

Never man speak like this man. And we love all the word of God. But we love the words, especially maybe that the Lord himself spoke when he was here.

It draws out our hearts. We can't boast of our love. But we can say with fear, Lord thou knowest all things.

Thou knowest that I love thee. Think of the word, never man speak like this man. They marveled at the words that came out of his mouth.

I hope we're getting into our Bibles and enjoying these things. That's what the conference is all about. It's not just that we're sitting here to enjoy them, although we have.

I think it's been a good conference so far. I just hope it won't deteriorate this afternoon. But we've all enjoyed it.

But what about our lives? That's what the whole thing is about. To glorify him in our lives, it's after we leave the conference, meditate upon these things. It gives us a greater thirst, doesn't it? And things maybe have been said that we didn't fully agree with.

But think about those that told me not to change my mind in the Bible reading. But take it home first. You can change your mind later on then.

But we enjoy these things. We should be enjoying them after the conference. And here you have the wonderful words of the Lord Jesus.

Words, many of them are words that give us assurance of salvation if we need them. And they're all beautiful words. Pure, like lilies and so on.

And then we'll just come to the end, and I'm going to close. His countenance is as Lebanon. Excellent as cedars.

The thought of the cedars, I think, is majestic, very lofty. And it's the dignity of our blessed Lord. Yea, he is altogether lovely.

Not one thing to mar this wonderful person. Altogether lovely, or some give it all my desires. And I often think of Mary who went to the tomb.

And she couldn't find the Lord Jesus. There were angels at the tomb. But you know an angel could never satisfy a heart.

There was a man there, and when she thought he was a gardener, that wasn't going to satisfy her heart either. No man. But when the Lord showed himself and spoke to her, and she realized who he was.

And my mind always goes to Psalm 73, I think it is. And the words go something like this. Whom have I in heaven but thee? And who is there upon the earth that I desire like unto thee? There's no one else.

May the Lord help us to continue to be occupied with this wonderful person. We're going to be occupied with him throughout all eternity. I'll tell you, I would just like to learn a little more of him day by day.

And my heart would be drawn up to this wonderful person. All is perfection. And here we are in all our imperfection.

And yet we are accepted in him. Accepted in the beloved one.