For our devotion this evening, we're going to think particularly of verse 4 of this chapter, chapter 1 of Song of Solomon. And the title which Spurgeon gave to this verse was Love's Logic. the logic, the rationale that we have for loving the Lord Jesus Christ. The verse, we read again, verse 4, draw me. We will run after Thee. The King hath 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. Those four words, the upright love Thee. The Song of Songs is called that because it is the song of all songs. There is no greater poem or love story or song to sing than the love that Christ has for you and for me if we love the Lord Jesus Christ. The love that he has for his church, and the love that he has for individual believers. This statement, the upright love thee. The word upright is those that love the Lord, those whose lives are now on the upward path, looking unto the Lord Jesus. And so it's been said, the Song of Songs describes a love which only grace can show and teach and only experience can learn its power. Only grace can teach us and show us this wonderful love, the love of Christ for His people in coming to die for them and to cleanse them and to bear their punishment. That's a love that is unexplainable. It's a mystery, the mystery of Christ. To us, our eyes are darkened until He comes to us. And so the beginning of the verse says, draw me, attract me to this love. No man comes to the Father except the Father draw him. There needs to be that work of grace, that work of undeserved mercy and kindness. And so the beloved, the one, who is drawn, asks to be drawn, draw me, draw me, says the Shulamite woman, draw me and we will run after thee. Why is this book included? in the Canon of Scripture. It has been questioned. The liberals, they question, why does a book that doesn't even mention any member of the Trinity, why is that included within the Canon? It seems to me the answer is very clear. This is a vivid and beautiful account of the love of Christ for His Church, and the love that we should have for Christ, the love that we should have for our Saviour. Well, that's the picture here. Without doubt, each of us and the Church can say this, in this present age, We always need a fresh, experiential knowledge of Christ's love for us. If we're tempted and could go cold, if we are cold, we need to come back to Christ's love for us. and for his church. This is true love and it's pictured in these verses. We need to appreciate the wonders of God's love for us through Christ. We need to see our undeserved status of which we can easily consider that we have something to deserve. No, we have nothing to deserve. The love is all of grace, all of mercy. Well, if we would understand more of how Christ loved us, then maybe we would love Him just a little more. A little more as we ought to do. So let's just look at this verse very briefly. The verse before, verse 2 and 3, have three pictures which become very real. when we think about what Christ does. Verse 2. This is the one who wants to be loved, the Shulamite woman, the bride of Christ. Verse 2. And she says three things. She says firstly, let him, the one who I love, let him kiss me. This is the woman drawing near to the Lord. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth. Well, when you think of that term, your mind immediately goes back to Psalm 85. Mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Who is truth, mercy, righteousness, peace? They are Christ. Christ describes himself as the truth. He is the bringer of peace. He is the only one that lived a righteous life. He's the only one that can give us mercy. And so when we meet with Christ, this is the picture, let Him kiss me. With the kisses of His mouth, it's beautiful poetry. It speaks of a desire to be one. with our Saviour. That's the first picture. The second in verse 3, just to show a little more of how this is so evidently all about Christ. Verse 3. Because of the Saviour. the smell, the aroma of Thy good ointments. It's probably not thinking of medicine, it's more likely perfume. Thy name is as a perfume poured forth. What do we think of there? We think again of Christ, who is the one who is the Lord's anointed. And it was said of him in Psalm 45, all his garments are scented with myrrh, aloes and cassia. Psalm 45 and verse 8. The Psalm is very much a parallel with the Song of Solomon. If you want to look at the two together another time, you'll find that Christ is impregnated with the perfume that means He was the Anointed of Heaven. He comes to us and He spreads His perfume. And so this woman desires that she will be anointed again with the one that she loves because of the fragrance of Thy good perfume. Thy Name. Notice it's not physical. Thy Name. Christ's Name. All that He stands for. All that He's done. His reputation as being the One sent from Heaven. Because of the sweet smell and fragrance of Thy Name, it is poured forth. We think of Christ on Calvary, poured forth. And so that's the second intimate expression of how there is a desire for Christ from the one that loves Him. Christ's Name. This speaks of course of a pouring forth of the Gospel. It's Christ's Name that has power. It's Christ being preached that saves souls. And we see here that it's His name that will be poured forth amongst the nations. Well, there's a third mention here in verse 4. It speaks of intimacy in the room, the chamber, the bedroom. We will be glad and rejoice for Thee because the King, who's the King? Christ is the King. There is no other. As he draws his bride, you and me, if we love him, if we've bowed our knee, the response is, if you draw me, we will run after thee. The king has summoned me and brought me into the intimacy, into his chambers, and there we will be glad and rejoice in thee. This is the believer. The believer that wants to be one again with his or her Saviour. What does that hymn say? Oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus. Love of every love the best. There is no love to compare. That's why this is a graphic, visual aid of how Christ courted His bride, of how that union between Christ and His Bride is consummated and that covenant is for life. That's you and me. If we love Him, He has drawn us. He has kissed us. He's poured out His ointment, His perfume upon us. And so this is what Spurgeon calls love's logic. Look at the end of the verse, just one more expression, perhaps verse 4. It's the second time it's mentioned in two verses. It compares the love of Christ to wine. And the comparison is that wine does not get anywhere near. Why wine? What a strange comparison until you think about it. We will love thee more than wine. We will remember thy love more than wine. Wine is a human invention. It's something which can be very expensive. It's something which is treasured, stored up for many years, but when you think of wine, it's earthly. It's not heavenly. When you think of wine, you think of drunkenness and you think of fear when you have too much of it. And yet Christ casts out all fear. There's no fear in Christ. There is in wine, and so wine is inferior. You think of wine, and for those that indulge, it's at best a temporary delight. Christ isn't temporary. He's eternal. And when you think of wine, it can have a very bitter taste. But Christ has taken the bitterness for us so that we don't have to bear the wormwood. and the gall. And when you think of wine, well, it's available for everybody, but not Christ's love. Christ's love is for his people. It's exclusive, it's special. And as a result, we will remember thy love more than wine. You can't compare it to something that the world would hold up and say, this is fine, this is something to be searched after, to spend a whole life studying wine, compared to Christ. Oh, that's just earthly dregs. Well that's the comparison. So my question is this, before we draw this devotion to a close, how are we to love Christ more? Well, there's a number of things. We think of Christ's love for us, just a few visual aids mentioned here, and we should have deeper and deeper gratitude to Him. We remember that we only love Him because He first loved us. There would be no love in you and me for Christ if he hadn't set his love upon us. He loved us before we knew him, says the hymn. Gratitude. Secondly, we should love him with a growing admiration. The more we dwell upon Calvary, the more we think of the cost, the suffering, for Him to be our prophet, priest, and king, the more admiration we should have for Him. And then, as that love grows, we should have a deepening sympathy for His goals. What's Christ's goal? His goal is to bring in His people, every single one of them, to build His kingdom. His goal is to bring glory to His Father, What's our goals? The more we love Christ, the more our goals will be His goals. Everything else will fade. Every other objective in life will become secondary or tertiary. but we will desire to build and be a part of building His Kingdom. We will desire to see honour and glory brought to our Heavenly Father, a deeper sympathy and unity and common goals. And then the more we have experience in life, of what He's done for us and to us and for others, the more we will love Him. The upright, they love Thee. The more we have daily communion with Him, the more we will desire to serve Him. And the more our marriage relationship is centered around a oneness, an intimacy, then it's obvious we will want to love him more and show that love to others and to each other within the church and of course to love what Christ died for. Christ only died for one thing, his church. And so we will want to not die, probably, but we will want to live to serve Him and His Church. Oh that we might love Him more. What does the children's hymn say? Oh dearly, dearly has He loved. and we must love Him too and trust in His redeeming blood and try His works to do the love of Christ for you and for me. How much do we love Him? Isn't this searching? The upright, They don't love anything else other than Christ. He's not to be compared with the best that this earth and the soil of this earth can offer, for he is above all these things. Let's sing our second...