I do appreciate the words of welcome and the invitation to come along today and to preach at this harvest service. We're turning this morning to Psalm of Solomon chapter 2. Please, we want to read some verses at the beginning of this chapter. Psalm of Solomon chapter 2. And we'll read from verse 1. Psalm Solomon chapter 2 verse 1, I am the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valleys. As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters. As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the suns. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me to the banqueting-house, and his banner over me was love. Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples, for I am sick of love. His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me. I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the rows and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love till ye please. In the voice of my beloved, behold, he cometh, leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. My beloved is like a row or a young heart. Behold, he standeth behind her wall, he looketh forth at the windows, showing himself through the lattice. My Beloved spake and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone, the flowers appear on the earth, the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land. The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grain give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away. Amen. We'll end there at verse 13, and we know that the Lord will bless the reading of His word to our hearts. It's the very opening verse of the chapter that I want to turn your thoughts to this harvest service this morning. I am the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valleys. Let's bow together in prayer and with God's Word open before us, we'll look to Him for help today as we come to His Word. Our God and Father, we thank Thee that we can seek Thy face and draw nigh to Thee this day We pray that Thou wilt look upon us now and favour us as we gather around Thy Word. We thank Thee for the Scriptures of truth. We rejoice that we have that infallible rule of faith and practice. And we pray that today Thou wilt take up Thy Word and bless it to us. And even in this special service as we come to consider these words, we pray, O Lord, that Thou wilt be pleased to speak to all of our hearts, whatever our spiritual state is today. Come with power, we pray, and may we know what it is to hear the voice of God. O Lord, I look to Thee for help. I acknowledge my need of Thee. I pray that Thou wilt grant to me that infilling of the Holy Spirit. Give me that unction that comes from above. And we pray that in all things our Saviour would be honoured and glorified. We pray for Christ's sake. Amen. Amen. If the Lord did not reveal Himself to us, it would be utterly impossible for us to know Him in any way. The human heart and mind corrupted and blinded by sin can never of itself arrive at an understanding of the Lord and certainly never arrive an understanding of salvation through Jesus Christ. Our knowledge of the Lord and of his Son must come by way of revelation. God must reveal himself unto us. He must show himself unto fallen humanity. Any revelation outside of that which God gives of himself is false and untrustworthy. It cannot be depended upon. We must turn at all times to that which has come from the Lord Himself. And we only have that in His Word. There is no other revelation of God and of His Son outside of this Word. The natural things that we see in the world around us do teach us that there is a God. The Bible says that. The heavens declare the glory of God. The firmament show us His handiwork, Psalm 19. But those things of themselves will never teach us the nature of God. It will certainly never teach us about redemption through the blood. Those things can only be revealed to us through the Word of God. Those messianic words that we have in Psalm 40 verse 7 where it says, Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me. Those words are fulfilled in the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. And this Harvest Morning, I want us to turn to this text in Song of Solomon, Chapter 2, and I want us to consider one of the I Am's of the Old Testament. I'm sure we're familiar with many of those great statements of the Lord Jesus in the Gospels that are often spoken of as the I Am's of Christ. But here is one of the I Am's of the Old Testament. And I believe these words speak of the Lord Jesus, where He says, I am the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valleys. And may the Lord be pleased to speak to our hearts, even through this way in which He reveals Himself, because the Lord does take natural things and uses them to reveal Himself to us. It's a condescension on His part to do that, that He would take the very things that He has created and put in this earth and use them as an instrument to teach you and I something about Himself. But He does that over and over again in His Word. In fact, so much of the Bible is taken up with God taking not only the physical things of the world, but even the circumstances that happen to the individuals that are in this world. And through them also, He reveals unto us Himself. And here He takes two things from the physical world. He takes the rose and he takes the lily and he uses these two things to teach us something of himself. And may today we learn of the Lord even as we would consider these words. First of all, I want you to notice the Lord Jesus calling himself the Rose of Sharon. The Rose of Sharon. It is a great mercy on his part to reveal himself in this way to us. The Rose of Sharon was one of the very best that there could be. The plain of Sharon was a level track extending from the Mediterranean Sea up to the hill country west of Jerusalem. That was the area that was known in the Bible as the land or the plain of Sharon. And it was known for its beauty. It was known for its fertility. If you turn over to Isaiah chapter 35 for a moment, you'll see how this place is used as a comparison. Isaiah 35, the opening two verses of that chapter, it says, The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them. And the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it. The excellency of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord and the excellency of our God. So there in those two verses there is mention made of the wilderness blossoming as the rose and then it's compared to another place that the Israelites would be very familiar with. Not only is the plain of Sharon referred to there, but also Carmel and the glory of Lebanon. And these characteristics are all brought and applied to the wilderness indicating the extent of the blossoming that there will be in the wilderness. And surely that indicates to us that here was a place that was well known among the Israelites. Here was a place that excelled in its beauty and in those plants and flowers that would grow there. That plain was full of desirable fields and fruitful vines. It abounded with flowers and particularly with the rose. That's mentioned there in Isaiah 35 and verse 1. It talks about the wilderness blossoming as a rose and then this comparison brought in from the plain of Sharon. Here was a place that excelled all others in the land of Israel for these roses that grew in it. And that immediately sets before us a picture of our Saviour, the Lord Jesus. For He is the One who excels all others. There is none to compare with the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember those words that John the Baptist said about Him on more than one occasion. In John chapter 1 and verse 15, it says, John bear witness of him and cried saying, this was he of whom I speak, he that cometh after me is preferred before me, for he was before me. And then again in chapter 3 and verse 31, John says, he that cometh from above is above all. He that is of the earth is earthly and speaketh of the earth, but he that cometh from heaven is above all. And there John the Baptist, the forerunner, is preaching up the Saviour and pointing Him out as the One who excels above and beyond all others. Far beyond John. And many thought John to be a great prophet. Many even came and asked Him, Aren't Thou the Christ? And John said, No, I am not. There is One that cometh after me who is prepared before me. And Jesus Christ is the One who is preeminent in all things. And if we keep there with the Song of Solomon, we're familiar with that statement in chapter 5 and verse 10 where it speaks of the beloved as being the chiefest among ten thousand. There's no one to compare with Christ. He excels all others. He is the one who is preeminent in all things, preeminent in His person. No more unique and glorious person ever walked this scene of time than Jesus Christ. He was more than just a perfect man. He was the God-Man. God manifests in the flesh. That's what makes Him the Saviour, the only Saviour. Because He was the only one who ever has been in this world who was a God-Man. Never mind the fact that He was sinless and perfect in His humanity. But He excelled in His person because He was God and man. He excelled in His sacrifice for sin. There is no other way whereby sin can be dealt with other than through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has put sin away completely. Entirely through the blood of the cross. Preeminent in His love for sinners. How great is that love that He has for us. It is a love like none others. We usually love that which we are attracted to. There is something which draws out our feelings, whether it's a person that we love, whether it's something that we love. But there has to be something in that person or something in that thing that attracts us to them and draws out our love toward them. But that cannot be said of Christ's love for sinners. What was there in us to attract His love? What was there in us to draw out His love toward us? Nothing at all. There was everything to repel Him and repulse Him. Everything for Him to hold back His love. For He loved the unlovable. God commended His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He loved that which was sinful, that which was vile and unclean in His sight, that which He looked down from heaven and saw as a stinking mass of corruption. He set His love upon that which was so full of everything to repulse Him. Is His love not preeminent? Does it not excel all others? It most certainly does. What about the grace of God in the hearts of His people? That grace that brings them unto Himself, that finds them where they are, far off from God in the ways of sin, going astray as lost sheep. And His grace seeks them out and brings to them the blessings of His salvation. They never would have thought of themselves Not one of us who are saved today. Would we ever have sought the Lord? Not if we lived a thousand years. Would there ever have been one thought in our hearts toward the Lord? Bored of ourselves. But it was His grace seeking us and coming to us and working in us. And what a wondrous transformation He makes in our lives. Changes us into the sons of God. Makes us His children. The story is told to us in the Old Testament about David's kindness to a man called Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth was Jonathan's son. And that son had been dropped when they were fleeing and he had sustained an injury and he had been lame on his feet from he was but a few years old. And he lived a great distance away from David, no doubt wanting to get away as far as possible from the new king in case, being associated with the house of Saul, he would be the object of David's wrath. But instead of wrath, there was kindness shown to him. And the Bible tells us in 2 Samuel 9 how David instigated an inquiry. He wanted to find some individual of the house of Saul and he sent out a search throughout the land to find an individual belonging to the house of Saul to show him kindness. And what glorious kindness David bestowed upon that man. It tells us that he brought him in and he counted him as one of the king's sons. Mephibosheth wasn't off the house of David. He was off a rebellious house. He was off the house of Saul. It tells us that he brought him in and told him to sit down at his table and to eat as one of the king's sons of all those things that were spread there upon the royal table. And you can imagine the bounties and the delicacies that would have been spread there on that table for a man like Mephibosheth. And David said, Mephibosheth, they're all yours. You take what you want. And whatever wonderment there might be at such kindness being bestowed upon a man like Mephibosheth. It is nothing when compared to that which God has bestowed upon sinners. And today, those of us who know the Lord, what blessings and graces and mercies we have received from the Lord, that which is excellent, that which is beyond our imagination, and the best is yet to be, We have only begun to enjoy the blessings of salvation. We have only entered in to the first fruits. The full harvest is yet to come. When we are finally delivered from the very presence of sin and we're home with the Lord for all of eternity, then we will have entered in to the fullness. Christ is excellent in all of these ways. He is preeminent in all of these ways. It was known that the rose was used not only for its beauty but it also had other uses as well. We're familiar I'm sure at least in some regard to that in these times there's still rose water used today for different things and so it was in Bible times. It was said of some of the roses, and particularly the roses of Sharon, that they were used to alleviate burning fevers and inflammations. And the petals would have been taken and used. So it wasn't only a flower of beauty, something to view and behold and wonder at the glory of it, but there was a use in it as well. How applicable that is of Jesus Christ. You know, there's more to the Lord Jesus Christ than beholding His beauty. There's receiving personally the benefits of Christ into our lives. The application of His shed blood. That work that He has done for us on the cross. It's knowing personally the benefits of that work in our lives. And maybe you're here today and you don't know anything of those personal benefits. Oh, you've heard of Christ often enough. He's been preached from this pulpit on many occasions, but yet you do not know Him personally. You're a stranger to the personal benefits of Christ. All you can do, in a sense, is look on and behold the beauty that is in Him, but you don't know personally the benefits of Christ. Is there not a need today to come to Him and benefit yourself from Him? Oh, do not be a stranger to Him. Would rather come to Him and receive for yourself the benefits of Christ. Let it not be just something that you hear with the hearing of the ear. And that's all you know of Christ. You've heard the gospel. You've heard of the benefits. You've heard of the blessings that are in Him. You've heard of what He will do for sinners. But you've never come personally to take of those benefits. And today you're a stranger to them. Oh, may you come. May you come and not only behold Christ, but to receive Him and take Him as your own Savior. Christ is the rose of Sharon. He is preeminent. There is that association with the rose and it being red. And surely there is there an emphasizing of the Savior and His work on the cross. He is the one, the Bible says, who is stained red. If you turn over to Isaiah 63, Words that certainly apply to the Lord Jesus Christ. The question is asked, Isaiah 63, verse 1, Who is this that cometh from Edom with dyed garments from Bozrah, this that is glorious in his apparels, travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, may he to save. Is that not setting for someone who is excellent, who is preeminent? Most certainly it is. Look at verse 2. Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine-fat? I have trodden the wine-press alone, and of the people there was none with me. For I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury, and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. Christ is the one who is stained red. It tells us there that He has already been in the wine-press, and that He will yet tread down the wicked in the winepress. So there is a sense in which He has already been in the winepress. And we know He's already been in it at the cross. Christ has been in the winepress. The winepress of His Father's wrath, where He was bruised for sins not His own, and where His blood was shed. And he is described there as the one who is stained red. Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like one that treadeth in the wine vat? Christ is stained red. You see, that is the beauty that is in Christ. The unconverted, the worldly, looking on at Christ, they see no beauty in Him. It's only when you come to realize your need of a Savior, And when you're pointed away to the Lord Jesus as that Saviour, then you see the beauty that is in Christ, because it's the beauty of the Saviour. Otherwise, He's just like a root out of dry ground, with no form or comeliness, and no beauty in Him that we should desire. Until you look on Christ as the Saviour, and you see Him stained red in His own blood, suffering for sins not His own, then you see a beauty in Christ. And may the Lord make us those who have sensed our own sinfulness and who look away to Christ and see Him as the one dyed red in His own blood, suffering for sins not His own. He is the rose of Sharon. Secondly, I want you to consider here that He is also the lily of the valley. Here's a further physical thing that He takes. And he uses it to, again, teach us something about himself and certainly to apply the gospel. You'll notice in the second verse there of Song of Solomon, chapter 2, that he goes on to speak about his people as a lily. As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters. And that's a reference to the people of God, to the church. So, he is the lily and his people are likened unto a lily. There is a subtle difference there. Christ is the one who says, I am the lily of the valley, and then he says his people are as the lily. He is the lily in essence. We are to take on the likeness of the lily. We are to take on the likeness of Christ. That likeness that is in the Savior is to be found upon us. That's the purpose of the Lord saving us. The whole purpose of redemption is that He might conform His people unto Himself. You and I are to take on the likeness of Jesus Christ. That's the purpose of Him saving any individual. It's for His own glory and He is glorified when you and I take on His likeness. Now, it tells us that the lily is found in the valley. Those low plains which are often mentioned in the Word of God Part of the land of Israel were often covered with lilies. It was a very fruitful flower, reproducing itself across the valley floor until whole swathes of the plain were covered in a sea of white. It was principally a flower of the valley. And there is a picture there of the Savior among men. The one who was made a little lower than the angels. The One who condescended to live in the lower parts of the earth. The One who laid aside His glory that He had with His Father, unveiled it in human flesh and came into this world and made Himself of no reputation. The One who entered into this world and lived a lowly life. Zechariah 9. Verse 9 says, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee. He is just, and having salvation, lowly, riding upon an ass, upon the coat, the fold of an ass. He was the lowly one. His people are to be of a humble spirit as well. That same lowly disposition that was in Christ is to be found in His people. His people are not to be those characterized by pride and a haughty spirit. But as there was a lowliness in Christ, so there is to be in His people. We are to reflect the Savior in that way. But the lily was known for its whiteness. It was known for its whiteness. And again, there is a significance in that when we think about There's two ways in which that is used in the Word of God. It's used to speak of purity. It's used to speak of purity. Christ was the impeccable one. The one without sin. Holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. The one without spot and without blemish. The One who was pure. That's why He can be the Savior today. And we ought always to rejoice in the purity of Christ. We ought always to defend the purity of Christ. That's one of the things that's always under attack. The purity of Christ. Whoever it is that comes forth Every now and again, there's always someone who rises up and they think they're going to slander Christ and say all manner of things about Him. And you can be dead on sure, one of the things they always go for is the impeccability of Christ. They just want to make Him out as another sinful human being. And He's not. He can never be. If He was, He could never be the Savior. for aid of sins his own to answer for. But he was sinless. He was impeccably sinless. He could not sin. And when we think of the whiteness of the lily, let it ever remind us of the purity of Christ. But there is another way in which it is used in the Word of God as well. And that is to denote the everlasting nature of Christ. Turn over A moment to Daniel chapter 7 and verse 9. Daniel chapter 7 and verse 9. It says, There I beheld till the thrones were cast down, And the Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head was like pure wool, his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire." It speaks there about whose garment was white as snow. And that's tied in there with that statement, the Ancient of Days. The one who is from everlasting to everlasting. We're not going to turn it up this morning, but you can look at Revelation chapter 1 verse 14 and you'll find a corresponding reference to what's here, where John saw the vision of Christ on the Isle of Patmos. And there the same thought is brought in about the one who was white in his appearance. And the thought is not only of purity, but also of the length of days. The one who is from everlasting to everlasting. The one who can give everlasting life. That which is found in Jesus Christ is not something that lasts for a little time and then it's cast away. It's worthless. There's no more satisfaction in it. That's how the things of the world are. The individual who pursues the things of the world, they need more and more. They're never content with what they had. That which satisfied them a little time ago won't satisfy them now and certainly won't satisfy them in the days to come. They want more and they want something new and they want something fresh. But Christ is ever fresh. He's the one who gives everlasting life. He'll never leave his people. He'll never forsake them. He'll never give them up. He'll never grow tired of them and weary of them and wish he hadn't saved them. No, he gives to his people eternal life. And what beauty there was in the lily. The Lord Jesus himself said that in Matthew Chapter 6, verse 28, it says, Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they toil not, neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. There was a beauty about the lily. A simple beauty. Even Solomon, it says, in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. And you can think of all the glory of Solomon's court. That royal court and all the attendants and the gold and the silver that he had and all the garments that he had and just the outward pomp and ceremony of Solomon's court. And yet the Lord says, see the simple glory, simple beauty of the lily. It's far beyond the glory of Solomon. And that simple beauty that is in Christ is to be in his people. That's why it goes on to say there in Psalm 2, verse 2, As the lily among the thorns, so is my love among the daughters. Child of God, as you and I go out into this world, those things that are required of us from day to day and week to week as we go about our employments and other activities, there's to be a simple beauty in us. There is to be the beauty of Christ. Not outward pomp and ceremony. But that which is an inward beauty. Christ in the life. Lived out in that life. Exhibited to all who come into contact with us. They are someone and they have been with Christ. And may the Lord help us to have that beauty of Christ in us. May we be Indeed, a reflection of Him. He is the lily. May we be as the lily. One further thing I want you to notice this morning before we close, and that is the significance of these flowers being in the field. You see, it speaks of the rose of Sharon and that was a plain. It speaks of the lily of the valley. Again, open field. And in that, there is a significance. These are not flowers of the garden. The church, it is true, in the song of Solomon, is likened unto a garden enclosed, attended with loving care. And yes, there is fragrance and beauty there as well. But these revelations of Christ to us set him forth as one who's not found in a garden, but found in the open fields, the open plains and the valleys. And that tells us a great lot. It tells us that these are not of man's planting. You see, a garden is the work of man. It is that which has been taken and prepared and flowers and plants have been put there. They're attended to with great care and even protected from the environment and cultivated in such a way to make them successful and to bring out their beauty and so on. It is testimony to man's ability, to his efforts, to his works. But none of those things can be said of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is not some work of man. Jesus Christ is not some work of man. The gospel that is preached is not some work of man. But it is rather that which has come to us from heaven. It is God manifesting Himself in His Son. Is not what the Lord Jesus said in John's Gospel, chapter 1, verse 14? It says, The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. The glory is of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. We have beheld that glory. He is the One who has come and revealed Himself, come from heaven. He is not the work of man. The Gospel is not the preaching of man. It is the very Word of God. That's why we need to take heed to it. And you today who are not saved, that's the authority upon which you need to give heed to the Gospel and to believe it. It's not the Word of man. It's the Word of God. Come down from heaven. As Christ is set forth in His Word as the only Savior, the authority for believing Him and receiving Him as your Savior is the fact that it has not come from men, it has come from God. And how can you close your ear to the Word of God from heaven? Will you turn away from the One who has come from heaven? Because in turning away from Him, you're setting yourself on the road to hell. It's not of man's doing. But the flower that is in the valley or on the plain is liable to be plucked or trodden underfoot. It's exposed. It's not protected like the garden with the wall or fence around it. And there's always that tendency that some wild beast will come and trample on it. Some inconsiderate hand will pluck it. Now, is that not true of the Lord Jesus? The rage that was directed toward him is particularly likened on to the wild beast. In Psalm 22 and verses 12 and 13, it talks there about the bulls of Bashan. Now, it's not talking about physical animals. that came against Christ. Rather, it's a picture that is taken up. It's the rage of the bull that is thought of. And in that psalm that is so evidently applicable to the Savior, it says in verse 12, Many bulls have compassed me, strong bulls of passion have beset me round. They gaped upon me with their mouths as a ravening and a roaring lion. And the thought there is of the rage of the wild beasts, particularly of the bulls of Bashan. The land of Bashan was the great part of that area of the world for raising flocks and herds. Remember the two and a half tribes that wanted to stay there. They said this is an area for raising flocks and herds because there were those grassy plains upon which they could graze. And the bulls of Bashan, they were stronger and greater than any other. And there, the rage of those bulls of Bashin are taken as the picture of the rage of ungodly men against Christ. And you can imagine those bulls raging through a particular plain where the rose or the lily was growing. What danger they were in, they were going to be trampled on, trodden underfoot by the rage of the wild bull. And the Lord Jesus is the one who was laid hold of by wicked men. Men who did their very worst to him. Who did their very worst to him. Pilate thought that if he afflicted Christ physically more than any ordinary prisoner would have been scourged, that it would have persuaded the people to let him go. And having scourged Christ more than any ordinary prisoner would have been scourged. We know what the people said, no crucify him, crucify him. It wasn't enough. And the Lord knew what it was to have the rage of angry and wicked men directed against him. But also the significance of these flowers being in the field is that they're free to all to admire and behold. If the flower is in the garden and an enclosed garden at that, you're going to have to be the owner of that garden or the gardener to view its beauty, to look at it. You're going to have a special invitation to come in there and see those particular flowers if they're in the garden. Not so with Christ. He's the rose of Sharon and He's the lily of the valley. All may admire Him. All may look upon the beauty that is there. All may come to Him. The invitation goes out to the poorest soul. To you today who know not Christ. The invitation goes out to you. Come. Come. Not only behold the beauty, but receive the benefits of Christ. That invitation goes out to you today. And if you're not saved, young or old, if you're not saved, come to Christ. Come to the one who's the rose of Sharon, and who's the lily of the valley. May the Lord bless His Word, for His name's sake.