I asked Tim Weber if I could take this hour this morning, and I may take this hour over the next several mornings simply because I don't want Ruth to get hung between when I'm here and when I'm not here. I want to cover as much ground as possible before Judy and I have to go to Houston, which we're hoping that we get to do. The Book of Ruth, Chapter 2, and the Song of Solomon. We'll be looking at several passages in the Song of Solomon. I hardly know where to begin this morning to organize myself or tell you where I am going in this discussion. Most simply, it is a perpetuation or a continuation of the discussion we had a few weeks ago when I talk to you about romantic love and I want to continue a discussion today about romantic love particularly the concept of falling in love as it relates to the book of Ruth and in a more profound way in the song of Solomon and also today I'm going to do something a little risky which is to bring into our discussion a couple of secular poets Charles Williams William Wordsworth and One of the greatest poets ever Dante and his classical work the divine comedy Bringing the secular poet or philosopher in the sphere of theological discussion is a dangerous thing to do For one of two reasons one if you're a bad preacher and the beauty of the poet will always eclipse the paltry presentation of your superficial theology. And I dare say that I find more glory in William Wordsworth than I do Charles Stanley. And I find more glory in Dante than I do Adrian Rogers. And I mention popular evangelical Baptists simply because I am sick to death of the pitiful superficiality that characterizes Baptists. The best radio programs on Sunday morning are the Methodists and the Catholics. And occasionally I turn on my radio and listen to a good Catholic or a good Methodist on my way to church simply because what's available here at First Baptist wherever is inferior to what the better Methodists and the better Catholics are saying. And when you add to that the power of the secular poet whose depth and beauty of language vastly surpasses what is accepted and popular in evangelicalism, then it becomes a risk to introduce the poet if you're a bad preacher. So you'll have to make your own determination whether my preaching is luminary that outshines the glories of Wordsworth and Dante or not. The second risk is that poetry and philosophy should be the handmaidens and not the mistresses or queens of theology. In the 19th century especially, great institutions like Harvard and Princeton compromised the royal supremacy of scripture by bowing to the elements, particularly of philosophy in literature. And today, if you attend a theological discussion at Harvard or Princeton, you'll find that philosophy rules theology, whereas the opposite should be true. Theology should rule philosophy. Now, having expressed these cautions, let me remind you that our greatest theologians, Augustine, would be a premium example of someone who used both philosophy and poetry to complement his explications of theology. Benjamin Breckenridge, Warfield, A.H. Strong, to a lesser degree Charles Hodge, and certainly Charles Haddon Spurgeon all used poetry and philosophy to undergird, complement, and sometimes illustrate their theological ideas. The other thing I want to sensitize you today is the distinction between special grace and common grace. All these things are going to merge together in our discussion this morning, probably at 9.45 and at 11 a.m. But you should be reminded of the distinction between special grace and common grace. Common grace is that grace of God that appears to all men. Breath. is a common grace. Life is a common grace. Health is a common grace. Nourishment is a common grace. And as we shall see this morning, most glorious of the common graces is the common grace of romantic love. Special grace is the grace of God, particular to His chosen people. Special grace manifests itself in the operations of providence, in the lives of His people, whereby He shapes them with spatial destiny to His purposes. Special grace Relates to the work of regeneration in the life of the believer special grace relates to sanctification and revelation and maturing understanding of God's holy words special grace relates to power in witnessing Etc. Etc. Etc Romantic love is in both dimensions of common and special grace. So here's a summary of my introductory points. One, our topic today is romantic love. Two, there's a synthesis in our discussion of theology and philosophy as expressed in poetry. And three, we need to keep in mind distinctions between common and special grace, both of which are the domains of romantic love. Now in Ruth chapter 2, Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth of the family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz. And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field and glean ears of corn after him, in whose sight I shall find grace. And note the element of faith there. She didn't know who he was, but she of a certainty knew that when she found him, whom her soul desired she would find grace in his eyes. And glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace. And Naomi said unto her, Go, my daughter. And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers, and her hat was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech. And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem. And said unto the reapers, Yahweh be with you. And they answered him, Yahweh bless thee. Then said Boaz unto his servant that was set over the reapers, Whose damsel is this? Whose damsel is this? This is a normal, logical, and expected question. in that Boaz probably would have recognized Ruth as a stranger in his field, and therefore it would have been normal, expected, and logical for Boaz to inquire as to the identity of this unknown gleaner. However, as the subsequent narrative of Ruth continues, we know that Boaz's interest in Ruth increases greatly. and becomes much more than a passing curiosity about a strange damsel in this vineyard. So we might safely speculate, therefore, that Boaz's first impression of Ruth was much more than a momentary and inquisitive glance towards an unknown gleaner, but very well may have been that other phenomenon we call falling in love. Whose damsel is this? I want to talk about falling in love in relation to both the secular sphere of common grace and the sacred sphere of special grace and reiterate that falling in love is an experience common to both spheres, the spheres of common grace and the sphere of special grace, the secular and the sacred. And I might add a point to this as well. That is, falling in love occurs in the secular sphere and the sacred sphere. In both cases, falling in love is an experience which engenders revelation. Falling in love in the secular sphere evokes divine revelation, and falling in love in the sacred sphere evokes divine revelation as well. Let me talk a moment about divine revelation as it relates to secular poets and philosophers versus sacred theologians. Frank Gablein says, quote, all truth is God's truth, unquote. And we believe that, do we not? Whether it's in science or mathematics or whatever field, all truth is God's truth. And that idea of Dr. Gablein, that all truth is God's truth, is an expression which recognizes the activity and agency of God in revelation, whether that revelation be general and common, or particular and special. God is the source of all revelation. Secular literature is as much the sphere of divine revelation as is sacred literature, though not to the same degree of perfection. Let me give you an example in which sacred literature is the sphere of divine revelation. You know that the history of the Greeks is such that they were polytheists. They believed in many gods. But Socrates and his student Plato became the popularizers of a new view of deity in the dialogues of Plato. that new view of deity being monotheism, and you see this on Mars Hill with the Apostle Paul, do you not, as the Romans inherit the polytheism of the Greeks, where Paul sees the altar erected to quote the unknown God, and Paul says, this is the God I want to talk to you about, whom you ignorantly worship. Plato was a monotheist, and his writings or secular media to communicate the truth of monotheism. And if you study the great theologian Augustine, you will learn that Augustine is highly dependent in his pre-Christian days upon Plato for his understanding of God. The second thing you'll see in the writings of Augustine is not only that in his pre-Christian days he was dependent upon Plato, but after he became a Christian, Augustine felt very strongly that Plato could communicate profound truths about deity. In Augustine's words, quote, Plato showed me what God was. Paul showed me who God was. Unquote. So we see in the writings of Plato an evidence of general revelation in common grace. And I would argue you see this in almost all literature, particularly the literature of the literary world, as opposed to science and mathematics. I teach many secular writers, such as Ernest Hemingway, and there's a tremendous amount of truth in the writings of Ernest Hemingway, especially as it relates to the fallenness of human nature. Hemingway is a tremendous tool to illustrate the doctrine of total hereditary depravity. Sigmund Freud has profound insight to the human psyche, as does Carl Jung, both of whom, in part at least, can corroborate Christian doctrine. Freud is more the friend than the enemy of Paul. And I think there are even redemptive qualities of truth in Darwin, not the least of which, in Tennyson's words, is that, quote, nature is red in tooth and claw, unquote. The violence of nature attesting again to the fall of man. But there's one particular area of common grace that I want to focus on today, which is really the ultimate subject matter of both the secular and the sacred poet. That is the idea of falling in love. Now if you had a favorite song when you were 16, what are the odds that it had something to do with love? Or if you have a favorite novel, what are the odds it has something to do with love? Or if you have a favorite poem Or God forbid that you listen to country music. What are the odds that the subject matter has to do with something regarding love? Isn't love the primary interest of all poets, whether bad poets or good poets? Why, certainly it is. And what I'm getting at here is that love, thus perceived and experienced by poets, evidences their entrance into the experience of common grace. Romantic love being an advent of common grace. Of course, we see this in the sacred poetry of Solomon more than any other. The holiest of holies in the Old Testament is the Song of Solomon. What is it? It is a love poem. Now, when we think about love, really there are four dimensions to it that relate to both secular and sacred experience. And they are as follows. The paternal, the maternal, the fraternal, and the marital. Maternal, maternal, fraternal, and marital. And all those dimensions of love, even in the common sphere of the secular, sensitize humanity to the nature of divine love, do they not? God is love, says the apostle. And even the alien darkened primitive, can have a sense of the meaning and experience of divine love if he is a father. Like as a father pitieth his children, so doth the Lord God pity them that fear him. The pagan mother knows something of the maternal nature of God, which is an earthly witness to an heavenly reality. And when love is fraternally expressed within a family, brother-to-brother, brother-to-sister, sister-to-sister, or within a community, neighbor-to-neighbor, friend-to-friend. When fraternal love manifests itself in secular communities and societies, fraternal love, apart from special grace, is nonetheless a participation in the grace of God, which commonly bestows this capacity for fraternal love upon all humanity. And this is what the nobler politicians of the world are seeking, the realization of fraternal love among the nations. They're seeking, though they don't know why, to enter into the divine ideal, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. So, paternal love, maternal love, and paternal love, all evidence to the common grace of God throughout all cultures universally and historically. But, in Holy Scripture, the highest expression of divine love is not in the relationship between a father and a child, though we see this particularly in the writings of Paul and in the prayers of Jesus. nor between the mother and the child, though indeed God does liken himself sometimes to a mother who loves her children, nor merely in fraternal affection. Jesus said, greater love hath no man than this, and that a man lay down his life for his friends. The supremest expression of the divine love is the marital sphere. marital or romantic love. And therefore the experience of falling in love, even in the secular heart, must be an experience that somehow enters into the divine, though short of regeneration, sanctification and glorification. Now, if you think about love poetry this way, if you think about love songs this way, if you think about novels this way, secular songs, secular poems, secular literature, are they not all evidences of and quests for the divine? What is the poet singing when he sings of love but singing a hope for the ideal a hope for the ultimately good and completely perfect and so while you may hear me on occasion demean country music within its abilities and spheres as it relates to love it is a pitiful inquiry into a divine reality. The same thing is true of the secular poets. They are, as defined by human ability, glorious inquiries into the participation of a divine reality which they do not understand. The same thing could be said of great music. great art as well. They're questing, and their theme is love, they're questing for something they sense but do not know. The poet Dante describes this experience of the secular experience in pursuit of divine love as the oracles of the Cumaean Sybil The oracle at Delphi had a sybil which expressed his mind. And the way the sybil expressed the mind of the oracle, the sybil would write the words of the oracle with leaves and leave a brief impression upon the eye of the beholder that communicated the truth, but then the wind would come and blow the leaves away. And all poetry, all love songs, all novels which attest to a noble quest for love are like the leaves of the Cumaean Sybil. They write as it were with disappearing leaves and impress a brief glimpse of the divine word and mind. So I think we can look with pity. hope, and with some assurance that we can discover truth upon the secular poets and philosophers as they deal with love, particularly marital love. Now, when Boaz asks, whose damsel is this? Had he already fallen in love? Was this love at first sight. Well, I think very possibly it was and if not then certainly shortly thereafter. I want to give you four or five effects of falling in love which happens to every person who falls in love. Let me briefly define for you from C.S. Lewis's allegory of love what it means to fall in love. Lewis defines love as one of two kinds either Venus or Eros and that's confusing for Christians because we tend to think of Eros as bad love but Lewis defines love as Venus or Eros and here's the difference in Lewis Venus for Lewis is just the inclination of a man towards a woman Really not towards a woman but towards women or conversely of a woman towards men it's the force if you will of Love itself, but Eros for Williams is love crowned with nobility And Christian theology we might say love crowned with holiness It's love that becomes focused upon one object. Love crowned with monogamy, if you will. Lewis, Charles Williams, Wordsworth, Dante, all address this experience of love becoming focused on a single individual. And you cannot argue the reality that this happens in the secular sphere. In fact, one of the best things that can happen to an unbeliever if he falls in love with a woman whom he can love. This singular moment where love becomes focused in a singular individual. And these poets say that this love experience does the following things. And listen, we're going to discuss these secularly and then discuss them theologically. Falling in love, even in the secular sphere, generates a state of karitas, k-a-r-i-t-a-s, karitas, from the Greek word grace. And what are we talking about? Common grace. Falling in love, even among secular parties, generates a state of karitas, a state of grace. Not special grace, not saving grace, but common grace. And this state of common grace in the unbeliever who falls in love has the following effects upon him. First, it renovates the nature of the beholder. Now let me stop there and camp a moment. Falling in love renovates the nature of the beholder. What happened to Boaz when he saw Ruth? Well, it's hard to explain. And those many of you men who confessed a couple of weeks ago that you fell in love with your wife at first sight, what happened? Well, it's hard to explain, isn't it? Well, I submit it renovated your nature for the better. It had a renovating effect upon you. And William Wordsworth, describes this experience, and let me say a word about this renovating experience of common grace. You can experience a kind of internal renovation in any number of ways in the natural order. Have you ever been thrilled internally to look at a mountain? Every time I see a red-tailed hawk in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, I am thrilled in my soul. Words were said my heart leaps up when I behold a rainbow in the sky. And the history and anthologies of secular poets attest to this power of natural experience to sublimate the soul. to cause the soul to transcend in some kind of adoration and wonder, even if it be the adoration of mere nature. So this powerful experience of the sublime is something that the secular mind and heart knows, especially in romantic love. In beautiful words, Wordsworth says, quote, There are in our existence spots of time that with distinct preeminence retain a renovating virtue. And the round of ordinary intercourse, our minds are nourished and invisibly repaired. For the Romantic poets, this was the contemplation of nature. Wordsworth, Thoreau, Emerson, Keats felt that by meditating upon nature, the human soul could be ennobled. And you know what? I do believe that is true, even for the secular unbeliever. Wordsworth complains in another poem, the world is too much with us of late. Getting and spending we lay waste our powers and little we see in nature that is ours. This loss of a genteel and yet profound sensitivity to nature was, for the Romantic poets, the great tragedy of the 19th century. And those of you who live in our society, especially if you teach children, know how out of touch children are to the wonders of nature. Technology has preempted nature as the primary experience of youth and adulthood. And I believe that is a great tragedy. in our generation. Nature, as you know, is one of the preeminent media through which the prophets and the poets and Jesus Christ himself sought to touch the mind and heart of their hearers. How many biblical metaphors do you know of? How many personifications of Christ can you think of? Are cast in the language of Nature I am the light of the world. I am the bread of life. I am the true vine. I am the water of life Etc, etc, etc the modern sensibility Has been dead and dying to nature since the 19th century Well when an old boy Sees a girl and falls in love with her, though he cannot explain it, he is experiencing, in the sphere of common grace, this profound renovation of nature that we call falling in love. And as such, that means that there is not only a basis for you and me to talk about love with the secular unbeliever, but there is also a precondition of great hope that they may come to know the love of God. And thus God appeals to men that Christ is the Bridegroom, the Church the Bride, that God is the Father, the Christian, the Child, etc., etc. So it renovates the nature of the beholder. A second impact of romantic love, listen carefully, it creates in the worshipper, the worshipper being the one who looks upon his beloved and adores her, or she upon him and adores him. Falling in love creates in the worshipper an ethical deference to the object of adoration and affection. Let me repeat that. Falling in love creates in the worshipper an ethical deference to the object of adoration and affection. Now the most common way we hear and see this is in marital vows. When the unbeliever falls in love, as a rule, is he or she not eventually to stand before the priest or the vicar or the pastor and hear these words? I take thee to be my lawfully wedded wife or husband, for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, in riches or in poverty, to love, cherish, care for, and honor forsaking all others till death do us part? Even the secular and liberal spheres of professing Christianity recognize the ethical demand of the experience of falling in love. And how many old boys, wild ones at that, have been brought to their heart's knees by meeting the right woman? and to the altar upon their knees as well, willing at least in that moment to say, forsaking all others with this ring, I thee wed. And is this not again an evidence of the participation of the secular individual in the common grace of God, whereby Falling in love has moral or ethical power on that individual. Falling in love renovates the nature of the beholder and it creates in the worshipper an ethical deference to the object of adoration and affection. Charles Spurgeon loved lawn bowling. And he loved lawn bowling because he knew it was the favorite pastime of Oliver Cromwell, John Owen, and John Milton. And in his yard, Spurgeon used to bowl and try to imagine that Cromwell and Owen and Milton were with him, bowling. If you'd gone to Spurgeon's home on a Saturday afternoon, you might have found him lawn bowling, if not in his garden. And he may have said, come join me in Cromwell. and Owen Milton, the great Puritan poet. In Paradise Lost and Regained by John Milton, which is one of the two great love poems, epic poems of all time, the other being Dante's Divine Comedy, Milton seeks to describe poetically what may have been the effect of Adam when he first met Eve. And it is my favorite passage in all literature about how a man should behold the woman he loves. Listen how beautiful this is, Adam speaking through Milton's pen. Quote. When I approach her loveliness, and let me say, what are we getting at here? We're getting at adoration. And adoration as a participation at least in common grace, and if more than that, adoration as a medium to the discovery of the divine through marital love in the sacred sphere. When I approach her loveliness, so absolute she seems, and in herself complete, so well to know her own, that what she wills to do or say seems wisest, virtuousest, discreetest, best. All higher knowledge in her presence falls, degraded. Wisdom in discourse with her loses, discountenanced, and like folly shows. authority and reason on her weight, as one intended first, not after made, and to consummate all, greatness of mind and nobleness their seat build in her loveliest, and create an awe about her as a guard angelic placed. Adam adored Eve. And this experience of adoration in romantic love is replicated every time someone falls in love in the secular or sacred sphere of life. Now, when you think about the original creation of man and woman, God said let us make plural man. Adam is plural. in our image. And as Milton said, Eve was no afterthought. It's only in the narrative that Eve is an afterthought. Not in the original mind of God. He says, let us make the atom in our image. Male and female, God says. And the original intent of the divine and the creation of man and woman was that in both of them there would be a reciprocal expression of divinity. Or, to state it more simply, man and woman, as one, would be a reflection of God. And isn't the original expression of the image of God in creation, in the union between Adam and Eve? And in that union, isn't therefore inherently, there inherently, a medium to the appreciation of God. And you see this emphasis upon the metaphor of marriage throughout Holy Scripture as the grand expression of God's relationship to God and God's relationship to man. Whether it's the prophet Jeremiah, or the prophet Hosea, or the Song of Solomon, or the book Revelation. Or John the Baptist standing by the river saying, Behold the bridegroom. This grand, glorious expression of the divine image in the marital relationship between man and woman is the supreme expression of God's love. And my point is that when the fallen, unregenerate, secular individual enters into love, it's the common grace of God. It does have a renovative effect upon the nature of that individual. It does create in that individual a sense of adoration. Let's stop there just a minute and think about that sense of adoration. And here's a point to practically convict ourselves about our spouses and the phenomenon of adoration in our marriages. We ought to adore our spouse. Almost. Almost. We ought to adore our spouse. And here's a practical exhortation for those of you who are unmarried. Don't marry anyone whom you don't adore. Like Judy did. Don't marry anyone whom you don't adore. If your attraction to an individual can't approach a religious experience, don't do it. Because it evidences that you participate not in the sphere of grace as you express your interest in this individual. There's no condemnation against you men who didn't fall in love at first sight, but I say it's better if you can. There's a sudden, powerful, overwhelming, realization and revelation of love that swallows you with its power, that's closer and more immediate to the divine. Love is a kind of adoration and as such it partakes, if only minimally, it nonetheless partakes of the nature of divine love as adorational. At one point, and we'll close and come back, go back to all those country songs, all those movies, all those odes to love. How many of them express love in the language of worship? Let me ask you to do something sometime. Take the language of a country song or a secular song and then apply it to God and see if it doesn't work. Many of those odes to love about the person loved, if you take the person loved away from the human and make it Christ and apply the words to Christ, you'll see that the song perfectly fits a tune of adoration to the Lord Jesus Christ. I've done this many times with many songs. So the point is that Literature, secularly, or philosophy, secular attest to the experience of divine love and common grace as surely as falling in love does for the secular individual. In the broadest cultural sense, my last point, how do the human quests for love culminate in pagan and darkened societies? Not merely in poetry. In religions. Haven't cultures historically erected icons to love? Expressing the whole passionate beating of the culture's heart to worship this experience? Aphrodite? Venus? Cupid, all these icons of love in broad cultural experience evidence that the experience of falling in love witnesses even to the unregenerate human heart that it is an experience of and on a quest for the divine. And thus our poetry and our music and even our worship in pagan and darken cultures give evidence to The fact that falling in love is somehow an entrance into the divine experience of love in common grace. Let's stand together. And we will come back in the second hour and talk about this more from a theological standpoint as it relates to Boaz and more specifically the Song of Solomon. Let's pray. Our Father in Heaven, we pray that we would have a deeper appreciation of the power of love, and especially that it may be practically and passionately experienced in our own marriages, that the love of God in Christ Jesus for the Church may be replicated in our homes, that we, as He, may love our wives passionately, and that she, as the Church of God, may love the bridegroom. And Father, we pray also that we would learn to appreciate the darkened, but nonetheless real attempts of human culture to know love. And we ask that you help us use these media to touch the lives of lost people who search for and even experience that which they do not understand. And we pray this in Christ's name. Amen.