Let's take our Bibles once again and turn to Song of Solomon, chapter two. I don't know if you're enjoying these studies as much as I am, but this is very refreshing for me to see written in poetic form a message concerning Christ and his church. typified through Solomon and as we've seen here sometimes the bride speaking of her beloved which represents the church and then other times the beloved speaking of the bride such as the mutual love as we saw last time but Today I want us to look at verses three through six of Song of Solomon 2 and talk to you about irresistible love. In other words, when the Lord Jesus Christ has set His love upon one of His own, and that from eternity, we know that. It's that love once revealed in our hearts to know how it is that He has loved such sinners as we are. that draws out of us our love for Him. Now when I use the term irresistible love, you've heard the expression irresistible grace. It's not that there's no resistance in our hearts. Even with this bride, we noticed that she could not get over the fact of the love of the King for her, but also as we saw in verse five, the fact that she was black. And even somewhat embarrassed, it says in verse 6 that we study in Song of Solomon 1, where she said, look not upon me because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me. My mother's children were angry with me. They made me the keeper of the vineyards, but mine own vineyard have I not kept. She's speaking there of her life under bondage, if you will, being nothing but a peasant girl. And certainly, this is how we see ourselves. Who are we? Who am I? Among all of the creatures, creation, people of this world that the Lord should set his love and favor upon me. So we, in our hearts, we do resist knowing ourselves to be sinners. But when I speak of irresistible love, it's the love of Christ for us that we can't resist. He never puts any conditions upon His love for us, but has loved His own as He says there in the book of John unto the end. And so that's what is irresistible love. He makes Himself to be irresistible. to us and i believe this is the description of that love that we see here in song of solomon chapter two verses three through six it says as the apple tree among the trees of the wood so is my beloved among the sons so here now his love for her has drawn out of her this expression of love for him above all others She says, I sat down under his shadow with great delight and his fruit was sweet to my taste, such as the work of grace in the heart of those that Christ has loved and for whom he shed his blood that we can't get enough of him. And as the scriptures say, oh, taste and see that he is good. We know that it's his goodness that has drawn us to repentance. And it's not in spite of our sin because the Lord Jesus Christ had to deal with that sin in order to be joined to him in perfect union and harmony. He had to lay down his life. That sin had to be put away to such a degree that God the father sees it no more. And again, here's the part where our hearts perhaps resist because we find it unbelievable that God does not look upon us and see our sin. He remembers it no more. And so it is with Christ. We might see it. We might feel it. We might know it because we live in this flesh. And yet, as God sees us, we know that there is Therefore now no condemnation. He does not see that sin and so So here the bride the loved one the church expresses her love for the King which represents for us the Lord Jesus Christ and notice in verse 4 he brought me to the banqueting house and his banner over me was love and So she says, stay me with flagons. I looked that word up because a flagon can refer to some kind of jug out of which would be poured perhaps wine. And it expresses there the fellowship that she would enjoy with her lover, the king. But also in this context and some others, that word flagons can refer to a raisin cake. And so this is descriptive of a meal, descriptive of the food that she would enjoy in intimacy with her king, the one that has loved her. and comfort me with apples, for I am sick of love." So what we have here is a picture of that intimate union that there is between Christ and His church that none other can enjoy, much like a husband and a wife would enjoy that intimate relationship with one another, in essence, shutting out the world. And all that matters is that these that share this mutual love enjoy one another and so verse six says his hand is under my head and his right hand doth embrace me that's as far as the lord has directed me to prepare particularly for this study and so going back to verse three where she refers to the apple tree among the trees of the wood so is my beloved among the suns." Just as the apple tree in a garden or an orchard would excel and is really preferable to any other kind of trees that are not as fruitful. So the Lord Jesus Christ stands out, I believe here when it says, among the trees of the wood, He came to this earth as a man, and yet He was exalted above those among whom He dwelt. Now we know that there were, as Isaiah said, there was no beauty outwardly with which to behold Him. But as the Lord opens the spirit of the heart and we are taught of Him in His Word, and we see Him as the God-man, His Excellency is above all other creatures, all other men of this world. The apple tree, not only in its beauty, but in its fragrance. When I used to live up in Michigan years ago, they had apple trees up there and the fragrance as you walk through them, say nothing about the taste, but the fragrance just cause you to breathe in and enjoy what it was that you were experiencing. And so it is with Christ. He is excellent above all other creatures, whether angels or men, sons of this earth. I believe that when it says there as the apple tree among the trees of the wood, the trees of the wood are describing other men and their humanity. And yet, Christ is incomparable. He's not to be compared with mere men. Yes, He came and took on flesh. And yet, as the God-man, how much greater, how much more excellent, how much higher in glory and power and riches and majesty than all of the sons of Adam. We're nothing but flesh without Christ, and He is preeminent in all things among all of God's creatures, and especially as concerns His church, those for whom He came into this world. So for those for whom He has paid the debt, He's not only their Creator, but their Lord. He is their head. He's their husband. He's their Savior. And it's from Him that we have the fruit of salvation. And therefore, Christ is compared to an apple tree. Everything about Him is fruitful and gracious and beautiful and refreshing, comforting. I've run out of adjectives to describe Him. And this is a way of describing all the blessings of His grace. I recommend many times when we become a little discouraged and despondent and looking in us or around us at our wickedness, not of our heart, but in the world, we can become despondent. But to look to Christ, here is the apple tree among the trees of the woods. So is my beloved among the sons of men. how refreshing to think upon as the Lord directs our hearts all of the blessings of grace that are from Him and you stop and think about being hungry or thirsty if you had nothing else but an apple to eat or an apple tree to sit under as she describes under His shadow she sits with great delight and His fruit was sweet to my taste That would be sufficient. That's what refreshes our soul. And this requires the Spirit to over and over again grant us, give us that eye of faith to see Him and to look upon Him as the one who has satisfied all of God's law and justice on behalf of a sinner such as we are. The Spirit of God makes us sensible of our sin, even knowing that Christ has paid the debt yet we would become presumptuous were it not for the Spirit of God with the light of Christ continuing to show us our own flesh but at the same time and that's where the apple tree among the trees seeing that tree and sitting down under it and Him being our delight and Him being sweet to our taste that's the work of the Spirit to turn our eyes away from that certain condemnation that we would know were it not for Christ's finished work on our behalf. And so this apple tree is a picture of love and under which he and she might meet just like back in the days of courting somebody that you would meet in a special spot. Well, that's what's described here sitting under the presence of Christ and His glory and His grace. I love to take the scriptures and read them and look at all of the promises of God in Christ for such wretched sinners as we are and specifically as I am. And yet to enjoy that special love that does not change that irresistible love that continues to draw us again and again to Him that is above any kind of earthly love. Here in Song of Solomon chapter 8 and verse 5 the same expression is used here of that love. Look in verse 4 and much of what's written here is parallel to what we're reading in Song of Solomon 2. She says, I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that ye stir not up nor wake my love till he please. Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I raised thee up under the apple tree. There thy mother brought thee forth. There she brought thee forth that bear thee. And so this apple tree, again, represents, it's an emblem that is fitting of Christ and the greatness of His person, the fullness of His grace, and thinking upon the virtue of His blood that He shed on behalf of sinners. That's what it required in order for God to be just and justify and for us to enjoy this love relationship. It took Christ dying, laying down His life, and through that then the very righteousness of God in His grace being imputed to a sinner such as I am. And all of that typified in him as the apple tree, the sweet perfume because the odor. I don't know about you, but I just like to take an apple and breathe in deeply and smell the fragrance. And that's what draws you to it, to want to taste it. And certainly Christ's person and his work that causes us to want to be drawn to him and taste of the fruit of his work that he accomplished on behalf of sinners such as we are. So you've got here the picture of the apple tree, but you also have the view here of sitting under the shade of the apple tree. And again, a shade tree It casts a shadow, which is for protection. And when you sit under the shade tree or this apple tree, it's reminding us that what stands between sinners such as we are and the wrath of God is the very person of Christ. And therefore, his wrath cannot hurt us, nor will it. The curses of that fiery law, stop and read about how Mount Sinai the fiery law was revealed and the holiness of God to such a degree that the children of Israel begged Moses when he came off that mountain to cover his face because the glory was too bright If we had to deal with God's law and God's holiness and God's justice ourselves There's none that could stand and that's the folly of today of people thinking that somehow they can approach God in their own flesh without a mediator. Now, we need the shadow of the Almighty, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's those that dwell under His shadow that find refreshment. I would not know what to think if I had to think of facing a holy God without Christ without Him being the mediator and dwelling under His shadow whereby there is therefore now no condemnation. This is the same kind of language used in Hosea chapter 14. And again, speaking of being revived in consideration of the shade, if you will, of Christ being the mediator. Here in Hosea 14 and verse 7, it says, they that dwell under his shadow shall return. They shall revive as the corn and grow as the vine. The scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon. Now Hosea prophesied to the 10 tribes of Israel in the north that had gone off and created a new worship of the golden calf, and the Lord took them into judgment. And yet the Lord promised, as he says there in verse 4, I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, for mine anger is turned away from him. It's speaking there of that remnant that God had purposed to save, even among these that the majority perished. And yet there were those that he promised he would bring back. and would cause them from the heat of the day and the heat of the judgment and the wrath of God upon them that that remnant should return and dwell under the shadow. That's a picture of God's grace. And it's a picture of having Christ as our substitute. And that because of him, we enjoy You think about what a shadow is in the heat of the day sitting under that apple tree, the peace, the tranquility that that gives to those that sit under his wing, if you will, have him as their representative. She says here that she does so with great delight. I know, again, we might say, well, I don't always see Christ that way? Well, none of us do. And yet there are times and seasons of great refreshment when the Lord, by His grace, draws our hearts again to rejoice in His Word and the fellowship that we enjoy through His Word, whereby Christ is that delightful shade to us. And not only the shadow, coming back here to our text in verse three of Psalm Solomon 2, But the fruit, you think about all of the different blessings of God in Christ that we enjoy. And yet, because of our sin, because of our depravity, we don't rejoice as we ought. But the Lord is the one who gives us these times and seasons of refreshment. You can't force them. but he's the one that draws and when he does oh how sweet that fruit is to my taste it's not talking about a physical taste but refreshment to the heart don't his words of grace cause the heart to rejoice the blessings of his grace when he enables us to consider who he is and to reflect upon what's his of the fruit there There's so many different tastes that if you stop and just reflect on all that that fruit manifests, I think about peace with God. Oh, what a taste to rejoice in him is our peace. Pardon. Justification, not in my seeing him or when I see him, I'm justified. No, but his accomplished work at Calvary being that justification before God. When sin raises its ugly head, yes, we feel the pangs of it in our heart, but oh, the sweet and pleasant and delightful taste to consider that even for that Christ paid the debt. And so complete was His work that there remains nothing but righteousness that God has imputed already upon completion of His work at the cross. It's not when I see Him in His work that I'm justified. No, I was justified when He died. And oh, what a delightful, pleasant, sweet taste that is when we consider how God in His grace has caused Christ to be our Savior. And so all of this transitions with the same thought into a different picture. It says here in Song of Solomon chapter 2 and verse 4, he brought me to the banqueting house and his banner over me was love. That banqueting house literally is the house of wine and wherever there was a time of feasting, time of banqueting, wine was served. Some of the best wine that was grown and It was there for the guests to enjoy. It wasn't in any way the idea here of encouraging drunkenness, no. But here the picture of the banqueting house would be that of a nuptial feast, much like the scriptures speak of the marriage feast of the Lamb. And that the wine, wherein there was plenty of wine, first of all representing the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's one of the elements that the lord has left us to remember him is the bread and the wine the unleavened bread represents his body was without sin the wine representing his shed blood and so when it says there he brought me to the banqueting house and his banner over me was love here's a remembrance here's a reminder in partaking of that wine that we are there because of that shed blood else we could not feast with him. And the gospel feast here in the banqueting house is in God's church, the house of God. I'm not talking about a physical building here, although we do gather and worship together in a physical building, but in God's house, in Christ's church, it is as a nuptial feast where there's refreshment and delight in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you notice all of this under the influences of His grace and love. That's why it says there, His banner over me was love. This means that the reason she was there in that banqueting house at that nuptial feast was because of the love of the King for her certainly she could not have been there were it not for the love of the king so again a reminder of his love in the banqueting house whenever there was a feast they would always put up banners that were stately and majestic with beautiful colors and here is described as being inscribed with the word love why is it that we're the lords well it's because he loved us and drew us to himself his very name when you talk about his banner over me was love that's descriptive of the name of christ and his love for his church it's not some general love likes being preached god loves everybody and really would like you to trust christ but you have to be willing now the only reason any of us know christ or rejoice in him is because of his love for us and it is a special love It's an effectual love and above even the kindness and mercy that would be shown toward anybody else. Yet this love is a love of Christ for his church. It's electing love. In other words, from eternity. And it's redeeming love from Calvary. And it is an effectual love and that it calls everyone that He loves to this banqueting feast. Not one is absent. I heard it said one time, there's plenty of room in heaven, but no vacancies. There's no empty chairs here. That each one that's here is because of that love of God in Christ. And it's that which causes those that He has loved to commune with Him. and being under that banner, being under His person, just like the shadow of the tree. So here in the banqueting house, His banner over me is love. And certainly that is what those who are the Lord's experience when the Spirit of God is pleased to reveal Christ in them. We grow in our understanding. The more we learn of Him, the more we see just how great is that love because it's unconditional. we tend to wonder sometimes whether god can love us because we know our sin we know our sinfulness and yet that's just the flesh to consider that when christ paid the sin debt it was paid it was put away oh what love and so she continues to describe this love for the king this would be again how we as sinners redeemed by Christ see him. She says, stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples for I am sick of love, lovesick. It's not that she's sick of his love, but lovesick. In other words, give me Christ or I die. And so again, it's a little difficult here to see, to know exactly what the word flagons means because With regard to pouring wine in the house of wine, it certainly would have to do with those jugs, and they're not just any kind of jugs, but they were majestic. They were made for such occasions that the king would call and invite and summons guests to his table. Well, here, statement with flagons. In other words, with regard to wine being poured out it would never lack and the best wine again thinking of wine in a sense of it being a symbol of Christ's blood that he poured out that he shed it is sufficient and infinite in nature to cover the worst of sinners and the worst of sin and so flagons there could be referring to that those instruments that contained the wine and some made of gold, probably most of them gold and silver, in which the wine was contained for the delight of the guests. But also elsewhere you can read where the word flagons can be interpreted also as raisin cakes. And again, Christ being the bread of life, you've got the wine and you've got the bread. how sweet He is, and how glorious it is to taste of His love. And the more that you taste, the more that you desire. So what we see here is the actual love of Christ, where she says, stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples, for I am sick of love. Anything that pertains to Christ, that's what is our stay. That is what is our comfort. And as the Lord's people taught of Him, we desire that He continue to be our all. And certainly He is. So again, comfort me with apples. The exceeding great and precious promises of God in Christ are our comfort. In fact, when fitly spoken, words fitly spoken, Solomon wrote about this in Proverbs chapter 25 and verse 11 where he said, a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver. So, apples of gold, all that pertains to the Lord Jesus Christ and His glory in person when the Lord is pleased to open up His word to our hearts. Oh, what a comfort it is. I don't know how many times I can't tell you that I've sat down to prepare a message and my heart has been cold as ice and I've begun reading the scriptures and reading the portion that I will be proclaiming and in my own flesh sensing my own unworthiness and inability and as I continue to read how the Lord opens it up even as in the Song of Solomon here to understand even clearer the symbols that are represented here and to then be refreshed thereby and that has to do with his person and his work now when she says for I am sick of love it's not in a sense of loathing it but rather in desire love sick when you're not with one that you love it's like a dart sticking in your heart And you feel that as if you cannot enjoy the presence of your loved one, that you will die. There are times and seasons where the Lord brings us to that point. Sadly, it's not all the time. We get caught up with the things of this world and pursuing different things. But when the Lord is pleased to truly remind us of Christ and draw us to him, oh, how we feel much like one languishing to be with the one that we love but more importantly the one who loves us and so coming back to song of solomon chapter 2 and verse 6 it describes here the intimacy that there would be and is between lover and the loved one the king and his bride, Christ, and his church. He writes here, and this is her declaration, his left hand is under my head and his right hand doth embrace me. This is a description of the church having been stayed and supported and strengthened and comforted and all that in the Lord Jesus Christ. His left hand under my head is her security and her strength. His right hand doth embrace me. That's a picture of His love that never lets go. And such is her desire. We don't want to be found alone, but to know that Christ is our strength and Christ is our comfort. He it is that keeps us. You notice His left hand is under my head. We couldn't even hold our head up were it not for Him sustaining us. His right hand doth embrace me. we would certainly fall away were it not for his right hand, that's the hand of his strength, embracing us and keeping us and drawing us again and again unto himself. And so an expression here of that near and intimate communion that a couple has with one another in love, such as our communion with Christ, that there's nothing that can separate us. What you see here is a picture of close relationship. His left hand is under my head and his right hand doth embrace me. There's nothing. What can separate us from the love of God? Sometimes we feel that our sin separates us. No, remember, that's been put away. Sometimes we feel that trials can separate us, but no, that's what draws us evermore to himself. And we have this assurance that he never will abandon anyone for whom he has paid the debt. And I'm thankful that it's that way. What a mercy, what a grace to know Christ as he is in truth and be found in him, not having our own righteousness, but that which is of God by him, through him. there's a lot more there i'm sure that i'm not seeing but as i teach down through this portion i pray that the lord himself will be our teacher and by his spirit continue to draw us ever more to himself in that irresistible love you