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Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning on our beloved? I raised thee up under the apple tree. There thy mother brought thee forth, there she brought thee forth that bare thee. Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine. For love is strong as death. Jealousy is cruel as the grave. The coals thereof are coals of fire, which have the most vehement blame.
Many waters cannot quench love. Neither can the floods drown it. If a man would give all the substance of his house, all his property, all his wealth for love, it would utterly be condemned. We read that Solomon wrote 1005 songs. Yet only one of these is called the Song of Songs, which is Solomon.
And in this lovely book, we have presented to us not Solomon's love, for behold, a greater than Solomon is here. We have pictured in most graphic language God's great love for men, Christ's love for his church, for Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. He has purchased that church at the most infinite price that love could ever demand, for as the apostle declared, the church is that which he hath purchased with his own blood.
Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning on our beloved? It's a wonderful day in a person's experience when they learn that this world in which we live is nothing but a wilderness. There is nothing here of lasting and abiding value. Health, you have it in the prime of your youth, and we look at young people as they do those things which perhaps we were able to do when we were young, but no longer able to do, and we realize that health soon disappears, and the strength of our young manhood or womanhood we no longer enjoy.
It's a transitory thing. Well, all that we have or accumulate has no abiding value, for the scripture says we brought nothing into this world, it's certain we can carry nothing out. It tells us that the things which we see are temporal. The love which we enjoyed from family and friends and loved ones, it disappears. At the very time of your marriage, you say that you will love till death do you part, and there is the recognition that this relationship of a husband and a wife is only temporary.
The relationship of parents to their children, it's only temporary. It soon disappears. I can look back to parents that love me and that I love, but they're gone, and their love for me is gone. I no longer know what it is to be loved by my parents. This world is a wilderness. There's nothing here that's abiding. It's a wonderful thing when people learn that lesson. There is nothing in this world of lasting value, nothing.
That's why the scripture calls our attention to this great love story. The fact that over nineteen hundred years ago, there came one down into this wilderness where there was nothing here, and he came, and his object was to seek a people for himself. For strange and marvelous as it may seem to us, God has a love affair with man. The Bible says his delights are with the sons of men, and of men only is it said that God made us in our im- in his image and after his likeness. At infinite cost himself, God sent his son into the world not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.
It's the greatest love story that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness? Because you see, the wilderness represents a downward path. People go down into the wilderness to discover that there's nothing here. But then there comes a moment in a person's life when they make an about face, and they come up from the wilderness, not in their own strength, not under their own power, but leaning.
Leaning. Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? One of the most difficult things in the world is to get a man or a woman to see that if you're ever going to be saved, you must learn to lean. The scripture says, trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not. Lean not. I wonder if you've learned that lesson. Lean not to thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy path.
Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness? Because that's what the world is. Israel discovered that when they left Egypt. They got into that wilderness, and there was nothing there. God was teaching them and teaching us that there's nothing here in this world for us, and anything that is of abiding of value has to come from above, and God sent that bread from heaven for forty years. There was nothing there in the wilderness, and that's what this world is. This world is a wilderness wide, wrote one. I've nothing to seek or to choose. I've no thought in this waste to abide. I've not to regret or to lose.
The Lord Jesus, you remember in John chapter six, he fed those people in the wilderness with those five loaves and two fishes. When he explained it to them, he said, I am the living bread which came down from heaven. He says, the bread is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world. That's the only way man's need is going to be met in this wilderness. Solomon wrote, as we know, under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, the book of Ecclesiastes, and he opens the book and he closes the book on the same note.
This is what he says in the first chapter, in the second verse. Vanity of vanities, said the preacher. Listen to this. Listen to Solomon. Vanity of vanities, said the preacher. All is vanity. It's all a bubble. It's all nothing. There's nothing here. That's what he was saying. In the closing chapter of that same book, he says, Vanity of vanities, said the preacher. All is vanity. Here was a man who was wealthier than any man living today, worth billions of dollars in gold, all kinds of property.
He tried everything he himself tells us. He tried wine. He tried mirth. He tried wisdom. He tried wealth. He tried work. He tried wine, women, and song. And he said, it's all bad. Nothing really satisfies. And the third chapter he says, God has made everything beautiful in its time. And it says he hath put eternity in man's heart. And the only thing that can satisfy the craving of the human soul is that which is eternal.
I have to say goodbye to my wife, or she says goodbye to me. I have to say goodbye to my children, or they say goodbye to me. I have to say goodbye to everything that I have in this world. But praise God, when you know Christ, you found something that meets the needs, the deepest needs of the soul, something that is above. I found a friend, oh, such a friend. He loved me ere I knew him. He drew me with the cords of love, and thus he bound me to him. And round my heart still closely twine those ties which naught can sever, for I am his.
He is mine forever and forever. I found a friend, oh, such a friend, so kind and true and tender, so wise a counselor and guide. So mighty a defender. From him who loves me now so well, what power on earth can sever? Shall life? Or death? Or earth? Or hell? No, I am his forever. Oh, Solomon says there's nothing that satisfies you. He says I've spent my whole life just chasing problems. Just like when you drive along the highway and you see what looks like water, the sun beating down on the highway, it looks like water, but when you get there, you discover just a mirage.
There's nothing there. They tell the story of an English multimillionaire many years ago. His name was Sir Titus Saul, and he was in his rose garden one day, and they had a stick fastened right next to one of his rose bushes, and he watched as a caterpillar slowly made its way up that rose bush, and then it got up on the stick, which extended several inches above the rose bush. And when it got to the top of that stick, it went this way, and it went that way, and it went the other way, reaching for another branch. As he looked at that, he said, that's me. He said, I'm at the top. I've gotten as far as I can go in this life, and there's nothing here.
Nothing here. This world is a wilderness. Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning, leaning on her beloved. You know, you have to leave the wilderness to come to Christ. People try to find their satisfaction here, but God says, no, you've got to leave the wilderness. You've got to come to Christ in order to leave the wilderness. You can't do it in your own strength. Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved?
You know, we lean on things which do not support us. The scripture said, cursed is everyone that maketh flesh his arm. That depends on what you can do, or what I can do, or what I'm going to do. Praise God. There's one that we have on whom we can lean. There are three things in these verses that I want you to notice. Safety, security, and satisfaction. Three things. Safety, security, and satisfaction. Or as George Cutting put it in that lovely little track of his, safety, certainty, and enjoyment.
Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? You know, it's a wonderful day when, having leaned on Christ, you discover that he is my savior. You can say this. She's leaning on her beloved. She can say, I am my beloved, he is mine. The only way that takes place is when you make a definite choice. We were singing in the opening hymn, Whosoever will may come. When a person gets married, you make a choice.
Will you take this man to be your lawful wedded husband? And you say, I will. Will you take this woman to be your lawful wedded wife? I will. You make a choice. That's what's necessary before you can say, he is my beloved, or as she says in this lovely little book, I am my beloved's, and my beloved's mine. He brings a poor, vile sinner to his house of, of wine. I stand upon his merit. I know no other stand, not even where glory dwelleth in Emmanuel's land. I wonder if there's ever been a time in your experience when you have confessed Jesus as your Lord.
You've said, Lord Jesus, I'll trust you. I'll trust you with my soul. I'm guilty, I'm lost, and I'm helpless, but thou canst make me whole. It's not enough to know that the Lord Jesus is the beloved. It's not enough to know that he is the shepherd, the savior. There must be a time when you claim him as your own. You act on God's word, and you commit the keeping of your soul unto him as unto a faithful wi- and wise creator. I'll tell you this, no one has ever trusted him in vain.
The psalmist says, my help cometh from the Lord who made heaven and earth. And if the one in whom I trust is the one who made heaven and earth, there's no difficulty in him saving me. Is he able to save? Ah, the scripture says he is able. He is able to save to the very end all that come unto God by him. And happy indeed are those who can say, like David, the Lord is my. Who can say like Job, I know that my redeemer liveth. Who can say like Thomas, my Lord and my God.
Who can say like Mary, the mother of Jesus, my spirit hath rejoiced in God, my savior. I wonder if you've ever made that personal application. You can hear the gospel preached times without number, but unless you come and commit the keeping of your soul to him, unless you lean on your beloved, you're not going to make it. Ah, she says, says, who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? The Lord is my shepherd.
Salvation, and then there's security in our Lord Jesus Christ. What assurance there is when you lean on him. Some months ago or years ago, I guess it's been now, I was reading the story of Fanny Crosby, the blind poetess. She lived to be ninety five years of age. She wrote over eight thousand hymns of praise to the Lord. When she died, they had written on her tombstone, Fanny Crosby, eighteen twenty to nineteen fifteen, and underneath of it, these words of scripture, she hath done what she could.
She hath done what she could. Blind poet. And some years later, some of her friends, while they approved of what had been written on the tombstone, they thought that something that she had written, some of those eight thousand hymns, something ought to be put on her tombstone. And so they had inscribed these words she had written. Blessed assurance, Jesus mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine. Heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of his spirit, washed in his blood.
This is my story. This is my song, praising my Savior all the day long. Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? Leaning on her beloved. There's security in Christ, not only salvation, but there is security in Christ. The Bible says that when you come to Christ, you are accepted in the beloved. It says she comes up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved, but the New Testament says that the believer in Jesus is accepted in the beloved.
And that tells me this, the Lord Jesus himself said that he wanted the world to know that thou hast loved them as thou has loved me. While it might sound presumptuous, it's the truth of God. That the Father loves me just exactly like he loves his son. Now, if that doesn't humble yourself, when you think that the God who made us, the God of whom we read that all the nations are in his eyes as nothing, yay, even less than nothing, and yet he loves me just like he loves his son.
Oh, what security there is in that. You know, they put people sometimes in what they call maximum security prison. They put all kinds of guards at the date gates, and they put electronic devices so they can't escape, locked up in a maximum security prison. But let me tell you tonight that when you come to Christ, you are in the most secure position that God himself can put you in, because your life is here with Christ in God. Can you get any more secure than that? How wonderful indeed. The security of the believer. She says, set me as a seal upon thine heart.
We know what a seal is for. We seal our envelopes when we mail letters so that what's on the inside won't fall out. And no one's supposed to tamper with the mail. The fact that it's sealed. And I remember as a boy watching my granddad, you know, he had a position with the government. He used to take that red wax and he would seal these official papers. You remember that, some of you older ones? I don't know if they still do that or not, but I used to take that red wax, and they'd stamp the imprint on it, and when they'd send the mail, uh, pouches away, they were sealed, and no one was supposed to tamper with it. All the authority of the British government was behind that seal.
Ah, she says, send me the seal upon thine heart. What a seal the love of God is. You know, in the Old Testament, you remember that when the priests went into the holy place, on their breasts they had the name of every tribe of Israel. They were on his heart. That priest. You know, I like to realize that my priest in heaven, the Lord Jesus, the one who lives in the power of an endless life, he has me upon his heart. He knows his own by name, it says he calleth his own sheep by name.
Set me as a seal upon thine heart. I am kept by his almighty love. I'll tell you, that gives security to the believer to know that he's kept by love so amazing, so divine. But then you remember, she says here, set me as a seal upon thine arm, that mighty arm. Ah, says Isaiah, who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? I'll tell you to whom the arm of the Lord is revealed. The arm of the Lord is revealed to those who have believed the report, who have believed the record that God has given of his son.
Those are the one that God saved by his mighty power, his mighty arm. You know, people time sometimes can save you temporarily out of your difficulties. But Moses says, let me tell you about it. He says, the eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath of the everlasting. He's never going to let one of his own go. We're kept, Peter says, by the power of God. How good is the God we adore, our faithful, unchangeable friend, whose love is as great as his power and knows neither measure nor end.
It's Jesus, the first and the last, whose spirit shall guide us safe home. We'll praise him for all that is past and trust him for all that's to come. It says love is strong as death. That's the way human love is. It ends with death. You say goodbye to your wife, your husband, your children. They say goodbye to you. But oh, praise God, the love that we have in Christ is a love that's stronger than death. A love not that is strong as death, but love that is stronger than death.
It says jealousy is cruel as the grave. You know, God speaks of himself oftentimes in scripture as a jealous God. And there's nothing wrong with being jealous. There's everything wrong with being envious. It is wrong for me to want your wife, but it is not wrong for me to want my wife. It is wrong for my wife to want some other man, but it's not wrong for her to want to have me. God says, I have redeemed thee. Thou art mine. And he guards his own with a jealous love. He says, I'll never let you go. Jealousy is cruel as a grave. You know, a grave, you can go out here to all of these graves, and I don't know of one that has ever given up anybody that's been claimed by the grave.
When that person was buried, that was the last you saw them, and that grave is never going to give them up until the Lord Jesus Christ comes. Jealousy is cruel as the grave. God is never going to give up any of his own. Lord Jesus, we sing to tell of thy love our souls shall forever delight, and sing of thy glory in above in praises by day and by night. Wherever we follow thee, Lord, admiring, adoring, we see that love which was stronger than death flow out without limit and free. Jealousy is cruel as the grave.
You know, sometimes earthly friends fail or leave us, they give us up, or we give them up. There was a blind poet in Scotland years ago, his name was George Matheson. He was going blind, and he told his fiancée that he was going blind, and they had planned to marry, but after she learned he was going blind, she turned him down, and she said, I didn't want to be married to a blind man. Years later, he wrote, and I'm sure he had in mind what he had felt when his earthly love had deserted him.
And he wrote concerning a much greater love. Oh, love that will not let me go. I rest my weary soul on thee. I have loved thee, God said. I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Look back as far as you like in the eternal past. God set his love upon the sons of men. I have loved thee with an everlasting love, a love that will not let his own go. Because you see, there's something that I want, there's something that you want, there's something that everybody wants. They say that coming in, when a person comes into this world, there's an invisible sign written on every human breast.
Love me. I want to be loved. I want to know that there's someone who cares. Our son Keith was telling us some weeks ago he was up at West Palm Beach preaching, and there was a fellow that was mentally retarded a little bit, and he noticed all the time he was speaking, he was smiling very broadly, and he was speaking on a very serious subject. And after the meeting, he walked up to this young man, and he said something like this, May I ask a question? He said, what is it? Why doesn't anybody hug me?
Why doesn't anybody hug me? He wanted to be loved. He wanted to know that there was someone who cared. Ah, says the writer here. He says that God's love is just like a most vehement flame. You can't put it out. Many waters cannot quench it. He says, neither can the floods drown it. It can never be put out. You know, you can go out of this life unsaved, but you can never go out of this life unloved.
For this applies to you and to me. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should never, should not perish, but have everlasting life. You can never extinguish God's love. You can't put it out. You can't make God hate you. God hates your sin. God loves a sinner. You can't make God hate you. Booker T. Washington, the great Negro educator, said, I will not permit any man to make me hate him, and God will not permit any man to make him hate him.
You may go out of this life unsaved. Let me assure you'll never go out unloved. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. The Bible says God will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. Then the writer here tells us you can't purchase the love of God. He says the floods can't drown it, and if a man would give all the substance, everything that he has for love, it would only be condemned. You can't buy it. All your praying, all your giving, all your church going, all you're trying to do the best you can.
You can never purchase God's love. In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, there's a church that was built with two million dollars many years ago of Andrew Mellon's money, and the popular name for it in Pittsburgh is Mellon's Fire Escape. Let me tell you, you can't buy your way out of hell. You can give all your money to the church, and it has absolutely nothing to do with your soul's salvation. I was in one of the islands of the Bahamas earlier this year, and a brother there was telling me this. A man came up to him, he had a little piece of, uh, waterfront property. He says, I'll give you one hundred thousand dollars for it. He said, it's not for sale.
He says, I'll give you hundred and fifty thousand dollars for it. He says, it's not for sale. He says, I'm keeping it for my children. And God's love is not for sale. You know what he's doing with it? He's keeping it for his children. The Father himself loveth you, and throughout unending eternity, God is going to lavish his love upon his own. He can't be bribed. You can't purchase it, but oh, praise God, you can have his love that cost him everything for absolutely nothing.
All that you've ever earned from your life is nothing but death and judgment. The wages of sin is death, and after death, the judgment. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Let me ask you tonight, would you be just simple enough to take God at his word, to believe what he says. That the moment you trust his son as savior, you have everlasting life. He that has the son hath life, and he that hath not the son of God hath not life.
You may have many, many things, but if you don't have Christ, you know what you really have? You've got nothing, because this world is a wilderness. There's nothing here that lasts apart from the love of God. But if you have that, you have everything. And you can say with the scripture, if God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Yes, there's salvation in Christ, there's security in Christ, and there's satisfaction in Christ.
He reveals himself to our hearts as we journey homeward, and the Bible tells us that in the ages to come, he will show to us the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. It will take God all eternity to show to you and me the riches of his love, so amazing, so divine, that brought the Son of God from the realms of eternal glory to a cross of shame in order that you might be one of those who would share forever in the triumph of his grace.
May God help you tonight, if you're not saved, to believe the record that God has given of his son and to know with assurance when you leave this room tonight, yes, I'm not leaning on my own strength. I've been doing that long enough. I've tried the broken systems, boy, but now I'm leaning on you, leaning on the everlasting arms. You will discover that he'll keep you by his power, and he'll keep you by his love, for he is able. He is able to save to the very end all that come unto God by him. Will you come to him? And if you come tonight, you be assured of this, he says, him that comes to me, I will in no wise cast out.
Shall we pray? Our Father, we thank thee for the marvelous story of the gospel. We know that all of us here probably have heard it many, many times before, and yet perhaps we've never really heard it. We've never really truly applied it to our own deed. But Lord, we pray that through thy spirit, through the word, we may recognize indeed that the world through which we're passing is a wilderness, that the things which are seen are temporal, and to lay hold an eternal life for the things which are not seen are eternal, to simply by faith trust the Savior and know with assurance that we have that life which is everlasting, that life that satisfies the longing soul.
Bless thy word, we pray, as we commit it to thee, and we pray if there's one here tonight without the Savior, they may indeed not only trust him, but let us know that they have trusted him so that we may rejoice with them. We seek thy blessing and thy precious word now in our Savior's worthy name. Amen. Shall we sing in closing the hymn number one hundred and ninety eight? One hundred and ninety eight.