It’s Love In Salvation From Start To Finish

Temple Baptist Church - 8-24-2008

Song of Solomon 2:1-7

Introduction:

A. I fear that we have seen salvation in an unbiblical light in most of our lives. We do not see the whole picture because we are obsessed with living in this present world. The Bible says that dying is gain and I am glad that Heaven is going to be beyond our most wonderful expectation. We cannot comprehend with our wildest dreams what Heaven is going to be like.

1 Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

B. The Bible also says that Christ is our life here.

Colossians 3:4 When Christ, [who is] our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

1. Salvation is much more than just being saved from Hell and going to Heaven

2. Salvation is much more than being forgiven and our load of guilt removed.

3. Salvation is much more than just the blessings of the life through Christ

4. Salvation is a blessed, intimate relationship with the Lord of the universe who is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscience.

C. Salvation is being under the loving umbrella of God’s providence, provision, and protection.

D. Salvation is experiencing the very Person of our Lord Jesus Christ with all that He can offer!

Psalms 103:1-5 Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. 2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: 3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; 4 Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; 5 Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

E. In these verses that we have read tonight, we see the life of the Christian from Calvary to the Rapture. I do not want to look at the physical blessings of our salvation here as much as I do the spiritual.

1. The Lord Cleanses Me – vs. 1 “the lily”

a. Positionally, we are without spot or blemish! Absolute sinless perfection! Faultless!

1 John 3:5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.

Romans 4:8 Blessed [is] the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.

b. Because of the sinfulness of our flesh, cleansing is a daily task based upon our confession and Christ’s faithfulness.

Isaiah 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (Spiritual cleansing is greater than our daily physical blessings.)

2. The Lord Protects Me – vs. 4

a. He certainly protects me physically - Proverbs 3:24 When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet.

b. He also protects me spiritually - Psalms 91:1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. (We are no match for demonic power! It is the Lord that keeps us safe in our spiritual warfare.)

3. The Lord Loves Me – vs. 4 (We will spend much time on this subject in the Song of Solomon.)

a. He loves me for who I am - Romans 8:35-39 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? [shall] tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

b. He loves me for who I shall be - 1 John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

4. The Lord Upholds Me – vs. 5, 6a,

a. He upholds me when I fail - 2 Timothy 2:13 If we believe not, [yet] he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.

Psalms 78:38-39 But he, [being] full of compassion, forgave [their] iniquity, and destroyed [them] not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath. 39 For he remembered that they [were but] flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again. (uphold or sustain me when my strength fails)

b. He upholds me when my strength is gone - 2 Corinthians 12:10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

5. The Lord Comforts Me – vs. 5-6

a. He comforts me in sorrows - 1 Peter 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

b. He comforts me in tribulations - 2 Corinthians 1:4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

6. The Satisfies Me – vs. 7 (I want the Lord to come but I will abide satisfied in the mean time.)

a. He satisfies my living - Isaiah 58:11 And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.

b. He satisfies my longing - Psalms 17:15 As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.