Song of Solomon 2:14-15

teaching a little bit from the book of Song of Solomon each time. So I direct your attention once again to the Song of Solomon chapter 2 verses 14 and 15. So on the Song of Solomon chapter 2 verses 14 and 15. O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance. Let me hear thy voice. For sweet is thy voice and thy countenance is comely. Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines, for our vines have tender grapes. Now, as we saw the previous study, Christ compares his bride here to a dove. A dove is innocent and harmless in nature. It’s beautiful. There’s a lot of fearfulness and timidness about doves. Doves have a mournful spirit. We read about mourning like a dove. And a dove has a spirit-inspired character. And remember the Spirit of God, descended in the form of a dove upon Christ. And so it would speak of being spirit-filled, spirit-born, if you would. And the Lord speaks about the bride’s frightening state, hiding itself in its own shelter up there on the clefts of the rock, at quite a distance from Christ. So Christ calls to his bride to let me see thy countenance, draw close to me, even face to me. to face and let me hear your voice in prayer and in praise which leads us the verse 15 a necessary step in drawing close to the Lord let’s look at the meaning of the allegory here the vines the vines the vines here refer to the visible well it refers to the visible church which is often compared to a vineyard in the first or in Isaiah 5, 1 to 7. In Matthew 21, 33, 39, the church is spoken of as a vineyard. Particular believers are the various vines which grow in God’s vineyard, the men of Judah, his pleasant plant, Isaiah 5, 7. And remember what Christ said about those vines, there’s branches that didn’t bring forth fruit, they get cut off and and thrown into the fire. So within the visible church, God has his elect people. The men of Judah here have mentioned. The ones in whom the Lord took the light, they are his pleasant plant. Jacob, whom I have chosen, Isaiah 41 8. So, that’s what the vines are. Now, the foxes here, and when we think about foxes, in Palestine, foxes were very prevalent. And from my studies, it seems that foxes were very fond of grapes. And so they would dig holes in the vineyard. There would burrow in the vineyard, and they would, if they were not controlled, they would destroy a whole vineyards. And so they were a great nuisance. So here they represent anything which harms or ruins the development of Christian graces in your life, the grapes that are grown. Hence, Jesus calls King Herod, a fox, because he was an enemy of the people of God. Our text indicates the need them to guard against sin, even the little sins that would spoil the grapes or the graces which are growing by the work of the spirit in your life. You may not realize how trifling sins, at least in our estimate, undermine spiritual development. Tender grapes are spiritual fruit that’s just starting to develop. And so it needs cultivated to bring them maturity. So he says, get rid of these even the little foxes. They’re nuisance. So this is the meaning of the elder war. Now the duty required. Take us the foxes, it says. Now, it’s important in order to maintain fellowship with Christ that we do this. We take the foxes. Remember your sins have separated between you and your God and sins have hit his face from you, Isaiah 59 2. So we have to be careful about this. Now, I like it says us here, because that implies that Christ is going to help us to mortify the sin in our life. You know, it is difficult to mortify. my sin. But he promises to help us here and enable us to put sin to death. To take these foxes is that sin must be seized and put to death. It must not be allowed to run free and do damage to the tender grapes, the growing graces. Now, we sort of have to be like Samson. You remember in the story of Samson, one of the interesting things about him is at one point he captured 300 foxes, tied their tails together, put a torch between their tails and let them loose that they might burn down the crops of the Philistines. While he was gathering the foxes. Now, he had a different purpose than we do, but here the spiritual idea is to put, you know, take the boxes, capture them, get rid of them. And we must not be like Lot. Now, in the Old Testament, remember when God was going to destroy the cities of the plain, and there were five cities, he was going to wipe out entirely. We often talk about Sodom and Gomor, but there were other smaller cities that were also included. And Lot pleads with the Lord, despair, one of these wicked cities, that he and his family could stay there. And so he’s saying, you know, it’s just a little, well, I’d save this one. And what I’m saying this morning is the Bible says, no, you can’t spare even the little foxes. You have to get rid of all of them. Don’t be like lot. We can’t tolerate evil just because it’s not a glaring evil and enjoy fellowship with Jesus Christ. Well, let’s close with this thought. The Lord’s Supper is a special time of fellowship with Christ. We get the feast with him at the king’s table, the royal table, so to speak. You should prepare yourself for such an occasion. Let a man examine himself. So let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. There is an examination that is required of us as the people of God. And part of that examination is take us the foxes, right? Let’s, you know, with Christ help, confess known sin, repent of it. Know that it would be no hindrance to your fellowship with Jesus Christ. No spoiling of the development of your spiritual graces. Christ wants you to fellowship with him, as verse 14 indicates. He wants to hear your voice. He wants to see your face. So you have to mortify that which would hinder that fellowship. I like what the psalmist says in Psalm 139.23. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. And see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. That’s a good prayer for preparation for communion. Is it not? Well, let us close with a word of prayer and then we’ll go to the table this morning. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this opportunity to be at your table. I pray for each one here, Father, that our hearts would be right with you, that we could take of the supper. We don’t claim worthiness, Father. But we do claim that you’ve invited us. And we do claim, Father, that we desire to fellowship with you. We pray, Father, that we could do so this morning. And that our sins may be put behind us. and we be acceptable in your sight through our Savior, Jesus Christ. And in His name we pray, with Thanksgiving.