Let's continue to worship our God this morning by opening His Word. This morning, I encourage you to turn in your Bibles to Song of Solomon, chapter 8. Song of Solomon, chapter 8. And I will be reading in your hearing verses 8 through 14. And while you're turning there, let me just say that this is the last sermon in our series on the Song of Solomon. I hope that it has been profitable for you on both horizons, both the horizon of your marriage and also of our relationship to Christ. And I just want to announce that, Lord willing, next Lord's Day we will start an exposition of the gospel according to Matthew. So that's the direction we're going just in time for Christmas. We're gonna get those Christmas narratives right in before Christmastime and then another on our Christmas Eve service. So we do invite you to come to our Christmas Eve service as we celebrate the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Well hopefully you found Song of Solomon chapter eight. I'm gonna read in your hearing verses eight through 14. So listen carefully for this is the word of the living God. We have a little sister, and she has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister on the day when she is spoken for? If she is a wall, we will build on her a battlement of silver. But if she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar. I was a wall, and my breasts were like towers. Then I was in his eyes as one who finds peace. Solomon had a vineyard at Baal Hamon. He led out the vineyard to keepers. Each one was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver. My vineyard, my very own, is before me. You, O Solomon, may have the thousand and the keepers of the fruit two hundred. Oh, you who dwell in the gardens with companions listening for your voice, let me hear it. Make haste, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices. Thus far the reading of God's word, the grass withers and the flower falls, but the word of our Lord stands forever, and we are grateful for it. Would you bow your heads with me as we ask the Lord for help in the ministry of the word this morning. Father God, what a delight it has been this morning to worship You, the triune God, in the presence of your people, lifting up our voices in unison, showing forth our corporate solidarity as we flesh out this privilege of the new covenant that is union with Christ. Lord, as we wrap up this study of the Song of Solomon, I pray once again that you would help us to hear the voice of your Son in it as he speaks from Zion. Help us to apply it first to our marriages where that applies. Help us to apply it in our marriage and devotion, our exclusive devotion to Jesus Christ on that second horizon. And Father, we just pray that your Son is glorified and magnified in the preaching of your word this morning. We ask these things in Christ's name. In our last section, specifically in verse 6, we saw that love is as strong as death, love is as fierce as the grave, passion more specifically, and then it said that its flashes are flashes of fire. Love is a flame of Yahweh. And we've seen that God is love. Love is not a part of what God is. God is love itself. And we as image bearers, we reflect that love in different relationships, of course, and one of those, of course, is in the relationship of the marriage. But one of the things we've seen throughout the study of love in the Song of Solomon is that love is emotional, love is spiritual, Love is psychological, but love is also physical. And the Shulamite kept herself for her husband. In fact, there is another section that we covered where it spoke of the Shulamite, her body, which gave love to her husband, which saved love for her husband, and it was described as a locked garden. a locked garden which had a purpose of giving love exclusively to her lover. She was a garden locked. And love has been put on display in all its glories, but throughout there have been refrains in this book of warnings with respect to love as well. You see, unfortunately, in this post-fall world, love can be perverted, love can be twisted, and love can be distorted. What never gets talked about in the mainstream media or analysis of the world is that much, if not all, of gender dysphoria, homosexuality, and all the letters that go with that description of people is a result of people being exposed at a young age to a perversion of love. And having been exposed to this perversion of love, listen, they grow up with a twisted and warped view of love, and that twisted and warped view of love, I'm talking about a physical manifestation of it, becomes the default and the definition of what love is. It is tragic. It is extremely heartbreaking. Many of you know that for many years I served as a child care counselor in a group home for at-risk kids, each of which had been physically abused by their either parents or family members, and all the other abuses that go with it that I won't descend into. And the kinds of psychological reservations, the kinds of emotional problems, the kinds of fights that they had, the kinds of ways in which they even preyed on each other, physically and sexually, was a result of their skewed view of the physical display of love that was imposed upon them. And you know, our Lord had very, very strong words for such predators. Our Lord had very strong words for anyone who would take, I don't say this in a theologically pure way, but in a sociological construct, the innocence of a child and pervert it with sexual perversion. He says, whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea, he goes on to say. Woe to the world for temptations to sin, for it is necessary that temptations come." In other words, that's the world we live in. They're going to come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes. A perverted view of love doesn't have to lead to a violation of the natural order, And that's often what happens, a violation or a misrepresentation of love early on will cause a young boy or a young girl when they grow up to think that it's normal for them to be attracted to the same sex. Or it's normal for them to think that though they were born biologically as a male, that they can identify as a female. But it doesn't always manifest itself that way. Sometimes it manifests itself in how we choose our spouses. Sometimes it manifests itself in how we think our spouse should treat us. And we see this a lot in the counseling office when it comes to marriage, it's a very sad thing. So in the end of the book, we have here a warning. This section, beloved, is not so much dealing with how husbands should treat wives and how wives should treat husbands. Listen, it's a warning to future generations who would choose a spouse. It is a warning about what to do with their love, the physical manifestation of love, intercourse, sex, covenantal pleasures that should happen only in the covenant context and boundaries of marriage. It is a warning to keep that garden pure. It is a warning to keep that fount and that river and that flow pure. It is a call to be exclusive in your love. And so this morning I give a call, not simply to the young who have not married, but even those who are married, to keep that physical love exclusive. For we are not foolish and nor are we ignorant of the schemes of Satan, that he will do what he can to provoke the world, the flesh, and the devil to stir up within us a desire to pervert and pollute this fountain of love that the Lord has given to us. So what we see this morning is a warning about how we handle love. And it's given to future generations and those who are already married. And really it is a continuation of those adorations or oaths that the Shulamite would put the daughters of Jerusalem under to not arouse love, not to awaken love, not to stir up love until love is itself aroused. So, what is the problem? I want to draw your attention to verse 8, and I know that on the surface, especially with reading this text in the cultural lenses that we have today, it can be immediately confusing, so I want to try to disabuse you of what it doesn't mean and explain what it does mean. In verse 8, we have a problem. The Shulamite is speaking here, the wife, she's already married to Solomon, but she's addressing her brothers. And we know that she has brothers because in chapter one, verse six, it says that her brothers were angry at her, and we'll actually come back to that later. But she's speaking to her brothers about a family problem. And here's the family problem. She and the brothers have a little sister. and her sister is young. She is not mature. She is not nubile. She has not reached an age of and for marriage. She is not matured yet. We see that in verse 8 when it says that she has no breasts. And then the question, what shall we do for our sister on the day when she is spoken for, really carries with it the implication, how do we prepare our sister, and listen, guard our sister so that she remains pure on the day that she is married. And I want you to understand that this open talk of having no breasts was not inappropriate in the ancient Near Eastern context. God describes Israel as a female child from infancy to maturity, and he describes her through the prophet Ezekiel in chapter 16 as one who became tall, arrived at a full adornment, and whose breasts were formed. This is just a very common way for people in the ancient Near East to talk about the rites of passage that a woman goes through. So the concern is this, the problem is this, the challenge is this. How do we keep her chaste? How do we keep her pure? And the answer comes from the brothers in verse 9. And boys and girls, I gave you a coloring sheet. It has three things on it. It has a wall, it has a door, and it has a set of eyes. And when you get home, I want you to tell your mommy and your daddy which one you want to be. Do you want to be a wall or do you want to be a door? and then the reason why is because of the eyes. So I want you to have that conceptual framework in your mind as you think about the message this morning. The answer comes from the brothers in response to the Shulamites' question in verse 8. They say in verse 9, If she is a wall, we will build on her a battlement of silver, but if she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar." Now, before we get to what this means, I want to answer a question that you may have in your mind. Why is she addressing the brothers? Why isn't she addressing the mom and the dad? Well, it's not as if the mom and the dad don't have a say. pairing this little sister with her future husband. But again, in the ancient Near East, it was just as much the responsibility of the brothers to protect the virginity and the purity and the chastity of their younger sisters as it was the father of the home. And I just wanna give you a few examples of that. When you think, you don't need to turn there, but in Genesis 24, you remember that when Eleazar, the servant of Abraham, went out to find Isaac a wife, he went to go find Rebekah, When he came to the land where she dwelled, he spoke with Laban as they negotiated the terms. Well, I don't know if you remember this, but Laban was not Rebekah's father. Rebekah's father was Bethuel, but Laban was her brother. And as you recall, Laban was very much involved in the negotiations for Rebekah's hand. We also see in chapter 34, When Shechem violated Dinah, or Dinah, however you want to say it, it was Dinah's brothers, the sons of Jacob, together with Jacob, who spoke with Shechem's father, Hamor, about how the matter was going to be adjudicated. So it was not uncommon for brothers in the ancient Near East to be tasked with the responsibility and the obligation to guard the chastity of their sister. But now let's talk about this business of wall and door. First thing I want you to note is that wall and door are two different things. This isn't two different ways to talk about the same thing. These are two antithetical dispositions. These are two different postures, sexually if you will, that a young maiden can take. So what is a wall? Well, first let me tell you what it does not refer to because I think when you heard this read, your mind may have gone back to junior high bantering as females were made fun of. This does not refer to the little sister's breasts or lack thereof. not referring to her lack of maturity, no. This word in the Hebrew for wall is a very specific word. There were a few different words in Hebrew, at least in the Old Testament, that were used to describe walls. This word specifically was used to describe a city wall, a wall that was part of a fortification, a wall that was meant to keep unwanted people and guests and visitors and enemies out. So, it speaks of keeping people out. In other words, it speaks of her being a wall in the sense that until the time comes, she does not let unwanted suitors Men who want something that is not theirs to have it, but she will keep them out. She will keep them out by her virtue, she will keep them out by her self-discipline, she will keep them out by her self-control, and she will enlist her family, if need be, to help her do that. In fact, in 1 Samuel 25, 16, the author speaks of David's mighty men, metaphorically speaking, as a wall in how they protected Nabal's shepherds. And you might even think of Proverbs 25, 28 that speaks of a wall in the way that it is being used here. Proverbs 25, 28, a man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls. And so the young maiden is thought of if she takes the path of virtue, if she takes the path of wisdom, if she keeps herself exclusively for her husband so that the first time that wall is entered into, as it were, it is a welcome entrance, it is a blessed covenantal entrance that is sanctioned by God. So this language is speaking about her chastity. And what is the result? If she is a wall, the text says, they will place a battlement of silver upon her." Now, what does that mean? Well, it means if she is a wall, that is to say she firmly and successfully withstands all immoral approaches, then they will adorn this wall with a battlement of silver. That is, they will bestow upon her the high honor which is due to her maidenly purity and firmness. It could also refer to silver that would be given as a dowry when she's given in marriage. So is she a wall? If she is a wall, if she is pure, if she is chaste, then we will give her over on that day to her husband with high honor. But on the other hand, what if she is a door? Now what does it mean that she is a door? Well, in short, it means that she is promiscuous. It means that she awakens love before it is aroused. What do doors do? Doors allow access. It does not keep people out, it allows them in. And in fact, not only do some of the Hebrew lexicons speak of a door in this way, used metaphorically, for that is certainly how it is being used here, but we also have ancient Near Eastern parallels. For example, in the Gilgamesh epic, On tablet six, paragraphs 33 through 35, Gilgamesh insults Ishtar by reminding her of all her past lovers and calls her a backdoor. She is promiscuous. She lets unwanted company and unsanctioned company in. So, if she is a door, that is, if she is accessible to seduction, they will enclose this door around with cedar plank. That is to say, they will watch her in such a manner that no seducer or lover will be able to approach her. They will limit her freedoms. They will watch her like a hawk. This is what it means if she is a door. So I want you to notice that her brothers are going to restrict her freedom for her own protection if she seems to be too easygoing and too susceptible to all and any who might attempt to woo her. Now let me just give on, we can call this the first horizon, let me just give a, brief exhortation to brothers here in this congregation who have sisters, who have a little sister, a sister who is developing, a sister who perhaps has been developed, as it were, has gone through the rites of passage, and a sister who one day hopes to give her hand in marriage to a man. Brothers, it is your responsibility. I would say, I would submit to you to help her reach that goal. It is of concern to you. It is something that you should be looking out for. And one of the things, brothers, that you should also be doing is modeling before her the kind of man that she should look for. Now listen to me, especially some of you younger brothers. Some of you younger brothers, you make fun of your sister, you pull her hair, you irritate her, you pester her. Listen, I want you to understand what you're doing. I want you to understand, she in some sense, whether you realize it or not, looks up to you. And if she looks up to you, she will possibly look for similar characteristics in her husband. Now here's my question. Brothers, do you want a husband who is going to treat her like dirt? No. You want a husband for her who is going to treat her with honor and respect. Well, guess what that means for you little brothers? It means that you need to begin to show honor and respect to your sister, whether she is older or whether she is younger. You, together with your father, listen, are modeling masculinity to her. Now, you're a model whether you like it or not. The question is, are you a good model or are you a lousy model? And as we come to the table, brothers, maybe there's some confession to your little sister that you need to give. And I would encourage and exhort you lovingly to do that. I remember how I was to my sister, and I remember that I'd cause undue harm and pain. I know little brothers that when maybe you mix it up with your friends at school, and they talk about how they treat their sisters, maybe their sisters even at school, and you see how their brothers treat their sisters, and you think, oh, that's what boys do, that's what men do. No, it's not what men do, it's what children do. The question is, do you wanna be a child, or do you wanna be a man? Do you wanna be a little boy, or do you want to be the kind of man that your sister would marry. Well, I want you to notice also, as this problem is solved by the brothers, at least conceptually and theoretically, I want you to notice as we move on to verse 10, that we're coming back to the voice of the Shulamite. So in verse eight, the Shulamite asks the question to the brothers, what do we do with our sister? In verse nine, the brothers answer it and they have a plan. And now, I want you to notice in verse 10, that really what we read is of the good conscience of the Shulamite. She says this. I was a wall and my breasts were like towers. Then I was in his eyes as one who finds peace." And what is she saying here? She's saying, I was a wall in my youth. She's reflecting back on when she was the little sister, you see. I was a wall in my youth, meaning I was one whose character and disposition was impregnable in letting others in who should not be there. I did not let them in who sought to come in without honor before love was aroused, before the time when covenantal love was set in motion. My breasts were like towers." This is really another way of saying she was a wall. That is, access was not given to them, but instead they were guarded, they were kept pure, and they were preserved for her husband Solomon. It could well have been described as a war in which she engaged, and no doubt our young ladies daily are engaged and conscripted, as it were, in a war for their virginity, in a war for their purity, and that war begins not with what they do with their bodies, it begins in their minds and their hearts. But now she's given her love to Solomon, and so in some sense that war is over. I was in his eyes, she says, as one who finds peace. Now that word peace, that word peace in Hebrew is shalom. And that word shalom is a beautiful word. It's not simply a word that means peace like you would hear off the lips of a hippie. It's a word that means completeness. It's a word that means wholeness. It's a word that means the way things are supposed to be. And listen to me, young people. The way things are supposed to be by God's design is that you give your body, you give your love to one. You give it to your husband, you give it to your wife, and you guard it with all of your might. and all of your faculties, and all of your wisdom, and you conscript all of the help of your mother, and your father, and your brothers, and your sisters, and yay, even the church to help you build up that wall so that you can enter into marriage, listen, the way it was supposed to be. God intended for you to give that most sacred gift of sex. It's a beautiful thing within the covenant boundaries of marriage. It's something to be entered into with joy. It's something to take pleasure in. It's not simply for procreation. It is for procreation. That is a goal, but that is not the only goal. God wants his creatures to enter into the joy of sexual intercourse, it really is. a wonderful manifestation of love. And God wants that to be pure. It's not just the physical dimension that he wants you to take joy in. Listen, he wants your conscience to be consonant with the act itself. And your conscience can be consonant with the act itself if you go into that marriage bed with a clear conscience, this is the only man or this is the only woman with whom I have shared this precious gift. But in another sense, though the Shulamite said, I was a wall, she continues to be a wall in this sense, that there are still men, especially her. She was a very beautiful and attractive woman. We see this in Solomon's descriptions of her. As a modern day poet would say, she's easy on the eyes, and because she's easy on the eyes, there are men whose eyes she is easy upon, and men, therefore, who want to take her. men who want to prey on her and she must be a wall to them. So, do you want to find love If you want to find it, you need to find shalom. You need to find shalom or wholeness or completeness in the marriage bed with your husband and not the eyes of an imposter. You want to be pleasing, you want to find peace in his eyes. We must freely give our love to our beloved. Now I want you to look at verse 11. Look 11. Solomon had a vineyard at Baal Hamon. He led out the vineyard to keepers, each one was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver. My vineyard, my very own, is before me. You, O Solomon, may have the thousand and the keepers of the fruit two hundred. My vineyard, my very own, is before you. And you, Solomon, may have the thousand and the keeper of the fruit, 200. Now, what's going on here? Basically, Solomon had an arrangement between himself and the sharecroppers, because Solomon didn't actually go out and do all the work of the vineyards. He had all this land, he had all these vineyards, so he would cooperate with sharecroppers, and he would lease them the land and they would work it. And then the sharecroppers would pay Solomon 1,000 shekels for the use of the land, and probably keep whatever is left. And in verse 12, there's an insinuation there that that was typically around 200 shekels. So the sharecroppers were bound to pay this price because the land was Solomon's. But in contrast to that, the Shulamite had her own vineyard, and there's double entendre going on here. Remember that in chapter one, verse six, She said, my mother's sons were mad at me and made me keep their vineyard, and I didn't keep my own. So there is some literal history here, you need to be careful, but she seemed to have her own vineyard, but then later, later in the book, she talks about her body as her vineyard. And so there's double entendre, there's double meaning going on here. She physically has her own vineyard, And then she has her body as a vineyard. And notice in verse 12, what does she do? Unlike the sharecroppers who enter into a contractual agreement where they have to do, she willingly gives her vineyard over to her husband. She willingly gives it over. She's free to do what she wants with it, and she willingly gives it to Solomon. This is a marriage, a picture of what happens in marriage. She's free to care for her own vineyard. It's hers and at her disposal. And so this is probably what was going on in chapter eight, verse seven, where she talked about love can't be bought. She's expressing that as she freely gives her love to Solomon in the context of marriage. And that's probably why the brothers were angry at her. Whereas she could have charged Solomon, she freely gave it. So, let me draw out some application here. I've given some application on the first horizon. Let me just give one more. There is a sense in which the marriage covenant is enacted through sexual intercourse. Now, there's a bit of a complicated relationship, but in the old covenant, there's a sense in which One who gave themselves over sexually to a person was entering into marriage, and this is why idolatry was often described as whoring after other gods. The problem is that Israel was supposed to be exclusively married to Yahweh, but they were worshiping under every green tree, meaning they were setting up shrines all over the land and whoring out the land. That image, dear people of God, is meant to have a very earthy parallel in our bodies. Our bodies are to be kept pure for our husbands and wives. We've kind of lost this concept of cleanness and uncleanness from the old covenant, and some of that is because some of those rites and rituals of the old covenant are certainly passed away, but there still remains this moral Cleanness and immoral uncleanness, and who we give ourselves to in the bed. And I just want to urge each and every one of you, especially those who are looking for a spouse, be careful with playing with fire. Remember that Shulamite said, love is like a flame. Love is like a flame. One of the conversations that young people will often have with each other when they're dating is, how far can I go? How far can I go and it not be sin? What can I do? What can I get away from, get away with? Let me submit this to you. If you're asking that question, you're asking the wrong question. Instead of saying, how close to the fire can I get without being burned? Remember the proverb, can a man take fire to his chest and his clothes not be burned? Don't play with fire. You see, God has given you high optimal hormones at this point in your life. They are very strong. They can be very lethal. And they can lead you, it was your decision, but they can lead you to make a decision that you will regret. And in a moment I will talk, yes, there is forgiveness for that, but I don't want to underscore this. That decision can't be taken back. It can't be taken back. And you will have a regret. And you will go into a marriage with problems that you never imagined, trust me. I see it in counseling. I see it in premarital counseling, and then I see it in counseling in people who have already been married who are still 10, 12, 15, 20 years later dealing with the sexual sins before their vows. They have a way of spreading their tentacles into the marriage and casting a looming shadow over the marriage. So be careful. Your life is before you, your vineyard is yours. It is yours to do what you want with it. Will you honor the Lord with it? And will your husband and will your wife be the first one to eat of its delicacies or will they be taking a number and waiting in line? But now spiritually, I wanna turn your attention to 2 Corinthians chapter 11 and I would ask you to turn there as we close out this morning. 2 Corinthians 11, let's talk about now our spiritual virginity, and yes, that is a thing in the Bible. 2 Corinthians chapter 11. Paul says this, verse 1, 2 Corinthians 11, verse 1, I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness, do bear with me, verse 2, for I feel a divine jealousy for you since I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we have proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you have received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough, What is Paul getting at here? I want you to understand Paul takes the posture not only of an apostle, but as a pastor to the souls of his people. And I want you to notice also that Paul is not saying, you know what, I just as a pastor, I just as an apostle, I just have authority over your spiritual life. But I don't have any business or jurisdiction to talk about what you do with your body. Poppycock. We are psychosomatic beings. We are spirit and body beings. You're not a body that has a soul. You are a body that is a soul. Body and soul, both components in one. You cannot separate them. Only the Lord can do that when he takes your body and puts your soul into the intermediate state. Until then, our exhortation as pastors has concerned just as much for your spiritual life as it does for your physical. So let me say this, beloved, whether you are married or not, yes, your pastors have a right to ask if you're keeping yourself pure. We have a right. And not only do we have a right, I want you to notice that it's a concern of ours. It was a concern of Paul. He even expressed it in the words of fear. And I understand that language. I understand that language as I see young men and young women sometimes making horrible mistakes. Horrible mistakes with the people they choose to hang out with. Paul had something to say about that. Bad company corrupts good morals. Make no mistake. Birds of a feather flock together. If you're around snakes, you're probably going to be a snake. I know I mixed metaphors there, but it is what it is. But I'd also say this, what happens physically is often a picture of what happens spiritually. If you are giving yourself in an impure way and damaging or even giving up your virginity, those types of decisions will have a counterbalance, not a counterbalance, but a counterpart in your spiritual decisions. You need to be devoted to one and one only, and that is Christ. But notice he says here, he says, I want to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. Now, of course, he is speaking spiritually here, but what does this mean? It means that you are to be exclusively Christ and none others. In your thoughts and in your actions, your dispositions and your words, Christ is to be your husband. Christ is to be all in all. Christ is to be the one that you seek to honor with your body and your soul. But Revelation also presents us as virgins, that is, those who wear white robes. How is it possible for those who were not virgins when they got married to be described in Revelation as those who have white robes? How is that possible? Well, I want you to take you back to the problem and the solution of the Shulamite and her brothers. They said, if she is a door, if she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar. Now, what you need to understand is that when every Israelite went into the temple or the temple complex, what is the first thing that they smelled? They smelled the scent of cedar because the temple was bedecked with cedar. And so what does cedar wood, cedar plank, cedar board speak of here? It isn't necessarily a punishment. It is an offer of gracious forgiveness, you see. What happened at the temple, atonement was made. What happened at the temple, forgiveness was offered. And there are those of you here this morning that did not enter into your marriage as a virgin. And you may think or perhaps it has been said to you that you are damaged goods. Perhaps there are self-righteous Pharisees in the church that think that you are undone. Think that it can never be redeemed. And I just wonder at people like that if they've ever heard the blessed news of the gospel. The fact of the matter is, is whether you went into your marriage as a virgin or not, whether you forfeited that, or even in your marriage, if you violated the seventh commandment, there is forgiveness. You can be enclosed with planks of cedar in the temple, in the wood of the cross of Jesus Christ. He will cover your sins with His precious blood and robe you with His righteousness. So beloved, this is not law, this is gospel. He will enclose you with the cedar of forgiveness. Beloved, if you have sinned and you are no longer a virgin, Christ still accepts you through repentance and faith. Through repentance and faith. What if you are spiritually not a virgin? Well, none of us are spiritually virgin. None of you. Anyone who thinks that they are really and truly a spiritual virgin are walking around in Rome when they think that the declaration of justification is real. No, it's forensic. You know what that means? God is imputing to us what we aren't really in reality. We're not really pure. We're not really clean. We're wretched. But God gives us the righteousness of a son. He purifies us with his sacrificial blood. And because he does that, we can see the blessedness of the gospel. So God has made all of those who repent of their sins and believe in Jesus Christ to be virgins. And this is why in verses 13 and 14, I come back now to 13 in Song of Solomon. Oh, you who dwell on the gardens with companions listening for your voice, let me hear it. What's going on here? Solomon calls those who are in the garden to listen to the Beloved's voice. This simply means that all attention is fixed on her. He regards her as the center of attention because that is what she is to him. But what does that mean for us? So also, Christ tells all the world, all the companions of the world, to listen to the voice of the Beloved. Why? The voice of the Beloved, the voice of the church, is where the world hears the voice of Christ. The voice of the church, both institutionally and organically. Institutionally, as the gospel is preached every Lord's Day, and organically as you go out into your vocations and you spread the fragrant aroma of the gospel, it is there in the voice of the beloved that the world hears the voice of Christ. And that's why he says, listen to her. And then verse 14, make haste, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices. This is the Shulamite to her beloved, and it's fitting that the song would end like this, because this is how Revelation ends. Basically, the Shulamite is saying, hurry up and get here. Hurry up and get here, my beloved. And this is what John says in Revelation 22, 17. The spirit and the bride say what? Come. And let the one who has ears say, come. And let the one who is thirsty, come. Let the one who desires take the water of life without price. We desire to see those clouds break and see Christ, our beloved, coming down with the water of forgiveness, and we will know it better then than we've ever known it now, beloved, because we will see then Christ as he really is, and we will be with him forever. So this morning, I call each of you, whether you are a physical virgin or whether you think you're a spiritual virgin, we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Come to the waters of forgiveness. Come to the cedars and the planks of the temple. Come to the wood of the cross. Bow the knee to Jesus through faith and you shall be saved. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you for the gospel and this blessed song. I pray, Father, that we would come back to it time and time again. I pray, Father, that we would see Christ like we've not seen him before. I pray that his melodic voice would soothe our troubled and anxious hearts and that we would find forgiveness again and again and again. And we ask all these things in Christ's name.