William Bower came to our church a very discouraged, retired pastor who had been abused throughout his pastorates. I knew the background story and when his wife died, he sank into a great slough of despond. When he came to the church, he drug his depression along with him. Nobody ever really saw him smile.
I knew I had to do something and was not quite sure what to do. Then it came to me.
As a pastor, one of his great delights was in leading the congregation in singing hymns and even singing a solo occasionally. I thought this might be the edge.
One Sunday I approached him and said, “Bill, I need some help this morning.” He just stared at me with very little expression. “My throat,” I continued, “is a little raspy this morning and I need to save it for the preaching.” Then I sighed very deeply and continued, “I need to save my voice for the preaching would you be willing to lead the congregational singing this morning?”
For the very first time since I knew him a smile danced on his face. He agreed to come to the pulpit and lead the singing. That was just the beginning. From then on, I never saw Brother Bill without a smile on his face.
Several years after I left the church, he went into the hospital and I don’t remember why. While there, he had a great influence, especially among the nurses.
Every day some nurse would sneak into his room and ask Bill if he would pray for them. Nobody knows how many people he prayed for there in the hospital.
One evening his nurse came in to make sure he was comfortable and ready to sleep. As she went out of the room, she made sure the lights were off and left the door open so she could check up on him.
About an hour later, she walked by his door and saw a light in his room. She walked in, Bill was sitting up in his bed with lights shining all around him and he was staring at the ceiling saying, “Isn’t it beautiful.”
The nurse noticed none of the lights in the room were on but there was a brightness that she could not understand. She went to get the head nurse to come in and when they got back Bill was sitting up in his bed, the lights were out and Bill was gone.
The light that he had was the light he had become.
Many Christians spend their whole life wallowing in the slough of despond not realizing that there is a life of joy and fulfillment that only Christ can bring.
An unsaved person has no reason to rejoice. A Christian has no reason not to rejoice.
In the King James Version, we have the words…
Rejoice – 240
Joy – 187
Happy – 25
Philippians 4:4 – “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.”
James 1:2-4 – “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 3 knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”
I challenge you to show me anywhere in the Scriptures where any Christian is exempt from rejoicing.
Some people will say, “But, you don’t know what I’ve gone through!”
What does that have to do with your rejoicing?
If you are a Christian, that is in the past and has no bearing upon your life today.
Listen to what the Scripture says.
Romans 8:9 – “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.”
Flesh attached to the past.
Spirit attached to the future.
2 Corinthians 5:17 – “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
Are you a new man or woman in Christ? (Perpetual)
Then you have been transformed so that your past is no longer a part of your present. You are a “new creature.”
If you are discouraged, depressed, grumpy, emotionally up and down, angry, despondent, you are living in the flesh. The flesh compromises our relationship with the groom and we are at the mercy of the old nature, which shows no mercy.
The bride’s purity is the foundation of this joyful relationship with the groom.
The key thing here is “purity.” This is the overwhelming factor in the bride’s relationship with the groom.
In this passage, 6:4-10, the groom is praising the bride for her purity. Throughout this passage, he deals with the attributes of purity.
Up to this point, the bride is up and down in her relationship with the groom. Now, she comes to that point of a consecrated relationship to this groom.
The flesh compromises this relationship to the groom, and the tool is impurity. The bride has come to a point of absolutely turning her back on the world and the flesh.
Those who withdraw from the world draw closer to God. This has been a learning experience for the bride. Every aspect of the world compromises her purity before the groom.
We need to understand that what is available to the bride is not available to anybody else.
Whoever is not a Christian does not have access to this purity.
Every Christian will be judged by the standard of this purity because it is a reality in our relationship with the groom.
So, the major question here is, what is the strongest influence in your life today?
Is it the flesh?
Or, is it the groom?
Several things need to be taken into consideration as we look at the power of purity as it applies to the bride.
I. What Is the Purpose of Purity?
Everything has a purpose and this so crucial to our relationship to the groom is absolutely crucial and is something we need to embrace.
Purity is not something we can take or leave as it suits us. Purity has to do with the requirements of the groom and his relationship with the bride.
If this is true, I need to understand what it is all about.
The primary purpose is to break the bride’s relationship with the world and to bring the bride into perfect alignment with the groom. It is to make available to the bride assets and attributes of the groom.
Romans 8:12-17 – “12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. 13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. 15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 17 and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.”
This is a great intention of the groom for the bride. Purpose is an intimate, uncompromised relationship with the groom.
II. What Is the Process of Purity?
As we go through Song of Solomon, we get some hints about how this process works and how it affects the bride.
Very simply put, the process is a “purging” of everything in the bride that is in any way contradictory to the groom, or that compromises the relationship.
This, of course, is not the bride’s work, but rather it is the bride allowing the groom to do this work to his satisfaction.
For the Christian, this is the work of the Holy Spirit purging from our life everything that in any way contradicts the holiness of God’s character. We do not have the ability to pick and choose this. This is God’s work in our life.
This is the question.
Do I acknowledge my behavior?
Or, do I excuse my behavior?
Everybody has a reason why they behave a certain way. It usually is their past or something somebody did to them or some failure in their life. Because of that, most people excuse their behavior and some will even say, “God knows.”
God does know and that is why God has put into play this purging process that will wipe clean ourselves from former behaviors.
This begins by acknowledging the “sin” in our life.
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.”
The key phrase here is, “to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
The moment I become a Christian the Holy Spirit begins this process of purging my life from all these things and behaviors. The longer I am a Christian, the purer my life will be and in harmony with God.
III. What Is the Product of Purity?
Reading through this passage in Song of Solomon we see how fascinated the groom is with the bride. This is a picture of Christ’s fascination with the church.
Perhaps the most important product is what is called “transparency.”
Not the transparency of politics. Put all that aside.
This is the transparency of the bride’s relationship with the groom. The groom is not trying to hide anything from the bride, but rather to reveal to her the love that is in his heart for her.
We often quote John 3:16, but I wonder if we really believe it? Do you believe that God really loves you?
The awesome product of purity is seeing clearly the love that God has for me.
When the bride begins to experience this transparency, she loses all interest in the world around her. Her consummate passion is for the groom. Everything she does, everything she says is expressing her love for the groom.
Once I get a good grip on this transparency, it will begin to insulate me from the world around me.
The product of this purity is a transparent love affair between the bride and the groom.
Conclusion…
In this passage, the groom is celebrating the bride in all of her purity.
Just as God boasted to Satan about Job, so the groom is boasting about his bride.
I lose sight of this when I allow my yesterday to define my today, resulting in discouragement, depression, grumpiness, emotionally up and down, anger.
We try to control it. We put on a happy smile, but it is what is in the heart that really matters.
Remember what Jesus said?
Matthew 12:34 – “O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.”
Philippians 4:4 – “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.”
This rejoicing Paul talks about is the spontaneous rejoicing of a man or woman who has been set free from the old life.
We have plenty to rejoice about, but we have no excuse for not rejoicing. If I can control my rejoicing, it’s not flowing up out of my heart set free and cleansed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
