Dressed in His Righteousness Alone

Introduction

Opening Illustration: Filthy Garments: In Zechariah chapter 3, the prophet describes a scene that he saw take place in heaven. He says that he saw the High Priest of Israel, Joshua, standing before the Lord, and Satan was standing at Joshua’s right hand side accusing him before God. In that moment we are told that Joshua was standing before God wearing filthy garments.

Zechariah 3:4 “And the angel said to those who were standing before him, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” And to him he said, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.””

Zechariah, clothed in filthy garments, accused by Satan, is given pure flawless clothes to put on, and Satan is rebuked from accusing God’s chosen servant. From filthy to radically pure, by no work of his own. God simply provided.

Personal: Joshua’s story is not unlike your own. And if we are to understand who we are, what it means to be a Christian, we must have a robust knowledge of how Christ has dressed us in righteousness.

Series Context: We are right in the middle of a short series studying the Old Testament book Song of Solomon. And if you are just joining us in this study, what we have seen so far is that this book uses the imagery of the love between a husband a wife, as an allegory, to tell the story of greater groom and the greater bride, Christ and his church. This is a love song that teaches us the intimacy of the Christian faith with God.

Sermon Context: Today we arrive at chapter 4. Chapter 4 contains some of the more often remembered language of Song of Solomon, as the groom admires the beauty of his bride, part by part. What we are going to find is that the way the groom looks at his bride, is as if she were flawless. And this will be an opportunity for us to really study what it means that Christ has truly dressed us in His righteousness. Let us read our entire passage together.

Song of Solomon 4 “Behold, you are beautiful, my love, behold, you are beautiful! Your eyes are doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats leaping down the slopes of Gilead. Your teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes that have come up from the washing, all of which bear twins, and not one among them has lost its young. Your lips are like a scarlet thread, and your mouth is lovely. Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate behind your veil. Your neck is like the tower of David, built in rows of stone; on it hang a thousand shields, all of them shields of warriors. Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle, that graze among the lilies. Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, I will go away to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense. You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you. Come with me from Lebanon, my bride; come with me from Lebanon. Depart from the peak of Amana, from the peak of Senir and Hermon, from the dens of lions, from the…”

Textual

Behold Beautiful: Our text begins with a repetition. “Behold you are beautiful, my love, behold you are beautiful.” When we see ideas repeated back to back like this in scripture we are take a particular notice of them. It communicates a certainty of the thing specified. We might think of Isaiah 6 when the angels cry out “Holy, Holy, Holy” about God, it is a overwhelming statement of that particular characteristic of God. Here the groom declares what he sees in his spouse, and validates with a repetition. “You are beautiful.” Remember that I believe these descriptions are to be understood allegorically. We have to be a bit careful in our allegorical reading, but I think we have a sense what Christ might be admiring in us, with each of these descriptions.

#1 Eyes Like Doves (Humility): He says that her “eyes are like doves behind the veil.” “Behind the veil” signifies that this chapter may be wedding night. This is the hour of union between the two lovers, which makes our allegorical reading all the more powerful. The phrase “eyes like doves” is found in exact form in chapter 1 verse 15. The groom loves the look of his bride’s eyes. Doves are typically thought of as peaceful and beautiful creatures. This phrase allegorically could be speaking about her humility. Her eyes do not have a sense of self-conceit or of pride, but of gentle dependence and grateful love. When God looks at you, O Christian, he sees utter humility.

#2 Hair Like Goats (external virtues): He says “your hair is like a flock of goats leaping down the slopes of Gilead.” The goats of those hills were known for their long, waving, shining, dark hair. The hair might be understood as the beauty of the Christian virtues. Just as the bride walks and her hair functions like grace around her catching the eyes of those who pass by, so does the Christian’s virtue proceed them. When God looks at you, O Christian, he sees your virtues waving around you wherever you go.

#3 Your Teeth and Lips (speech): In verses 2 and 3, the groom notices his brides teeth and lips. Not only are they all there, but they are all lovely. These are common metaphors used in scripture. So for example in Psalm 57 the wicked men are described those

Psalm 57:4 “…whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords.”

The groom is describing physically that when the bride opens her mouth, nothing is out of order, or uncomely, it is beautiful. The groom praises the bride for her words, and the way her mouth to honor God with her words. When God looks at you, O Christian, he sees your the purity of your words in all circumstances.

#4 Cheeks / Temples (mind): The groom next looks at her cheeks as “two halves of pomegranites.” “Cheeks” is a difficult word to translate. Different translations will replace “cheeks” with “forehead” or “temple.” I think “temple” is likely the best option here. And I think the groom is noticing the mind of this woman. Her thought life is beautiful. Her mind is not consumed with wicked thoughts or vile thoughts, but is consumed with that which gives life, with God, with beauty, with blessing. When God looks at you, O Christian, he sees your your thought life as beautiful.

#5 Neck (nobility): He says “Your neck is like a tower of David, built in rows of stone.” In chapter 7 he says “Your neck is like an ivory tower.” The image here is of his bride standing tall and upright over her enemies. The bride is not slouched over, but her posture holds her head high and stately before others. This is a commentary on the direction of her life. She is not one who is bowed down focused intently on the things of this world. But she is lifted high. Her regard and her attention is given to the things of God. As the Apostle Paul would say she “seeks the things are above, not the things of this world.” When God looks at you, O Christian, he sees that you are always seeking the things that are above.

#6 Breasts (nurturing compassion): Sixth, he speaks of her breasts, which he says are like “two fawns that graze among the lilies.” The places in the valleys where the lillies grew were the areas were the most amount of moisture was collected; it was the richest pasture. The breasts here signify nourishment and the ability to edify others. Just as a mother would feed her child, so is a Christian one who nurtures and care for others. When God looks at you, O Christian, he sees you as one who flawlessly cares for others.

#7 Your Love Like Wine (love): In verse 10, he says that her love is better than wine. You may remember that in chapter 1 verse 2, this is exactly what the bride said about the groom. The groom loves how his bride loves him. He receives her love warmly and fully. When God looks at you, O Christian, he sees that your love is always full towards Him.

#8 Her Fragrance (good works): Lastly, in verse 11, he says that the aroma of her garmens, is like the fragrance of Lebanon. Notice, it isn’t her that is fragrant, it is her garments. Elsewhere in scripture we read that the hidden person of the heart are a person’s true adorning.

1 Peter 3:3–4 “… but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.”

When God looks at you, O Christian, he sees that your hidden person of your heart is beautiful and fragrant.

Doctrinal

In this sermon today I am working one main idea into our hearts. Christ has truly dressed us in his righteousness. Perhaps you felt the tension as I was describing the way the groom viewed his bride. Verse 7 perhaps brings it out front and center for all to see. The groom says

Song of Solomon 4:7 “You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you.”

There is NO FLAW!: “There is no flaw in you.” For those that have traced with us in our study of Song of Solomon, we know this is actually not true. Do you recall how in chapter 1, the bride lamented about her weather-worn skin, and the manual labor she had to do. And next week we’ll discover that the bride is not so perfect. She, in fact is a sinner! And so the question becomes what are we to make of this? Is the groom just infatuated with his bride? Is this simply puppy love, unable to see a person’s flaws. No, I believe this is teaching us something important. Remember, this is the wedding night. It is a symbol for us of what happens when are united to Christ by faith. At that moment, we are justified in the eyes of God, our sins are forgiven, and we are declared righteous before God, not with our own righteousness, but with Christ’s righteousness.

Illustration - Three Men: Imagine if you will a king’s palace. And one day three men, are presented before the King. These three men are criminals and they have been condemned, but all three are given a chance to present themselves to the King and argue for their release.

Natural Righteousness: The first man comes before the King wearing his prison garb, and he is asked why he should be released. And he begins to make his case that hs was never guilty in the first place. This is the argument of Natural Righteousness. He says that the King had it all wrong from the beginning, and that he was in and of himself “flawless” just as Song of Solomon 4 describes. The King quotes from his book, Romans 3:23

Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”

This man who relied on his Natural Righteousness remained condemned and was sent back to his prison.

Earned Righteousness: The second man is brought before the king wearing his prison garb, but the King can see the man has made adjustments to it. He has been doing all he can to sew his prison garb in such a way that it looks like it belongs in the king’s palace. And he begins to make the case that he has reformed, that he has changed, he has worked hard at correcting his life. We can describe this man as Earned Righteousness. This man believes he has worked hard by his own merit and has become flawless like the bride in Song of Solomon 4. The King quotes the prophet Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 13:23 “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil.”

This man who relied on his Earned Righteousness remained condemned and was sent back to his prison.

Imputed Righteousness: The third man walks into the King’s palace, not wearing prison garb, but wearing royal robes, a glittering golden crown upon his head. And the King looks at him and asks him where he got such a royal garb. The man, looking bewildered, says that on his way up to the palace that day, the king’s son himself, took off his own royal robe and placed it upon this man’s shoulders, and took off his crown, and placed it upon this man’s head. And the Son said that so long as this man was dressed in the Son’s clothing, that he would be treated as if he was the Son himself. The King seeing this man quoted the prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah 61:10 “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness…”

This is imputed righteousness. It is not a righteousness natural to us. And it is not earned by us. It is freely bestowed upon us by Christ, the flawless one. Two things occured at the cross. On the one hand Christ has given us his righteousness. He is the one who never sinned. He is flawless. And his flawlessness now covers us like a robe, as if we ourselves were righteous. And in order to that we took our sin. To complete the story of the third man, you might say that Christ took our prison garb upon his shoulders. He suffered the penalty we ought to have served. But at the same time, Christ imputed his righteousness to us, so that we are receive the blessing that he deserved.

Imputed Righteousness: I think our text lays this out for us. Let me show you.

Garden Locked: Verse 12, the great groom speaks to his bride and says

Song of Solomon 4:12 “A garden locked is my sister, my bride, a spring locked, a fountain sealed.”

A garden is made by a gardener. The gardener enters into untamed landscape, and he tends to the garden. He imposes his will over the garden and forms somethign beautiful where there wasn’t something beautiful. The gardener takes great pain in making sure the garden remains beautiful, and keeping the pests away. “A Garden locked” permits no trespassers. The reference to a garden implies a gardener who has made the garden beautiful. A garden is not naturally beautiful. A gardener bestows upon it beauty.

Well of Living Water: But look at the precious words of verse 15 with me,

Song of Solomon 4:15 “a garden fountain, a well of living water, and flowing streams from Lebanon.”

“A well of living water.” What is the source of the bride’s beauty in Song of Solomon 4. She is a well that contains “living water.” It is that living water inside of her that permeates her being and makes her something that is extraordinary. Jesus picked up on this exact language. And I think that Jesus, in John chapter 4, is in some ways making a direct connection to Song of Solomon chapter 4. In John chapter 4, Jesus is speaking to a Samaritan woman at the well. This woman was a known sinful woman, far from flawless. Jesus asks for a drink of water from the well

John 4:10 “Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water… The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.””

In other words, to use Solomon’s language, if you believe in me, you will become a “well of living water.” You adulterous, sinful, Samaritan woman, will become the bride of Song of Solomon chapter 4. Because I, with my righteousness, will flow through your life.

Illustration - John Bunyan: One of my very favorite authors and pastors in all of history is John Bunyan. This man is worthy of your study at some point in your life. In his own biography he writes of his early years, "It was my delight to be taken captive by the devil at his will: Being filled with all unrighteousness; that from a child I had but few equals, both for cursing, swearing, lying, and blaspheming the holy name of God." When he was 16 years old his mother and sister passed away. He eventually joined the army, and then married a God-fearing woman. He started attending a church and was beginning to experience a bit of change. His cursing was not so frequent. He tried to honor the sabbath. From the outside, some might have mistakenly thought he was a Christian, but not yet. He wrote of this season of the discontent in his soul. He knew was outside of Christ still. He knew he had not truly been born again. He wanted it, but he didn't know how receive it.

John Gifford: One day in that season he was invited to a small church led by an otherwise unknown pastor named John Gifford. And on that day John Gifford was preaching on Song of Solomon chapter 4, verse 1. "Behold you are beautiful my love. Behold you are beautiful." And John Gifford proceeded to explain the imputed righteousness of Christ, and that nobody had natural righteousness, and nobody could earn righteousness apart from Christ. Bunyan left that sermon and he wrote this in his diary.

"I saw that it was not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor yet my bad frame that made my righteousness worse; for my righteousness was Jesus Christ Himself, the same yesterday, today, and forever. Now did my chains fall of my legs indeed. I was loosed from my afflictions and irons, my temptations also fled away. Now I went home rejoicing for the grace and love of God. I lived at peace with God through Christ. Oh! I thought of Christ! Christ! There was nothing but Christ that was before my eyes... Now Christ was all!"

Pleading: O Church, I plead with you to see what happened John Bunyan’s life that day, and let it be healing medicine to you. Christ has truly dressed us in his righteousness. We are his beloved. On our best days, we are no more loved than on our worst days. For we are not judged by our wavering righteousness, but we are judged by Christ’s righteousness alone, imputed to us. And though our righteousness will waver over time, from day to day, Lord willing progressing in our sanctification over time. Our standing before God will never falter in the slightest if we are in Christ, because God sees Christ’s righteousness imputed to us.

Practical

How do we apply such a doctrine as this? I’d like to suggest two categories: Catogory 1, how we view ourselves. And Category 2, how we view others.

I HOW WE VIEW OURSELVES

First, how we view ourselves. If Song of Solomon chapter 4 is an image of how God really views us if our faith is in Christ and we are clothed with his righteousness, that should change our own perspective, in perhaps at least very clear ways. Read verse 16 with me.

Song of Solomon 4:16 “Awake, O north wind, and come, O south wind! Blow upon my garden, let its spices flow. Let my beloved come to his garden, and eat its choicest fruits.”

What is the wind that must blow over the garden to make it come alive and bring out aromatic scents of the flowers. It is the Holy Spirit that blows upon our life and brings out all the fruit of Christ’s righteousness in us. That Holy Spirit will accomplish at least three things in relationship to our imputed righteousness.

Deep Assurance of Salvation: First, it should give us a deep assurance of our salvation. A few weeks ago I had a friend who was experiencing a deep bout of spiritual discouragement. And I sent him a few verses of Song of Solomon. Now I don’t think he received them the way I meant them. Nevertheless this passage speaks deeply to those moment when we feel full of doubt. If our faith is in Christ Jesus, even a mustard seed of faith, then on our worst day we are no further away from God than on the day we first believed.

Joy In Worship: Second, this ought to form a deep joy in worship. You are not one who is earning God’s favor by coming to Church. You are not favor with God by saying prayers. You are fully known and fully loved, as if you were Christ himself, because you are clothed in his righteousness. And so your worship is free from the chains of earning favor. So much of our life is spent in the performance zone. We earn a paycheck at work. We date and try to look and be our best. But our relationship wtih God is not performance driven. It’s a free offering of worship for what God has done for you.

Boldness in prayer: Third, this should form a boldness in prayer. You are wearing royal garments. You are dressed in the righteousness of the Son, and therefore you can be totally confident that God hears your prayers. And so go to God fervently, depedently, hungrily.

II HOW WE VIEW OTHERS

The second category this chapter impacts is how we view others. We have spent the whole chapter looking at how God views us if we are in Christ. What a wonderful thought. But how miserable would it be if God were to bestow such grace upon us, that he would place the Son’s righteousness over us, and then we in turn were to turn around and think lowly of another brother or sister in Christ. If we had eyes to see the saints in the Lord, the way God sees the saints in the Lord. Each and every one, clothed in His righteousness.

How our understanding of our church would change!

How our care for the least of these would change!

How our heart to come alongside the brokenhearted, the downtrodden, the hurting, and the poor would change. For if Christ gave his life to clothe them in His righteousness, can we got not give a few moments of our time to be present, to listen, to love, to care.

Doctrinal

Today we have looked at the doctrine of Imputed Righteousness. And what we’ve learned is that if we are in Christ, if we have repented of our sin, then Christ has dressed us in his righteousness. But if we are not in Christ, then we are still in our own prison garb. For we have all broken God’s law, each and every one of us. But the free offer of grace upon grace goes out to each and every person in this room today. Be reconciled to God through Christ. Let him take your sin and nail it to the cross, and receive his righteousness by faith today. Believe in the work of Jesus on the cross and you will be saved.