He has brought me to the house of wine, and his banner over me is love.He brought me to the banquet hall. His banner over me is love.He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.He brought me to the banqueting-house, And his banner over me was love.
4 sermons cite this verse
… Verse 4, they're not at the picnic anymore. He brought me to the banqueting house. They're at Famous Dave's now. That's where they are. And his banner over me was love. He's got his arm around me in public. I want everybody to know this is my girl. This is the one that I love. I'm with her. There's not two phones. There's not two lives. There's not a side piece, right? He's saying this is my girl. This is the one that I want. So those are the two ingredients for regard, time spent in public profession. The first ingredient of first is respect. The third and final of our three things, they all start with a little letter R, is restraint. This is needed because let me tell you, if you start showing respect to that guy, if you start showing regard to that girl, baby, you better buckle up because you're going to need to restrain yourselves because the processes God put into place are going to start to wake up inside your body. …
… Done. Number five, his banner over me is love. His banner over me is love. We can confess this no matter what banner has been put over us. We can confess and say his banner over me is love. What is the flag that is over your life? What is over your life? Our second encounter night, we had Martin Smith with us. And I'm just going to show a little clip of a moment that was life-changing. He brings out this flag that felt like it touched the back of the room and it just like swung over the whole crowd. And it was, it says joy on it if you couldn't see. beautiful. And then he handed it off to someone in the front row who knew exactly what to do with it. I just loved it. I was like, I don't know if I would know like the position that I would need to be in, but that person knew. But there was power in that moment because he was flying the flag of joy over himself, over us. And you could just feel in that moment, Okay, the banner over us is joy. …
He no longer has to question whether he has repented or whether he has believed. He has brought forth "fruits meet for repentance," and his belief is proved by his works. He has attained to the full assurance, not of hope, though that is a good thing, nor of belief, though that is also a good thing—but the full assurance of understanding—and there he stands, enjoying the confidence of his union with Christ. Next to this assurance of his soul's safety, there comes the enjoyment of Christ's love. He not only knows that Christ loves him, but he feels i t. The love of God is not now like "precious ointment" within the case, but it is "shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Spirit." It is like the ointment from Mary's alabaster box when it was broken. He can feel the love of God in his heart. He has no more doubt now of the love of God to him than of his own love for his child! At times it seems to weave itself into his very consciousness and he can say, "I sat down under His shadow with great delight, and His fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me to the banqueting house and his banner over me was love." He has tasted and known, and felt the dearest communion of the Savior's love—and he can truly say, "There is none like that." Some of you have—perhaps, read the life of Madame Guyon and have said, "Ah, there is none like that." You may have read the spiritual letters of Rutherford and said, "There is no life like that," or the works of George Herbert and felt inclined to …
But, Beloved, good as "the house of mourning" is, excellent as its shades may be, mark well that Solomon does not say that, "the house of mourning" is morallybetter than "the house of feasting," or that there is more virtue in weeping than in rejoicing! Yet he does say that "it is better to go to the house of mourning"—it is better to sit by the side of the widow, it is better to take the fatherless child on your knee, it is better to sit down and weep with those that weep than it is to go to the pavilion of happiness and rejoice with those that rejoice. With such hearts as ours, it is better. Were we perfect, it would be equally good, but since we are inclined to evil, it is better that we should "go to the house of mourning." God has made man upright, but the hand of sin has pushed us from the perpendicular and we stand like the leaning tower of Pisa, inclined to the earth and threatening to fall! It is right, then, that, as we are inclined to sin, we should likewise be made to bend to sorrow. Now, Beloved, we must very hastily make a third visit "to the house of feasting." And it will be better than either of the other two—better than the first because it is not sinful—better than the second because it is more spiritual. Have I not often gone to the spiritual "house of feasting," and there feasted on the dainties of eternal love? Have I not soared, as on the wings of eagles, far beyond the clouds, beyond that glowing firmament where the stars are glittering, beyond that house where the sun strips himself of his garments and like a giant, starts upon his race? Have I not looked into Heaven, itself, and gone near the very Throne of God in ecstasy of joy, mounting up beyond all the troubles and trials of this mortal life? Yes, and so have you, Beloved! Sometimes when God has given you the spirit of rejoicing, you have "rejoiced with unspeakable joy and full of glory." The spouse said of her Beloved, "He brought me to the banqueting house and His banner over me was love." Have not you also been to that banqueting house? Have you not tasted the delicious food and other delicacies which God alone prepares? Have you not had a share of the choice things that are stored up for the saints of God and tasted the "wines on the lees well refined"? Yes, doubtless you have—and you have said, just as Peter did, "Master, it is good for us to be here." Look at that passage of Scripture, (Luke 9:33), for it is added, directly afterwards, "not knowing what he said." And you and I have said, "O God, it is good to be here! It is sweet to dwell upon the top of the Delectable Mountains! It is blessed to sit in such places of security!" And we have said, "Lord, let not this joy be merely for a week, but for a year! Yes, let me have yearsof the sunshine of Your Countenance—no, more—let me have an eternity of it!" Yet, like Peter, you know not what we say. …