HIS HEART SONG…PART 1



HIS HEART SONG…PART 1

“Responding to Our Bridegroom…O, How He Loves Us”

A Study of the Song of Solomon

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• Just like in the natural…through the ages…lovers have always written songs for each other….some of the songs we sing at weddings…like “Truly, I’m truly in love with you, girl”…by Lionel Richie (that was mine and Donny’s song)…..just like in the natural, we have love songs…it is the same in the spiritual….

• After all…it only makes sense that the most incredible Lover of all would write His Bride a love song….we call it the Song of Songs….meaning that there is no other song above it!...the Scripture even tells us that we have a SINGING GOD!!!

• Zephaniah 3:17 “The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with SINGING."

• The Song of Solomon..or Song of Songs is like a Cinderella story…in the natural, it shows us the love of Solomon, a king, who fell in love with a maidservant, a Shulamite……………….don’t you think it’s amazing how the Cinderella story is almost universally known?...

• The young woman in the story is from the town of Shunaem..a village north of Jezreel…she was a peasant girl whose family was responsible for the care of the King’s garden. But with the death of her dad-the major work fell to her—her brothers gave her the hardest stuff to do..while she was tending the flocks …a handsome shepherd came by and their friendship grew into passionate love. He promises to return one day for her and he was gone a long time…then he returned and made her his “Bride”

• THE SONG OF SOLOMON is considered “wisdom literature”…wisdom lit emphasizes common, everyday experiences that is to be understood in a larger sphere of God’s love for us…just like Proverbs

• In the SPIRITUAL…the Song of Solomon tells us of our relationship with our Bridegroom…

• The Bridal theme runs through the whole Bible…from Rebecca…to Esther…to Ruth…to the children of Israel…. in the Old Testament

• But also in the New Testament….

• John the Baptist said that he was the friend of the Bridegroom in John 3:28-29 “I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of Him.” The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for Him…”

• Jesus’ first miracle was at a WEDDING….that was no coincidence!

• We have talked a TON before about the Jewish wedding customs and how they totally mirror our relationship with our Bridegroom…

• We have to get the fact that when Jesus said “I am going to prepare a place for you”…that He said it as a Bridegroom to His coming Bride….and He totally was aware that it fulfilled part of the Jewish wedding tradition of the man preparing a house for his bride….

• When He poured the wine for the Last Supper…He was completely aware of the Jewish custom that said that this was the ENGAGEMENT meal…

• Even in the last public teaching of Jesus, He said in Matthew 22:2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a WEDDING banquet for his son.”…then in verse 4 He says to “Come to the wedding banquet”

• In the last private time with His disciples he tells them about the end-times in Matthew 25:1 “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.”

• It only makes sense…that as we prepare to meet our Bridegroom…that we listen to His lovesong to us!

• Paul even talks about this bridal call…2 Corinthians 11:2 “I am jealous for you with a godly jealously. I promised (betrothed) you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to Him.”

• We can look at the end of THE BOOK to find out what our ultimate destiny is!.....it’s to be the ETERNAL companion of the God-Man, Jesus Christ!!!! We will be united to Him in wedded bliss at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb!!! WOO! WOO!

• Why did He come to the earth as fully man, yet fully God????....He did it to claim His BRIDE! To claim His BELOVED!....THAT WOULD BE US!!!!

• We KNOW our FUTURE! We are going to be wedded to our Bridegroom King…………………….we need to LIVE in a way that reflects our ROYAL ROLE!!!! THINK ABOUT IT!...is that how you see yourself???...it should be!

• 2 Corinthians 11:2 “For I am JEALOUS OVER YOU with godly jealously…”

• Revelation 19:7,9 “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him; for the marriage of the Lamb is come and His wife has made herself ready. And He said to me, ‘Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.’ These are the true sayings of God.”

• Isaiah 54:5 “For your Maker in your Husband; the Lord of hosts is His name; and your Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; the God of the whole earth shall He be called.”

• Revelation 21:9 “And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come here, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.”

• DO YOU GET THIS!!!???....this is the love you never dreamed was possible!...When Jesus looks at us…He sees He BLOOD-BOUGHT Bride!!!

• His heart overflows with love for us!...look at the words that Jesus speaks over us…

• Song of Solomon 4:9 “You have ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; you have ravished my heart with one of your eyes, with one chain of your neck.”

• Song of Solomon 4:10 “How fair is your love, my sister, my spouse! How much better is your love than wine! And the smell of your ointments than all spices!

• Song of Solomon 6:4-5 “You are beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah…turn away your eyes from me, for they have overcome me…”

• TIRZAH…the Hebrew word meaning “She is my delight”…it sthe name of a town in Israel…

• RAVISHED: to overcome with emotion

• Can you believe that WE make HIM feel this way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!? …seems too good to be true….BUT IT IS TRUE!

• We are His eternal Joy! WOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!

• And He wrote this spiritual Song to tell us about His longings and to tell us about His most inner thoughts for us!

• Why in the world did He do this?.......so that we can grow closer to Him…so we can go deeper in Him than we ever thought possible…..

• Rabbi Akiba says, in the Talmud…another sacred book to the Jewish people… that all the Scriptures are holy…but the Song of Songs is the Holy of Holies…..these Rabbi’s saw God’s people as MARRIED to the Lord

• At first glance, when you read the Song of Solomon …it seems like just a love song written by a young King Solomon to a young foreign lady…..but when the Holy Spirit starts to reveal the deeper meaning….you’ll never be the same!

• We’ve talked a million times before that the Old Testament is a “type and shadow” to the New Testament….the Holy Scriptures are layer upon layer…you can read something one day and then go back and read it again months later and God reveals an even deeper meaning than you originally realized was there! Bible “stories” we tell as “children’s stories” have incredibly deep meanings (EX: Noah’s Ark, Jonah and the Whale…)

• This journey into the Holy Song of Songs is FILLED with spiritual secrets from the very heart of our Bridegroom….and the secrets are for YOU!

• After all…He says in Jeremiah 29:13 to “Seek Him and you will find Him when you search for Him with ALL your heart.”

• Just like that song we sing…”The more I seek You, the more I find You…the more I find You, the more I LOVE You…I want to sit at Your feet, drink from the cup in Your hands, lay back against You and breathe and feel Your heartbeat….this love is so REAL, it’s more than I can stand, I melt in Your peace…it’s overwhelming…..”

• The more He reveals….the more you will fall deeper and deeper in love with Him…

• God is calling us to go deeper…………

• To go deeper…we have to understand that we are the Bride of Christ…

• We’ve talked about it before….but the whole message of the Bible is about a GREAT BIG HUGE WEDDING….our wedding…our marriage to our Bridegroom…JESUS!

• The Bridal message of the Bible is an invitation for us to experience GOD’S HEART…His emotions and affections for us…He wants us to KNOW the love of Christ

• Ephesians 3:18-19 that “you may have strength to comprehend…the breath and length and height and depth, and to KNOW the LOVE of Christ.”

• The more we are aware of this intense love He has for us…the more LOVESICK we become for Him…

• SOMETHING WE GOTTA GET: We are sons of God…but we are also the Bride of Christ…..let me explain a little…

• SONS OF GOD: According to Romans 8:17 “Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”

• So……………as sons of God we are in a position to experience God’s THRONE as heirs…that means POWER and AUTHORITY

• Galatians 3:26-28 “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus”

• As the BRIDE…we are in position to experience God’s HEART…His emotions and affections and desire for us….

• BOTH of these positions are INCREDIBLE!

• Just as women are sons of God…..so are men the Bride of Christ………most Christian women don’t struggle with the idea of being sons of God cause they don’t see it as God asking them to be “less feminine”…..BUT sometimes men struggle with being the Bride of Christ because they think it is God asking them to become “less masculine”….THAT IS NOT THE CASE AT ALL!!!!

Jesus’ Bridegroom affections toward us are FIERY! He BURNS for us…He LONGS for us

• John 15:9 “As the Father has love Me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.”

• ABIDE: endure without yielding; remain, continue, stay

Jesus as the Bridegroom is ZEALOUS…He destroys all the hinders love…these next verses are pretty INTENSE…WOW

• Proverbs 6:34 “For jealousy arouses a husband's fury, and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.”

• Zechariah 8:2 “This is what the LORD Almighty says: "I am very jealous for Zion; I am burning with jealousy for her."

• ZION: the church, the Bride

• Ezekiel 38:18-19 “On the day that Gog attacks the land of Israel, I will be filled with burning anger, declares the Almighty LORD. In my fiery anger I tell you this. On that day there will be a large earthquake in the land of Israel.”

• GOD: supernatural beings…giants or demons

Jesus as our Bridegroom FASCINATES our hearts…because He is so incredibly, indescribably BEAUTIFUL!!!

• Psalm 27:4 “One thing have I asked of the Lord…to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord.”

• We (meaning the Church as a whole) have pretty much understood that we are the sons of God…but we are just now starting to really understand our role as the BRIDE of CHRIST…there is a reason why God is revealing and uncovering the hidden mysteries in the Song of Solomon………because when Jesus returns…the Church will be known as the BRIDE!!!!

• I believe He is coming back soon….and He is revealing these mysteries so that His Church is ready….so that we are the pure and spotless Bride that He is coming back for!!!

• All you have to do is to read the last bit in the Bible to see what happens….

• Revelation 22:17 says “The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.”

• It’s not the Church as the WARRIOR or the FAMILY of GOD, or the ARMY…or the KINGDOM…or the BODY…or the TEMPLE…or the PRIESTHOOD……it’s the Spirit and THE BRIDE!!!!!!

• Look at that verse again…..what do you see?....we see the Church in incredibly deep unity with the Holy Spirit…..the Holy Spirit and the Church, the Bride, are saying THE EXACT SAME THING….

• We see the Church….ANOINTED with the Spirit because we are ONE with Him…doing exactly what God has asked us to do…..remember last week….

• We talked about the need for us to BURN so that we would be so in love with Him that we were compassionate for people’s souls…that we truly LOVE ONE ANOTHER…..???

• Check out what is happening in that verse, Rev. 22:17….the Church….completely at ONE with the Spirit ….is calling out to the lost….to those who are THIRSTY….to WHOEVER WISHES…..to come and drink for the water of life!!!!!!

• He is calling and calling and calling us to this BRIDAL position…

• Today, we are going to take a look at how our Bridegroom calls to us…He has such a desire for us to get to know Him better…but how are we responding to Him???

• Song of Solomon 2:10-13 “My beloved spoke and said to me, ‘Arise, my love, my fair one, and come with me. See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land. The fig tree forms its early fruit; the tender grapes spread their fragrance. Arise, my love; my beautiful one, come with me. My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding places on the mountains, show me your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.”

• He is calling His bride to come and join Him in celebrating the glories of Spring….He pleads with her to catch the little foxes

• Song of Solomon 2:15 “Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.”

• DO YOU SEE CRAZINESS HERE????....He is calling to His bride and calling her to come and join Him in because He wants to see her face and hear her voice…….He wants her to please get rid of the little distractions that keep them apart

• LITTLE FOXES: that’s the little petty things in our lives that are DISTRACTING us from our Beloved….

• She should have jumped up and ran out to Him when He called to her so she could have had incredible JOY….but…she didn’t

• WE HAVE GOT TO UNDERSTAND: It’s the little things that rob our joy…

• God is calling us to live an overcoming life….full of joy….above all the misery of the world….BUT…we are too busy having pity parties for ourselves…caught up in little things…jealousy’s, envying, strife, bitterness, offenses, what “someone else” is doing…..these “little things” that are messing up our vines…

• THINK ABOUT IT THIS WAY: On Sunday, you are up at the front, worshipping with all your heart…but with your hands raised and eyes closed…all you can really think about is what that person who is supposed to be your friend, did to you….you SAY you forgive them….but these thoughts keep coming back …..these are “little foxes spoiling the vine”

• So then, what do you do then????....Do you run off to hide in the hiding place, away from God???....if you do, then you will find yourself less and less enthusiastic about living an overcoming life….and all because of those little foxes….

• Little foxes speak of the devil….those little demonic temptations and attitudes that rob and spoil….some translations say “rob and STEAL”

• Now, check out what the Bride says after that…in the bottom of the verse…

• Song of Solomon 2:15b ”…our vines have tender grapes”

• Tender grapes are easy to squish

• So, first …she is saying she can’t come because of the little distractions….then she tells Him she can’t come because the “grapes are too tender”….in other words…she is to weak

• Uh………………HELLO……do we not remember the verse that says in 2 Corinthians 12:9 "'My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”

• Look how awesome He replies….”Your tender grapes spread their fragrance”

• To live the overcoming life…we don’t have to be “together” or “strong” for Jesus…He is not the one who whispers in our ears to tell us we are unworthy and that we are “not where we should be in Christ”…..THAT would be the ENEMY…or as in our VBS skit…”The Negator”

• We have got to get the FACT that He loves us just where we are…but He also loves us too much to leave us there in that place!

• Now let’s jump to chap. 3

• Song of Solomon 3:1 “By night on my bed I sought Him who my soul loved. I sought Him but I found Him not.’

• Why couldn’t she find Him?....could it be because she didn’t respond to His voice, to His call back in chapter 2???.....she had listened to the little foxes and she sure believed that her weakness (tender grapes) would keep her from Him…..SO, now, she wants to find him, but can’t…..

• So she is frustrated….and she is discouraged…she is wandering around trying to find God…check out what happens…

• Song of Solomon 3:2 “I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and the broad ways I will seek Him whom my soul loves…so I looked for Him, but I did not find him.”

• She does not want to stop searching….WHY?.....because once you’ve heard the voice of God calling you…you can never be satisfied with anything else….it all pales in comparison to the deep PEACE that His voice brings you!

• She still can’t find him….so she gets the watchmen to help her..

• Song of Solomon 3:3 “The watchmen found me as they made their rounds in the city. I asked “Have you seen the one my heart loves?”

• Learn from this woman…if you can’t find God anywhere while you are looking for Him…..go HUMBLE yourself and find someone who is walking in the intimacy with God that you are looking for

• WATCHMEN: in Hebrews 13:17, Paul tells us that watchmen are those over you in the Lord WATCH for your souls…God told Ezekiel that He was a WATCHMAN over His people…..these watchmen can help you refocus your search for intimacy….

• In the very next verse, she finds Him….

• Song of Solomon 3:4a “It was but a little that I past from them that I found Him whom my soul loves.”

• Then look at what she said…

• Song of Solomon 3:4b “And I HELD HIM and I WOULD NOT LET HIM GO until I brought Him into my mother’s house, into the chamber of her that conceived me.”

• She had lost Him once and she wasn’t gonna let it happen again….has that ever happened to you?....you were close to God once, then you walked away and realized how miserable you were without Him…and you were determined not to let it happen again?

• Doesn’t that sound like a lot of our relationships with God….it’s an on again, off again thing…

• We let the “little foxes” come and distract us…just like this woman

• In spite of all of this….all of her searching and then finding Him and saying that there was no way it would ever happen again…by the time we get to chapter 5…many days have gone by, maybe even a couple of years…and stuff has happened

• It opens with the Beloved saying…

• Song of Solomon 5:1 “I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice. I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey; I have drunk my wine and my milk. Eat, O friends, and drink; drink abundantly, O beloved.”

• He’s wanting to go deeper…for us to have a more abundant life than we could ever dream of having……………..DRINK DEEP……

• But look how she responds AGAIN…

• Song of Solomon 5:2a “I slept but my heart was awake. My beloved is knocking at the door.”

• THE BRIDE IS ASLEEP….just like the Church…we are asleep, thinking we are awake…while He is knocking at the door…calling us to commune with Him…to go deeper with Him….look at the bottom part of this verse…look what He says…

• Song of Solomon 5:2b “Open to me my sister, my love, my dove. My head is drenched with dew and the drops of the night.”

• Sounds kinda like that other verse …Revelation 3:20 “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him…”

• Jesus is OUTSIDE of His own church asking them to let Him in…..same thing happening in this part of the Song of Solomon…the Bride, the woman, is LUKEWARM…………………YUCK!

• The DEW and DROPS OF THE NIGHT….represent the anointing of God with His Holy Spirit…..

• He just keeps knocking and knocking…trying to get us to open the door….He is wanting to pour on us that same anointing that He has….BUT WE ARE ASLEEP!!!!!!!!!!!

• FINALLY…..in the next verse…she wakes up…but check out what she says…

• Song of Solomon 5:3 “I have taken off my robe—must I put it on again? I have washed my feet—must I soil them again?”

• WHAT THE HECK!!!!!!????.....she is saying it’s too much trouble to open the door to Him….she is comfortable in her warm bed…all clean and proper…no messes….if she opens the door she will have to mess up her comfortable Christian life……………..woah……………………..does THAT sound familiar…?

• Sounds like a lot of churches today….they don’t want to get their hands dirty dealing with people who are lost….it is not CONVENIENT for them…it would cause them to have to go out of their way for people they aren’t even too sure they like or want to deal with…We are comfortable with our little clicks and groups…don’t really want to add anymore people…

• THIS IS NOT WHERE GOD’S HEART IS THOUGH!!!!!.....if we are burning for Him…THEN we are burning with compassion for the lost

• We have got to win the battle of APATHY, PASSIVITY, and pure ole LAZINESS!

• Proverbs 13:4 “The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.”

• EX: Donny getting up to pray every morning @ 6am…..that is a HUGE thing for him…he is not a morning person at all….but when the Holy Spirit told him to do it…he had to get over the “I Can’t” to “I WILL”………….ultimately, that’s the whole thing….our problem is we don’t WANT to……………we seem to find time for EVERYTHING else…but God

• Matthew 26:41 Jesus said, “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.”

• Jesus, our Bridegroom….wants to go soooo deep with us….

• John 14:23 “If a man loves Me he will keep My Words, my Father will love him, and we will come unto Him and make our dwelling place within him.”

• This is the coolest, most incredible thing in the whole universe….that the Creator of the whole universe wants to HANG OUT WITH US….BIG TIME!!!!

• If you find that you are identifying as this passive bride…simply ask God to forgive you and to change your heart toward Him

• BACK TO our verses:…..remember The Beloved had been knocking and knocking…now look what happens….

• Song of Solomon 5:4 “My beloved thrust his hand through the latch-opening; my heart began to pound for him.”

• He is trying to get her to respond before He leaves…and her heart finally begins to respond….maybe she felt that He was about to leave and she knew she needed to respond…

• Isaiah 55:6 “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He’s near.”

• If there is a time when “He may be found” …then that must mean that there will also be a time when He CAN’T be found…

• LOOK WHAT THE LOVER DID:

• Song of Solomon 5:5-6 “I arose to open for my Beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with flowing myrrh, on the handles of the lock, I opened for my Beloved but he had left; he was gone. My heart sank at his departure. I looked for him but did not find him. I called him but he did not answer.”

• IT HAPPENED AGAIN!!!!.....she finally got up …and He was gone…

• THIS IS SO JUST LIKE US……as believers, we have the DESIRE to follow Him….but we have so little OBEDIENCE…..we want all that God has to offer us…but we sure don’t want to do what it takes to get it…we sure don’t want to pay the price of obedience….

• Psalm 27:4 “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that WILL I SEEK AFTER…”

• The SEEKING part is where we fall short….

• NOW IT’S time for the correction that the WATCHEMN give to the lover…don’t you know that we all need correction sometime….it’s not a pleasant thing…but it is NECESSARY…

• Song of Solomon 5:7 “The watchmen found me as they made their rounds in the city. They beat me, they wounded me; they took away my veil, those watchmen of the walls.”

• Well, there you go…..not only is she not able to find her Beloved right now, but the very people who should be HELPING her, actually are being totally MEAN to her!

• Isn’t is sadly like “church people” to hurt other “church people”?????

• THEY TOOK AWAY HER VEIL: they uncovered her and left her EXPOSED…no nurturing here….these are “watchmen gone wrong”….there is a way TO discipline and a way NOT to discipline…

• Proverbs 6:23 “Reproofs of instruction are the way of life.”

• It is IMPOSSIBLE to grow in the things of God without reproof and correction….why?....because our prideful and self-centered nature has to be GUIDED….but it needs to be done in the CORRECT way…the way of LOVE

• Now to verse 8….

• Song of Solomon 5:8 “O daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you—if you find my Beloved, what will you tell Him? Tell Him I am faint with love.”

• It apparently took her losing her Beloved TWICE as well as going through a ripping off of her veil and getting BIG TIME exposed …NOW…she can’t stop talking about her Beloved…now she is telling other people what He means to her…

• Hummmmmmmmmmmmmmm….isn’t THAT what He has commanded us to do……to love Him so much that we can’t help but to tell others about Him…..sounds like the GREAT COMMISSION HUH!!!!

• LISTEN TO “DAUGHTERS OF JERUSALEM” SONG

DAUGHTERS OF JERUSALEM by David Brymer

Yes, my Beloved….He’s the fairest of 10,000

Yes, He is holy….He is humble, meek and lowly

Daughters of Jerusalem, tell me if you find Him

I am lovesick….I am lovesick

All I want is to be near You, with You, where You are!

Lord, all I want, is to be near You, with You, where You are!

• Look how the other people responded to her words…

• Song of Solomon 5:9 “How is your Beloved better than others, most beautiful of women? How is your beloved better than others, that you charge us so?”

• So….she pours out her heart about this one she loves…

• Song of Solomon 5:10-16 “My Beloved is radiant and ruddy, outstanding among ten thousand. His head is purest gold; his hair is wavy and black as a raven…His appearance is like Lebanon, choice as its cedars. His mouth is sweetness itself; he is altogether lovely. This is my Beloved, this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.”

• CAN YOU JUST HEAR HER PASSION!!!!! This is the PASSION we need in our witnessing!!!

• The best thing you can do to witness is to pour out your HEART LOVE for HIM!!!!

• Once you’ve discovered THIS type of intimacy with Jesus….you just can’t keep it to yourself!!!!

• Look how the daughters of Jerusalem replied…

• Song of Solomon 6:1 “Where has your beloved gone, most beautiful of women? Which way did your beloved turn, that we may look for him with you?”

• Now THEY want him too…..but are they willing to do what it takes…are they willing to be wounded by the watchmen…do they understand what is involved???................some people are…some aren’t

• She replies…

• Song of Solomon 6:2-3 “My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to browse in the gardens and to gather lilies. I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine; he browses among the lilies.”

• LILLIES: other believers that are surrendered to Him

• DO you see this….!!!!.....SHE KNOWS WHERE HE IS…..and not only that…..she is telling others where to find Him!!!!!!.....THAT is the BRIDE OF CHRIST MATURING!!!!! WOO! WOO!

• THINK ABOUT IT: What do you find in a garden???....you find FRUIT!!!! He is in the garden looking for FRUIT!!!!

• She has finally got the intimacy part! She KNOWS where her Beloved is and what He is doing………………….o wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

• Jeremiah 31:12 “….their soul shall be as a watered GARDEN, and they shall not sorrow anymore…”

• THE GARDEN…….it was in a GARDEN that Adam and Eve chose to disobey…it was in a GARDEN that Jesus made His choice to obey God…to go to the cross….and NOW…He is calling US to fellowship with Him in the GARDEN OF OUR SOULS!!!!!

• Wowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww…

• (listen to this song…either on Youtube or my CD)

Misty Edwards Song: “My Garden”

It's You and me alone, God. You and me alone

Here it's You and me alone, God. You and me alone

You've hedged me in with skin all around me

I'm a garden enclosed a locked garden

Life takes place behind the face.

So come into Your garden

Come into Your garden.

Here O Lord! Have I prepared a place for You!

I'm no longer my own… I'm Your garden

I don't want to wast my time living on the outside

I'm going to live from the inside out

I don't want to waste my life living on the outside

I'm going to live from the inside out

• In the next few verses…we find God COMMENDING those who are His Bride that are willing to OBEY and FIGHT!....check this out…

• Song of Solomon 6:4 “You are beautiful, my bride, as Tirzah, beautiful as Jerusalem, majestic as an army with banners.”

• Think back…..the last time we heard the Beloved speak was way back in chapter 5 when He was trying to wake up the lover….now….He comes with praise and COMMENDATION!!!!

• He compares the lover to Jerusalem….Jerusalem is a city surrounded with high, defensive walls……THAT’s how God wants us to live…..behind the walls of His righteousness and OBEDIENCE…..with STRONG WALLS….not weak ones that allow enemy access into our hearts and souls because we are walking in disobedience…

• If we are ever gonna win any spiritual battle…we have to have HIGHG WALLS of OBEDIENCE!!! ….that’s our DEFENSIVE MODE….but the Beloved also talks about His lovers OFFENSIVE mode…

• He commends her for being a MAJESTIC ARMY…MARCHING in…WILLING to fight the battle……..

• Unless we are willing to fight the battles that try to pin us down in our OWN lives…how can we ever hope of helping others????..............

• Leave your fears behind….be BOLD…..resist the enemy and he WILL FLEE!!!!

• As we keep reading in this chapter….the Beloved’s praises for the Bride grow more and more intense with each verse….

• Song of Solomon 6:5-10 “Turn your eyes from me; they overwhelm me…sixty queens there may be, and eighty concubines, and virgins beyond number; but my dove, my perfect one, is unique…the maidens saw her and called her blessed; the queens and concubines praised her. Who is this that appears like the dawn, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, majestic as the stars in procession?”

• Apparently there may be lots and lots of folks who desire intimacy with Him…..but it’s one thing to desire it…and quite another thing to SEEK AFTER IT with all your heart…..

• If you look at the life of Jesus while He was here on earth…you will see that there were many who were all around Him….but only very FEW who knew Him intimately….even of the 12 Disciples…only 3 really seemed to walk closer that the rest…Peter, James, and john…..and of those three….John was called the ‘beloved’ who leaned his head on Jesus at the Last Supper….

• We’ve said this before…an Oswald Chambers quote…”You are intimate with God only as much as you really want to be”

• GOOD NEWS: He has no favorites…He offers the same promises to ALL OF US!...................but there are FEW that are willing to pay the price and do what it takes to really dwell in the deep inner courts of the Lord…

• Remember when we learned about the Tabernacle….and that only ONE person…the High Priest, could go into the Holy of Holies …and then, only once a year….????...God is inviting ALL of us into THAT type of intimacy with Him….

• Now….check out the Bride in chapter 7….

• Many years have come and gone since those childish days of her youth when she had that “on again off again” relationship with her Beloved….she is not sleeping anymore….

• Song of Solomon 7:10 “I am my Beloveds, and His desire is toward me.”

• She is in a marvelous place….she knows and understands her Beloved’s love for her…..THAT is one of the most important things that can ever happen to us….that we KNOW that we are loved by God….

• If we could just GET THAT FACT…..every insecurity would leave from us…

• Let’s keep on reading…

• Song of Solomon 7:11-12 “Come, my Beloved, let us go to the countryside, let us LODGE IN THE VILLAGES, Let us GET UP EARLY to the vineyards to see if the vines have budded, if their tender grapes have opened, and if the pomegranates are in bloom—there I will give you my love.”

• Do you see here whole ATTITUDE CHANGE!!!?....she used to be passive…she had no boldness…she was lazy…she used to hang out in her bed all day and sleep..and NOW…she is urging her Beloved to go with her to the village and to the fields…and to get up EARLY!!!!.....WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

• This is what a SOLD-OUT DISCIPLE looks like!....no more sleeping in…there are too many people to reach for Him….

• Remember way back in chapter 2 when the Bride was worried about HER tender grapes…NOW she is concerned if OTHERS have tender grapes…..if OTHERS have weaknesses…..no more pity party for herself…..she is ready to GO and ENCOURAGE OTHERS!!!

• She has been DELIVERED from “self” and she is ready to go and help others be delivered

• 1 Corinthians 13:4-5 “Love…seeks not her own self.”

• She is going to show her Beloved how much she loves Him by MINISTERING TO OTHERS!!!....by going to the countryside and the villages…

• SHE GOT IT!!!!!!......Just like we talked about last week…..she UNDERSTANDS that when you are sharing God with others…you are REALLY showing Him through your ACTIONS, that you LOVE HIM…..

• Matthew 25:40 “Whatever you do to the least of these my brothers, that you’ve done UNTO ME.”

• This is what the life of a MATURE BELIEVER….what the life of the BRIDE OF CHIRST looks like……serving the needs of others

• Then she says…

• Song of Solomon 7:13 “The mandrakes send out their fragrances, and at our door is every manner of pleasant fruits, both new, and old, that I have laid up for you, my beloved.”

• DO YOU SEE HWAT IS HAPPENING!!!!!????......the Bride is bringing her FRUITS to her Beloved!!!!......this is what CHURCH ought to look like!!!!....

• Every single time we gather together….we should be bringing our FRUITS to God….new and old….those who are new in their walk with Him and those who have been walking with Him for a long time…

• Wow……………. Think about it…..

• We’ve seen the Bride come a super long way………….at the beginning…she was completely SELF-CENTERED….slowly she started to respond to the call of her Beloved….she started walking in the ABUNDANT LIFE that he offered her…and as she loved on God…her relationship with Him deepened to a point that she became the most wonderful WITNESS for Him…she got to the point that she MATURED to the point of expressing her love for Him by sharing it with others….

• THIS is the relationship that our God is calling us each to….it’s a deep, deep intimacy…..whoever will can have it….

• All we have to do is to listen to His voice….then OBEY….

• I believe we are going through a SHAKING…..

• In Hebrews 12 in my Bible…right before verse 14 is titled “Warning Against Refusing God”…this section starts with v. 14-15 “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. SEE TO IT that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many…then to verse 25-29…”See to it that you do not refuse Him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven. At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised. “Once more I WILL SHAKE not only the earth but also the heavens.” The words “once more” indicate the REMOVING OF WHAT CAN BE SHAKEN—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe. For our “God is a CONSUMING FIRE.”…..then the VERY NEXT VERSE IN chapter 13 says …”KEEP ON LOVING EACH OTHER AS BROTHERS….”

• To keep from being shaken….we have to be sooo deeply rooted in Him that we are sharing this love for God with everyone so they don’t “miss the grace of God”…. By doing that, we are loving on our brothers like He has commanded us to do all along!

• He is in the process of MATURING HIS BRIDE…WHY?????.....because He is coming back soon…..

• Ephesians 5:5-27 “Husbands love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to Himself as a RADIANT church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.”

• GET READY, BRIDE…..

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