Jet Tour Of Song Of Solomon (part 4)

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Ministry's Only Hope: Election (part 5) - [Ephesians 1:4ff]

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Please take your Bibles and turn to the first praise song that you find in Scripture Turn your
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Bibles to the first song of praise found in your Old Testament, I don't see you turning anywhere
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Let's look this morning at the first time where someone burst out with as it were a song of praise
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Turn your Bibles there, please Genesis chapter 2 please before we get to song of Solomon Genesis chapter 2 as you know
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This is back in the creation account Moses inspired by God telling us what happened between Adam and Eve And even though it might not be an actual song it might not be a really a praise song it has been called the first hymn in the
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Bible Although the text says he said something, but it certainly was praise Genesis chapter 2 verse 21
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Remember these familiar verses? So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man and he slept
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Then he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which he had taken from the man and brought her to the man
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The man said verse 23 This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh
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She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man
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And when I first read that I could say to myself man responded this way verse 23 This is now bone of my bones flesh my flesh.
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She shall be called woman because she was taken from man When Adam first sees
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Eve, how do you think he responded? Big yawn
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Of course, God doesn't learn anything. But what did God think?
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What was going through the mind of the triune God when he saw Adam's response? To what he had made
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Adam's response is pure joy Pure praise and the praise isn't even directly to God.
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It's indirectly to God as he praises God's great creation And it says he said in verse 23, but I don't think he said it with ho hum yawn
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I think it was with a shout of joy of glee of satisfaction all again before the fall
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Hebrew scholar Tremper Longman said quote when Adam first sees Eve he breaks out into song
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He cannot contain his joy He sings an erotic hymn The first hymn is not overly directed to God But is it indirect praise to God through proclaiming the anticipated joy of love?
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Isn't that amazing the goodness and generosity and grace of God? Before the fall and yet we still have romantic marital love after the fall
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And if you'll turn your Bibles to the Song of Solomon, we will see this very thing this morning part four of our
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Used to be the jet tour of Song of Solomon now, it's the triplane view of it
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Genesis 2 says in man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed And we come to another part of the
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Bible that God is not ashamed of the Song of Solomon We might be embarrassed we might blush, but this is
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God's unblushing endorsement of marital physical love and he has it in the
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Bible for you to learn whether you are married Separated single whether you're a child or older Maybe your loved one has already gone home to be with the
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Lord and you're a widow or a widower now But this book in the Bible is for you to learn. Yes, and for you to see how good and generous
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God is to give us romance and marital love George Whitefield was writing a letter to a lady back in England that he wanted to marry
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Mid 18th century and he said this to her in his proposal
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For I bless God. I am free from that foolish passion, which the world calls love
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She turned him down by the way For most of us we are not free from that passion
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God has made us in his own image and he has made us specifically into female and male and he's designed us to appreciate each other's beauty in intimate marriage and And here if you see the
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Song of Solomon Actually, we'll get to chapter 7 soon But just to give you a cursory overview where we have been we've been trying to teach the
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Song of Solomon in all its context Chapters 1 through 7 is about where we ended last time.
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I won't give you all the arguments why this isn't an allegory Why is it is not a type but you will see nowhere in this text
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Does it tell you that you should make this a metaphor? It does not intend for you to come to this text in any other way except in a plain
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Natural literal normal way and if you give this text to someone in Mars They will read this not as an allegory of Christ's love for the church
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They will read this as a man's love for a woman more specifically The woman talks more than the man a woman's love for man.
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This is not God's love for the church Why would the church be doing all the talking? This is an
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Endorsement of marital love from God's perspective found in an interesting genre in a poem
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So this is not a how -to book. This is not a book that talks about medical terms This is just Near Eastern love poetry
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That's inspired by God out of the thousand and five songs that Solomon wrote This is the best one and this is the one that God chose in his infinite wisdom
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For you to know and for you to know not so you say whatever they do I do the exact same thing, but that you would love and appreciate the joy of intimacy that you might say to yourself
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God you are good and as You see these two praising each other. I believe it's a good reflection of how
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Adam when Eve was made he didn't say God. I praise you praise God from whom all blessings flow
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But that's what he was doing. Anyway, he was praising God's creature because he knew it was a gift from God The Song of Solomon Chapter 1 verse 1 gives us an idea about the book and it's the superlative the song of songs out of all the songs
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This is the best one and it's Solomon's and again
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We just take this as a book that is straightforward love poetry
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It gives us no signals or no clue It doesn't give us any clues to say anything less and there are three main sections of the book to remember
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The first section is what? Courtship the second section is the wedding procession in the wedding and then the final section is the maturation of the love so you've got courtship wedding and the maturation of Love and we saw last time in the courtship in chapter 1 verses 2 and following it all spins out of verse 2
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May he kiss me with the kisses of his mouth for your love and that is the erotic word for love is better than wine
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And we certainly don't have a relationship with Jesus that uses these kind of terms This is for Solomon and for his wife -to -be and you'll see in this courtship time
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Lots of mutual aberration lots of praise lots of romantic language, but you'll see the refrain of sexual
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Restraint and you will see Solomon even on the wedding night praising her for her purity and chastity
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If you go to chapter 3 verse 6 and following there's the procession and you can imagine the
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King Solomon would have a grand Wedding procession. Yes All the stops would be pulled out and there would be pomp and circumstance and that's exactly what you find in verses 6 through 11
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The formal ceremonies are over as we move to chapter 4 the couple hours by themselves
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They would spend the night together in the Near East and then the next six days They would go back to the festival and celebrate the gift from God marriage but now they were alone in chapter 4 verse 1 and following and basically
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Solomon is with his words Praising her giving admiration to her.
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He is ravished with her beauty. She thinks she's kind of just a regular girl but he thinks she's much more than that and he starts with her head and works his way down and just Describes how beautiful she looks and you might say this is a weird book to be in the
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Bible well, if you think about life and you think about Intimacy it is part of life.
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And why would God not talk to us about such an aspect of our lives? Would God be silent?
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Would God say I'd like you to figure out? how a husband and wife should live and communicate and talk from Hollywood and we can drink from the firehose of what the world sells
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No in a way that is not a do -and -don't -do book but in a way of literature he just explains
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Here is a man and a woman loving each other verse 7 is the wonderful refrain in chapter 4
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You are all together beautiful my darling and there is no blemish in you He praises her purity and virginity
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He says in verse 12 a garden locked is my sister My bride a rock garden locked a spring sealed up and if you remember from last time we moved to the theological center of the book and that is chapter 4 verse 16 and 5 verse 1
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They are alone. They are together God has invented sex. God has designed our bodies.
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God has given us all these things and here in the context of marriage
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She says a Waco North wind verse 16 and come wind of the south make my garden breathe out fragrance
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Let it spices be wafted abroad May my beloved come into his garden. It used to be her garden and now it's his and eat its choice fruits
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And again, this is the language of metaphor. This is veiled language This is not inappropriate for preaching if you're a visitor today, you might be thinking what did
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I walk into today? What you walked into today is a proclamation of the Song of Solomon and we are committed at this church to teach every book of the
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Bible Genesis through Revelation and I preach everything in between those lines These are the lines that you run in pastor and you preach everything from Genesis to Revelation and you don't preach anything else
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But you preach everything in there and it can help us as we learn proverbs and and you say well
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But I'm struggling today and I have health issues and all these other things The wonderful part about being a pastor is
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God the Holy Spirit is real he's called the what the comforter He knows what you need.
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He understands you and he can minister to you Even though the passage might be about marital love you say
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I might be single. How does this apply to me? Well, if you're single and you're old enough to be married then it applies to you in a direct way men
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What would I say to you? Find a wife. That's right ladies That was a pretty half -hearted find a wife
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Ladies be a godly woman and pray that God would bring you that one bring you that husband. I'm sorry. I almost said wife
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I heard last week we have a widow in our congregation and she said
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I wish someone would have taught me that sermon when I first Was married would have saved me a lot of trouble and I said to her thank you for that encouragement
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Because that is basically an encouragement to teach the Bible But as Titus 2 says the older women you can teach the younger women
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What love is how do we do things and so why am I teaching a book about God's endorsement in an unblushing way of marital sex is because I'm commissioned by God to preach all of the
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Bible And we'll be back in Matthew soon enough Solomon has been invited to enjoy his wife and he says now in chapter 5 verse 1 after the consummation
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Again all in language, that's completely appropriate. There's nothing graphic or pornographic in the scripture it's veiled with metaphor and veiled with double entendre and veiled with just a
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Language that makes it appropriate for my 13 year old my 9 year old my 7 year old my 5 year old for Peter For Paul and for Mary it's for everyone, right?
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It is appropriate because it is scripture And nine times in the new
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American Standard you see the word my the possessive pronoun I've come into my garden my sister my bride.
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I have gathered my myrrh along with my balsam I've eaten my honeycomb and my honey I have drunk my wine and my milk and then either from the daughters or virgins of Jerusalem are from God himself
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We hear these words of endorsement Eat friends drink and imbibe deeply
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Oh lovers She is his fully completely without reservation and God gives his stamp of approval on marital fidelity
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He affirms it he even urges them on to more Reminds me of Genesis 26 8 where the
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King James Wonderfully says Isaac was sporting with his wife Rebecca gift from God.
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And did you notice? in a context back then of children
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Being important and certainly they're important today But where some would say there should be no physical union between husband and wife unless you thinking procreation is involved
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There's not a hint here about children. There's not a hint here about procreation Augustine used to say if you just want to enjoy each other as husband and wife and you don't think about having a child
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That is a venial sin. We see nothing like that here Augustine said some weird things.
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He said some great things He also said before the fall Husbands and wives did not have to get together
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Physically to even have a child and whether it's pastor
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Abendroth preaching or Augustine you measure everything according to the scripture. Yes Jerome used to say if you're 30 years old and Over you could read this book
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But if you're under 30 don't read it and if he used to think any kind of thought that he should not he said there are
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Areas of recourse for sexual temptation one throw yourself in the bushes where they've got all the
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Stickers and roll around in the briar patch as it were and the other one was learned the language Hebrew That's what he told you to do.
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I'm not kidding. How can I make it up here?
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We have a book in the Bible a love poem a near eastern love poem a love poem that if you would study the near eastern love poems of of other
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Non inspired writers could be crude could be crass of course not compared to our society today but compared to this book certainly
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But here we just see this book where two people just love each other and the theme is as we've seen for many weeks that this
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Is a God -given gift We've seen the courtship and the wedding and now let's move to the maturation the marriage in its maturation
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Chapter 5 verses 2 and following and here's what we did last week to remember There's not a verse in here that says thou shalt do this that I could preach from the pulpit
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But I've just taken some lessons that I've learned some may be biblical some might be wisdom
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Derived from the Bible that I could preach to you from that is to say there's not a verse in here
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That says talk sweetly to your spouse, but as we see this Wisdom literature in the broad category this genre of its wise to study this well
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Why would it be wise to study this by this book so we can just look at it and say wow that's really neat How do you think wisdom would say
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I've really learned something that's really neat and now by the grace of God I will apply that in my life Wisdom is applied what?
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Knowledge you learn something so you can apply it and as you see things in here that are biblical you say oh
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That would be good for me to have in my life Oh, I understand that and maybe by the grace of God I could do that And I would pray to that end so I'm going to give you some life lessons that are extracted from the text
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But are not found by saying thou shall Remember those from last time the first one was that difficulties in marriage are a given
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But they can be used by God to strengthen your marriage Remember chapter 5 verse 2 he he has some
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Amorous musings and he comes to the door and she won't open up the door and there's trouble and then there's reconciliation
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And we said last week that there are going to be difficulties in your marriage I understand that Kim and I are the only ones that never have any difficulties, but for you
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I want to make sure I can preach Now you first get married and the love of your life, and then all of a sudden especially for us men
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You get married and you realize just how selfish you are Certainly it applies to the ladies as well, but you realize
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God I've been praying for sanctification, and I just am going to be sanctified now
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I understand that With a spouse I can see how
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I don't love God with all my heart soul mind and strength I don't love my neighbor or my wife as myself
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And we have all kinds of difficulties They did we do and last time
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I talked a little bit about how we could go about Resolving conflicts to the glory of God if you notice in chapter 5 verse 9 the daughters of Jerusalem said what kind of beloved is your
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Beloved Oh most beautiful among women What kind of beloved is your beloved thus that thus you would adjure us and?
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Solomon now crafts this poem in such a way where the ladies are saying What kind of person is this and now she gets to say let me tell you about him and just wonderful poetry and admiration
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We saw the second lesson last week not only our difficulties are given, but they can help us
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But number two we are to speak well of our spouse in front of other people Do you notice that's what happens here chapter 5 verse 10 my beloved is dazzling and ruddy
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Outstanding among 10 ,000 and she just does that in front of all these ladies His heads like gold pure gold his locks are like clusters of dates and black as a raven
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And we looked at all those in detail she calls him in verse 16 my friend And I charged you congregation.
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I'll remind you again this week. Do you speak well of your spouse? We have this kind of cloaked thing we do we get together with a bunch of guys or we get together with the ladies and we say
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You don't know my situation and my husband is such a fill -in -the -blank. He's such a dunce.
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He's such a dope He's such a blockhead. He's he's he's a believer that acts like an unbeliever He's an unbeliever who thinks he's a believer.
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He's an unbeliever. Who's really an unbeliever. He's a believer that I can't believe He's an unbeliever and and you say and and I need prayer because of my spouse
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We don't talk about our spouse because our spouse is one
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If you need prayer, then you say to your other man that you're accountable to or your other ladies I would like you to pray for me because I just need to love
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Because I'm not loving like I ought to would you pray that I could be patient and you don't have to go through this kind Sanctified thing where everybody can feel sorry for you and they can all think about your spouse and woe is me
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Quit slandering your spouses if you were apt to do that even in prayer meetings. Yes We don't speak improperly of our spouses.
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I Think Kim's good at this not speaking improperly of me. You would think that I never do anything wrong if you talk to her
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But she knows better Generic requests for prayer are good
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Could you please pray that I would have more wisdom you don't need to say Could you please pray that I have more wisdom because every time my husband comes home and says this and does that and he did
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That the other time and now over and around we go. You just say could you pray that I could have wisdom? Oh, certainly, let's pray that you might have wisdom
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Your words are to edify and you have forgotten have you if you slander your spouse that she's part of you
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That he's part of you Make it generic now there are times maybe in couples discipleship or couples counseling that you could say some things
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Pastor or someone like that, but not not openly Well, you see chapter 6.
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Let's get back to the text Verse 1. Where is your beloved gone? Almost beautiful among women. Why should we seek for him chapter 5?
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We're now, where is he? We want to find him with you. Basically. We'd like to catch a glimpse of him
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She says well, I'm his garden. Yes, but he has other gardens real gardens not metaphorical gardens
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My beloved has gone down to his garden to the beds of the psalm to pasture his flock in the gardens and gather lilies
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The third lesson we saw last week was be quick to forgive It is a general principle outside of marriage and within marriage to you are been given a spouse by God They will offend you.
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They will sin against you. They will transgress against you. They will commit iniquity against you. They will Do all the different sins six
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Hebrew words and six Greek words for sins They will probably do them all and we are to be quick to forgive.
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The text does not say Solomon was quickest to forgive But that's implied there in the text.
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I could go to other places to teach you to be quick to forgive but here He didn't say
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I'm holding it against you I'm grounding you. I'm gonna make you for 29 days
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Here's the burlap sackcloth and ashes Sometimes you don't have to rebuke people you can just love them and act like it never happened
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And he just says to her you're as beautiful as tears Ah, my darling chapter 6 verse 4 as lovely as Jerusalem as awesome as an army with banners
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You are formidable. You are alarming. You are amazing I'm unnerved and I have not
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Gotten over my love for you when we were courting and the marriage night and even now I still am head over heels in love for you
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Stunningly beautiful We as a church need to be quick to forgive
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There's a time to confront your spouse when you can't get over the transgression and you say I can't get out of my mind you said this or didn't do that and I've tried to just cover it and I can't and so I thought
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I'd go to you and say that that just was not appropriate Sinful and your spouse says, you know, you're right, please forgive me
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But we don't need to keep the lists we don't need to use forgiveness as a weapon because we don't grant it Certainly, that's not here in this wisdom literature
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The fourth lesson we saw extracted from chapters 5 6 7 & 8 and I keep saying extracted because When I preach to you,
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I am trying to do many things One is is I'm trying to teach you how to study the Bible for yourself
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It's not found in there thou shalt not kill But if you can see the theme coming out of the principle, then
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I want to say see that's a principle I can't find these principles by by direct
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Implicate Directly, but I can see them implied So that's why I keep telling you ahead of time that these are just implied lessons extracted and by the way
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If you have not gotten enough Song of Solomon Dr. Danny Aiken will be here in October president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and he has written a book on the
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Song of Solomon and he will be here to do a marriage couples retreat on the Song of Solomon So for those of you that want more
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Song of Solomon or want to have marriages that would reflect this more than that will be this October and Danny does the same thing he extracts principles number four the fourth principle your
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Communication of affection should increase We used to say how great our wives looked and then now we've won them
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Do we say the same thing he says in chapter 7 verse 1 how beautiful your feet and sandals
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Oh Prince's daughter The wedding night he started with their head down now He starts with her feet up the curves of your hips are like jewels the work of a hands of an artist
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You know, I've noticed something about myself if I say something good about someone or something good to someone I can't say something bad at the same time
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It's hard for me to say to Kim that you're beautiful and at the same time Say to her
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I see you've prepared another burnt offering for my supper tonight. It is very difficult to do
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And I have never said that to her But I found it in a book and it was it worked
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Why don't you ask your mother how to fix this meal the right way? Can't you do anything, right?
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Instead of the harshness and the discourteousness and Condescension and critical attitude
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How about just lather on the praise on your spouse not in a way of this flattery because you want something just because it's a good
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Principle derived from wisdom you used to think that way in verse 6 of chapter 7 how beautiful and how delightful
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You are my love with all your charms. You are a delightful woman. You are a daughter of delights
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Used of God in Psalm 135 verse 3 sing praises unto his name for it is pleasant
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Naomi the Jewish translation of Song of Solomon says how fair are you how beautiful Oh love with all its rapture beautiful gratifying dear
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What's the last time you called your husband handsome or the last time you called your wife beautiful Bet you used to what your kids here.
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Do you kids here? Do you think your spouse is beautiful or handsome? Well verse 7 says fairly obvious Terminology your stature is like a palm tree and your breasts are like its clusters.
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I will climb the palm tree take hold of its fruit stalks He kind of basically is saying the talking's over me your breasts be like clusters of the vine and fragrance of your breath like apples the fragrance of your breath like apples
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Many scholars think this refers to a nose kiss, which was a an affectionate gesture
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Nose kissing I wrote down in my notes Eskimo kiss, but it was probably different But they would rub their faces together and smell each other's noses
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Marriage is to be held in honor among all and the marriage bed is undefiled Commentator Snaith said it was a gesture of affection which is claimed to have been frequent in the ancient
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East. I Love you with my words. I love you with my nose
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We just need a little bit of comic relief every once in a while when we talk about this I'm kind of glad this is my last day of song of Solomon Preaching.
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I just want to be very careful. I Never want to offend people. I want you to understand the book and see just it's a great gift from God that we have it in the canon
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If you could go home with your spouse and wherever it says Shulamite You have the wife say these words and whatever it says
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Solomon you have Solomon say the words and wherever it says the the daughters of Jerusalem Just skip those parts.
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I don't know just same together. I don't know and They love each other verse 9 your mouth is like the best wine
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She starts the sentence and he gives another sentence to finish the thought it goes down smoothly for my beloved flowing gently
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Through the lips of those who fall asleep She rather interrupts him
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Well the fifth principle we saw last week again all in review pledge loyalty to each other often
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And you'll see that mutual refrain here in the song of Solomon pledging loyalty to each other often
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You see it in verse 10. Don't you I am my beloved's and his desire is for me If you go back to chapter 6 verse 3, it's the same thing
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I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine and even in chapter 2 verse 16 My lover is mine and I am his complete abandonment and as we have a theme of sexual enjoyment in marriage
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There is another theme and that theme that is central to this book is commitment husband and wife to the very end
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For better or for worse And we
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I think we'll have a marriage here at the church very soon And when I say do you promise to keep these vows by the grace of God before God and these witnesses?
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That's exactly what I mean. I want you to mean what you said before God Almighty Well, this one is really a stretch this sixth principle, but I think
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I'm just gonna say it Anyway, this is pastoral wisdom and again is not a command from the text Is in this kind of marriage counseling from the pulpit verse 6 if I mean
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Number 6 go away with each other as husband and wife We have the daily grind we have the routine the busyness we tend to forget that our wives are wise before mothers
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We tend to forget that our husbands are husbands before they are fathers and here for whatever reason
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I know the reason So do you verse 11? She says come my beloved.
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Let us go out into the country. Let us spend the night in the villages for obvious reasons
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Let us rise early and go to the vineyards Let us see whether the wine has budded and its blossoms have opened and whether the pomegranates have bloomed there
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I will give you my sexual embrace is the word. I'll give you my love The mandrakes have given forth fragrance and over our doors are all choice fruits both new and old
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Which I have saved up for you my beloved Now when's the last time you got mandrakes?
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Mandrakes were interesting back. Then they were associated with fertility and they were associated with Aphrodisiac type qualities the
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Arabs called mandrakes servants of love they also called them Satan's apples and here this word to the audience that it was written to originally would know the
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The flavor even from Genesis chapter 30 the flavor of the language is all
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Physical with mandrakes and so when I say to you if you can get away with your spouse for a weekend or a week
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Then I might just say to you on the side Don't forget to pack the mandrakes, but what I'll be saying is get away with each other so you can just enjoy one another
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The text doesn't say it, but I am there are some couples here in the church, and I don't say it to scold you
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I say it because I want to help you You have never left your kid overnight ever. I will baby.
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What you don't we need is a BBC romance mandrakes co -op Somebody will watch your kids, and you go off for the weekend
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You know you got to go more than one night cuz the first night You just talk about your kids all night Then there's a second night you can talk about each other and so we'll have some kind of mandrakes co -op
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Where you can just get away you watch my kids. I watch yours When I took him to Rome for our 15th wedding anniversary
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I just saved up frequent flyers and and a Karen you low -end knew somebody we got the free hotel there and everything it was great
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Just great to spend time we were down in Kentucky for a couple nights. Just good to get away CJ Mahaney in his book sex romance and the glory of God said sometimes
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He will have the babysitters all set up And he'll just get a hotel room Down the street from the house just to get away from the dishes and the dirt and the grime just to get away
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Again the text doesn't say you must or you're in sin But I think it's good wisdom if you talk to an older saint here that they would say just get away the two of you
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We'll watch the kids You say well the husband needs to plan all that I think that's probably true the husband should
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But the woman's planning it here. It's the Shulamite. Who's saying it? Well, we must move on chapter 8 verse 1
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She has a desire for intimacy a greater intimacy And she says in chapter 8 verse 1
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Oh that you were like a brother to me who nursed at my mother's breast if I found you outdoors I would kiss you no one would despise me either, and that's a good
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Verse for us to know that in different cultures They acted differently and you were not allowed to kiss your spouse openly in public
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But you were allowed to kiss your brother because if you were kissing your brother They know would not be sexual and so she says basically in public.
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I would like to kiss you But I know I'm not supposed to but if you were a brother Like a brother to me it would be acceptable an acceptable display of affection
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Literally in chapter 8 verse 2 it says I will lead you and bring you into the house of my mother
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Who used to instruct me I will give you spiced wine to drink from the juice of my pomegranates
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Let his left hand be under my head and his right hand embrace me I want you to swear O daughters of Jerusalem.
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Do not arouse or awaken my love until she pleases and they say Chapter 8 verse 5 who is this coming from the wilderness leaning on her beloved?
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Most likely Solomon responds at the end of verse 5 beneath the apple tree I was I wakened you there your mother was in labor with you there
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She was in labor and gave you birth and we finally come to chapter 8 verses 6 and 7
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We've seen love described in chapters 1 2 3 4 5 6 and 7 and now for the first time we learn a little bit about love instead of by description, but here it is by Meaning what is love like if chapter 5 verse 1 was the the climax physically of the couple?
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Here is the climax of the definition of what love is in a poetic way a picture of love with words now, not just a description of Solomon and the
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Shulamite and She says five things about love verse 6 of chapter 8
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Put me like a seal over your heart like a seal on your arm you'd either have a seal ring or a seal around your neck and she said when seals mean possession and ownership and Accessibility you be my seal
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Over your heart over your arm Jealous love for love is as strong as death
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Jealousy as severe as shiel its flashes are the flashes of fire literally that could be translated the fire of God or it could just mean kind of a superlative where we might say
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Not in a negative way, but that is a god -awful heat Using the word
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God to be a superlative. That's most likely what it is Some say this is the only place in song of Solomon the word of God is mentioned the word
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God is mentioned. That is true but it's a suffix here Many waters cannot quench love
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Verse 7 nor will rivers overflow it if a man were given to all riches of his house for love.
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It would be utterly despised Water can't quench this heat of love you try to buy love.
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You're just stupid And then she has a flashback, it's very interesting
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Flashing back how love began Chapter 8 verses 8 to 12. I think the reason is because they'll have not lost their intense love even from back in the courtship days
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Flashing back chapter 8 verse 8. We have a little sister of the Shulamite. She has no breasts.
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She's not a woman yet They're not married yet What shall we do for our sister on the day when she has spoken for the father must not be there it was the father's responsibility for the for the purity of the daughter and So now the father must be gone and the brothers are saying we are concerned for our our daughters are our sisters purity
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Depends how she acts though verse 9. She's a wall. She's walled up against the advances of Men who aren't married we will build on her in a battlement of silver, but if she's a door
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We will barricade her with planks of cedar if she is Wanting to keep her purity
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We'll just confirm that if she wants to be like a door anybody can come in and out then we'll barricade her with planks of cedar
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We want to help her resist temptation and here's this flashback verse 10.
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We get the answer of what she was I was a wall and my breasts were like towers Then I became in his eyes as one who finds peace in Solomon's mind
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I became the one who was like Shalom Shalom Oh Solomon shalom peace
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He was glad verse 11 The flashbacks over Solomon had a vineyard at Baal Haman He entrusted the vineyard to caretakers each one was to bring a thousand shekels of silver for its fruit
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Least out is what you have to do Face value my very own vineyard is at my disposal
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There's the real vineyard in verse 11 and now I'm a vineyard here in verse 12, but this vineyard is at my disposal
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I'm the one who gives it out to whom I please I freely choose to give it to Solomon the thousand shekels are for you
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Solomon the 200 are for those who take care of its fruit and just the language that She gives her vineyard of love to Solomon Verse 13.
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Oh you who sit in the gardens my companions are listening for your voice Let me hear it and then it says in verse 14, which some commentators think it's weird and it ends abruptly
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I don't think so at all. How would the Song of Solomon end? How would you think a love poem would end between a couple?
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It's very interesting how it ends Hurry my beloved she says and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices
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These spice laden mountains that have already been synonymous for her breasts She says be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices.
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Here's the invitation again To herself it ends abruptly, but it ends with the hearkening for love
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Well, if you go back to chapter 8 verses 6 and 7, I saw those descriptions of love
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Those five descriptions and the time we have left. I'm going to show you from the scriptures
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That as those things described love in a poetic way in a real way They're how God loves his people in other words
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If you look at the first one chapter 8 verse 6 put me like a seal over your heart like a seal on your arm
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It's easy for me to think about God's love sealing. Can you think of a Bible passage that talks about God's love?
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Is sealed to our hearts? If this is a small picture of human love, how much more is it a picture of divine love?
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So let me show you five aspects of divine love that come from chapter 8 verses 6 and 7
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And the first one is God's love has sealed you To the day of glory if you're a
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Christian pastor Steve read John chapter 3 if you have been born literally from above You're born out of your mother's womb and now you're born from above and you are a
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Christian God's love has sealed you to the day of glory Turn your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 1.
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This is an amazing passage We know about seals a lot from the Old Testament times and even
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New Testament times sadly She had a seal of love for Solomon to the end
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But oh how sadly Solomon's love was not sealed under the Shulamite for very long
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But God when he decides to love someone he loves him to the end God's love has sealed you remember
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Ephesians chapter 1 verse 13 in Him Paul says in Christ you also after listening to the message of truth
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You hear gospel preaching the gospel of your salvation the gospel that says we had great guilt
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Because of our sin there's a greater grace found at Calvary and his resurrection and now that we can have gratitude for what
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God has done the gospel that God saves sinners the gospel of salvation having also believed
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You heard the message you believed it look at what the text says you were what? Sealed in him with the
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Holy Spirit of promise Who does the sealing you when
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God saves you you seal yourself up? Here we have God sealing us to the day of redemption
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This is amazing to me if you were sealed with something you couldn't get in Do you remember Daniel chapter 6 verse 7 and the stone was brought and laid over the mouth of the den and the king?
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Sealed it with his own signet ring and with the signet rings of his noble so that nothing might be changed in regard to Daniel There that's inaccessible.
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I put the seal in there and nobody can get in just like with God and the intruders
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Do you know I never were I never worry about Satan's gonna get me You ever worry Satan somehow is gonna get you and ravage you.
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I Believe there's Satan. I believe he's a personal being I Believe that if he could he would ravage you yes
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Martin Luther said God's decree of predestination is firm and certain and the necessity resulting from it is in like manner immovable
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For we ourselves are so feeble that if the matter were left in our hands very few or rather none would be saved
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But Satan would overcome us all We are sealed by the Spirit of God to the day of redemption and Satan does not have any access unless God what?
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Grants is it grants it? We were sealed with him safe He owns us
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Another idea of this whole ceiling was branding. I see all these young people especially in California You know it's just it's just not enough to get a tattoo and then you can't just not enough to get branded and then now
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It's not even that new you get your tongue sliced Right in the middle to have kind of like a serpent's tongue.
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I Was saying what do you do when you turn 50? And there's some problems with speech with some of these young people who say well branding is not enough
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Tattooing is not enough if I get my tongue slit in half, then you have to go back to speech class But this idea here in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 13 is
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God seals you like with the brand if you go to Nebraska where I grew up and worked on a farm in the summer we lived in the city
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But we go to the summer you could tell which cows were who's right? Because there's a big bar
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H grill there or whatever. It said you know I don't know BQ something I don't know what it said and if God owns you he's taking possession of you
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Well, he'll watch out for you Don't you love this in John chapter 10 verse verse 14.
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I am the Good Shepherd, and I know my own and my own know me Yeah, but I've been identified
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Stamped and branded with the Spirit of God. We are his people God has more writing on your eternal security than you do
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Because he sealed you with what kind of spirit. Do you see what he's been called here the Holy Spirit of what?
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promise the Holy Spirit of promise Literally the Holy Spirit of the promise
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People say well, you know I can lose my salvation Friends if you got your salvation you could lose it, but if you didn't get it
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You can't lose what God is guarding protecting and has sealed you to the day of what to the day you sin
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Then he unseals you He loves me. He loves me not he has sealed you to the day of redemption with this
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Holy Spirit of promise Say well, I don't feel safe sometimes well none of us do But I liked it when the man went to DL Moody, and he said
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I don't feel saved Moody said wisely was Noah safe in the ark well certainly well what made him feel safe his feeling or the ark
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The Enquirer said oh how foolish I've been it's not my feeling it's Christ who saves I've got a better question if God seals
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Christians to the day of redemption with the Holy Spirit of the promise Then you should never say to yourself.
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Can I lose my salvation you should ask this question Can the Holy Spirit of promise lose a Christian? Who furthermore look at verse 14 is given as a pledge of our inheritance a wedding ring a down payment
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The Spirit of God dwells in us as a down payment with a view to the redemption of God's own what?
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possession To the praise of the glory of the people who keep it
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To the praise of his glory he seals he keeps to the end. I like what
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James Boyce calls this verse He calls it a clinch you drive the here's here's the wood you drive the nail all the way through and then on this side of The of the wood you you bend that nail down with your hammer and clinch it
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That's what this verse is our salvation is complete final Sealed as the
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Shulamite said put a seal on my heart if you're a Christian God has sealed your heart to the day of redemption You can't unsave yourself
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That's why Richard Baxter on his deathbed said I bless God. I have well -grounded assurance of my eternal happiness and great peace and comfort within Columbus will we make it the
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Pilgrims on the Mayflower will we make it Shackleton on endurance will we make it Apollo 13 will we make it heaven will we make it left to ourselves no
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But God has sealed us to the day of redemption. I love that Secondly if you look or think about Colossians think about song of Solomon It says that love is as strong as death
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Number one God has sealed us to the day of redemption number two as I extrapolate from this love passage here
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Love is as strong as death Then let me put it in these terms as Death follows as death pursues as death tracks down every one of us
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So to God's powerful love has pursued you and won you if you are a Christian It is because the hound of heaven tracked you down and saved you.
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Yes He initiated he saved here's how
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Paul describes it in Colossians 2 13 when you were dead in your transgressions and in the Uncircumcision of your flesh you made yourself alive together with him for goat forgave all your sins.
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Is that what it says? He made you alive together with him he is the author
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He is the finisher. He has caused us to be born again boy time fleets so fast. I'm not gonna do part five
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The third part about God's love that I could see here Here's a big one that blew my mind when I first got saved God's love for you is jealous
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Because when I think of jealous, I think of all bad things If you're not jealous for the love of your wife, then you may reconsider things.
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There is a good jealousy and I can prove it to you the Lord Exodus 34 whose name is jealous is a jealous
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God Deuteronomy 424 God is described as a consuming fire a jealous
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God Joshua 24 he is a holy God. He is a jealous God Zechariah 114
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I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion The Corinthian Christians that were provoking
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God to jealousy because they worshiped idols Friend God is jealous for your love in response to him.
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Yes He wants all your affection rendered to him
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We have idolatry which is an inordinate affection towards other things Well, I have 11 points into that point so we're gonna move on to the final one five
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God's love for you could not be purchased Remember when Shulamite said if man were to give all riches of his house for love, it would be utterly despised
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Let's think about God's love now. Can you imagine trying to buy God's love? Can you imagine trying to to say to your your wife when you first were dating?
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I know she doesn't really love me, but It's like five grand. Would you love me?
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Please? Here's five thousand dollars. What do you think? She'd do she probably slap you so what she would do how what an insult you're going to buy my love
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No, I give my love freely to whom I desire just like the Shulamite does I freely give it
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It is mine to give and I give it to whom I desire Now the same thing is true with God.
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Do you think there are people who try to buy God's love? This is the tragedy of all tragedies
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The Father Son and the Spirit one God in eternity past Create this great plan of redemption and the father sends the son the son condescends and takes a
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On -flesh in the likeness of sinful flesh, although not sinful for him, of course And he lives a life on earth full of temptations struggles sweat pain tears
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He dies on the cross as the father In love and in wrath and in every other attributes pour out his wrath on the
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Son not because the son sinned but because the Son is bearing the sins of others in a substitutionary way and God is so pleased with this fact that he he crushes his son a
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Isaiah 53 it pleased God to crush him because God is just and all sin must be punished and Then God was so pleased that the son took it without sin
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The son took it quietly as a sheep led to the slaughter and God says I will raise that Son up from the dead and I will seat him at my right hand of honor and I have done it all
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I have accomplished salvation from past to present into the future all by the triune work of Father Son and the
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Holy Spirit and We come to God and say, you know, I'm not saved I know you did it all but let me give you a couple dimes and a couple quarters that I call church attendance
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Baptism reading the Bible now and again and what's worst of all for a congregation like ours a
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Faith that intellectually believe But emotionally and willfully and volitionally says
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Don't you tell me what to do because I'm sovereign it's so upside down God has done it all this is a gift to be given
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We can't earn salvation. We can't buy it. We don't deserve it Lloyd Jones says until you come to the end of yourself and you say
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I have nothing to commend myself to you God if you're going to save me it'll have to be because you love me
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And because Jesus died for me, but I can't save myself I Love the story of the old lady who was on her deathbed and the pastor came over and said are you trusting that Jesus will?
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Take you to heaven when you surely die Yes, she said I'm trusting in the justice of God the justice of God What would you say the mercy of God the love of God the patience of God the forbearance of God the goodness of God the generosity
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Of God some one of those attributes that is kind of good How could she this old lady say who was wise in the
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Lord? I'm trusting in the justice of God Because Jesus paid her debt fully and completely and now
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Jesus stands ministering for her and to her on the behalf of her in front of the
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Father Jesus isn't going to have to pun to be punished for your sin and Then you are to be punished for your sin with double jeopardy
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Love is priceless. How can it be obtained? It has to be given and that's why we say faith is a gift salvation is a gift grace is a gift.
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I Love Titus chapter 3 verse 3 you want to know my testimony here it is For we were once foolish ourselves.
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I thought I could buy God's favor I'll never forget the time that I I was probably 17 years old.
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I went out with a bunch of my friends and I Don't know why my mom would ever let me go out
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But I went out and we all drank all night and everything and probably went to bed about 6 in the morning So my mom comes over at 7 in the morning and drags me from the party to take me to church
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So here I still am inebriated going to church. She made me sit on the front because she thought it would be chastening for my
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Transgressions and I remember the environment and I thought you know I've disobeyed my mother
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She told me not to do this and here I stand drunk before God I knew there was a triune God. I knew there was a judge.
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I knew he's a judge. I knew there was hell And so then there was communion so I walked up for communion and it was a sacramental system and with sacred sacerdotal priests and Took the bread and took the cup the pastor stood there and he opened up his hands and he said based on the authority vested in me
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I Now pronounce your sins forgiven Go in peace Serve the
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Lord I felt so good Still drunk still unregenerate
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But here's some man saying here's what God does for sinners because you ate this piece of bread and drank this juice
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Communion friends is good for Christians. Yes But because we're already right in God's eyes.
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He says as my children what you do Is obey me and follow me?
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But when we come to God We aren't coming with some man who has this back to the altar
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We have to come to the God -man the ancient of days Jesus Christ Who's the one who said I have paid it all and you can drink wine all you want just some time later
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I remember going on a camping trip with the church group to Texas and what we did we thought we were really great
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We would like to get drunk and so we went and we stole the communion wine to drink that at night What a horrible sin
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But may I say if love cannot be bought Then what could be a more grievous sin than stealing communion wine in order to get drunk and that would be somebody who has good
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Morals who says to themselves I can please God on my own accord and God I will buy you off with my own thoughts duties pleasures and what
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I think you should do and God loved me because I'm lovable I Love is priceless.
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It cannot be obtained. It must be given by God. So the best thing to do is like that Pharisees a
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Counterpart the tax gatherer. He cried out and he said Lord what? have mercy on me the sinner
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God is pleased to save sinners God came up with the idea of love in Song of Solomon because in Eternity past the
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Father and the Son and the Spirit already loved each other and they loved each other so much They even put a plan together to affect you wait to affect those in time
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Who would love us who would who would love like us? I know there are people here who aren't
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Christians. I Can't make you one But what I can say with all my desire and with all my heart when you come to God Please don't come on the quicksand of I'm good.
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I was baptized I'm not as bad as my brother and I'm here at church today with my Bible open George Zimmick used to say at Grace Community Church where John MacArthur is a pastor
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He said half the people at church aren't saved at Grace Community Church. I Think we have more than half here
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But I don't want anybody to walk out thinking God really likes me today because I did this Because when
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Paul added it all up in Philippians chapter 3, what did he say? It's all counted as rubbish and is done because love can't be bought
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The message of Song of Solomon is God grants love but the Shulamite knew love can't be bought
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But God is pleased to give his love to those who realize Their need well, let's pray father.
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We would commend our time today to you father. Certainly there must be people attenders visitors
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Those who have been baptized those who haven't been a whole group maybe some of our own children even who need to be born again who need to be born from above and if smart men like Nicodemus don't know how to become
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Christians. They don't realize it's an act of God completely Then probably some of us don't know either and so father
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I pray that they would call out in faith that they would believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved That they would believe that their heart soul mind and strength that you would grant them that belief and then they in fact would believe
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The Lord for those of us who are saved. Thank you that you've given us a book like Song of Solomon Would you by your
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Spirit's grace help us to love our spouses better? More like Christ likeness. We know our marriage is preached
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Christ. We'd like to have them preach Christ in an excellent way For those who are not married I pray
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Lord that you would keep them from sexual temptation that you would grant them discernment and grant them spouses if they so desire
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And Lord for the widows and widowers Without loved ones now without their husband or their spouse