The Song of Solomon. The first verse says, this is
not my text. I don't necessarily have a text
this morning. The first verse says, The Song of Songs, which
is Solomon's. It's amazing if you read some
commentaries, how much men want to start debating right in the
first verse. And usually if you have a commentary
that they want to start debating, or I should more say they want
to start denying, in the first few words of the first verse
of any book, you might as well just lay that commentary to the
side. This is the song of Psalms. It means much more than it's
the best song. But it is this. It is that song. It is a song. It is the song
about Jesus Christ and His people. The title for this message, and
we probably, Lord willing, will be in the Song of Solomon for
some time. My title for this morning is
an introduction to the Song of Solomon. Let me just say it right
out. This is not a song. about love
between a fallen son and a fallen daughter of Adam. It is not. Its literary backdrop is Solomon
and the Shulamite. That's certainly true. That's
the literary backdrop. It's about gardens and spices. It's about flora and fauna. It's about multiple mentions,
it's literary backdrop mentions multiple persons and multiple
places with references to smells, to human anatomy, and even to
male and female intimacy. But, but, and I must emphasize
that, but, it's message, it's truth, it's glory is the truth
about Christ and his people. That's what this books about
But let me say even further. It's more than just about Christ
and his people. It's about Christ and his church
Because all of the people of God are called out You can see
that in Romans chapter 8 For everyone who loves God and think
about that They're called what? the called according to His purpose. And everyone He predestinated,
He also does what? He calls them. He calls them. So we heighten this to more.
It's not just Christ and His people, though that's certainly
true. And let me give you an illustration of that. A man can
tell the truth, or no, a man can say true words and still
not tell the truth. Did you know that? For instance,
I heard a preacher illustrate with this, and I think it's a
profound and excellent illustration. You remember that one man that
was healed? I think he was blind, but Peter,
he was sitting at a gator at the temple, I think maybe it
was, and he was begging for money, and Peter said, silver and gold
have I none, but what I do have I given to you. Now they were
asked after it was over, by what name do you do this? Now, Mason,
he could have said, by the name of Jehovah God, the one God of
Israel, I do this. And he'd been telling the truth.
He'd have spoke true words. But that's not what he said.
He said, by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the man you
crucified, by his name, I do these things. Now, you see the
difference? A person can say true words. Had Peter said, well,
I do this by the one God of Israel, those old Pharisees probably
would have loved that, don't you think? But when he said,
I do this by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, that set
them on a hitch. So again, yes, it's literary
backdrop is all of these earthy, physical things. It's message,
it's truth, it's glory is expressed in all of this earthly illustration. But it's message, it's truth,
it's glory is the truth about Christ and His church. And there's
two parts about being called. Everyone called is called with
these two aspects of calling. First of all, we are called out
of the world. Listen to how Peter put it in
1 Peter chapter 2. Peter said these words, 1 Peter
2 verse 9, But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood,
and holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the
praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light. The world of the fallen sons
and daughters of Adam is a world of darkness and corruption and
deceit and lies. And God, everyone God calls,
He calls out of that into His marvelous light that we should
show forth His praises. Listen to the TV, listen to the
radio. I don't necessarily suggest you
should, but if you do, you will hear very little of the praises
of God. You will hear men and women boast
about men and women, boast about their faithfulness, boast about
their love, boast about their religious endeavors, but you
won't hear them declare the praises of God Almighty. Why? Because
they've been called out of darkness. That's why. Because when God
calls you out of darkness, you will begin to see His glory. His light. His truth. And you'll want to... Joe said
it. You'll want to speak about it. You'll want to speak about
it. So the calling means this. It
means to be called out. But it also means this. The called
out are called together. Now not they're all called at
the same time. That's not what I mean. They are called together.
It means an assembly. He was called out of the world
to assemble together as the people of God. You see that clearly
when Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 1. And mainly verses 2 all the
way to the end of the chapter, verse 10. He said, brethren,
I pray for you all the time. And I know your election. Why?
Because our gospel came not to you in word only, but in power.
It's not because you made a profession. Thousands have been made professions.
They've even made professions concerning the truth of free
reigning grace. Yeah, but it's not a profession.
Why? Because our gospel came to you in what? Not in word only,
but in power, and in much assurance, and in the Holy Ghost. And ye
became followers of us and the Lord. Those who are called out
of darkness into God's light, they will want to gather with
others in light. And God don't give you one part
of the calling and not the other part of the calling. It just
don't happen that way. It don't happen that way. As
a matter of fact, he said in 2 Thessalonians 2, you know the
passage, but we are bound to give thanks always to God for
you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God has from the
beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
spirit and belief of the truth. And how do you get to that? Whereunto
He called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And anybody who's ever obtained
it wants to talk about it. They want to share it with others.
It's a pleasure. It's not some chore to speak
about Christ. Sometimes it's a little frightful,
but it's no chore. But then he goes on and says
this, stand fast in the traditions which you've been taught. What
was one of their practices, their traditions? They gathered together. Did they not? They gathered together.
Now hear me. All who are called by Christ
and His gospel, their desire is the praises of God's darling
Son. Read the Song of Solomon. Just
read the Song of Solomon. And not only that, none who are
called by Christ and His gospel, none can be satisfied. I'm not saying it never happens.
Sometimes providence withholds that opportunity maybe. But none
can be satisfied without the common fellowship of those of
like precious faith. Read the Song of Solomon. Where
do you feed your sheep? The church cries. at the shepherd's,
plural, at the shepherd's, plural tense. God's ordained his way
for God's people to fellowship. That's in a local assembly. And
that's just the way it is. That's just the way it is. If
you, or me for that matter, if you or I, as a called out and
called together believer, and that's the way I've expressed
it this morning, because there are a lot of people who have
believed in religion, There's a lot of people who may have
even believed in Calvinism. That's not what I'm talking about
this morning. I'm talking about having been called out and called
together. You're that kind of believer.
If you will approach the song of Solomon in this light, that
is, it is a song, it is the song of songs about Christ and his
church. If you will approach the song
of Solomon in this light, rather than approaching the song of
Solomon as a mere human attraction, or human courtship, or human
love and marriage for that matter. If you approach it as a message,
a song about Christ and His church, then this book will open up unto
you. It'll open up unto you. Approach
this book for its divine and spiritual intent, and that is
Christ and the church. That's what this book's meant
to teach us, about Christ and the church. If you approach it
from that design, it's divine and spiritual intent, this book
will open up to you. I'm not saying every passage,
you'll be able to understand everything, but you'll begin
to start understanding a whole lot more if you say, this ain't
about Solomon and some Shulamite. And I say this facetiously, Solomon
had a lot of Shulamites. What, 900 and some concubines? He had a lot of Shulamites, Neil. No, this is talking about Solomon,
the Solomon. And the Shulamite, the Shulamite. That's what this is talking about.
Now let me give you an example of this. This book is flooded
with love. Is it not? Have you ever read
this? Love, love everywhere. Love all over the place. For
it's, what is it, eight? Isn't it? Eight brief chapters.
You find love mentioned well over 70 to 80 times. Referred to even more than that. The book is flooded with love. But here's my message for this
morning. First of all, first of all, here's what religion
does. Religion will take the song of Solomon and try to teach
you about human marriage. and human relationship and how
one spouse ought to conduct themselves toward the other spouse. Now
listen to me, if you seek, this is going to be a little convoluted,
but I'm going to try to explain what I'm saying to you here.
And it's convoluted because of my inabilities. But if you seek
for yourself or your spouse either outgoing or incoming love for
one another as mere husband and wife, And you read this book
thinking that. I want to read the Song of Solomon
to find out how I'm supposed to act toward my wife. I want
to read the Song of Solomon to find out how I'm supposed to
act or even be toward my husband. If you approach this book in
that way, all you will find is failure. All you will find is
disappointment. Because you will not measure
up. Now religion lies and sets their own earthly standards.
And then approaches this book and tries to teach how husbands
and wives ought to be. No, you might even, if you try
to apply this book to your marriage, to your spouse, you may even
end up in divorce, Cornelia. Because if you expect the love
from your spouse, to be like the love concerning Christ and
His church, they will not cut the muster. No. Husbands, we're commanded,
love your wives as Christ loved the church. But I cannot meet
that completely. I can't do it. My love for my
wife does not fit what's in this book. It just doesn't. Because I'm full of failure.
I'm full of self all too often. And vice versa for her as well. Vice versa for her as well. That's
just a fact. And yet most of the people in
this world that profess to be Christians approach the Song
of Solomon as some kind of love story between Solomon and some
Shulamite. Again, I wonder how the Shulamite
felt about those 900 and some concubines. Huh? This book ain't about Solomon
and some Shulamite. It's literary backdrop is that,
but that's not what it's about. It's about Christ and his church.
I'm saying that the realities of this concerning Solomon and
some Shulamite never happened. Because there is no human relationship
like this amongst the fallen sons and daughters of Adam. At best, at best. The nearest we may come to this,
the nearest we may come to this as husband and wife is only as
husband and wife who are also brothers and sisters in Christ. That's the closest we can come
to that. And we can experience a little bit of that relationship,
can't we? Can we not? But it's still only
a little bit. I have to be commanded. I had
to be commanded, Joe, to love my wife like Christ. Oh, I can
love her, but I want to love her for my reasons. I want to
love her for what I get out of it. Now, come on, be honest.
I know the religious world lies to itself and everybody else
about their love, but my love in me as a fallen son of Adam,
my love in me is self-centered. It acts based upon what I can
get out of it. And the fact is, some of us are
divorced because we found out we can't get that out of our
relationship. Somewhere along the line, something
broke down and it don't meet what somebody else expected.
Is that not the truth? That's what all divorce is about.
Somebody didn't get their expectations met. I'm done with this. I don't
care what, well so and so did this. So what? And if you ain't
done it with your outward actions, you've done it in here in your
mind. Well, I never stepped out on my spouse. Yeah, you have
in your mind. And anybody says they have it,
you're a liar. I'd say that to your face. You're
a liar. Our Lord Jesus Christ said you don't have to commit
the act. You just let a man look at a woman to lust after in his
heart. He's guilty of adultery already. Is that not what the
Lord of glory Himself said? Yeah, so I say the nearest that
we can come to this as a husband and wife is as a brother and
sister in Christ That's the nearest you can get my wife has asked
me You women like doing this. Why do you love me? Huh, I'll
tell you what automatically the walls start to go up Uh-huh Now
come on now the walls start to go up because if you mention
the wrong thing Well, you look so great. Well,
that's good. There ought to be some physical
attraction, shouldn't there be? Right? There's physical attraction
in this book, is there not? Sure there is. There needs to
be some physical attraction, but physical attributes can wane. Is that not true? Things can
wrinkle and sag and grow or shrivel. Now you know exactly what I'm
talking about. Pray God, Joe, I'm always attracted to my wife.
But that's not the reason I love her. You know what my answer
to her has been? By God's grace? Because you believe
Christ. That's why I want a relationship
with you. You believe Christ. Because that
matters more than anything else in this world. Your physical looks is not the
point. My physical, you understand what
I'm saying? That's not the point. They can
change. You could be in a car accident and look mangled for
the rest of your life, Joe. It can't depend on that. But often our love, as the fallen
sons and daughters of Adam, does. Does it not? What if your husband
loses his job? You sore, dirty, sorry piece
of work. Have we not seen that happen
over and over again in our society? And a marriage splits up because
somebody loses their job. Somebody even becomes lazy. The only reason ever given in
Scripture, and that was suffered under the law, was for fornication.
And Christ said from the beginning it wasn't so. Moses gave it to
you. He suffered it to you because
of the hardness of your heart. In other words, when it comes
to the practical application, mine and my wife's relationship
does not fit this book. And neither does yours. And if
you expect it of yourself or your spouse, or your spouse expects
it of y'all, one of each other, you're going to end up with trouble. And maybe even worse than trouble.
Now that's as practical counsel and advice as I can give you
as a pastor in this assembly. But here's the glorious thing.
Here is the reality of the love of the Song of Solomon. We are
Christ's beloved. And Christ is our beloved. Isn't that what it says? Chapter
2, look at it. Verse 16. My beloved is mine
and I am his. Do you see it? Chapter 6 and
verse 3, I am my Beloved's and my Beloved is mine. Do you see
that? Chapter 7 and verse 10, it says,
I am my Beloved's and His, oh look at it, His desire. His desire,
oh isn't that a glorious thing? Christ's desire is toward me. Do you see that? I am my Beloved's
and His desire is toward me. But let me say, I said we are
Christ's Beloved. And Christ is our Beloved. That's
true. But it's deeper than that. It
is this, as a believer, as an individual believer here this
morning, you have the right under the authority of God Almighty,
based upon the sacrifice of His Son to say, I, I am His Beloved's. I am my Beloved's brother. And
my Beloved is mine. Do you understand that? Don't
think of it merely in the collective. We're Christ, but we are Christ's
beloved. But Mason, I can say I am His
beloved. Or my beloved. And He, my beloved,
He is mine. That's the glory, folks, that
we don't earn. That's the glory that we don't
merit even by believing. I don't believe perfect enough
for me to be His. Neither do you. It certainly
isn't by walk. I don't walk perfect enough to
merit that. Here's the reality. I am Christ's
beloved and Christ is my beloved. Here was something. I've mentioned
this to you before. Several months ago when we looked
through the book of the Song of Solomon. The total mentions
of love in this book, I mean direct mentions are this, Christ's
love for us is mentioned approximately 18 times. That's a lot of mentions
of love for just eight chapters, isn't it? That's almost what,
two per chapter, right? But what was amazing is this,
when I began to look at each individual direct statement of
love, our love for Christ is mentioned approximately 41 times. Literarily the Shulamites love
for Solomon is mentioned double of What Solomon's love for her
is mentioned? When I first studied this went
through that looked at I was taken aback Was you taking a little back
when I said that Really? Really? I mean, Christ's love
for us is mentioned only around 18 times. Our love for Christ
is mentioned some 41 times? But, you see, we live in a society
where we think the majority makes everything, don't we? It's bent
into our psyche, especially in the country in which we live,
ain't it? Something that's the majority must be the best! That
ain't so. That ain't so. It just ain't
so. Why ain't it so? Just because
God says it ain't so. My ways are not your ways. My
thoughts are not your thoughts. That's what God says. However
I think naturally, however you think naturally, God don't think
that way. That's just the way it is. Then
I revisited each and every text there, and I revisited it in
its context. And I found out this, the Shulamite,
literally speaking, the Shulamite never boasts of her love. The Shulamite talks of her love
because of the glories of Solomon. Do you see the difference? Now
think about it. It's not because our love is
primary. We know that. We love Him. That
is, we love Christ. because He first loved us. So our love ain't primary, is
it? It directly states it. And the
very fact that it's not primary lets me know this. My love is
not superior or more than He is. It's not because our love
is primary. The Shulamite never boasts of
her love. Her love was neither more nor
superior. Never spoken of that way in any
way, shape, or form. And yet, this is the way human
love is, though. It boasts on how much it can
love more than another love. Well, I always loved my husband,
but he just didn't love me enough. Or I always loved my wife, she
just didn't love me enough. It's probably because you wasn't
lovable. You didn't earn it. You wasn't
worthy of it. Huh? Look at what you did to
them. Look at what you said to them.
Right? If you ever run that yap, let
the pie hole flap, and then realize, boy, that was stupid. But you
know something? There's some things you can't
take back. That's right husbands. There's some things you can't
take back, and that's right wives There's some things you can't
take back, but here's the reason Why more mention why more emphasis
on? The church's love for Christ
than his for here because Christ is so deserving of love That's
why Look at the context of it. It's not about, oh, the Shulamite
was such a great loving woman. No. Solomon was such a lovable
person. Such worth of love. Such merit of love. Now, do you
think that's really talking about Solomon? There you go. Go back and look at Solomon.
No. The Solomon here is Christ. The
Shulamite is you if you've been called by God's grace. Why more mention? Why more emphasis?
Because Christ is so deserving of love. He is so love worthy. Isn't He worthy of our love?
Then don't be ashamed of loving Him. Because He's worth it. Right? She don't brag about her
love. She says, Oh I love Solomon. And we don't run around talking
about, oh, I love Christ. No, we talk about the things
for which we love them. My beloved is mine, and I am
my beloved's. Do you see it? Look at what it
said, chapter one, verse three. Because of the savor of thy good
ointments, Now yes, she's talking here about smells, literally
talking about smells. Joe, I could put it, because
of his cologne. It just drives me crazy. Any of you women ever thought
like that? Maybe you did years ago, maybe not now. Because of
the savor of thy good ointments, thy name is as ointment poured
forth. Do you see it? It's not kept
in a bottle. It don't have the lid on it.
It's poured forth. The glory of Christ in His Word
is poured forth. Now, I smell it. And His name is as ointment poured
forth. Therefore, do the what? The virgins love thee. Do you
see it? Who is a virgin? Someone that
God Almighty is called by his grace, and he declared you to
be so That's the only way you will be a virgin In the true
context of the true meaning that's the only way you'll ever be a
virgin is God Almighty makes you one By decree by purpose
by blood by spirit That's the only way hmm look at it Verses
13 and 14, a bundle of myrrh is my well beloved. You see,
a bundle of myrrh. Now Mason, I fear that because
of our displacement from this time and age, a lot of this stuff
we don't relate to. You know, we don't relate to
that. A bundle of myrrh. I don't know what even myrrh
even smells like. But evidently it was pretty good, wasn't it?
You see, a bundle of myrrh is my well-beloved unto me. Now look, he shall lie all night
betwixt my breasts. Now you want to try to apply
that to your marriage? You go right ahead. You'll be sleeping
on the couch the next Sunday or whenever. What's she talking
about here? What's the church talking about?
Faith in Christ is not just this. I know sometimes it feels like
this. Trying to get a hold of Him.
But you know what faith, God-given faith is? You get a hold of Christ. And you pull Him right in here
all night long. Do you see it? Faith is not just
some mental ascent. It goes to the very heart of
your breast. You ever been hurt in love? And it's almost like you got
a pain down in the ear. Don't it? People have died because
of divorces. And I'm not talking about somebody
killing somebody. I'm talking about dying of desperation. Dying of
loneliness. But see, the believer is never
alone. And sometimes, Joe, now we're never alone no matter what.
We'll look at that in chapter 5. We're never alone. Even when we're asleep, He'll
come to the door. But that's for later. But there are times
when God enables us by faith to Joe just get a hold of him
and pull him right in here between your breasts. You see it? This is why he's her well beloved.
Why? Because of him. Do you see it? It's not about how great she
is. It's about how great he is. A bundle of myrrh is my well-beloved
unto me. He shall lie all night betwixt
my breast. My beloved is unto me as a cluster
of camphor in the vineyards of Engedi." I can't relate that
to you, but I can tell you that I've mentioned it already. Do
you remember, maybe, maybe, if some of us can remember, back
way back there, do you remember when maybe you went out on your
first date, that spouse-to-be came and they were in that beautiful
dress? Or that guy, he was in that nice
button-up shirt, just looked so nice. She had on that perfume,
Joe. He had on that cologne. And it's
not, you know, you just go up and they give you, that person
come up and just give you a big hug. Did you just sit there like
this? Huh? Did you with your arms down?
Or when they embraced you, what did you do? You embraced them
back. Why? Because I got to. Do you see? That's what he's
talking about here. Oh, the glory of it. In other
words, look at chapter two, verse three. As the apple tree among
the trees of the wood. Now, you read that, it's like,
what? Okay, now think about it. Apple trees don't normally just
appear out in the wood. Now, do they? Out there you got
the elms Oaks and the maples, right? And a man probably could
live on the acorns of some of them trees, but Mason, it wouldn't
be a very pleasant thing, would it? But what if you're just out
walking around in the woods and there's the oaks, maples, and
the elms, and all of a sudden you happen upon what? An apple
tree. My beloved is like an apple tree. He's so glorious amidst all the
lies that's all around us. He's so glorious amidst all the
temptations that's all around me and all in here. He's like
an apple tree in the midst of the wood. So is my beloved among
the sons. I sat down under his shadow with
great delight. See, his shadow is a place I
can rest. and I can eat dessert at the
same time. Isn't that glorious? I sat down
under His shadow with great delight, and His fruit was sweet to my
taste. That's why she loved Him. Do
you see it? It's not because she's so great.
It's because He's so great. And let me tell you something,
when Christ talks about loving us, He says it's because we're
so great. We're so beautiful. Our breasts are like great breasts. I don't mean to offend anyone.
Why is that so? It ain't me by nature. Is it? Anything in me God loves, God
loves, because God put it there. There are things in me God loves,
but God put it there. He's the one that's causing it
to stay there. He's the one that's sustaining
it in all that it ever will be. Why? Because the Shulamite says,
look not upon me, chapter 1 verse 6, because I'm black. You see
it? It ain't because of me! Because
the Son hath looked upon me. And not only that, not only am
I inwardly corrupt, but everything about me in this world apart
from Christ is set against my spiritual good. Look, my mother's
children were angry with me. They made me the keeper of the
vineyards. Ever think about that in the life? Somebody tries to
put you under the law? Look, made me the keeper of the vineyards,
but my own vineyard have I not kept. She ain't bragging about
herself. He's the one bragging about her. Is that not true?
Read through this book, you'll find that out. She never brags
about herself. God's people don't brag about
themselves. They brag about Christ. And when
Christ boasts about them, He says, I'm not ashamed to call
them what? Brethren. Why? Because of His grace. Because
of His mercy. Because what He's done for us.
What He's done to us. What He's doing in us. But it's
real. It's not ethereal. It's real. John said we love Him. I know
it's because He first loved us, but He said we love Him. Don't
we? It's okay to love Christ, folks.
Why? Because He's worthy of it. He's
worthy of it. Think of this. Christ is so deserving
of love. He's so love worthy. His glories
are intrinsic. And that love constrains me. Just like it does literally.
The Shulamite is constrained for Solomon. It's constrained
in love for Solomon. Why? Because he was such a glorious
specimen. Well, we love Christ because He's such a glorious
specimen. Let me just give you a few things. He is absolute
deity. He is God of very God. But He's also at the same time
completely human. Completely man. He's the very
One that can lay hold of God and not be destroyed. And yet
lay hold of me at the same time and not be defiled. And then
bring us both together in Himself. His deity is glorious. Humanity
is glorious. His holiness is glorious. He
could get angry and not sin. We have to be told, be angry
and sin not. Think of His condescension. Think
of what He came down to for us. Think of what He put up with.
His creatures spitting in His face and popping Him. Can you imagine that? Two sons
of Aaron, wasn't it? Just went in with strange fire
and God killed those boys! And yet the Son of God endured
what He endured because of His love for us. His condescension. His compassion. His compassion. His eternality. His righteousness. His love. He is our high priest. He is impeccable. He is immutable. He is sovereign. He has absolute
and complete obedience to God. That's something worth loving,
is it not? Yes, sir. That's something worth loving.
His sympathy. I didn't just say empathy. His
sympathy. He's already been there. Mason,
there's no place God will ever take me that Christ didn't already
go there. That's what Hebrews says, does
it not? Save apart from one thing. Any personal sin of his own. Think of it. His redemption.
His regeneration. His conversion by the gospel.
Etc. etc. etc. etc. He's worthy to be loved. Oh, God help me when I read this
book because it's about Him. And I don't get nothing out of
it. Oh, God help me. Am I saying
that's ever how it happens? Way too much for my comfort. But that's okay. Look at chapter
five. Even when you finally do get
up when you've been lazy and you won't go ahead and get up
when he's talking. Yet even when he's removed himself
and you get up, his smell is still right there by the door. He's never going to leave us
without the witness of himself in our hearts. Because if you
could ever get away from his smell, you never knew his smell. You know what I'm saying? And
I'm using the illustration to talk about spices, and colognes,
and perfumes. On top of Joe, this specimen
of a man, he's worthy of love. In other words, as the Shulamite,
literarily speaking, says, I'm sick of love. She doesn't mean
she's tired of love. She doesn't mean she's done with
love. She's, I'm love sick. Go back and read it. That's what
it is to be a believer in Christ. Now, what does this say? Remember,
we read this or sang this song. Moved by thy divine compassion,
who has died not just to save me, that's true, but who has
died my heart to win. Do you see it? I will praise
Thee. I will praise Thee. Where shall
Thy praise begin? There's so much of it. Where
do I start? You know what I'm saying? Angels
now are hovering around us, unperceived amidst the throne, wondering
at the love that crowned us, glad to join the holy song. They
haven't even ever experienced this, but they still want to
sing right along. Why? Because of Him. He's their Maker. and they understand at least
what He did in coming down and becoming flesh? Going through
what He went through? Being who He is? Look at what
it says. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Love and praise to Christ belong. My brothers and sisters, it's
okay to love Jesus Christ. It's okay to praise Him. Now
don't brag about your love, but love Him over and over and over. Brag about Him over and over,
just like you see done here in the Song of Solomon. My brothers
and sisters, may God continue to make us lovesick. May God continue to just, oh
God, do it too. I can't do it. I can't do it
myself. My companions, her children,
these men in the streets over here, I think it's one of the
chapters there, chapter 5, the watchmen, they went about to
slay me. Nobody's looking out for your
good like Jesus Christ. Not even me. And I say that not
as a justification. I say that to my shame. Nobody's
looking out for your good like Jesus Christ. He loves you. Love
Him back. Not more. Love Him back the more. You hear the difference? You
can't love Him back more than He loves you. But you can love
Him back the more. The more than you normally would. I don't love Him by nature. I
hate Him by nature. God help me. You know what Jesus Christ
sees in this Jew, Mike? The company of two armies. That's
what he sees. He's not ignorant of that. He
knows I'm the old man and he knows I'm the new man as well.
He sees in me a company of two armies. Mason,
he put the first one there by his condemnation in Adam. He
puts the second one there by his redemption in himself. That's His purpose, Joe. If that's
the way He sees me and He's okay with that for right now, okay. Right? Oh, if I was only rid
of the flesh, it ain't going to happen in this life, folks.
Just fight against it. Fight against it. Fight against
it. Fight against it. Fight against it. And thank God
He sees it. And He still loves you nonetheless.
Isn't that glory? That's a reason to love Him back,
isn't it, Mason? Love him back. Oh, God, help us as we continue
here together and as we fellowship as you enable us. Oh, God, may
we love the Lord Jesus Christ. In his name I ask, amen. Thank you, Gerald.