Song of Solomon, chapter 2. Now, when it comes to preaching and churches, there's
very little preaching on the Song of Solomon. I don't know if you've known that. In fact,
I was once advised, don't preach on the Song of Solomon. Like, that's not the book that
you should be preaching in church. In fact, that's a book that's really intimate between
the husband and the wife. And yes, it is a book that's very, very intimate about the
marriage relationship. We've been going through the series on the family. I've preached on
husbands, I've preached on wives, but I've not preached on marriage itself. Just the
marriage union between the two. And if you look at Song of Solomon, chapter 2, verse
11, have a look at this. Song of Solomon, chapter 2, verse 11. I believe verse 11 here
is the key verse to the whole book of Song of Solomon. The key theme to the entire book of the
Song of Solomon. Song of Solomon, chapter 2, verse 11, it says, For lo, the winter is past,
the rain is over and gone. Now, just see who knows the answer to this. If it's saying here,
the winter is past, the rain is over and gone, what season are we dealing with?
Spring.
Spring. All right, springtime. All right, so the title for the sermon tonight is Springtime
Marriage. Springtime marriage. We start off there with the claim that winter is over,
and now we're in a new season. We're in the season of spring. The rain is over and gone. All right,
the sorrows are gone, the dark clouds are gone, and things have been fruitful, things have been
productive. In springtime is when the leaves start to grow back on the plants, aren't they?
In springtime is when the insects start getting busy and they start to pollinate,
the bees start to pollinate, and other creatures, you know, that's where you start seeing, you know,
the birds, you know, constructing nests, and there's a lot more activity in nature. And then
we have the fruit that comes off the trees, and this is springtime. Quite often when you've gone
through winter, we're in spring now, aren't we, the season? You've gone through the cold,
you've gone through the rain, you're kind of, ah, I want to get back to that. You're looking
forward to spring, right? You know, and a lot of people don't like summer because summer is,
like, really hot, and spring's just that nice in between. You know, you've got some of those
cooler days, you've got some of those warmer days, and so I believe the theme of the Song of Solomon
is for us to have a springtime marriage all the time, okay? Springtime marriage all the time. Not
like the seasons we have here, where we go through different seasons because of the way, you know,
whatever, you know, the natural world works. No, but in your marriage you can stay in one season
all the time, and the season we want to be in is springtime. Springtime marriage. So,
I'll be preaching about marriage and the lessons we can get here from the Song of Solomon,
and I've got, I believe, let's have a look, I've got 14 points. I've got 14 points. They're all
very quick points to get through. 14 points that will help your marriage become a springtime
marriage. Now, maybe there are some of these things in this list that you're already doing.
Praise God. In fact, I could have come up with many more things. If you read the Song of Solomon,
I personally believe husbands and wives should read the Book of Song of Solomon together in
order to continue knowing what, you know, God expects from marriage, to see, you know, the love
that comes out of God's Word between that marriage union, and I believe this book can strengthen
your marriage. So, just a few points or quite a lot of points, but quick points that I believe will
help your marriage. Okay. Go to Song of Solomon, chapter 1, verse 2, please. Song of Solomon,
chapter 1, verse 2. All right. Song of Solomon, chapter 1, verse 2, and look how it begins. It
says, let him, and this is the wife speaking, I should give you a bit of introduction. The Song
of Solomon is a song. The Bible also calls it the Song of Songs, and I believe it's called
Songs because it's probably the best song of all the songs that Solomon wrote. The Song of Songs,
the one that stands out the most, the one that's actually also written by inspiration of God and
has been canonized for us in the Bible. And so, this song is a song between husbands and wives.
The wives singing to their husbands, the husband singing to his wife, and this is what she says in
verse number 2. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for thy love is better than wine.
What's the first thing we see there in a married couple? We see that this married couple is having
physical affection. Point number 1 for you to have a springtime marriage is for you to show
physical affection between husband and wife. Okay. Physical affection, kisses, hugs, you know,
show affection toward one another. And I believe this is so important for the children that grow
up in that family home, to see mom and dad have that physical, you know, some affection.
You know, as a child, now, I wouldn't ask my parents to do this today, right? But as a child,
I would go to my dad and say, dad, kiss mom, right? Or mom, kiss dad. You know, he said, why?
Because as a child, when I saw my parents kiss, when I saw that they loved one another,
it gave me security. It said, wow, my parents love each other, right? My parents love each other.
They're not going to get divorced. They're not fighting. You know, I can have stability in this
family. I can see what it means to be a husband and wife. And I don't believe parents, you should
hide that kind of affection from your children. You say, why? Because your children are going to
grow up. You know, they're going to turn on that TV and they're going to see physical affection,
ungodly physical affection on television. They're going to see ungodly physical affection
out in the world. They're going to see, you know, you know, just, just, you know, people taking
what should belong in marriage and just abusing that outside of the marriage union. And so where
do you want your kids to learn, you know, where physical affection needs to be done? They want
to learn it from mom and dad. They want to see that in the family home. So they grow up knowing,
okay, I've got to save myself for my wife. I've got to save myself for my husband,
not for some boyfriend that's going to use me and abuse me, not for some girlfriend that's
sleeping around and wasting their life. No, if we show our children that physical affection,
they're going to understand the right place, the right context that needs to be within. Okay. And
that is within marriage. And so, you know, if, you know, when you first get married, right,
you have the honeymoon period. I'm sure, you know, even when you get married, you know,
you may kiss your bride, right? It's that kind of that first kiss there, you know, as, as,
officially as husband and wife and everyone claps, you know, husband and wife kissing,
but then you get five years into marriage, you get 10 years into marriage, you get 15 years into
marriage. And sometimes this affection drops away. You know, sometimes you may not even remember the
last time you gave some physical affection to your wife or to your husband, you know, and if that's
happening, you've lost the springtime. You've lost the springtime. You need to bring springtime back
into your marriage. And you do that, number one, by showing physical affection toward one another.
Look at verse number three now. Song of Solomon chapter one, verse three. It says,
because of the savor of thy good ointments, thy name is as ointment poured forth. Therefore,
therefore do the virgins love thee. Okay. This is again, the wife speaking to her husband. And what
does she say about him? That he's got the savor of good ointments. Now, men, you know, I know we
have this idea of what it means to be manly, right? And some people, you know, some husbands,
you work hard, you know, let's say you're a bricklayer, you know, you're a laborer, you know,
you work some tough work, you're out there in the hot sun, you're sweating, you're smelly,
you're muddy, right? You come home and you're like, whatever, you know, let the whole house
stink. Who cares? This is my manliness. No, you know, that's not how you ought to be. You know,
here we see that the husband smelt good for his wife. He put on the ointments. Now, I'm not saying
he put on, you know, the creams and, you know, he plucked his eyebrows and became a metrosexual,
you know, man of this time. No, but he did what he could to at least smell well for his wife.
And quite often as you read the Song of Solomon, you see the same thing come up all the time,
the way that they smell, you know, to one another. And obviously he's putting on some good ointments.
What does that mean? He's putting on some perfume. He's putting on a bit of deodorant, right?
When he comes home from work or whatever he's doing, he wants to make sure he presents himself
for his wife, for his wife to go out, look at my husband, you know, and you ought to do that,
man. You ought to put on a little bit of a show for your wife. Listen, when you tried to get her
hand in marriage, when you wanted to date her and you wanted to attract her, didn't you clean
yourself up? Didn't you make sure your clothing was at least ironed? Didn't you make sure, you
were putting on fresh clothing? Didn't you put a little bit of deodorant and a little bit of
perfume on? Of course you did, right? And that's what you do at the beginning. But again, you go
for the five years, the 10 years, like, ah, whatever, you know, just put up with my smell.
That's not the right way. That's not the spring time. You're losing the spring time when you're
that way. You know, always make sure that you're seeking to put a good presentation forward for
your wife. Listen, you come to church, you come well-dressed, you come looking good. I'm sure
you maybe put a bit of perfume on here and there. You go to work in the morning, you wash your face,
you might comb your hair, you put on a fresh pair of clothing on, you're out there at work.
You know what's more important than your workplace and your colleagues? Your wife.
You know what's more important? Your husband. That's who you're spending the rest of your life
with. You know, make sure that you put a little bit of effort to show that, hey, I want to be
presentable to you as well. You know, even when you come home hot and sweaty, you know, go have
that shower, put on a fresh pair of clothes, go spend time with your wife, smell good. Point number
one was show physical affection. Point number two was smell good. It's a bit of a joke but it's there
in the Bible, right? It's there for a purpose because I know what men are like, right? I'm one,
right? I know and this is something that I tend to forget sometimes. Let's get to the third point.
Look at verse number five. Song of Solomon chapter one verse five. Now before I read this, before I read
this, isn't it true that ladies, and if you're a lady and say no this is not true, at least other
women that you know, right, they're always thinking about their appearance, right? I mean a girl that
has straight hair, she wants wavy hair, right? And the girl that has wavy hair, she wants straight
hair, right? The girl that has blonde hair, wants darker hair. And the girl that has darker hair,
wants lighter hair, okay? It seems like they're never satisfied, you know, with their appearance,
right? And we see this play out in this book as well, okay? And husband, something you need
to understand, and this is why it's in the Bible here, is the person that's going to be the most
critical about your wife's appearance is herself, is herself, okay? So look at this. Look at Song of
Solomon chapter one verse five. Look what she says here. Verse number five. She says, I am black
but comely, oh ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.
Now she's black. Now before we keep reading, she's not saying that she's got dark skin,
okay? As we read on, she's talking about being dark because she's been tanned by the sun,
okay? She's been out working in the vineyard, you'll soon see, and because she's been in the sun,
she's been darkened, right? And again, this is society. Certain times in society we live in.
Now I'm on the Sunshine Coast. I'm with a lot of Anglo-Saxon, you know, a lot of white, you know,
Australians out there, and you know what they want to do in summer, in springtime and summer?
They want to be darker, right? They want to get in the sun. They want to tan their bodies or put on
those fake tans. They want to be darker. But you know what other places in the world want to do,
like India? They want to be whiter, right? Some of these, I saw some documentary in India that
these girls are trying to put things on their skin to be whiter, okay? And so, like I said,
there's always this criticism about the way, you know, these ladies look about themselves.
Look at verse number six. She says to Solomon, look not upon me because I am black. Because the
sun have looked upon me, my mother's children were angry with me. They made me the keeper of
the vineyards, but mine own vineyard have I not kept. So she says, look, and I don't believe her
mother's children, her siblings are angry at her. It's just that she's doing the family business.
She's looking after the family vineyard. She's out at work and she's saying, you know, my family's
angry at me. That's why they put me to work. Obviously she's working because that's what
needed there for the family. And while she was there, she got a little darker. She got a little
tan by the sun. And I guess when we take this context, she's someone that doesn't want to look
darker, right? She's someone that's worried about his skin colour. And that's why she says at the
beginning, look not upon me because I am black. And she says, but mine own vineyard have I not
kept. So she's been busy working and she's not had time to look after her own appearance,
her own vineyard. That's what the illustration is there. And look at verse number seven. If you can
turn to verse number seven. Verse number seven. It says here, tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth,
where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon, for why should I be as one that
turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions? Now this is now the husband speaking to the wife.
The wife has just finished saying, don't look at me. You know, I don't look good. I've gotten
darkened by the sun. But look how he responds to her. Verse number eight. If thou know not,
O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock and
feed thy kids beside the shepherd's tents. I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses
in Pharaoh's chariots. So how does the husband respond? Wife is like, don't look at me. I don't
look good. Right? Don't look at me. I've got a pimple. Don't look at me. My hair's not done
properly this morning. Whatever. You know, I don't know. What does your wife say? I don't know.
And how does he respond to her in verse number eight? If thou know not, O thou fairest among
women. He says, wife, you're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen in my life. You're the
fairest of them all, he says. And husbands, that's how you respond to your wife when she's being
critical about her appearance. You married her. You must have been physically attracted. You must
have looked at her and said, this is a beautiful woman. This is a woman that I can love. I can't
take my eyes off her. Hey, if that's the woman you married, make sure she feels that way day
by day. She needs to be told that she's the fairest of them all. She needs to be told that
she's the most beautiful woman. And that's the response that we see here in the Bible. Not only
that, look at verse number nine. He says, I have compared thee. So he's trying to make her feel
really good about herself. She goes, I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses
in Pharaoh's chariots. Now, I don't fully understand that. So obviously, Egypt at that
point in time was a powerful nation. And Pharaoh had a powerful army. And he's got these chariots
with his horses. And I guess these chariots and horses represent their power, represent the
prestige, the riches of Egypt. And he says to his wife, you're like that, honey. You have high
prestige. You have great value in my eyes. You're the most important person to me in the world,
the way the nation of Egypt was in those days. And so what we see here, point number three,
if I can summarise this very quickly, point number three, in order for you to have a springtime
marriage is that men, you complement your wife's appearance. Say, I already told her 10 years ago
that she's beautiful. Hey, tell her now. Tell her today. Tell him this week. Tell her next month.
She needs to hear it again and again. Because as we saw, our wives are going to be the most
critical about their appearance. They need to know that my husband loves me. They need to know that
my husband still finds me attractive. My husband still finds me beautiful, more than the other
women that are out there in the world. You know, once you said I do, that's your wife for life.
Okay, you don't set your eyes on any other woman. No, your wife has to be the fairest among women.
You've got to set that in your heart. You've got to set that in your eyes. And so we see,
we don't only see the husband complementing the wife. If you go to Song of Solomon chapter 4,
Song of Solomon chapter 4 verse 7, go to chapter 4, Song of Solomon chapter 4 verse 7,
the wife says this to the husband as well. She says, Thou art all fair, my love. There is no
spots in thee. That's the wife, if you look at the context, that's the wife
speaking to the husband. She says to him, Thou art all fair. You know what else? Not only do
men need to tell their wives how beautiful they are, wives, you need to tell your husbands from
time to time how handsome they are. Okay, now all the men, they know, yeah, of course I know I'm
handsome. No, I'm just kidding. You know, but wives, you know, your husband need to hear that.
You know, you know, and if husbands, you're doing the best you can to attract your wife to,
you know, present yourself as best as you can, these will be beautiful words to hear from your
wife. She says, There is no spot in thee. That's pretty good. I know I've got plenty of spots.
I've got plenty of scars. I've got plenty of things that my wife can look at. Hey,
but if she's blinded by love, all right, she's going to complement the appearance.
That's what it means to have a springtime marriage. And here's the truth. You know,
when you married your wife, she was probably the most beautiful woman you ever saw. When you
married your husband, he's the most rugged, handsome man that I've ever seen in my life.
But as the years go on, we change. Our appearance has changed. As the years go on,
my stomach's going to be bigger. I'm trying to work on that right now, right? As the years go
by, we start getting the wrinkles. We start getting whatever, you know, wives, full pregnant,
have children, bodies change, and those things happen. But the key thing is we want to stay in
springtime. We want to stay in the right season. And so we must continue complementing one another's
appearance. That's what we get here from the Song of Solomon. Let's go to point number four,
go back to chapter one, Song of Solomon, chapter one, verse 10. And what I'm about to say here
might be contrary to other IFB churches or other pastors that preach, okay? I've heard it said
that women should never wear any jewelry. I've heard it said by some pastors, you know,
Baptist pastors that, you know, it's wrong for women to wear jewelry, okay? And we'll look at
this very shortly. But look at Song of Solomon, chapter one, verse 10. This is again the husband
speaking about how beautiful his wife is. He says, thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels,
thy neck with chains of gold. We will make the borders of gold and studs of silver.
What's my point number four? Point number four in order for you to have a springtime marriage
is buy some jewelry for your wife. You know, buy her a gift from time to time. Now, here's the
thing. I know jewelry is really expensive. You know, gold's gone up in price. You know,
if you're getting some good quality stuff, it's very, very expensive. But from time to time,
those special occasions, from time to time when your wife needs to be lifted up and cherished,
you know, there's nothing wrong with you going out there and buying her a gift. There's nothing
wrong with you getting out there and buying her some jewelry, okay? She'll love it, right?
She'll love it. We see biblical principles here where it's okay for you to buy some jewelry for
your wife. You know, even God, I think it's in the book of Jeremiah, describes Judah. And of course,
he's using illustrative language. But he says, you know, he cleaned up Judah. You know, he put
jewelry on her, as it were, as a nation. And so my point is that throughout the Bible, we see
the use of jewelry over and over again, you know, used for godly purposes. There's nothing wrong
with these metals that God has created. You know, people find gold very beautiful because of its
color. Nothing wrong with that being on your wife. You know, adding to her beauty. And if you guys
can take your Bible, stay in Song of Solomon, but go to 1 Timothy chapter 2. Go to 1 Timothy chapter
2 verse 9. And I'll just show you where people take this view that, you know, buying jewelry or
wearing jewelry is ungodly. So it's in 2 Timothy chapter, sorry, 1 Timothy, 1 Timothy chapter 2
verse 9. 1 Timothy chapter 2 verse 9 reads, in like manner also, that women adorn themselves
in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety. Now look at this, not with broidered
hair or gold or pearls or costly array, but which becometh women profess in godliness and good
works. Let the woman learn in silence of all subjection, but I suffer not a woman to teach,
nor to serve authority over the man, but to be in silence. And of course, this is teaching about
the woman's behavior in the church. You know, the Bible is making very clear here that women
are not given the permission by God to preach to teach in the church, all right. But going back on
that, he speaks about what the women, what, you know, ladies, if you're here, what you should be
aiming for when it comes to your character, the character about yourself. And it said there,
so verse number 9, in like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel. And of
course, the word modest there is talking about clothing that does not draw attention to you.
You know, you know what I'm talking about, you know, some women will dress in a certain way,
you know, with their short skirts or revealing tops to draw attention from men. That's not how
godly women should dress themselves. They ought to dress in a modest way, with modest apparel,
something that does not draw attention to yourself. And then it keeps going there in verse number,
sorry, yeah, with shamefacedness and sobriety, not with broidered hair or gold or pearls or costly
array. So they'll read those passages about the gold and the pearls, costly array and say, see,
women are not permitted to wear jewellery. No, you're misunderstanding the points. It's the
women that put on the jewellery that put on the costly array that are seeking to draw attention
for themselves. That's what's ungodly. It's when you're going out of your way to draw attention
to yourself. But the fact you know, and it's comparing to your modest character, your
shamefacedness, your sobriety, those are the qualities that women are ought to have
beyond the way you dress, beyond what you wear. And so it's not saying it's wrong to wear jewellery.
It's that that's not what should make you as a person. What should make you as a person
is the inner man, is your character. And so that's why some people take that. And
but then, you know, if you take that as it is like that, and you think, oh, gold's always wrong,
jewellery is always wrong, you're gonna have major problems in the Bible. As you're reading
from the Bible, you're just gonna have major conflicts, because you'll see time and time again,
godly men or even God using the illustration of jewellery and these kinds of things, just as we
saw there in the Song of Solomon. So point number four to have a springtime marriage is buy her
jewellery, buy her gifts, make her feel special, make her feel beautiful. All right, point number
six, let's go to point number six, back to Song of Solomon chapter one, Song of Solomon chapter
one verse 16, please. Song of Solomon chapter one verse 16.
The Bible says here, behold, thou art fair my beloved, yay pleasant, also our bed is green,
also our bed is green. Now obviously we've got kids here, I don't want to get too,
you know, intimate with the details here. But do you think the bed they're sleeping in is actually
green in colour? Do you think they've got green sheets and green pillows and that's what they're
referring to? Okay, think about this, if the theme of Song of Solomon is a springtime marriage,
what happens during springtime? At springtime right now, you know, I've got a granny flat in
Bonnery, my dad gets there once in a while and cuts the grass, because the grass grows like
wild, grows wild, right? During springtime there's a lot more green, all right, in springtime that
shows the productivity, the green shows the growth, is what I'm trying to say, the growth,
the fruitfulness of the season and how vegetation respond to the change of seasons.
If we take that as the theme of the Song of Solomon and they're looking at their bed and
they say the bed is green, what are they talking about? They're talking about the physical intimacy,
right? Point number five there, in order for you to have a springtime marriage, is to have a
fruitful marriage bed, that your marriage bed ought to be green, it ought to be productive,
that physical intimacy between husband and wife should be there at all points of marriage,
you know, and again this is something that, you know, when you've nearly get married,
this is something that, you know, it happens well, you know, and then again the years go by,
that, you know, the time goes by and people are less intimate with one another, you know,
husbands are less intimate with their wives and vice versa, that shouldn't be the case,
we're aiming for the springtime marriage all the time and as they look at their marriage,
but they see it as green, they see it as productive, they see it as fruitful,
the fruit of the womb is his reward, the Bible says, the fruit of the womb is his reward and
it's interesting that it uses the term for children as fruits, as fruits, why is it fruit?
Because it came from green pastures, right? It came from growth, it came from productivity,
it came from intimacy between husband and wife and so point number six is have a fruitful marriage
bed, I'll go through the six points so far that we've read, point number one was to show some
physical affection, number two smell good for one another, point number three is complement her
appearance or complement his appearance, point number four is buy her jewellery and point,
actually it's point number five, sorry, my numbering system is all wrong, have a fruitful
marriage bed, have a fruitful marriage bed, if I give you the wrong numbers at least, you know,
you get the points, right? Sorry if I've got it wrong there, all right, let's go to the next
point, go to Song of Solomon chapter two, Song of Solomon chapter two verse three,
Song of Solomon chapter two verse three, again we have the wife singing about her husband or to
her husband and it says here in Song of Solomon chapter two verse three, as the apple tree among
the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons, okay, before I keep reading the rest of it,
she's saying my husband is like this apple tree amongst all the other trees in the wood,
right, there's all these trees probably with trees that you can't eat from but you find that
one apple tree in the middle of the woods, she says that's like my husband, my husband that
fruitful tree, you know, amongst the sons like the other sons of the nation, the other men, right,
she sees her husband as that fruit tree, that apple tree and then she says I sat down under
his shadow with great delight and his fruit was sweet to my taste, okay, now think about this,
if she's seeking to sit under the shadow of the apple tree, what is she saying,
you know, when it's a hot day, right, it's a hot day and you know, you need a drink and you need
to be refreshed, quite often you look for shadow, you know, when you go door to the soul, I don't
know about you, when you go door to the soul, in a hot day, I'm kind of looking for some shade,
I'm looking for somewhere that I can stand so the sun's not beaten down on me, right,
you're looking for shade because it gives you comfort, it gives you relief from the sun
and husbands, that's how you need to be to your wives, your wife is looking for you for comfort,
she's looking at you for security, she's looking at you for that protection to know she's comforted,
she has confidence in you as that apple tree providing shade for her and she sits down there
with great delight, with great delight and so not only is she looking after comfort from him,
it then says that his fruit was sweet to my taste, so she eats from the productivity of her husband,
if the husband's the fruit tree, she's eating from the fruit, the apple tree, she's eating of that
apple, all right and we can take this as a more literal interpretation if you want
but what she's saying is, you know, I rely on my husband for my daily needs, I rely on my husband
for the provision as a family and of course this is an illustration of men going to work,
men going to work, you know, that's what the bible commands of us, that's what's going to
give you satisfaction in life, I've preached on this before, you go to work, you earn a paycheck,
why, to be rich, you earn a paycheck to provide for your family, provide for your wife, provide
for your children, put a roof over their heads, give them clothing, give them food and as your
wife partakes of your provisions, she's able to sit there under the shade of that tree as it were
and be provided for. Husbands, you need to be a provider, it's symbolic of the daily
necessities of life, she's relying on the apple tree for shade and for food and husbands, your
wife needs to rely on you for the comforts and for the provisions in the family, so that's my
next point, please look at verse number four now, look at verse number four, verse number four and
this one's really, really important, I really, if you don't, if the other points go over your head,
at least please focus on this point, point number four, point number four is honour your wife,
husbands, honour your wife publicly, honour your wife publicly, look what happens here,
verse number four, chapter two verse four, he brought me to the banqueting house
and his banner over me was love, so of course this is King Solomon, he's got a house, he's got
a place just for banquets, just what's a banquet, a feast, you know, to put on a big party, to put
on, you know, to invite friends, to write family and have a great time, right, he has this banqueting
house and it says here, she says about him, he brought me to the banqueting house and he says
and his banner over me was love, what's a banner? A banner is a public display, okay, and usually
when you go to have a banquet, you're going for a reason, maybe there's something to celebrate,
maybe you're honouring somebody, right, and here you see he's honouring his wife, the reason he's
getting everybody to the banquet, now everyone's feasting and having a good time is because he
wants to publicly show everybody there his love for his wife, that's the banner over her was his
love at the banqueting house, you know what that speaks to me about, that means men, you need to
praise your wife, you need to tell people how good she is, how good of a wife she is,
speak well of your wives, you know, and it's a shame when men turn around and speak evil of
their wives, it's a shame when wives turn around and speak evil of their husbands, you know, one
reason that I, you know, I'm against women in the workplace is because I worked with a bunch of
women, they'd come complaining about their husbands, whining about their husbands, you know, and just
look for another woman's shoulder to cry on, oh my husband's such a terrible man, my husband doesn't
do this, my husband, that's the wrong approach, that's not the biblical approach, all right,
what we should be striving to do is find the good qualities about our wives, find the good qualities
about our husbands and make it a public display, you know, the people in this church know that you
love your wife, people in this church know that you love your husband or do they look at your
relationship and think, man, you know, that marriage needs a lot of help, you know, that man, you know,
you know, this man, why doesn't he love his wife, you know, why doesn't he love his children, that's
not how it should be, you know, in public, especially amongst the brethren, it should be obvious
that you have a love, a public love, you honor your wife, you speak well of her, so that's point
number eight or point number seven, I've lost track of my points now, whatever it is, okay, anyway, let's
get to our next point, Song of Solomon chapter 2 verse 5, just the next verse, it says, she says,
stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples, for I am sick of love, for I am sick of love, now, when
it says here that I am sick of love, she's not saying, oh man, I'm sick of this relationship, I'm
sick of my husband, that's not what she means, when she says I am sick of love, she's saying, I'm lovesick,
I'm lovesick, you know, and it's a bit embarrassing to say, but I remember when I first met my wife,
when I met Christina, you know, my parents took me to Chile for a holiday, and my dad would say, oh,
he's just thinking about Christina all the time, you know, I'm on holidays, I'm overseas, you know,
with my family that I don't see very often, and it's like, oh man, he keeps thinking about Christina,
you know, he keeps wanting to email, you know, back then I had to go to one of those internet
cafe booths to send her an email, you know, I'm talking about, you know, before mobile phones and
stuff, you know, and my dad was like, why, you know, he's always thinking about Christina, I was lovesick,
all right, I was lovesick, and you see, this is a married couple, and they're still lovesick,
they're still sick of love, right, they're still in that way, and when you're lovesick,
you're going to be able to oversee the faults of one another, you know, you're going to desire to
have that passion, the love, the affection toward one another, you know, the little things that we
all have faults, we all have little habits that we don't like about each other, but when you're in
that state, you can oversee all that, and you just want to spend time together, she said there at
beginning of verse number five, stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples, the next point
that I have here was spend time together, she wants to spend time with him, she says stay with me,
you know, comfort me with your apples, she says, and look at verse number six, his left hand is
under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me, so there, you know, there's a physical affection
there, right, she's longing for him to be there physically for her, she's looking to spend time
together, and we need to keep this in mind, and men, men, I'm talking to husbands, because,
just because I'm a man, so I know how we think, right, we go to work, we go to work for eight
hours, nine hours, ten hours, whatever it is, you come home, and you've had a hard day at work,
and you just want to be left alone, right, you just want to be like, oh man, just want to get
home, and, you know, just have something to eat, and go to bed early, or something like that,
but if your wife's been at home, if your wife's been looking after kids, she's looking for some,
you know, time with another adult, right, she spent all day looking after the kids, or maybe
homeschooling the kids, whatever, whatever is going on, she's looking forward to spending time
with you, and husbands, you need to remember that, you need to remember that when you come home,
spend some time with your wife, you know, force yourself, say, you know what, yes, I've got other
things to do, I've got other things, but I'm going to spend the next half an hour, we're just
going to set that aside, wife, that's you, you and me time, you know, kids, go to your bedrooms,
go read a book, you know, I'm going to spend some time with wife, I'm going to spend some time with
mum today, so please, point number nine, or point number eight, I'm losing track, spend time
together, spend time together, the next point note I've got for you, if you can please go to chapter
one, Song of Solomon chapter one verse 17, Song of Solomon chapter one verse 17, as I've been going
through this series on the family, when I spoke about the, what gives men satisfaction, I talked
about how we need to get out there and work, right, and when we work, we provide for the family,
right, I mean, that's going to fulfill your desire as a man when you're doing that, when you're able
to provide for the family, but what if you provided for your family, and your wife never
appreciated what you gave to her, man, how would you feel about that, how would you feel if your
wife never gave you, never said, you know what, thanks for working a hard day this week, thank you
for making sure there's enough money coming into the household to provide for the family, thank you
for making sure that the bills are paid for, that there's a roof over our heads, look how the wife
responds here in verse number 17, Song of Solomon chapter one verse 17, she says, the beams of our
house are cedar and our rafters of fir, fir is an evergreen tree, so she looks at the house that
they live in and she compliments the house, she goes, you know what, the beams of the house are cedar,
that's an expensive wood and the rafters are fir, she goes, we've got a roof over our heads,
you know, what is she doing, she's thanking her husband for providing a place to live, that's what
she's doing, she's complimenting, look, you know, you've provided for me, you've provided my need,
and so the next point that I have here for the wives is appreciate your husband's provision,
your husband's provision, again, he's out there for 8, 9, 10 hours working with people, he probably
doesn't even like all that much, right, but he knows he has to do it to get the paycheck, he knows
he has to do it to provide for the family, and why is it, if you turn around and say, oh man, I wish we
had a bigger house, I wish we had a newer car, you know, your husband's going to feel like he's not
been a good husband, he's not going to feel that he's been able to fulfil his part, his role in
life, you know, look at what your husband has provided for and be thankful, I'm sure you've
eaten today, I'm sure you've been clothed today, I'm sure you've been able to, I hope you've been
able to pay your bills, right, and if you've been able to do that as a married couple, most likely
it's because the husband went out there and worked the job, worked out there and made sure his family
was provided for, so make sure you appreciate, you tell your husband how much you appreciate
the hard work he does for the family, okay, please go to chapter three, Song of Solomon, chapter three
verse seven, Song of Solomon chapter three verse seven, so my next point that I've got here, well
let's read it first, Song of Solomon chapter three verse seven, again the wife is speaking here, she
says or singing here, she goes, behold his bed which is Solomon's, now this is interesting about
his bed, now remember Solomon's the king of Israel, he's a very wealthier, very powerful man, okay, so as
you read this, let's read it, free score, what's the score, 20, what's free score, three times 20,
60, okay, free score, 60 valiant men are about it of the valiant of Israel, they all hold swords, being
expert in war, every man have his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night, the next point
that I have here for husbands is protect your wife, protect your wife, give her security, okay, now how
did Solomon give his wife security, he had 60 men of war, probably the best soldiers he had about the
bedroom, just guarding the place, okay, why for fear in the night, you know as the king, I'm not saying
guys go high as 60 bodyguards, right, every night around your house to make sure your wife is
protected, of course we can't do that, right, I can't afford that, all right, but what obviously as the
king of Israel, he can afford this and with that kind of position, of course there would have been
assassination attempts, of course there would have been attempts to kidnap his wife, kidnap his family,
you know ransom for money or the enemies just wanted to come in and destroy the figurehead and so
what Solomon had prepared was these 60 bodyguards, just around the place, around the bed, around the
bedroom to make sure he could sleep peacefully, his wife could sleep peacefully, so we take the lesson,
we take the application there and men, we need to provide protection for our wives, you know men,
you're probably taller than your wife, you're probably broader, you're probably stronger, most
likely you are, genetically you would be, in general men obviously are much more stronger than
ladies, right and there's a reason for that, all right, it's because when your wife screams in the
middle of the night, you're not required to scream also, in the middle of the night when your wife
screams and you hear some noise in the house, men you get up and you find out what's going on,
you get that pole under your bed, you get that baseball bat, whatever you've got, you're like oh
what's that noise, where's that coming from, you get ready, man I wish we could own guns in Australia,
that would be the right thing to do, protect your family, you know have a weapon,
this guy had 60 bodyguards, all with swords ready to go, ready to slay the intruder,
ready to slay the assassin, men we need to be strong, physically strong, yes but also mentally
strong and yes I know when you hear those funny noises in the night, you got a bit of fear as well
but don't show your wife you've got the fear, you're trying to give her security, right,
she's thinking oh my husband will take care of it, if you're like oh I don't know honey let's
lock the door, let's lock the door, but what are the kids in the other bedrooms,
you gotta look after the kids too, right, you know get out that baseball bat and just risk your life
for your family, if you're saved you're going to heaven anyway, if you lose your life, praise God
for that, right, I mean it would just get better for you, right, so you know don't have fear,
you know you need to make sure you protect your wife and this can be a variety of ways,
you know looking after your wife in that sense, making sure you know when we bought a house in
Bonnery we got shutters for the windows because in Bonnery it's one of the highest like places
that people of robberies and people breaking into houses, so to give my wife comfort we've got some
shutters on the windows back then and some screen doors you know to just give protection, some
people might put cameras, I don't know, I don't really want the cameras but some people put
cameras, whatever it takes to give your wife security you need to be thinking about that as
well, okay, your wife is looking for security especially in the night. All right, let's go to
the next point, verse number 11, chapter 3 verse 11, Song of Solomon chapter 3 verse 11,
now let's try, we'll read this slowly, it says go forth O ye daughters of Zion,
again the wife is speaking, and behold King Solomon with the crown, so obviously he's the
king, right, so he's got crowns but he's got a specific crown here, King Solomon with a crown
where with his mother crowned him, look at this, in the day of his espousals, what's a spouse?
That's your married partner, all right, that's your husband or your wife and so King Solomon's
wearing this crown, the crown that his mother gave him on the day of his marriage, all right,
let's keep going, and in the day of the gladness of his heart, all right, now I don't have a crown
of my spouses but I've got a wedding ring of my spouses, right, I've got my wedding ring and so
husbands if you've got a wedding ring make sure you put it on, all right, when you get out there
you put it on and it's more than that, you know, now you know that ring sometimes gets a bit small
for me as I put on weight and I get a bit thicker whatever and sometimes I get it enlarged, you know
what, I don't like wearing my wedding ring, like at home I'll put it on my bedside table, that's a
bad thing because all the kids get in there, they mess things up and we lose it for a while
but usually at home I don't have my wedding ring on but when I get out of the house I always put
it on, why, because if a woman sees me I want her to know, hey, I'm married, I'm taken, all right,
and this will remind me as well if you have any impure thoughts, any stupid thoughts in your,
hold on, there's my wedding ring, all right, there it is and I made sure I put it on for this
sermon to make sure, here it is, you know, the crown of my spouses, right, there it is,
that's how we need to be, we need to remember the day of our marriage, remember our wedding day,
you know, point number 12 or 11, I don't know, rejoice and celebrate your wedding anniversary,
rejoice and celebrate your wedding anniversary, look what it said there at the end of it,
David's espousals in the day of the gladness of his heart, when you got married that should have
been a day of gladness in your heart, it's worth remembering, King Solomon, how does he remember,
he puts on the crown, he goes, hey, that's the crown I got married in, you know, the day of my
espousals, he puts it on, you know, we need to celebrate our wedding anniversaries, you know,
celebrate, you know, use whatever symbols you have, you know, go back and look at those wedding
photos, if you've got the wedding photos, you've got the wedding video, go back and celebrate,
you know, kids love looking at that kind of stuff, you know, my kids never get tired of looking at
our wedding photos or looking at our wedding video, you know, show the kids about the, you
know, the day when they went there, you know, the day of the espousal and, you know, I just
remember one story, I'll tell you one quick story, when I was at work and I had a colleague and she
had a later shift than I did and she comes into work and she's all frustrated and upset and I'm
like, you know, are you all right, what's up, you know, she goes, oh, you know, I had a fight with
my husband and I'm like, oh, okay and she goes, oh, you know, it's our wedding anniversary today
and he's angry at me because it's because she was working a late shift, he's angry at me because I
didn't take the day off, you know, we didn't make any plans for our wedding anniversary
and she's like, you know, my husband, whatever and I'm like, are you kidding me, this is the
greatest day of her life, this is the day that should have given you the most joy and I said to
her, look, go home, go celebrate your wedding anniversary, I'll cover your shift, I'll cover
your shift, I'll stay back, I was ready earlier than her, I'll stay back, you go home and you
celebrate your wedding anniversary, it's an important day, men, ladies, remember that day,
that day of gladness in your hearts, that's going to give you the springtime marriage,
every year you go back and remember, hey, that day we got married, remember that day,
remember the adventures, how difficult, all the different, you know, every marriage, every wedding
also has its problems, like people rushing last minute to organise things, so there's always
little stories of marriages and stuff like that, you know, she came back the next day and said,
oh, you know, thank you so much, we had a great time, you know, we went out and we celebrated
and things like that, unfortunately for her, she's now divorced and remarried but it doesn't surprise
me to see her attitude toward marriage, you know, her attitude toward her anniversary, you know,
I don't want to see you divorced, I don't want to see that happen to you and part of that is to make
sure that our marriages stay in springtime and part of that is remembering our wedding anniversaries,
please make a big deal out of it, please take the time off work, take the time off work,
save up some money, all right, take your wife out, you know, work out something else with the kids,
or bring your kids with you, whatever, but make sure you have a great time of celebration
on your wedding anniversaries, I've got two more points and then we'll conclude this,
two more points, please go to chapter 5, Song of Solomon, chapter 5 verse 16,
Song of Solomon, chapter 5 verse 16, the next point that I have here for a springtime marriage
is make your spouse your best friend, husbands and wives, wives, your husband should be your best
friend, husbands, your wives should be your best friend, you know, when you have something you need
to get off your chest, you shouldn't be thinking I've got to call my mate, you know, what's,
you know, what's, what's, what's, what's John up to, you know, no, no, you, when you got something
heavy in your heart, you got something you need to talk to about, you need to go to your spouse,
you need to make them your friend, look at verse 16, Song of Solomon, chapter 5 verse 16,
this is the wife speaking again and she's speaking to other women, so she's gossiping to the other
women, well let's see what she says, she says to the other women, his mouth, speaking of her
husband, his mouth is most sweet, yea he is all together lovely, this is my beloved and this is
my friend, oh daughters of Jerusalem, is she gossiping about a family, is she gossiping about
her husband to all the ladies in church, no, she goes to the ladies in church and goes my husband's
the best, in fact he's my friend, he's my best friend, oh you daughters of Jerusalem, you know,
we need to make sure that in our marriage we maintain friendship, husbands and wives,
things that are on your heart, things that are on your mind, you take them to your spouse,
that's part of the reason of getting married, is you got someone, you got that one flesh,
that person that belongs to you, that can help you, that can hear you out, you know, husbands
when you're down, your wife can lift you up, wives when you're down, your husband should be there to
lift you up, it's not about finding your best friend from high school or anything like that,
no, your best friend needs to be your husband or your wife, call him your friend, that's going to
make sure that you maintain that springtime marriage, now my last point, please go to
chapter 8, Song of Solomon chapter 8 verse 6, Song of Solomon chapter 8 verse 6,
Song of Solomon chapter 8 verse 6, I'll read, I'll tell you what the last point is and then
we'll read it, my last point that I've got here is in order for us to have a springtime marriage
is be jealous of your spouse, be jealous of your spouse, okay, now we don't, in this day and age,
we don't understand the word jealousy, okay, we think of the word jealousy as a negative term,
okay, if I said I'm jealous of someone, so why is that, you know, you know, people think, oh,
you know, you want what they've got, that's not how the Bible uses jealousy, you know,
the God that we worship is a jealous God and he says his name is jealous, jealousy is protecting
that which belongs to you, you know, I'm jealous for my children, I don't want my children being
taken away and raised by someone else, I don't want my children spending hours with some someone
else rather than the parents, I'm jealous for that, I'm jealous for that, right, and look at
this Song of Solomon chapter 8 verse 6, Song of Solomon chapter 8 verse 6, set me as a seal upon
thine heart, look, it's been said to the spouse, you know, put a seal about your heart, make sure
that there's a continual love there, that you wouldn't look at another person, this is just
between husband and wife, as a seal upon thine arm, look at this, for love is strong as death,
look at this, jealousy is cruel as the grave, the coals thereof are coals of fire which have a most
vehement flame, how jealous should you be for your spouse, with like coals of fire which have
the most vehement flame, there should be this flame in your relationship, a godly jealousy
in your marriage, let's keep reading verse number 7, what about this flame,
many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it, if a man would give all
the substance of his house for love, it would be, it would utterly be contempt, verse number 7,
again, many waters cannot quench love, do you see how the Bible puts love and jealousy together,
the jealousy as those coals of fire, that vehement flame, no matter how much water you
throw onto it, it can't burn out, that's how your love ought to be for one another,
that's how you ought to be jealous for one another, what do you mean,
what do you think I would say, if Christina, now this has never happened, but if Christina
comes to me one day, you know, says oh you know what, one of my friends from high school
is on the sunshine coast and he's asked me out for a coffee, it's a him, oh it's one of your good
friends from high school, oh yeah go for it honey, is that what I'm going to say, just go for it
honey, go spend time with some other man, no, you know, if I hear something like that, you know
what's going to happen, the vehement flame is going to come out, the jealousy is going to come
out and say honey, you're married to me, let's go out for coffee, you and I instead, how about that,
how do you think my wife would feel if some woman kept flirting with me, giving me attention,
constantly talking to me, how do you think my wife would feel, she wouldn't like it, oh honey
come on, you know, that's jealousy, you know, jealousy is a positive attribute to what belongs
to you, husbands, your wife belongs to you, wives, your husbands belong to you, when you feel jealous,
when there's the opposite sex is given a, you know, attention, too much attention to your spouse
and you're feeling, you know, good, feel jealous, pull your husband out of that situation, yes,
do it, because this is what the bible instructs us to do, we need to be jealous for that which
belongs to us, we're not talking about envy, we're not talking about covetousness,
when you covet, when you envy other people, you're desiring that which doesn't belong to you,
but jealousy in the bible is desiring that which belongs to you, the reason God is a jealous God
is because the praise and worship of God's people belongs to him and he doesn't want that praise
and worship go into some false God and so he says I'm a jealous God, that praise belongs to him,
husbands, your wife belongs to you, wives, your husband belongs to you, not to another woman,
not to another man, okay, and so those are my points, I'm going to read them again very quickly
and I won't number them, but number one, number one, show physical affection, smell good,
compliment her appearance, buy her jewellery, have a faithful marriage bed, provide for your wife,
honour your wife publicly, spend time together, appreciate your husband's provision, protect your
wife, rejoice and celebrate your wedding anniversary, make your spouse your best friend
and be jealous for your spouse, you know, those are a few points there that will make sure you
have a springtime marriage. Now in conclusion, please go to Song of Solomon chapter 2,
in conclusion, Song of Solomon chapter 2 verse 10, verse 10 and I'm just going to leave you with
this thought, how is your marriage today, brethren, how is your marriage today, could you say to me
honestly, before God, and you don't have to tell me, but you know, yes, I have a springtime marriage,
you know, it's springtime in my marriage all the time, if that's true, praise God for that,
praise God, you know, and I hope I've given you some extra things that you can be thinking about,
maybe you can apply to your marriage if they've dropped off a little bit, okay,
but you know, some marriages are more like summertime, where it's hot and heated, you know,
husbands and wife clashing, arguing, fighting with one another, we don't want the summertime
marriage, it's very uncomfortable in the heat, okay, we don't want the autumn time marriage, when the
leaves are falling off the trees, you know, the marriage is on a downward spiral, that's not what
your marriage should be, it shouldn't be getting colder and colder and what was once there, starting
to, you know, dwindle away, you know, you shouldn't be wanting, you shouldn't be comfortable
in an autumn time marriage, you shouldn't be comfortable in a winter time marriage either,
when it's cold, when it's wet, right, winter, when it's ice cold, no communication between the two
of you, you know, you live in the same house, but there's no relationship, there's no friendship,
it's ice cold, that's a wintertime marriage, you don't want that, okay, you need to be thinking
about the springtime marriage, look at verse number 10, Song of Solomon chapter 2 verse 10,
and you see, if you do have one of these other seasons in your marriage, summer, winter or autumn,
you wouldn't be the first couple to have that, in fact, in this song, this couple had that as well,
look at verse number 10, my beloved spake and said unto me, rise up my love, my fair one and come
away, for lo the winter is past, the rain is over and gone, so he says, you know what honey,
I'm sick of winter, it's past, let's put it behind us, let's have a springtime marriage,
you see this song started in winter and now it's over and now they're aiming for that springtime
marriage, you know, in order for you to develop this into your marriage, you have to put the effort in,
you have to tell your love, rise up my fair one and come away, let's change this about our marriage,
let's put some things in place to make sure we're having our springtime marriage, verse number 12,
the flowers appear on the earth, the time of the singing of the birds is come
and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land, that's a total dove, okay,
verse number 13, the fig tree put forth her green figs and the vines with a tender grape
give a good smell, arise my love, my fair one and come away, husbands, you're the head of your house,
how's your marriage, is it a springtime marriage, if it's not a springtime marriage, you know what
you have to do, you have to grab your wife by the hand and say let's come away, let's get out of
this situation, let's aim for a springtime marriage, let's put that rain, let's put that winter behind us
and let's start having that springtime marriage and so how do I do this, how do I put these steps
into place, how do I, you know, people say I just don't know if I love my wife anymore, I just don't
know if I have the love anymore for my husband, you know, how do you get that love back,
you know, one thing that I've learned in life, a lot of people think that they will be good
husbands and good wives as long as the love is there but you know what it is, what I realised is
you've got to put the work in, you've got to take these points and put them into your marriage
and once you've put them into your marriage then the love will grow, I'll give you an example of
this, when I was in high school, one of my friends gave me, he went on holidays for a couple of weeks
and he left me his pet bird, it was like a, I think it was a peach face love bird or something,
a tame bird in the cage and said look can you look after my bird, okay, I didn't care for the
bird, I had my own bird but I didn't care for the bird, you know, I said of course, I'll take care
of it but obviously when I had the bird, you've got to make sure it's got food, you know, bird
gets hungry, you've got to make sure it's got its seeds, you've got to make sure it's got fresh
water every day because it gets dirty, you know, you've got to pull out the tray with the paper
because it poops, you know, on the paper at the bottom, so you've got to replace that paper and
put new paper in there and because it was a tame bird, it wanted attention, it wanted a bit of
affection, so I put my hand in the cage and the bird would jump in my hand and, you know, it'd
want to be there with an adult, you want to be with a human being because it's tame, it's been
tamed from that from birth, right and so I'd be there and after a few days, it's like oh,
it's a great bird, you know, start patting it, you know, you want to feed it, you know, you would
take it out of the cage, you spend more time with that bird, look, I did not start with love for the
bird, you know, what happened, I started to grow in love for that bird, you know, and then when my
brother, when my, sorry, my friend came back from his holidays, he's like, oh, can you return the
bird, I'm like, I don't want to return the bird, I don't want, I mean, of course, I returned the bird,
I didn't want to, why, because I developed a love, I developed a bit of a relationship with that bird,
you know, what I did, all I did was, I did the work, I made sure there was food, I made sure there was
water, I made sure it was clean, I made sure he got some interaction with a human being, you know,
what you need to do, if you say the love is gone, well, the love will come back, but you need to do
the work first, you need to put these things in place, these points that are brought forth in the
sermon, you say I don't have the love, just do it, this is what God commands you to do, he's given
you the Song of Solomon for a reason, so you can take these principles and apply it to your marriage,
once you start applying it to your marriage, guess what, you're gonna start loving one another again,
it's natural, because you're taking care of it, you're spending time, you're putting energy into
it, you're spending, you know, mental energy, you know, you're praying about that, and when you spend
that time and you start to see these things come together, you're going to grow love for it, you
want to, you're going to want it to be successful, you're going to want your marriage to be in
springtime, that's what you do, you don't wait for the love to come back, you just start doing what
God says, and you start doing what God says, and the love will return naturally, organically,
that's what you're seeking for, so I hope you, hope this has given you some good points,
you know, husbands and wives, I don't have a perfect marriage, I can look at some of these
things and say, look, I can improve in these things, and I think we all can, you know, the years go by, we
tend to forget the things we used to look forward to, the things we used to do as newly married
couples, so I just pray that each one of us would seek to have a springtime marriage, let's pray.
you