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you you you you you Well good evening everyone welcome on Baptist Church Take your song books and turn to song 212 Song 212 and your song books will sing Oh Happy Day And if you would stand we'll sing song 200 212 Oh Happy day that fixed my choice on the my say You're at my god. Well may this glowing Heart rejoice and tell its raptures all abroad Happy day Happy day when Jesus washed my sins away He taught me how to watch him pray and live rejoicing every day Happy day Happy day when Jesus washed my sins away Oh Happy bond that seals my vows to him who merits all my love Let's heal for anthems fill this house well to that sacred shrine I moved Happy day Happy day when Jesus washed my sins away He taught me how to watch him pray and live rejoicing every day Happy day Happy day when Jesus washed my sins away Tis done the great Transaction done. I am my Lord's and he is mine He drew me and I followed on charm to confess the voice divine Happy day Happy day when Jesus washed my sins away He taught me how to watch him pray and live rejoicing every day Happy day when Jesus washed my sins away now rest my long Divided hard fix on this blissful Sin to rest nor ever from my Lord depart with him of every good possessed Happy day Happy day when Jesus washed my sins away He taught me how to watch him pray and live rejoicing every day Happy day Happy day when Jesus My sins away And let's pray Heavenly Father Lord again, we just want to thank you God just for today, thank you God for the Sermon this morning and also for the soul winning this afternoon and the souls that were saved today and throughout last week I pray Lord that you would just be with us with our pastor film with your power spirit spirit We love you for it's in Jesus and we ask all but amen. All right, you may be seated and Take your mountain Baptist Psalms hymns and spiritual song books And turn to page number three Page number three in your mountain Baptist Psalms hymns and spiritual song books. We'll sing Psalm 24 on page number three The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof the world and they that dwell therein For he had founded it upon the sea and Established it upon the floods Who shall ascend into the hell of the Lord or who shall stand in his holy? Place he that hath clean hands and up your heart who ever lifted up his soul unto vanity nor sworn Deceitfully, he shall receive the blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation This is the generation of them that seek him that seek that face. Oh Jacob see la Lift up your heads. Oh ye gates and be lift up ye Everlasting doors and the King glory shall come in Is this King of glory see? The Lord strong and mighty The Lord mighty in battle Lift up your heads. Oh ye gates even lift them up he everlasting doors and the King of glory shall come in who is this King of glory? The Lord He is the king of glory see Well, welcome back to Mount Baptist Church on this Sunday afternoon and Some announcements here, but let's get the sowing numbers for the week. What was do we have any salvations during the week? One on Tuesday any others during the week one. Yep Wednesday probably right so Two during the week and it's a day how did today go I know that our car we didn't have any You had one One One so five total for the week then so Good job with the soul winning there. I Think I feel like I need to preach a sermon on baptism Just from our all of our experiences out this afternoon I Get the one on the tongues and then baptism some I'm writing a list So anytime and be honest anytime you were looking for a sermon or you know a topic or anything like that Let me know it may not be like the next Sunday But I'll put it on my list as far as things to preach there. So But As far as announcements go everything should be the same as this morning As far as service times this coming Wednesday, Lord willing we're gonna be Going through the book of 2nd Samuel still I'm gonna be on vacation on September 1st through that week. So that would be the only difference. Well, so that all the services at times will be the same During that time so really nothing's gonna change there besides who's preaching when it comes to that. So but just something to think about there as far as when you don't see me, I'm not Had I had a u-haul trailer out there, but I'm not moving There was there's an answer for that But I just tell brother Dave that I'm moving to Illinois because he had a dream that I was so Just trying to bring that to fruition there As far as sowing this week Monday Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, just be on the church group there as far as times locations I think brother Charles already has the time location on the group there right now for tomorrow And then upcoming events the women's prayer meeting on the 25th the men's prayer meeting on the 30th And then August 24th that Saturday more feel what more field West Virginia soul winning marathon September 21st, Hannon's Berg PA soul winning marathon and then chapter memory for the month first John chapter 1 and Then Ephesians 113 is a memory verse for the week and we got the birthdays Anniversaries and then on the pregnancy list air being prayer for Rachel Hiles and But also keep crystal McCloy in your prayers in the McCoy family there Through the recovery process That's about what I have for announcements that we're gonna be continuing our series if you will on Overviews of the books of the Bible. We're gonna be in Song of Solomon tonight so Brother Joseph, right? Yeah, there he is. I'm just looking away Everywhere, but there so it's gonna be reading chapter 1 After we do another song Offering box in the back there. We want to give tithes and offering mother baby rooms for the mothers babies only Anybody's gonna come? All right take your some books and turn to song 219 Song 219 in your some books. We'll sing my burdens rolled away Song 219 I Remember when my burdens rolled away I had carried them for years night and day When I sought the blessing Lord and I took him at his word then at once all my burdens rolled Rolled away, rolled away, rolled away. I am happy since my burden's rolled away, rolled away, rolled away. I am happy since my burden's rolled away. I remember when my burden's rolled away that I feared would never leave night and day. Jesus showed to me the law, so I left them at the cross. I was glad when my burden's rolled away, rolled away, rolled away. Happy since my burden's rolled away, rolled away, rolled away. I am happy since my burden's rolled away. I remember when my burden's rolled away that had hindered me for years, night and day. As I sought the throne of grace, just a glimpse of Jesus' face, and I knew that my burden's rolled away, rolled away, rolled away. I am happy since my burden's rolled away, rolled away, rolled away. I am happy since my burden's rolled away. I am singing since my burden's rolled away. There's a song within my heart, night and day. I am living for my King, and with joy I'll shout and sing, hallelujah, all my burden's rolled away, rolled away, rolled away. I am happy since my burden's rolled away, rolled away, I am happy since my burden's rolled away. All right, take your Bibles and turn to the book of Song of Solomon, chapter number one, Song of Solomon, chapter number one, and we'll have brother Joseph come and read that for us. Song of Solomon, chapter one, and if you found your place there, say amen. The song of songs, which is Solomon's. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for thy love is better than wine. Because of the savor of thy good appointments, thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee. Draw me, we will run after thee. The King hath brought me into his chambers. We will be glad and rejoice in thee. We will remember thy love more than wine, the upright love thee. I am black, not comely, oh ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me. My mother's children were angry with me. They made me the keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard have I not kept. Tell me, oh 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? If thou know not, oh 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, oh my love, to a company of horses and ferrous chariots. Thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels, thy neck with chains of gold. We will make the borders of gold with studs of silver. While the King sitteth at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof. 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 chamfer in the vineyard of Egduin. Behold, thou art fair, my love. Behold, thou art fair. Thou hast the dove's eyes. Behold, thou art fair, my beloved. Ye pleasant, also our bed is green. The beams of our house are cedar, and our rafters are fir. Let's pray. Lord Father, thank you for this time we are able to gather together. Lord, I thank you for your pure and holy word. Lord, I ask you to be with us to study tonight. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen, so you're in Song of Solomon, chapter one, and this is the last poetic book, if you will, so the poetic books start from Job, and so you have Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and then Song of Solomon, so Song of Solomon's obviously a song, actually the first verse here, the song of songs, which is Solomon, so I don't have the verse in front of me where it says how many songs he wrote, but it talks about how many proverbs and then how many songs he wrote, so he actually wrote a lot of songs, but this is the song of songs, so I believe this is like his number one hit, if you will, I don't know, I don't know if they had that, like a top 10, top 40, or anything like that of Solomon's songs, but this is it, you know, this is the song of songs, right? And this is a love song between a husband and wife, specifically Solomon and his wife. Now, Solomon had many wives, and actually it alludes to that as far as that he had like 1,000 when it comes to his wives and concubines combined, but this woman is basically above them all, so if you were to look at this as far as like this is the chief wife, if that's a thing, when it comes to polygamy, it's kind of hard to think about that, but anyway. But that being said is that this is a song between a husband and a wife, and really, when I look at the book of Song of Solomon, there are definitely things that point to the Lord and point to like the Lord with the church and stuff like that, but honestly, this book is just really, I believe, a great book for a husband and wife, and in the fact that there's nothing wrong with having a loving relationship, being romantic, and like all of that. I think sometimes, you know, we get into this mode of like, you know, in Christianity, it's just, we should live this austere life, not enjoy anything, and just everything, you can't have a romantic relationship or anything like that, and it's just not what the Bible teaches. Or the fact that you're like, well, you shouldn't get married because they're gonna distract you, you can do more for the Lord if you're not married, and all this stuff, it's like, sure, you know, that's, you could do that, but the Bible also says it's not good for the man to be alone, and that I will that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, and I think that this is something that we should always be reminded of, that we should always be trying to keep the romance there in the relationship. You know, husbands and wives, we should always be trying to, not just because we're married, or we've been married for a long time, therefore, we don't have to be romantic, we don't have to do anything like that. Now, as you all know, I'm a hopeless romantic, and I'm just like, that, I mean, if you wanna come to somebody that knows how to be romantic, come to me. And obviously, that's a joke. But that being said, is though, when you look at the book of Song of Solomon, it does kind of show you, like, here's how you should be thinking of your wife. Here's how your wife should be thinking of you. And it's something that we should strive for. And if anything, the book of Song of Solomon is something that spouses should be striving to have this type of relationship with their spouse, okay? And don't get me wrong, I don't believe this is the relationship you're always gonna have with your spouse, and just every day, you know, let him kiss me with the, with his lips, you know, and it's just like, that's just the perpetual state of being as your wife would be towards you, or you're just like, your teeth are as a flock of goats, you know, and you're just constantly talking about her beauty and all that stuff, which, just to be honest, you know, you might get slapped in the face if you say something like that nowadays. But this first chapter, and I think the things you have to understand when you're going through the book of Song of Solomon is that the woman and the man are switching off speaking about each other, okay, so you gotta know that from the very beginning that at one point, the woman's talking about him, and then it switches to him talking about her. And I believe there's some very easy details to know when that changes. And actually, chapter one is pretty much cut in half, if you will, as far as who's speaking, and you see the first half really is the woman speaking to him, okay? It says in verse two, it says, let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for thy love is better than wine, because of the savor of thy good ointments, thy name as ointment poured forth. Therefore do the virgins love thee. Draw me, we will run after thee. The king hath brought me into his chambers. We will be glad and rejoice in thee. We will remember thy love more than wine, the upright love love thee. And then it goes on to talk about, she talks about herself, and talking about the fact that her appearance and all of that, and it says I am black but comely. And basically what this is stating is that she basically had to be outside. So when it says that she's black, I think it's more that her skin has basically been really darkened because she's like forced to work outside and all of that. And it just gets into kind of her appearance and all of that. Verse eight, you see a switch to where he's talking about her, okay? And it's very easy, now would anybody be confused here when in Psalm one, I'm sorry, Psalm and Psalm one and verse two there, where it says let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, who's speaking? Right, I think we all got it. Okay, it's the woman speaking about the man. Verse eight, it says if thou know not, oh thou fairest among women. So now you see a switch, don't you? That he's talking about her and saying she's 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, oh my love, to a company of horses and pharaoh's chariots. Thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels, thy neck with chains of gold. We will make the borders of gold with studs of silver. While the king sitteth at his table, my spikenard senteth forth the smell thereof. So now you see a switch again, right? You see while the king sitteth at his table, my spikenard senteth forth the smell thereof. So you kinda see this back and forth. You can imagine if songs like a duet where you have a man and a woman singing to each other is kind of what Song of Solomon is and the fact that they're going back and forth and all of that. Now, chapter two, and why I emphasize that you really need to know who's speaking, is it the woman speaking, is it the man speaking? Because there's a whole song in our hymnal that is based off misunderstanding who's speaking here. And it's called The Lily of the Valley, okay? And it's crazy to me that this isn't our hymnal or that this song was made and the fact that The Lily of the Valley is likened unto the Lord Jesus, okay, in the song. And we don't sing that song. It's page 240 if you wanna look it up. But it states that the chorus is the lily of the valley, the bright morning star, the fairest of 10,000. And the bright morning star's right. They got that one right, okay? But The Lily of the Valley, this isn't talking about Solomon. And it's talking about the girl. It's talking about his wife. And the fairest among 10,000, that's also talking about a woman. They're talking about her being the fairest among the daughters. And when it actually says of 10,000, it says the cheapest among 10,000s, that's talking about Solomon, okay? But I want you to read this and I think it's very simple to know who's talking to who and who's the lily of the valley, okay? So look at verse two here. I'm sorry, chapter two, verse one. It says, I am the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valleys, okay? So at first, you're kinda like, okay, well, who's talking? I think first cuff, though, I'd be like, that's probably a woman, right? I don't know of most men that are just like, I'm a rose, I'm a lily. I mean, I don't know about you, but when you call someone a buttercup, it's not exactly a compliment, okay? But it says, now here's how you know who's speaking, because she says, I am the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valleys, and you're like, how do you know that? Because the next verse says, as the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters. So who's the lily? Well, in verse two, it's clearly her, right? Because he's saying, you're a lily among thorns, right? So is my love among the daughters. So being among daughters means you're talking about a woman being among the daughters. A woman being among the daughters in the lily among thorns. We would usually say, you know, like you're a rose amongst thorns, you know, like in that type of thing. So yeah, no, the lily of the valley is the woman. Now look at verse three, because then she switches. So it's basically, she says, I am the rose of Sharon, the lily of the valleys, as a lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters. So he's basically affirming that, right? She's like, I'm the rose of Sharon, the lily of the valleys, and he's basically affirming that as a lily among thorns, right? Meaning like, not only do you do the lily of the valley but in comparison, you're basically a lily that stands out among thorns, right? There's no comparison. It's not like you're the best lily among lilies. You're a lily among thorns, okay? So Lily, this should be a good chapter for you. This would be like on your wedding thing right there. A lily among thorns. So good news, it is talking about a girl. So, but in verse three here, it says, as the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. So who is the man referred to as? An apple tree, okay? And I don't know if, an apple tree is a lot more manly than a lily, okay? So when you look at this, separate this being about the Lord, about the church or anything like that, it makes sense that the woman is a rose and the woman is a lily and the man is a big burly apple tree, okay? I mean, that's what I would wanna be anyway. But it's very clear because the lily among thorns is like, you know, to my love among the daughters. And the apple tree is talking about him among the sons. Okay, so I'm belaboring this way too much, okay? But I just wanna make a point. I've literally brought this up because I've gone to other church, you know? I wasn't always a pastor. I used to sit in the pews as well. And I remember bringing this up and like, this is clearly talking about a woman, you know? So why are we singing this song to the lily of the valley? And I just wouldn't sing it. I'm just, to be honest with you, I just wouldn't sing the song. I wasn't trying to make a big stink about it, but I was just basically like, how was this supposed to be the Lord, you know, in this passage? And I remember getting a whole like dissertation on like something in Isaiah about Sharon or something like that and everything else. And it was so like out in left field. I'm like, how does this even apply to what we're even talking about? So there's really no argument for it. I just don't understand. I think someone just read this and they're just like trying to attach the Lord to everything in this chapter. I don't look at it as nefarious. I don't think the person that wrote the Lily of the Valley is some like person that's trying to pervert the Lord necessarily or anything like that. I just think that they were just applying everything that's symbolistic in here to the Lord. I don't know. But we don't sing that song, but that's why. But it says, as the apple tree among the trees of the woods so is my beloved among the sons, I sat down under his shadow with great delight and his fruit was sweet to my taste. Now, what you have to understand is that in the book of Song of Solomon, it's obviously a love song, is that there's a lot of symbolism but a lot of euphemisms, right? So what's a euphemism? Well, a euphemism is basically something to describe something that would probably be otherwise crude, okay? So I'll give you a very well-known euphemism, which is Adam knew his wife Eve, okay? That's a euphemism, right? Because knowing something is like, obviously when we say like I knew that or I know that, we're just talking about having knowledge of it, right? But we all know that when it says Adam knew his wife Eve and she conceived, what that means, okay? So in the book of Song of Solomon, you're gonna have a lot of euphemisms where it's gonna on the surface kind of seem like we're just talking about a garden, we're just talking about like different things that, you know, whatever. But a lot of this is dealing with the relationship of a man and a wife and just giving you discrete details, right? This is a love song but it's very discrete. The Bible's very discrete, the Bible's very wholesome. So there's no problem with reading this book to your children, right? Now as an adult, you could look at this and be like, I know what they're talking about, right? I know what they're talking about, you know, all this stuff and all that. But also it talks about like body parts but it's very discrete. And if anybody's like upset, I can't believe you said breasts. It's like, well, the Bible is the Bible and you know what? If you don't like that term, get over it, okay? But you know what? The Bible uses discrete language when it comes to like the anatomy. Anything that's where the nakedness is at, which is the loins to the thighs, it usually uses very, very wholesome language like privy member, things like that. It's like it's a private member essentially, like it's basically like private parts, right? And so it's very discrete. It's not using crude language. Which shows you that you can have a love song that is discrete, holy, right, and it could still be talking about, you know, the love of a man towards a woman, okay? And vice versa, obviously, the woman towards a man. This one always kind of sticks out to me. Well, let's just keep reading there as far as what she says in chapter two here. It says in verse four, it says, he brought me to the banqueting house and his banner over me was love. Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples, for I am sick of love. And this is where we get that term, lovesick, okay? This doesn't mean she's actually sick like throwing up, okay? This is lovesick. You're lovesick, meaning that you're basically in a state of, I guess, infatuation to the point of where you're just kind of like just overcome with this to where you can't even think about anything else. You could maybe even be to the point where you kind of feel sick just because it's just so overwhelming with the emotions, right? But this is where we get that idea of lovesick. So she's basically lovesick for her husband and it says, his left hand is under my head and his right hand doth embrace me. So this is just the typical basically like you're holding your wife with your left hand under her head and your right hand embracing her, right? The typical like, I don't know, was that the World War II like photo of the century, right? Where he's like kissing the woman like this, right? Anyway, so this is obviously showing you just what she thinks about what she likes, okay? And all that. This one just always sticks out to me because I think when it comes to a husband and relationship or husband and wife relationship is the fact that just the idea of, take the romance out of it, the idea that you care about your spouse, and this verse just kind of sticks out to me about how she cares about him, okay? What it says here in verse seven, it says, I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the rose and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up nor awake my love till he please. I don't know if there's anything more loving than letting your spouse sleep and all the women said amen, right? I'll say it for you. But wave your hanky, I don't know. But just that idea of like you care about that they're not disturbed, that type of thing, is that that just kind of speaks to just this love that you have for that person, okay? And you know, when you're married for a little bit, then you look at your spouse that's sleeping soundly and you hate them for that, and you're like, why do you get to sleep? Why do you deserve rest, you know? And we kind of had to go back to Song of Solomon where we'd be like, no, we should care about them, all that. This verse probably, especially with young families, this verse probably goes more towards the women. And the women would really love for the husbands to think this about their wives. They'd be like, hey, don't rest them until they, you know, don't wake them until they please, right? This is what they all want for Mother's Day. This is what they all want for Christmas. This is what they want for their birthday, is just to be able to sleep, have unimpeded sleep, you know, and not be disturbed. So, but anyway, all joking aside, it does show like a level of like love and care for your spouse that you don't want them to be disturbed. Chapter three, in this song, there's this theme that kind of keeps coming up with her is that she's dreaming about her husband, okay? She's dreaming about him and to the point where, it's almost turns into like a nightmare where she's looking for her husband but can't find him. And so, it says in verse five, I'm sorry, verse five says the same thing as far as, did I miss? Yeah, I didn't write down the right, this is what happens when you write a sermon like, the night before, right? You don't have time to proofread it. Look at chapter three and verse one, it says, by night on my bed, I sought him whom my soul loveth, I sought him but found him not. I will rise now and go about the city to the streets and in the broadways, I will seek him whom my soul loveth. I sought him but I found him not. Now, this is actually gonna be repeated in another portion and what you'll see is a lot of stuff repeated. So, but in any song, that's kind of what happens, right? You kind of have a repeating or a chorus or something like that to where it's repetitive but this dream's gonna be brought up again and you say, well, what's the point? You know, like, okay, she had a dream about it, whatever, right? What you have to understand is that usually what you're dreaming about is what you've been thinking about. Dreams come through the multitude of business, okay? And so, when it comes to your dreams, a lot of times, it happens to be what you were thinking of right before you went to bed or what you've been thinking about all day long and so, it's a testament to what you're thinking about. Who here has had dreams about trying to win someone in Christ, right? A lot of us probably have just because we go soloing and that's just what we do a lot of times and you're kind of thinking about that. But a lot of times, what you're thinking about during the day, whether good or bad, right? Because if you're thinking about horrible things then you end up having horrible dreams and so, this is a testament that she's thinking about her husband all day. Like, she's literally thinking about him to the point where she's dreaming about him and she's also having like this nightmare of not being able to find him, okay? And listen, just so you know this ladies, this is what guys want, okay? Guys want a woman that wants him, okay? Now, you don't have to be speaking his name in your sleep okay, which it does actually mention like causing the lips to speak of them that sleep. But men want to be desired by their wife, right? Just in general, they wanna know, a guy wants to know that his wife wants him or desires him, right? And so, this is something that on the ladies side, you should be looking at this and saying, hey, I should be trying to have that type of relationship to where I'm desi, you know, do you dream about your husband and all this other stuff? And hopefully it's good dreams, you know? Not like getting mad at him like, you cheated on me in my dream and then you're upset with him or something like that, okay? But at least that's something, right? You know, you're thinking about him. But, you know, just try to make it a little better, I don't know. So in this, like I said, in this Song of Solomon, it is a love song, but I look at it as kind of like a manual for like, okay, on the guy's end, here's how, here's what the woman wants, right? Here's what they desire. And what you'll see in the Book of Song of Solomon is how she talks about how he's an apple tree and how she takes basically refuge under like the shade of his apple tree, right? Meaning like basically he's kind of like this protector, like come under my wings kind of thing. And so women want that protection or that idea of that safety, that comfort, or that, you know, refuge, I guess, from the world. So you kind of see that in, where we already saw that in chapter two. Chapter three, we kind of see something similar to that. It says in verse six, it says who is he, I'm sorry, who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense with all powders of the merchant? Which you say, well, what do you get from that? Like husband, don't smell. Take a bath, smell good, okay? You can always get something out of this, right? Is that one thing that you notice is that they both are talking about how they smell good. Okay, so bathe, have good hygiene, right? That type of thing. But notice what it says in verse seven. Behold his bed, which is Solomon's. Three score valiant men are about it, of the valiant of Israel. They all hold swords, being expert in war. Every man hath his sword upon his thigh because fear in the night. And you notice that what she's speaking of is safety, right, she's speaking of security. So safety, security. His banner over me is love, right? So what I believe, you know, and ladies, you can correct me afterwards. What I believe ladies want is they want a man that's going to protect them, keep them safe, but they also love them, right? So it's kind of like the idea of you want a man that's dangerous, that they're gonna be able to basically deal with a bear, deal with someone that's gonna hurt them, but they're tender towards you, right? Like that they're loving, they're not abusive towards you or anything like that, but they're loving, they're caring, they'll die for you, but they'll destroy anybody else outside of that. Does that make sense? That's what I kind of see when I see what this woman is stating here is that his banner over me is love, but he's a force to be reckoned with, right? Like don't mess with him. And not saying she's like worried about messing with him, but more so like anybody else who hasn't messed with him or anybody around him, they're gonna get messed up. And that's kind of the idea that I believe women are looking for that safety, but they also want that love. They don't want just someone that's just hard-nosed and brass and like, well, yeah, they can beat up anybody, but they're also just, you know, you can't talk to them, you can't have a good time with that person, they don't want that. Don't put the pendulum over there to where you're just like some like juiced up like UFC fighter. It's like, sure, you can take out anybody, right? But no one wants to be around you, okay? So there needs to be a balance there with that. Chapter four, we see that Solomon admires his wife's beauty in this chapter. And in chapter four here, it says in verse seven, it says, thou art all fair, my love, there is no spot in thee. And throughout here, you know, throughout the chapters and stuff, he'll mention her beauty. But he's just constantly saying she's fair, she's basically above every woman that's out there. And I think that's what way we should treat our wives. And the idea is that don't get sucked into these stupid reels where you're like asking like, am I the most beautiful woman in the world, you know, and all that stuff. And here's the thing, beauty's in the eye of the beholder to a certain extent, but in the end, you should make your wife feel like she is, right? Or the fact that either way, you chose her out of every other woman. Men, we want that too, right? We want our wives, we want to at least believe that our wives chose us out of every man that's in the world. But they also want to, I'm sure, think that hey, out of every woman that's out there, you chose me. And that's the type of sentiment that we want to get across to them. And it's reciprocal in that, okay? So verse nine here says, thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse. Thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck. And notice that you keep seeing my love, my sister, my spouse, because in verse 10 there it says, how fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse? How much better is thy love than wine in the smell of thine ointments than all spices? Thy lips, oh my spouse, drop as the honeycomb. Honey and milk are under thy tongue, and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon. A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse. A spring shut up, a fountain sealed. Now, you say, well, why does it keep saying my sister, my spouse? Well, obviously, spouse we understand, because they're married. But I believe this gets into the fact that we need to be not unequally yoked, meaning this is that my wife is also my sister in Christ, okay? And so therefore, it's kind of showing you that, hey, this should be believers that are in the family of God, right? And therefore, that's paramount when you get married, okay? So if you wanna have this really loving relationship, and I guess perfect circumstances is that you're married to a believer, but then on top of that, you have this type of love toward one another, and all of that. And obviously, you can see just, you know, obviously, the love that he has for her, and all that. And so, she responds in the last verse here, in verse 16. It says, awake, O north wind, and come out south. Blow upon my garden that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden and eat his pleasant fruit. So he's basically talking about, she's like a garden, she's like all this stuff, right? And talking about how much he loves her, and she's saying, yeah, come here, right? It's like, yeah, come over here. So, and then chapter five, he responds with, okay. And obviously, that's modern vernacular, but it's kind of like, you're like a garden. She's like, come into your garden. And he's like, I'm going to, you know? Like, that's kind of what's going on here in chapter five, verse one. It says, I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse. I have gathered my myrrh with my spice. I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey. I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, O friends, drink. Yea, drink abundantly, O beloved. So, like I said, it's kind of this back and forth of the love for one another. Chapter five, we see that dream being brought up again. So, in verse two here, so chapter five, verse two, she's going to bring up this dream. And again, what you have to understand is that this is what you're striving for in a relationship, okay. And just so you know, like obviously, you know, if you're not married, if you're about to get married, know this is that Song of Solomon is not going to be the everyday occurrence, okay. Like it's not like I come home and my wife's just like, hey, you know, stud. You know, like, you're like a hind, you know, or the roe on the mountains, you know, and talking about like my thighs that are like pillars of marbles and all that stuff. And she's just like, you know, you. And just like that's happening all the time. It's like, no, that's just not the case, especially when you have children, right. This is especially hard to have this be the case when you have children as far as this type of romance that's going on in a relationship. But it's still something that we don't just throw by, well, I guess we have little kids so we can't have any romance, we can't, you know, love each other like, you know, before we had kids, all that stuff. So this dream here just really shows you how much she really loves her husband, okay. It's just the fact of having these type of dreams and having these type of, and listen, I don't believe this is like puppy love stuff but you can say, well, this is like honeymoon stage. It's like, sure, okay. When you're about to get married and you have that honeymoon stage and the butterflies and all that stuff's there. But listen, it doesn't have to just stop there, right. It's not like, you know, like, okay, yeah, we still need to love our spouse even when the butterflies go away but they don't have to go away completely, okay. You know, like those butterflies can still be there to a certain extent, okay. And I personally believe that this is a lot of times why divorce happens, why adultery happens because people are seeking that, right. They're seeking what they had when they first met their spouse and they're like, they want that again. But what you have to understand is that you can bring that stuff back, okay. It is possible to bring that type of affection back, to bring that type of romance back. It just takes some work. It takes, it's not gonna happen by itself. Like, you have to try to make that happen, okay. But verse two here says, I sleep but my heart waketh. Some of you guys are probably like, make me sick. You know, like, you're like, this is literally a love, this is a lovesick woman right here, right. And it says, I sleep but my heart, it waketh. It is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled, for my head is filled with dew and my locks with the drops of the night. I have put off my coat, how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet, how shall I defile them? So basically she's in bed, but she's like, he's at the door, like how am I supposed to go to the door, it's kind of like, you know, I'm already like in bed, clean, like if I get up, basically my feet are gonna be dirty, all this stuff. Apparently she has a problem with getting her feet dirty going to bed, I don't know, you know. But anyway, it says, my beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door and my bows were moved for him. Now, in the Bible, bows, when it talks about your bows being moved, it's basically that butterfly feeling, okay. Have you ever, who here has been on a rollercoaster? And when you make that drop, what do you feel? You feel it in your stomach, don't you? And what is that, it's kind of like this adrenaline type of like butterfly feeling, right. Well, it's the same type of feeling that you have when you're like interested in somebody or you like somebody a lot or whatever. It's kind of like that butterfly in the stomach type of effect. So basically he's coming to the door and like basically she's got butterflies that he's there. Okay, and where did I leave off reading this? So yeah, verse five, it says, I rose up to open to my beloved and my hands dropped with myrrh and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh upon the hands of the loch. I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had withdrawn himself and was gone. My soul failed when he spake. I sought him, but I could not find him. I called him, but he gave me no answer. So basically obviously it turns into a nightmare in the fact that she can't find him. She goes into the city looking for him and then she's basically beat up by the guards for one of her reasons. It's basically, you know how dreams go where you're just like, I was doing this, how am I over here riding a turtle? Like you're just like, I was preaching the gospel and now I'm fighting a bear. Like how did this go from one thing to another? But in the end, I'm sure there's some like doctrinal reason why she's being beat up by the guards in the street. But I'm looking at this as more of just the surface, like love song, this is what's going on. She's having dreams about him, basically coming to her bedroom and she gets up and then he's not there when she opens the door. And just that kind of disappointment, heartbreak, right, that's going on there. This would be kind of like, like just a simple example of this, maybe not as extreme, but you like somebody and you're texting them back and forth and they take a little longer to text you back, right? You're just like, they hate me. Like it's over, they don't like me, why are they taking so long? And then you find out like, there's like a really good reason why they couldn't text you or whatever, or they couldn't call you or whatever, but you've been there where there's like, they haven't responded to me, they must not like me or whatever. And in all honesty, in a lot of cases, they really do like you, they just didn't have a chance or whatever, right? So things like that, to where when you really like somebody, you'll sometimes get really upset about things that aren't even a big deal. Or you'll misread things as far as what's going on in that relationship, okay? That's been a long time since I've been in that position, okay? So I've been married for 10 years out of the dating realm, but I do remember that to a certain extent of like when you're talking to somebody and you're wondering, are they interested? Do they like me? I like them, but then you go back and forth with that. Anyway. So then in chapter five, what's interesting about this is that we know who the husband is. The husband is Solomon. And in this song, she gives a description of him, which is interesting because anytime you have a Bible character, it's interesting to see like a description, right? As far as hair color or different things about them, right? And there's certain things that will be brought up about certain people in the Bible, you're like, oh, that's interesting. Like for example, Elisha's bald. And the only reason we know that is because some kids were mocking him for being bald, right? But now like, when you're thinking of Elisha, what do you think? You think of about a bald guy, right? And, but then there's a lot of characters, you're like, what color hair did they have? You know, what they look like? Were they, did they have, did they have red hair? Did they have black hair? Did they have brown hair? You know, like those type of things. In this, we do see some descriptions of Solomon. It says in verse 10, my beloved is white and ruddy. Okay, so he's a white guy, so he's apparently a racist. Joking, joking. But he's white and ruddy, and ruddy in the Bible is talking about more so the fact that they kinda have this, this kinda red tint to them, meaning this is that they seem very healthy, right? So when someone's like ruddy, it's kinda like, you know, like when you have like rosy cheeks type of thing, you just kinda look, you're flawed, like you have blood flowing, you know, and that type of thing. Ruddy is kinda dealing with the term red, you know, like as far as kinda looking red, but it's more so that he's not like, he's not, he doesn't look like an albino, okay? Can I just say that? He looks healthy, right? And not that albinos aren't healthy, but you know what I mean, like he's not like Casper the friendly ghost, okay? He's white, but he also looks very like vibrant, I guess. It says that the cheapest among 10,000, so insert that into the lily of the valley, instead of the fairest 10,000, we'll be okay, and change the lily of the valley to the apple tree. I don't know, that probably doesn't rhyme, but there you go. His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy and black as a raven. So we see now that Solomon had bushy hair, but it was also black. Who here thinks of Solomon with like, a father time beard and gray hair? Okay, no one, no one? Everybody's shaking their head like, I'm, okay, after the service, tell me what you think of when you see Solomon, okay? But I think of an old man, like old wise man with spectacles on, like writing proverbs, okay? Okay, anyway. But he has black bushy hair, black as a raven, so I mean, there's no doubt his hair is black. It says his eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of water, waters washed with milk and fitly set. His cheeks are as a bed of spices of sweet flowers. His lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh, I guess that's where they got the lily of the valley at, I just figured it out. It has to do with his lips. Joking, that's not where they got that, but anyway. It says his hands are as gold rings set with the barrel. His belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires. So that kinda tells me that this guy's probably, I mean, if it's overlaid with sapphire stones, like his belly, the idea that this guy's probably in pretty good shape. Okay, and it talks about him being like as fast as a roe on the hills and all that stuff, so just kinda talking about his stature. It says his legs are as pillars of marble. This is what my wife says about me all the time. This is why leg day is important, men. You wanna be like Solomon, okay? It says, so his legs are as pillars of marble set upon sockets of fine gold. His countenance is as Lebanon excellent as the cedars. His mouth is most sweet. Yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. Which also shows you that not only, I believe, obviously they're believers, and so therefore they're in the family of God, but also the fact of the matter is that your spouse is your friend. So there should be that aspect there of that friendship that you have, okay? That you can talk to each other as friends, and to be honest, my best friend is my wife. Now I have best guy friends, I guess, but in the end, there is no one closer to me than my wife, just facts. There's no one that knows more about me than my wife, and I'm sure the vice versa would be the same for her, and so don't leave that aspect. Obviously the romance needs to be there, but just the friendship that comes with having a spouse. Solomon chapter six, the one thing I just want to point out with this chapter is the idea of ownership of each other. You know, that's kind of throwing it out, it's like, oh, is she, you own your wife? Yeah, but she owns me too. You know, when it comes to Dubin Evelyn, it says you don't have power over your own body, and in that aspect, my wife owns me physically, and I own her. You don't like that, well, you know, take that with God, but the Bible says here in Song of Solomon, chapter six, verse three, it says, I am my beloved, and my beloved is mine. He feedeth among the lilies. She's the one saying that. I am my beloved, and my beloved is mine. And that is a healthy relationship right there. You know, there's something that's thrown out there that is put out there as a bad word, and that's jealousy, okay? Jealousy is actually not a bad thing, okay? Jealousy is basically desiring that which belongs to you. Envy in the Bible, on the other hand, coveting your neighbor's wife, or coveting something that doesn't belong to you, that's bad, right? You shouldn't be desiring things that don't belong to you. Listen, me being jealous over my wife, that's good. That means that I'm her, she's mine, and she belongs to me. Now, what people do with that is like, well, you're saying that you're for domestic violence? It's like, no, that's not what I'm saying. The idea there is that someone that says they don't want their spouse to be jealous over them, they don't understand what that means. Let me ask you a question. If there was a whole bunch of beautiful women just around me and my wife wasn't jealous, I would be concerned, okay? And they were flirting with me or talking to me or all that, and my wife's just like, I'm good with that. You know what that tells me is that she doesn't really care about me that much, that she doesn't really have that ownership, she doesn't really say, no, he's mine, get away, right? And the same would apply if my wife was a whole bunch of good-looking guys and they're hitting on her and I'm just like, yeah, who cares? You know what that sends? It sends that you don't care. And whenever a guy, some simp guy that's basically out there talking about, like, I don't care if my wife is just hanging out with a bunch of guys, I don't care, I'm secure in that, it's like, what you're telling me is that you're weak and that you don't actually care about your wife, you don't actually love her enough to say, no, she's mine, okay? And we need to get back to relationships where we own each other, okay? And I'm talking about marriage here, okay? If you're dating, you're not at that point where you're owning each other yet, okay? So, but when you're married, we're one flesh and she's mine, I'm hers, end of story, and if my wife is jealous over some woman that's talking to me, it's like, well, good, she likes me. My wife, that is. Like, good, my wife actually is concerned about me being with her and not with some other woman. Because if you're not jealous over your spouse, when it comes to those certain situations, then you don't care that they're with someone else? Is that what you're getting across? Now obviously, don't be ridiculous, right? It's like you're at church and some woman speaks to your husband and you're just like, what was that? It's like, sorry, they were asking where the creamer was. You know, it's like, don't be ridiculous, okay? But at the same time, you know that there's certain circumstances where if your wife's upset, you know, like jealous, just be like, okay, yeah, you're right, yeah, yeah. Actually, take that as a compliment. She may be upset, be like, well, at least she loves me. At least she wants me to be with her and not someone else. So that's actually a good thing that you have that desire that you want to be, have that ownership of your spouse there. Solomon's description of his wife in chapter seven. I know I brought this up, but this, before in another sermon dealing with nakedness. But this really does show you that the Bible's discrete and notice what's mentioned about her and what's not mentioned about her, okay? So in verse one here, it says, how beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince's daughter. And apparently, I just love the fact he's like, with shoes. Your feet are beautiful when there's shoes on them. So keep those shoes on there, right? I don't think that's what he's saying. He's probably just saying, like, obviously, if you're wearing sandals and they're very, you know, obviously decorated and stuff like that, anyway. So it says the joints of thy thighs are like jewels. The work of the hands of a cunning workman. Thy navel is like a round goblet. Okay, so we've gone from the feet to the joints of the thighs. Now, one could say, well, this is the joint of the thigh, but this is what is referred to as the joint of the leg in a lot of cases, which is your knee. So basically what you have is that, talking about the feet, the knee, and then it goes straight to the navel, which, where we get the term navel gazing, you know, like that type of thing. The navel is the belly button, right? So you're going straight to the stomach. And then it goes on to say, verse, yeah, thy navel is like a round goblet, which wanteth not liquor. Thy belly is like a heap of wheat set about with lilies. Thy two breasts are like two young rows that are twins. Thy neck is as a tower of ivory. Thy eyes like the fish poles in heshpon by the gate of the bath ribbon. Thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon, which looketh toward Damascus. Thy head upon thee is like Carmel, and thy hair of thine head like purple, and the king is held in the galleries. How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love for the delights. So basically from the feet, all the way up to everything about the head and the hair and everything else, but notice what was mentioned, what wasn't mentioned, the loins, okay? And this really shows you too that when it comes to nakedness, that's where we're dealing with. You see, even right up here for women, I don't believe this is talking about nakedness. Now, discrete and being modest is another issue, okay? When it comes to that. So this is one reason too why I'm not against breastfeeding, we're not covered, okay? And a lot of people that do that, most people in our church cover, but I don't believe this is the same as being, I don't believe that's nakedness. Now, you could argue that it's not modest, all that type of stuff, but you know what? If it's not 120 degrees outside and you're trying to feed your baby, I mean, you gotta do what you gotta do, okay? And I don't believe it's nakedness. It's obviously not wrong to talk about that area of the body, because the Bible talks about it in many different places, and so, yeah. Anyway, going on from there, chapter eight, the last chapter here, the conclusion of the song, but these last two verses I'm gonna show you here, these are the verses that we use actually at our wedding. So Lily's gonna use, that she's the Lily of the Valley, I'm just kidding, I don't know what she's gonna use. But these two verses actually were on our cards that you got for invitations and all this stuff. But it is something that, I think, with a marriage, this is something that we should all strive for, this is something that, to have this type of love, okay, for your spouse. I don't think anybody's getting married and be like, yeah, I don't really care to have that type of love. I guarantee every girl wants to have this type of love when they get married and all of that. I believe that every man really does too, okay? It's not like men are just like these hardened robots that just don't care about anything, okay? You'd be surprised that some men that seem pretty austere that are actually romantic in heart, okay? So, and if you're not, I think you should try to be when it comes to being married. I think you should try to put in some romance in there and try to make that relationship nice. And the Bible talks about to rejoice in the wife of thy youth. And the idea there is that the wife of your youth, meaning like you've been married to her for a while, you need to obviously be ravished by her love always and to rejoice in the wife of thy youth. And that's something that God has given to us in this life in a lot of cases if you're married to where we can go through this life and not completely hate everything about this life. So anyway, in chapter eight here in verse six, it says, set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm, for love is strong as death. Jealousy is cruel as the grave. The coals thereof are coals of fire which hath a most vehement 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 utterly be content. And that is the truth. I mean, listen, there's nothing new under the sun. And literally, most people would give anything they had for that type of love, that loving relationship there between a man and a woman. And this is something that jealousy is cruel as the grave meaning this is that jealousy doesn't feel good necessarily in those cases, right? Like God is a jealous God. His name is jealous. So it's not wrong to be jealous, but when he's jealous is because they're going after other gods and those people belong to him and he's jealous because of what they're doing. So it's not saying like jealousy is a good feeling, okay? But it does show you how much someone loves you, okay? The reason God is jealous over them is because he loves them and doesn't want them to do that. The reason that your spouse is jealous over you is because they love you and they want you to belong to them, okay? And when it comes to love, love is very strong. And we want to make sure that we don't, when it comes to love, that we don't just pigeonhole it to, well, love is the fulfilling of the law, right? And the fact that if you love me, keep my commandments and love is just an action of like obedience. And sure it is in a lot of cases, right? But love is also a feeling, okay? Like we don't just, I don't know about, but obviously we want to obey Christ because we love him and we want to show that we love him, but I also just love him, right? I love him for what he did. I care about him, right? I love him as my savior, as my God. And when it comes to my wife, it's like, yeah, I love her, I would lay down my life for her, I'll protect her, but I also love her, that there's a feeling of love there, right? It's not duty, right? Duty demands it, I must take care of my wife, right? The idea there is that there should be this feeling there, this emotion that's there, and we want to make sure that we're not just taking emotion out of the equation. I know we're not Pentecostals, okay? I'm not hanging from the chandeliers tonight, we don't have one anyway. But we want to make sure we don't take emotion in that feeling, feelings and things like that, the bowels moving when it comes to the butterflies in the stomach, being lovesick, that is not something that is unbiblical. Having that type of affection or emotion towards somebody is actually biblical in the sense of husband and wife. And so this is a great, Song of Solomon is a great book for married couples, and if you're not married, it's something to strive for. That should be what you're looking for, okay? It's not a business contract for making children, okay? It's a relationship with emotions, and you know what, men, we have to realize that emotions exist out there, and we can't just be turning that off all the time. So let's end with a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you today, thank you for the book of Solomon, Song of Solomon, and Lord, just pray that you help us, especially those that are married, to apply the romance that's in the book of Song of Solomon to our relationships, and Lord, just pray that you be with us throughout the rest of the week, thank you for the souls that were saved, and Lord, just pray that you keep us safe on our travels home, and we love you, and pray all this in Jesus Christ's name, amen. So brother Dave, we'll come and sing one more song, and then we'll be dismissed. All right, take your songbooks and turn to song number 41. Song number 41 in your songbooks, we'll sing the sweet by and by, if you would stand, we'll sing song number 41. There's a land that is fairer than day, and by faith we can see it afar, for the Father waits over the way to prepare us a dwelling place there, and the sweet by and by, we shall meet on that beautiful shore, and the sweet by and by, we shall meet on that beautiful shore, we shall sing on that beautiful shore, the melody as songs of the blessed, and our spirit shall sorrow no more, not a sigh for the blessing of rest, and the sweet by and by, we shall meet on that beautiful shore, and the sweet by and by, we shall meet on that beautiful