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Song of Solomon chapter 3 and verse number 1 begins by saying, By night on my bed I sought him, whom my soul loveth. I sought him, but I found him not. The title of the sermon tonight is, I sought him, I sought him. Now this is of course the wife seeking her husband. You know, she's woken up in bed and she realized, hey my husband's not home, my husband's not here. And so she said, look I'm going to go out and seek him. I love my husband. I want to be with him. In fact, as we keep going through this chapter, you'll start to notice why she wants to be with him. You know, they don't want to just catch up and have a conversation. You know, she has a physical need for him. Alright, when it comes to that physical intimacy, you know, the Bible teaches that the only place that this should be had is in the marriage bed. You know, we are not to be fornicators. Alright, we should remain as virgins before we give ourselves to marriage. And we're definitely not to be adulterous because if God's law was in effect and you commit adultery against your spouse, you should be put to death. And then your spouse should be allowed to go and remarry someone else. But look, she has a desire. She's woken up I suppose there. She's found her husband's not there. She has a desire which is a God desire. It's something that God has put within the natural instinct between man and woman and she wants to be physically with her husband. Alright, now you say, well is that right? Well of course it's right. You know, why is it that so many people seek that physical companionship? And you know, God has put that within us. To desire to be with the opposite sex. You know, to enjoy one another. And the right place as I said earlier is in marriage. And I'm going to quickly read to you from Genesis chapter 3 verse 16. Genesis chapter 3 verse 16 says, unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow thou shall bring forth children. Then it says, God says these words to Eve. He says, and thy desire shall be to thy husband and he shall rule over thee. We learned a couple of things there but we see that the husband is the head of the wife. He is to rule over his wife but the wife's desire is toward her husband. It should be no surprise then that the wife in the Song of Solomon here is seeking her husband. She desires her husband. And of course the husband desires his wife because God said it's not good for a man to be alone. He created Eve to be a help unto Adam. And so men we need a wife and wives they're looking for a leader they're looking for a husband they can desire after. And so that is how God has created us. It's not sinful as long as it falls within the right boundaries of marriage it's a beautiful thing but outside of marriage of course it's sinful. It can even be when it comes to adultery a punishment worthy of death. At least in God's eyes. But as far as God is concerned adultery, please church if you're married that's it. Your eyes are for your spouse and your spouse alone. Please don't let your eyes wander. Don't let your emotions and your heart wander after someone else. It's just going to cause damage to you. God created you to have that one partner for life. Alright, let's keep going there. So she's seeking her husband. What does she do? In verse number 2 she says I will rise now and go about the city in the streets. In the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth I sought him but I found him not. I can't find him. She's seeking for him. Verse number 3 The watchmen that go about the city found me of whom I said saw ye him whom my soul loveth. Now the watchmen are the people that are on the walls there they're watching for any dangers outside the city but they're also watching within the city if there's any issues you might say these are kind of like your modern day policemen they're kind of just watching making sure that things are going okay there's no violence taking place in the city anyway she finds one of these watchmen she finds one of these police officers if you want she tells them I'm looking for the man that I love I'm looking for King Solomon she's the wife of Solomon they say well, he's not there verse number 3 it says that the watchmen where am I up to? oh yeah, verse number 4 it says but it was but a little that I passed from them but I found him but I found him whom my soul loveth she finally found him I held him that's romantic she found him, she embraces him she takes hold of him and would not let him go would not let him go you say pastor Kevin, that sounds like a possessive wife exactly if you listen to the sermon last week my wife, she's my possession and I'm her possession that's how God instructed things to be we're not twain anymore we're one flesh we belong one to another and she grabs hold of him she's not going to let go of her husband she wants to be with him she's like honey, come home stop hanging around in the city whatever you're doing whether it's out shopping or just having conversation with the locals she says come home be with me and it says here I would not let him go until I had brought him into my mother's house and into the chamber of her that conceived me so the chamber there refers to a bedroom and of course the Song of Solomon is, I've said this before the book of romance in the Bible it should spark greater passion in your love for your spouse if you're struggling to have a strong marriage and maybe you don't feel as in love with your spouse as you used to be when you first got married you need to read the Song of Solomon you really need to read it and take what God's Word is teaching us how we ought to think about our spouse she takes him home to the bedroom of course they have that physical intimacy when it comes to the Bible we don't get any of the great detail when it comes to this type of relationship but we can definitely see what's taking place here we get the impression of what's taking place when it comes to God's Word every word of God is pure we should not think that the Song of Solomon maybe that's a little bit too what's the word people might say maybe it's something you shouldn't be preaching on there are kids in church I probably don't want them to hear these things but listen, this is the Bible this is God's book the Song of Solomon is to teach us not just to have a good marriage but also before we get married so we know what the expectation is going into marriage God's Word is not graphic it doesn't go into great detail but we understand what's happening between husband and wife she desires him she takes hold of him because she's got a physical need and there's no need to be embarrassed about that it's God's Word if that's what God has put in his Word then it needs to be preached it needs to be taught maybe one reason we have so many loveless marriages in this world is because people refuse to preach from the Song of Solomon but this is where we learn the great love that we also have between husband and wife can you keep your finger there and go to 1 Corinthians 7 1 Corinthians 7 please 1 Corinthians 7 1 Corinthians 7 verse 1 we have this great teaching here between husband and wife and this is such an important teaching when it comes to marriage 1 Corinthians 7 verse 1 it says, now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me it is good for a man not to touch a woman nevertheless to avoid fornication let every man have his own wife and let every woman have her own husband you see Paul understands by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost that man and woman we need a spouse man needs a wife and a woman needs a husband and this is one way to protect us from fornication because that natural desire is going to be there for that physical intimacy so where's the right place to have it? between husband and wife in the marriage bed, amen? look at verse number 3 it says, let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence and likewise also the wife unto the husband the wife have not power of her own body but the husband and likewise also the husband have not power over his own body but the wife you know what it's just teaching us that we ought to have that physical relationship in our marriage and that my body does not belong to me it belongs to my wife and her body does not belong to her it belongs to me this sounds old fashioned this is God's teaching when society has moved away from these basic truths of marriage what do you find? you find divorce you find loveless marriages grown up in a home and they don't even know what love is between mother and father because they don't even see that between their own parents you have a society that teaches that marriage can be same sex marriage you have such so many problems with society when they move away from God's truth you have feminism that says I don't need a man why should I belong to a man? that's what marriage is you belong to a man he belongs to you he is to give you due benevolence and vice versa as well it says defraud ye not one the other except with consent for a time don't defraud yourself one to another if the husband wants to be physically with his wife don't prevent that you should be sharing that love one to another otherwise you're defrauding him against your husband if you don't allow him to take you in that physical relationship but it's the same way if she, like we saw in the Song of Solomon who had the desire? it was the wife she went looking for her husband she goes, hey, come home and that's the right thing, he comes home and he spends time with her that's the right thing to do in a marriage except to be with consent for a time the only time you should withhold that relationship with one another is if you make consent if you both are in agreement for a period of time, for a week, for two weeks whatever you think is right you know, we'll withhold that one from another and then it keeps going there that ye may give yourselves to prayer and fasting sorry, to fasting and prayer and come together again and that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency alright? what the Bible is teaching us is if you withhold that marital physical relationship then you're allowing Satan to come in and hurt your marriage alright, if you're having a loveless marriage you're not having that physical intimacy husbands, your eyes are going to start looking at other women and women, your eyes are going to start looking at other men this leads to adultery alright? how do we overcome fornication? how do we overcome adultery? having a good and healthy marriage physical intimacy in the bed that is the right thing that's what the Bible teaches I'm not embarrassed, I'm not ashamed that's God's truth and we need to hear it because you know full well society is teaching our kids all kinds of disgusting filth when it comes to this part of life God's word is pure marriage is beautiful husbands being with a wife and wife being with a man beautiful, godly thing which is going to bring forth children this is how God instructed things in his word alright? so listen, if you're going to withhold one from another for a period of time let it be for prayer and fasting because fasting, you're not giving your flesh what it desires when you're fasting you know, you're not feeding it food for example and you shouldn't be intimate in that time as well, you're giving yourself to that time of prayer and fasting, alright? but you don't want that to go on for too long because then Satan's going to come and hurt your marriage alright, you want your marriage to remain strong and committed, you must remain physical in your intimacy alright, going back to Song of Solomon chapter 3 and let's go back to verse number 4 now where did she bring her husband? it says, until I had brought him in verse number 4 at the end of it until I had brought him into my mother's house and into the chamber of her that conceived me, alright? so she went into her mother's house into the chamber, into her mother's bedroom, you say, that's a bit weird you know, why would that be written there in Song of Solomon and you know, is this giving us license you know, when we get married to go and live with mother and father is this giving us that instruction? well, obviously not and I've had people say to me you know, I want to get married one day but I just can't afford to rent right now can't afford to buy a house do you think it's right for me just to get married and we just go and live with my parents in fact you know, before my wife and I got married we were offered to go and live with our parents and I just said, absolutely not you know, why is that the case? because the Bible tells us in fact, if you want to just keep your finger there if you can go to Genesis chapter 2 go to Genesis chapter 2 for me please and verse number 21 and let me encourage you in church to get married but make sure you've got a place to live make sure, especially the men this is your responsibility that you've got a place that you can take your wife that you can make a life for yourselves you know, this is going to start your marriage on the best foot forward please don't go and live with your parents don't do that I know she took Solomon to her mother's house in this scenario here but let me assure you they're definitely not living in the mother's house it's King Solomon, he's got his own palace he's got several houses he's got several investments this man can live anywhere he wants it's not like, oh man, we have nowhere to live let's just go live with the mother-in-law that's not what took place this is about King Solomon I'll tell you why this is speaking about the mother's place in a moment but let me just show you here in Genesis 2.21 Genesis 2.21 it says, and the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept and he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh instead thereof and the rib which the Lord God had taken from man made he a woman and brought her unto the man and Adam said, now this is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh she shall be called woman because she was taken out of man now I want you to notice the next words and really pay attention because Adam and Eve, they're the first man and woman that God has ever created does Adam have any earthly parents? No. Does Eve have any earthly parents? No. They've got no earthly parents but notice the next words that Adam himself says even though he's got no earthly parents look how important this doctrine is verse number 24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife and shall be one flesh and they were both naked the man and his wife and were not ashamed listen again preaching this topic I'm not ashamed. The Bible says the man and the woman were naked, his wife were naked and they were not ashamed what I'm teaching should not be an embarrassing doctrine we should not be ashamed of this truth this is how God's created things to be but notice for this cause, for the cause of marriage Adam says I must leave mother and father but Adam you don't have a mother and father of course he doesn't. This is why this doctrine is so important that even a man that does not have a mother and father has to make a point that this is what marriage is you're starting a new family unit and if you want to make your spouse happy please don't get them mixed up with the in-laws there are too many failed marriages taking shortcuts, trying to save money trying to live with the parents if you can't afford it just put off the marriage for a little while work harder, get a second job make sure you can provide for your spouse then get married leave your mother and father and cleave unto your wife your one flesh, your new family this is the best thing for your marriage I'm speaking to my church because I've seen people that refuse to obey this very basic commandment from the very second chapter there the book of Genesis and it just causes marital problems listen, our spouse ought to be the person that we love the most our spouse is supposed to be our best friend please don't break this relationship by moving in with your parents do exactly what Adam did even when he had no mother and father follow the commandments of God and it will enrich your marriage I promise you, it's going to be so much better you're going to have unnecessary problems if you decide, let's just move in with your parents now look, is it ever wrong to move in with your parents? of course, emergency situations come up where something unexpected happens and you may have to move in with your parents temporarily for a period of time but again, make sure it's a temporary arrangement, make sure it's just a month, for two months what you need to get back on your feet before you move out and make your own life again okay, but don't start your marriage this way alright, so you say well then, what's the answer there, why is she bringing you know, her husband to her mother's house to her mother's bedchamber well please, you're there in Genesis so please go to Genesis 26 go to Genesis 24 go to Genesis 24 for me please Genesis 24 and you know when you've read the Bible several times certain things are going to jump out of you you know, certain symbolisms or certain parallel views passages that you kind of pick up from okay, and you may not pick up on this, your first reading of Song of Solomon, but it's something that became quite apparent to me, because it reminded me of a story here in Genesis 24 and let's read it together, Genesis 24 verse number 62 now this story is about Isaac okay, so you've got Abraham's son Isaac, and Isaac, this is about Isaac's marriage alright, you know, Abraham sent a servant to go find Isaac a wife, she brings back you know, he brings back a wife which is Rebekah, and we have the story of their marriage, it says here in Genesis 24 verse 62 Genesis 24 verse 62 it says, and Isaac came from the way of the well, Laheroi for he dwelt in the south country and Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide and he lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold the camels were coming and Rebekah lifted up her eyes and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel, for she had said unto the servant, what man is this that walketh in the field to meet us? and the servant to meet us, and the servant had said it is my master therefore she took a veil and covered herself and the servant told Isaac all things that he had done verse number 67 and Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent you say, well hold on, is Isaac living with his mother? you know, what's going on here? Why did he take Rebekah into his mother's tent? well let's keep going, it says, and took Rebekah and she became his wife, okay, so they had a marriage, and he loved her and Isaac was comforted, look at this, after his mother's death why is Isaac living in his mother's tent? his mother had already passed away okay, so she, so he was able to inherit where she was living, her tent, you know, so ultimately, he's living in a place of his inheritance, but he did not take his wife Rebekah to go and live with the mother-in-law, okay, no his mother had passed away but what do we notice there, by bringing her into the mother's tent, it says that Isaac was comforted after his mother's death you see, Isaac was mourning the death of his mother, she was an important part of his life and one thing you notice there is that by bringing her into his mother's tent, which she had inherited because of her death you know, this marriage caused him, brought comfort to him you know, he was alone, again, it is not good for a man to be alone it's not good for Isaac to be alone he needs a help, meet for him and that was Rebekah the Lord made sure that Rebekah would come and they went to live in the mother's tent okay, and so what does this mother's tent represent? It represents the comfort it represents the joy of being united the one flesh aspect of this relationship and of course, the Song of Solomon you know, it's not a history book it's a song book it's a poetic book, you know, it's full of symbolism, you know, last week I went through last week I went through some symbolism between husband and wife and you know, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ about the rapture there's a lot of symbolism when it comes to the Song of Solomon and so when we see the wife taking her husband you know, to her mother's house you know, that should bring thoughts to us as we've read our Bibles how Isaac was comforted in his marriage so the thought behind that of course, in the song, is that this is a time of comfort, okay once again, you know, you're not looking for comfort from your former family from your mother and father, but you're looking for comfort and companionship from your spouse, okay that's the significance of being brought into the mother's house in fact, later on in the Book of Solomon Song of Solomon you know, the wife speaks about, you know, wishing that her husband was like a brother like, she kind of just wishes she could have spent more time with him in childhood that he had grown up with her and share the same mother, okay like, she just loves his companionship so much that she just wishes she knew him from a very young age okay, and so there's a lot again, this is a song it's poetry and it's using symbolism that you'll find in other passages of the Bible to understand what, you know, the words of the song to help you enrich your marriage alright, back to Song of Solomon chapter 3, verse number 5 Song of Solomon, chapter 3 and verse number 5 let's keep going there, Song of Solomon, chapter 3 verse number 5 she 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 now this same verse is repeated for us in a previous chapter, but she's saying to her friends, look, please don't wake up my beloved, say, why is he sleeping now? again, look, they just had physical intimacy she just went looking for him okay, it was out and about she brought him to the bedchamber you know, they've had a time of intimacy together and now he's sleeping like, what do you think took place? alright, obviously, the Bible's quite clear about this but again, we don't want to use language that is kind of excessively graphic or anything like this, alright when we talk about this topic, this beautiful topic you know, we used what the Bible teaches you can see how God just makes it clear alright, but we don't have to be graphic about this kind of stuff you know, we don't need to be talking about the privacy of our own bedrooms to other people in church or to our friends you know, there was a time when I was working in summer and one of my work colleagues came up to me and, you know, he wanted all the secret can you tell me what's going on, you know, in the bedroom and this and that, and I just rebuked the guy said, look, you've got to shut up it's got nothing to do with you, alright and that's the right thing, you know, when it comes to the privacy of the bedroom, that's between husband and wife nobody else needs to know about it okay, now obviously we know it takes place in marriage, Lord willing okay, that's the right place that it's meant to take but we don't just have to go on and on about every single detail okay, hey, let's be like God like God's word we know it takes place, where do you think children come from, okay, they come from this intimacy, alright, but again we don't need to go into the details that's something to be explored between husband and wife let's keep going there, verse number 6 verse number 6 takes a bit of a change in direction here again the wife is speaking, she says who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke now, who's this coming out of the wilderness, it's just me about her husband okay, so she's coming out, like pillars of smoke, you know, I guess you know, if you saw pillars of smoke in wilderness, it'd be quite an impressive sight, it'd be like, man, where's this smoke coming from, is there like fire somewhere okay, it's like an impressive sight and so when she sees her husband come home like to her, like he's impressive she's impressed by him okay, and why is she impressed by him, well he keeps going there it says, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense once again, man, there's nothing wrong with perfume, okay, this man this godly man King Solomon is perfumed okay, again, look it's okay to put on perfume it's not sinful it's not metrosexual or whatever people call it, you know, I don't know it's fine, okay, it's fine to cover your body odor it's going to impress your wife she's impressed by this what else, it says with all powders of the merchant so I don't know what kind of powders King Solomon has, I don't know exactly but I don't think it's like foundation or something on the face like, you know, I put on deodorant and my deodorant that I put on the kind of deodorant that I put on is more like a powder than it is a liquid okay, so I don't know what kind of powders he's got on, alright, but I put on the deodorant, okay, I try to cover my body odor, I try to smell pleasant to my wife, alright if I start to stink up a little bit, you know, I go and have a shower and make sure that, you know, I kind of smell lovely to my family and especially to my wife and this is manly please don't think this is not manly, okay again, we should base what manliness is we should base what love is we should base what marriage is we should base what intimacy is according to God's word not according to the standards of man alright, so look maybe he's wearing deodorant, he's definitely got perfume on and when he comes home she's impressed man, he smells good, alright and he's impressed by the appearance of his wife she goes, man, she smells good too alright, she looks lovely tonight alright, you know, they're not just dating they're not just trying to impress each other to get married one day, no, this is within marriage they're still seeking to impress one another alright they're still trying to enjoy one another please make this a priority in your life especially men we get lazy, we get lazy with our smells okay, you've got to cover up alright, be respectful toward your spouse, okay, about your body odor let's keep going there, verse number seven it says behold his bed, which is Solomon's King Solomon's so, obviously Solomon's got a bed, this is not at his mother-in-law's house he lives in the palace and you'll soon see what the significance of this bed is alright, she goes, behold his bed which is Solomon's, free score so that's, a score is twenty, so three times twenty that's sixty, sixty or free score valiant men are about it look, when it comes to King Solomon's bedroom he's got sixty soldiers sixty bodyguards protecting his bedroom alright, it says of the valiant of Israel they all hold swords, they're all ready to fight okay, they're all armed being expert in war alright, Solomon doesn't get the laziest soldiers he gets the best alright every man have his sword upon his thigh because of the fear of the night now obviously, what might happen in the night? well, as the king of Israel there might be some type of assassination attempts right, on him you know, as he's gone to sleep you know, they might find the night time the best time to attack and if there ever were some type of assassination attempt on King Solomon's life in the night or that assassin's going to have to face sixty armed men alright, sixty experts at war right, sixty bodyguards obviously they're not going to make it through to King Solomon why is she speaking about this? you know, why is this such a priority? you know, obviously she's saying that and look, I don't believe while husband and wife are sleeping in this bed I don't believe they're just around the bed you know, obviously they're protecting the bedroom alright, they're protecting the bedchamber as it were alright, but what this teaches us is that Solomon is making sure that his wife is safe the security, alright, in their lives you know, he's making sure he's protected you know, as the queen, she could also face assassination attempts, alright, and he makes sure he's got his best soldiers protecting his spouse and the lesson that we learned out of this man is that we too need to be protectors of our wife we need to make sure we give our wives security alright, we need to be a strong leader I know you can't afford sixty bodyguards I know that alright, and neither can I alright, but let me just give you some examples of things we can do potentially alright, I remember when we bought our first house you know, it was in Fairfield and then we bought another house in Bonnery you know, we're not talking about the safest suburbs in Sydney, right so one of the very first things I did was to go and purchase some block out shutters on the windows, alright, just so that time at night we can load those shutters you know, especially the little children's bedrooms, we want to make sure that, hey, they're closed, it's not easy to break in when we bought our second house the second house in Bonnery the main entrance like the door had these windows that were meant to be kind of frosted, but you could still see through the windows, like you could still see into the living room and you know, it made my wife a little bit uncomfortable because you know, while I'm at work you know, anybody could come to the door basically just looking through the window easily and they could see maybe a single mother little children there and hey, they might look at that as an easy house to break into potentially, alright, they can assess whether there's a man in the house or not and so, you know, very quickly, once I saved that money, you know, removed that and we installed double doors double security screen doors as well making sure, you know, we got rid of those windows on the side, that way, nobody could really look through into the living room and what did I give my wife? Safety, security, now look, maybe nobody would even try to break into a house, I don't know alright, but one thing we clearly see in the Bible is that men, you need to be the security guard, you need to keep your wife safe, okay hey, keep her safe, yes, physically hey, keep her safe emotionally, right, make sure she knows that you've said your vows of marriage, you're not just going to run off you know, she's not worried that you're just going to run off with some other woman on the job or something like that, okay you have to give her all kinds of security, you need to give her financial security you know, that's, I think that's like the number one reason why divorces take place, is when our spouses fight about money men, it's your job to give her financial security that she's dependent upon you she needs your emotional strength she needs to know that she's protected you know, that that's your responsibility that's what you need to do, yeah, you can't afford 60 bodyguards, I understand neither can I, okay but the principle is true it's our job, we ought to prioritise the safety, the security, the stability for our wives, they need it men they need it, okay, they need the stability of your love, they need to know that you love them, that you care for them like I said, that you're not just going to run off following some other relationship okay, give her your love, give her your security that is your job, let's keep going to verse number 9 it says King Solomon made himself a chariot of the wood of Lebanon so he's got this chariot what's so special about this chariot verse number 10 he made the pillars thereof of silver so you can see, man, this is an expensive chariot the bottom thereof of gold and covering of it of purple the midst thereof being paved with love being paved with love for the daughters of Jerusalem so King Solomon's got like the best chariot of the land, alright the pillars of silver the bottom of it is gold I mean it's a raid with purple expensive linen at this point in time and you know this would be the Lamborghini of the day King Solomon was riding around in the fanciest car, the fanciest transport that obviously the richest man on the earth you know, a very wise man, great kingdom he travels around in a very nice chariot, okay now, you say maybe the pastor has given me permission to spend, you know my money on a nice sports car maybe that's what he's teaching us, no no no this wasn't about just seeking his own pleasures, again what was it paved with, it's paved with love this is a chariot of love, in what sense you know, does he love his chariot does he love his Lamborghini, is that what he no no, he loves his wife amen, you know, he's made this chariot for his wife okay, so she can have something nice to travel in, say why would that be you know, I don't think ladies really care what kind of chariot they're going around with we will soon see that the reason he built this chariot is for a very special occasion alright, and again, once we understand the special occasion, then we can take the principle and apply it to our lives, because men you're not going to buy the Lamborghini, you're not going to buy the Ferrari, I understand, okay, you can't afford it, neither can I, alright maybe if we put our money together guys, maybe we can buy something nice, I don't know, we can share it around but no no, that's not the teaching, okay verse number 11, it says go forth, O ye daughters of Zion so now, we're talking to the daughters of Zion, we're talking to the ladies of Jerusalem it says and behold King Solomon hey, go and look at King Solomon in the chariot, say why what's the purpose? with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals and in the day of the gladness of his heart what is the day of his espousals? you know, what is the day that someone becomes your spouse? it's your wedding day his chariot was built to celebrate his wedding day his chariot was built to celebrate his wedding anniversary so what does he do? you guys look, my wedding anniversary is coming up he builds a beautiful chariot very expensive chariot hey, this is a chariot that I'm going to pay with love you know what, my wife and I we're going to travel in the chariot we're going to go through Jerusalem all the daughters of Jerusalem are going to watch and they're going to see how much I love my spouse we're going to celebrate our wedding anniversary men, celebrate your wedding anniversary please, it's so important what should your wedding day be like? at the end of verse number 11 it says and in the day of the gladness of his heart you know what gave Solomon great gladness in heart? remembering his wedding remembering his wedding you know what, we need to remember our wedding day just celebrate our wedding day men, don't forget your wedding anniversary please don't forget it mark it in your calendar put it on your phone tell your kids to remind you if you'll easily forget days like that don't ask your wife to remind you ask the whole world to remind you and plan ahead if you can buy a nice car to drive your wife around and celebrate your wedding anniversary then do it! but I know you can't afford it take her out to a nice restaurant I know you can't have pillars of silver in your chariot so what do you do? maybe buy her some silver earrings maybe buy her a gold ring maybe buy her something that's not going to completely break your wallet but listen, celebrate your wedding anniversary it should be a day of joy a day of celebration proclaim your love to other people when you're going out leave the kids to your parents and say hey parents it's my anniversary can I leave my kids with you guys for a little while so I can just go out and celebrate and have a great time with my wife husbands, wives please celebrate your wedding anniversary let me tell you about a day I was working a day once and we had a very long shift, we would start the day at 7am because we also serviced customers in New Zealand, in Auckland and they're always like 2 hours ahead of us like in the eastern coast so we would have a ross ross time would start at 7am then we would have a late shift as well they would go as far as 8.30 and that's because we serviced customers in Western Australia and they can be 2 or 3 hours depending on daylight savings different to the eastern coast of Australia as well so we had these shifts and it was my time to work the morning shift so I was there from 7 o'clock and then I would go home by 2.30 and I liked working the morning shift because you can go home earlier you've got the day to enjoy and then my work colleague who came for the late shift came in weeping, upset, angry and I'm like what's wrong what's the issue and she goes I just had an argument with my husband this and that, don't worry about it I was like alright, and then she goes actually I'll just tell you today's our wedding anniversary and my husband wants to go out and celebrate but I told him I've got my late shift I've got to work, we can celebrate on the weekend why do we have to celebrate today? and she was kind of like bagging at her husband for trying to celebrate their wedding anniversary and I kind of rebuked her I said well look, if I was your husband I would be mad as well it's your wedding anniversary it ought to be the day of the gladness of your heart this ought to be the best day in your calendar if you knew this is your wedding anniversary why don't you take the late shift? alright, you should be going out with your husband I understand that he's mad you're the one that's in the wrong here it's your wedding anniversary so I said to her look I'll work your late shift I meant to leave at 2.30 you leave at 2.30 you go out with your husband you guys have a good time celebrate your wedding please and I'll work the late shift so there I was, starting from 7 o'clock all the way to 8.30pm at night doing a 13 and a half hour shift you say why did you do that pastor? I wasn't a pastor back then but I know what the Bible teaches about weddings marriages, they're so important families, celebrating your wedding anniversary you must do it next day she comes back happy, rejoicing had a great time, thank you for covering my shift and then I said okay, now you owe me these many hours I'm leaving early one day and you've got to make up my hours now but listen, I'm glad that took place I'm glad that I could help at least enrich that wedding for a period of time because the wedding anniversary is so important even the King of Israel celebrates it even the King of Israel gets excited makes a nice chariot make his wife goes and shows off his wife and his love to all of Jerusalem so men, celebrate your wedding anniversary the other thing you notice in verse 11 it says go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, behold King Solomon with the crown so he's travelling in his chariot with a crown he's got a crown of course he's got a crown as a king but this crown is important it says, with the crown wherewith he found him in the day of his espousals so this crown isn't just his kingly crown it's a special crown given to him by his mother on the day that he got married now again men, we don't have that crown but most of us at least have this that's pretty much my golden crown this represents the day of my espousals my wedding ring I've lost this ring so many times thank God I've always found it and I get really upset when I lose it and I don't know where it is I've lost it for months on end I think I've lost it once even for over a year potentially and I think it was just in a couch just sitting at the bottom of the couch somewhere but men, I guess what I'm trying to say and ladies as well put on your wedding ring and look, I don't like to wear jewellery normally the reason I lose it so much is because I just don't like jewellery in my hands and so when I'm home I take it off and I try to put it away in my drawer or I forget, I put it on a table and then comes the little fingers and they grab it and it disappears but every time I go out I want to make sure I've got that crown of my espousals on, I've got my wedding ring on why is that so important? because any lady that looks at me not that I think I'm great or anything like that but anyone that looks at me can say hey, this is the married man and look, he takes his marriage seriously doesn't look, whether I have it on or not I'm still married but by having it on I'm showing that I'm serious about my marriage I'm not looking for anyone else this means I'm not interested I'm not looking for any other partner and King Solomon made sure when he went out he had his crown of espousals because look, I'm a married man I'm happy about my wedding I'm rejoicing on my wedding anniversary alright Brevin as I said to you, the title for the sermon was I sought him his wife loved King Solomon she wanted to be with him she wanted to spend time with him and you can see, again in this chapter not very long, you can see some great principles that we can take the wedding ring the celebration of the wedding anniversary the bodyguards the security, the safety that men we ought to give to our wives and we also learnt how our bodies do not belong to us but they belong to our spouse my body belongs to my wife my wife's body belongs to me and this is how God created marriage to be alright Brevin, let's pray