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Thank you very much. Welcome to church tonight. If you have your hymnals, please find your seats. And let's turn to hymn number 472. Hymn number 472, please. 472, begin by singing, This Is My Father's World, 472. And when you have found it, can you please stand? 472, This Is My Father's World. Alright, let's sing it up. This is my father's world And to my listening ears All nature sings and round me rings The music of the spheres This is my father's world I rest me in the thought Of rocks and trees Of skies and seas His hand the wonders wrought This is my father's world The birds their carols raise The morning light, the lily white He clear their maker's praise This is my father's world He shines in all that's fair In the rustling grass I hear him pass He speaks to me everywhere This is my father's world Oh, let me ne'er forget That though the rock seems half so strong God is the ruler yet This is my father's world The battle is not done Jesus, who died, shall be satisfied And earth and heaven be one Alright, great singing. Let's go to a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, yes, we do come before you tonight to be in your house to praise you, to worship you, Lord. And I thank you for this world, our father's world that you've given us, Lord, to live in. And Lord, even though this world becomes more wicked as the time goes on, we know that you are above all things, above all powers and principalities. And so, Lord, as your children, as your people, Lord, we come to serve you tonight. I pray that you receive our worship and I pray that your Holy Ghost will touch our hearts and minds and teach us great truths from your word. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. Alright, hymn number 439, please. Hymn number 439, count your blessings. 439, count your blessings. Name them one by one. Amen. 439, count your blessings. And when upon life's billows you are tempest-tossed, when you are discouraged thinking all is lost, count your many blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord hath done. Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your blessings, see what God hath done. Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your many blessings, see what God hath done. When are you ever burdened with a load of care? Does the cross seem heavy? You are called to bear. Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly, and you will be singing as the days go by. Count your many blessings, name them one by one. Count your many blessings, see what God hath done. Count your many blessings, name them one by one. Count your many blessings, see what God hath done. When you look at others with their lands and gold, think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold. Count your many blessings, money cannot buy, your reward in heaven or your home on high. Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your blessings, see what God hath done. Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your many blessings, see what God hath done. So amid the conflict, whether great or small, do not fear this courage, God is over all. Count your many blessings, angels will attend. Help and comfort give you to your journey's end. Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your blessings, see what God hath done. Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your many blessings, see what God hath done. All right, singing sounds good even though there's not too many of us tonight, but it sounds great. All right, just a few pages back, 431 please, 431. We're approaching Christmas, we've got a month till Christmas, brethren. So we've got to start singing. All right, Ramsey and Tim, our song leaders, we've got to start adding those Christmas carols to the list. So 431, Silent Night, Holy Night, 431. Silent Night, Holy Night, All is calm, all is bright, Round yon virgin mother and child, Holy infant so tender and mild, Sleep in heavenly peace, Sleep in heavenly peace. Silent Night, Holy Night, Shepherds quake at the sight, Glories stream from heaven afar, Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia, Christ the Saviour is born, Christ the Saviour is born. Silent Night, Holy Night, Son of God, Love's pure light, Radiate peace from thy holy face, With the dawn of redeeming grace, Jesus Lord at thy birth, Jesus Lord at thy birth. All right, let's do the last one, a cappella, ready? Silent Night, Holy Night, Wondrous Star led by light, With the angels let us sing Alleluia to our King, Christ the Saviour is born, Christ the Saviour is born. Amen. Should we do it with John 15? Amen. You guys remember how to do it? Yeah. All right. If you know John 15, you know how it goes, so you can open your Bibles to John 15 if you want. All right, ready? Silent Night, Holy Night, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, That whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. All right, good singing. All right, so that's a good reason to memorize John, an easy way to memorize John 3.16. That's what I meant. I memorized it, by the way, the first time I was in school and we had scripture classes and my scripture teacher taught me how to sing John 3.16 with Silent Night Holy Night and then I memorized my first verse like that, so praise God for the music. All right, you know what, I forgot to ask someone to read. Should we just throw, Jackson, can we throw you in the deep end? Yeah. All right, how about we just do it, all right? Would you mind reading the scriptures for us before the preaching? Are you up for it? Yeah. Yeah, come on. All right, so we're reading from Song of Solomon, chapter 7. Song of Solomon, chapter number 7, if you can open your Bibles to Song of Solomon and I'll invite Jackson to come up when you're ready. Put you straight to work, brother. All right, Song of Solomon. Do you want to do a prayer? Yeah, we'll do a prayer afterwards. Or afterwards. Afterwards, yeah. I'll just read a Song of Solomon. It is chapter number 7. I might just attach that to your shirt. All right, a Song of Solomon, I'm going to start there in verse 1. How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince's daughter! The joints of thy thighs are like jewels, The work of the hands of a cunning workman. Thy navel is like a round goblet, which wanteth not liquor. The 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 a tower of ivory, Thine eyes like the fish pools in Heshbon. By the gate of Bathrabbim, Thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon, which looketh toward Damascus. Thine head upon thee is like Carmel, And the hair of thine head like purple. This is held in the galleries. How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love for delights! This thy stature is like to a palm tree, And thy breast to a cluster of grapes. I said, I will go up to the palm tree, I will take hold of the boughs thereof. Now also thy breast shall be as clusters of the vine, And the smell of thy nose like apples, And thy roof of thy mouth like the best wine for my beloved, That goeth down sweetly, Causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak. I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me. Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field, Let us lodge in the villages, Let us get up early to the vineyards, Let us see if the vine flourish, Whether the tender grape appear, And the pomegranate bud forth. There will I give thee my loves. The mandrakes give a smell, And at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, New and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved. I'm going to say a quick prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for safely getting me to Australia and bringing me to Blessed Hope Baptist Church. I'm asking that you please fill Pastor Sapil Vida with your spirit, and please bless us and give us ears to hear. Thank you, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. All right, so yeah, we always throw people in the deep end. If you're new to church, we'll throw you in the deep end. All right, so for those that, well, we've got a few visitors today, so we have been going. Now, I haven't been traveling to Sydney every week, but every time that I do, I've been going for the Song of Solomon. Now, this is a book of the Bible that doesn't get preached very often, and as that was being read, you can kind of understand why. I mean, it's been referred to the physical attributes of a woman, and sometimes people just are uncomfortable to preach about certain things, but we've been going through this, and this great book of Song of Solomon teaches us great things about marriage, teaches us how to enrich our marriage, and what God's expectation is for married couples, how men ought to be, how ladies ought to be, how our marriage ought to be something of love, of friendship, great friendship, great appreciation of one another. And, you know, the Lord God loves marriage. You know, it's an institution that He put into place as soon as Adam and Eve were created. On day number six, they were married, okay, and this is such an important part of our life. Now, if we start there in verse number one, Song of Solomon 7, verse number one, it begins by saying, How beautiful are thy feet with shoes. The title for the sermon is Beautiful Feet, Song of Solomon 7, Beautiful Feet. Now, if you were to ask me, Pastor, how would you describe feet, you know? Oh, if someone asked you, how would you describe feet? You know, would you kind of say, well, it's beautiful, you know? Like that part of God's creation, that's just, ah, that's beautiful, beautiful feet. And, you know, I don't think many of us would kind of use that attribute for feet, but we see that the Bible does use that in terms of these feet of the wife here. The other thing I need to be aware of in Song of Solomon is that there is this constant change between the husband speaking and then the wife speaking. The first part of this chapter is the husband speaking to his wife, and then as we get toward the end of the chapter, the wife is speaking to her husband. But the first thing that it brings up about her is that her feet are beautiful with shoes, okay? So she's wearing shoes, okay? And obviously the first interpretation of this is that he is complimenting, as you keep going through this chapter, he is complimenting her looks, okay? He appreciates every part of her, and one thing that we learn is that husbands ought to appreciate and compliment their wives, okay? Their wives, not just their girlfriends and not just their fiancés, but even after marriage, okay? You see the husband continues to compliment his wife. Now he starts with the feet, and in this chapter there are going to be some similarities about what we read in chapter number four, but the difference is we start with the feet in chapter number seven. If you go back to chapter four, which we'll have a look at later, he starts with the head. So in chapter seven he starts feet and starts working his way up, complimenting her looks, but in chapter number four he starts with her head and starts working his way down, and I'll give you my reasons why I believe that is happening. But as we keep going there, it says, How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince's daughter! The joints of thy thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a cunning workman. So you see he starts with the feet, starts working her way to her thighs, and he's a compliment in all these parts of her body, and he starts working his way up. Now, the key thing that I want you to consider there in verse number one that you may not have considered is why is he referring to his wife's feet as beautiful? In fact, if you know your Bibles quite well, there are three times in the Bible that God refers in the Bible to feet as beautiful, and this is one occasion. Let me show you two other occasions in the Bible where feet are being considered as beautiful. So if you can hold your finger there in Song of Solomon chapter seven and come with me to Isaiah, Isaiah 52 please, come with me to Isaiah 52 in verse number seven, and for those of you that know the Bible quite well, if you're soul winners, obviously these are passages that you're very familiar with, but there are only three places in the Bible that speak about these beautiful feet, and Isaiah 52 verse seven, please turn with me to Isaiah 52 verse number seven, it says, How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings. So if you've got someone climbing the mountains to bring good news, maybe good news from a faraway land, the Bible says this person has beautiful feet upon those mountains. Okay? Now this is not obviously about a relationship between a husband and a wife, but this is one reference of these beautiful feet. Hey, what are these good tidings that are being preached? It says there, it continues in verse number seven, That publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, look at this, that publisheth salvation, that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth. You see, when you publish, when you speak of salvation, when you're giving the gospel, the good news of salvation, to the lost and dying world, God says, man, those are beautiful feet. Your feet are beautiful. Now, of course, it's not referring to the physical appearance for our feet. Okay, it's talking about how we are using our feet to walk door to door, we're using our feet to go to people to give them the gospel, God says those are beautiful feet. And again, there's only three times in the Bible that refers to these beautiful feet. So, if we understand this is an important part, and we know that gospel preaching is an important part of our Christian life, then of course when the husband is complimenting his wife about a beautiful feet, what is he really speaking about then? Spiritually speaking, not just physically, but he's saying, hey, my wife is a soul winner. You know, my wife publishes salvation. You know, my wife is able to give someone the gospel. My wife has seen people saved. And it's so important that we, you know, men, you know, in our churches, many times it's the men, you know, because, you know, my wife, we've got 11 kids, right? I mean, it's not easy for her to go soul winning. You know, often it's myself. Hey, but when I get those opportunities to take my wife out, you know, that's something we ought to be doing. We ought to be encouraging the ladies in our church and the wives, you know, to find time to also be a soul winner, to have beautiful feet. You say, pastor, my feet aren't beautiful. Well, they can be beautiful if you go and preach the gospel. If you publish salvation and you see souls saved. Let's continue there in Isaiah 52, verse number 8. So redemption, you know, when you talk about redemption, often that is associated with salvation. Now, in Isaiah, you need to understand, yes, it's all about salvation, but it's talking primarily about a physical salvation to the people of Zion, that they will be protected by God, you know, against the enemies, maybe the Philistines or, you know, others that have been against the nation of Israel, maybe the Babylonians, et cetera. You know, God is saying, look, I'm giving Israel, Jerusalem, a physical salvation. This is good news that is published in this salvation, but if we keep going, verse number 10, it says, The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. Okay, you can see how salvation gets brought up quite a few times. Of course, preaching the gospel will cause someone, if they were to believe that gospel, cause that person to be saved, okay? And I love how it says, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. Now, again, Isaiah 52, the primary application of that passage is a physical salvation, how God had saved the nation of Israel or Judah many times against the hands of their enemy or that he brought them back out of Babylonian captivity. And so, well, then, you know, can we really apply this, you say, maybe, to preaching the gospel? Well, this is what's amazing about the Bible. We're going to look at the third time that it mentions beautiful feats. Come with me to the New Testament in Romans chapter 10, Romans chapter 10 and verse number 12, please. Romans chapter 10 and verse number 12. You see, now we're talking about New Testament times, and the apostle Paul, as he writes the book of Romans, he brings up what was written in Isaiah, even though it was primarily about a physical salvation. It says in Romans 10, 12. Romans 10, 12. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. You see, no matter of our nationality, it doesn't matter of our ethnicity, whether you're Jew or whether you're Greek or whether you're Australian or Filipino or Canadian or Chilean or Assyrian, or whatever it is, brethren, you know, we all call upon the same Lord. Salvation is the same. You know, if you call upon the name of Jesus and ask Him for salvation, you put your faith and trust upon Him alone, then you can receive salvation, regardless of your ethnicity, regardless of your nationality. As we keep going there, it says in verse number 13, For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Then it says in verse number 14, How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? So in order to call upon the Lord, you must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It says, And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? So how can someone believe on Jesus if they've not heard the good news? Right? I mean, that's obvious. That's a good question. It says, And how shall they hear without a preacher? So brethren, do you understand what's happening there? We must have preachers preaching the gospel of the good news of salvation, in order for people to believe and call upon the Lord for salvation. This is the process. People aren't going to be saved automatically where they just see a light one day and say, Lord, save me. No, they need a preacher. How can they hear without a preacher? And some people misunderstand this. They think, well, pastor, you're the preacher. Well, yeah, I am preaching right now. But any time anyone speaks of the gospel, you are a preacher right there and then. Yes, behind the pulpit. The Bible's very clear that men are to be behind this pulpit preaching God's word. But when it comes to preaching the gospel, man, woman, child, anybody can be a preacher of the good news of salvation. Okay? But how will they hear without a preacher? Verse number 15. It says, And how shall they preach except they be sent? Look, as it is written. As it is written. Go written. Written where? Well, what we just read before in Isaiah 52. It says, As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. Do you see how Paul takes what is primarily, in Isaiah, physical salvation? He says, man, this is about spiritual salvation. You see, because the Bible has multiple layers. The Bible is a deep book. Okay? There is always one truth and yet pretty much unlimited applications. You know, Paul takes, you know, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, he takes this physical salvation of Israel. He says, you know what? It's not just for Israel. It's not just for a physical Jerusalem. This is for all Jew or Greek. It doesn't matter. The Lord is rich unto all that call upon Him. And so, brethren, when you go and preach the gospel, you have beautiful feet. God looks at your feet as you go and you sacrifice, you know, your energy and your strength and you get out there and you have love for the lost. God says those are beautiful feet. Beautiful feet. Please turn with me to another passage, Ephesians chapter 6. Ephesians chapter 6. And so, you know, I don't want to remove ourselves completely from the Song of Solomon, but if you see the husband praising his wife for beautiful feet, you know, this is a sign of love, of appreciation, then don't we want our Lord God to appreciate what we do for Him? Don't you want God to say, hey, you've got beautiful feet? You know, I appreciate this part of your life. Then we need to be soul winners. We need to be preaching the gospel. We need to be speaking to the lost and opening our mouths. Brethren, we've got the good news. We've got everlasting life. I mean, we've got the information that sinners need to hear in order to avoid hell, to have salvation of their sins, you know, salvation from their sins, and to have eternity in heaven with the Lord God. We've got the good news. You know, if we keep quiet, if we just say, hey, we're not going to send anyone out, we're not going to have any preachers out there, how do you expect this lost and dying world to know about Christ? How do you expect them to be saved? The most loving thing you can do is open your mouth and preach the gospel. The most hateful thing you can do is withhold that information from others. It's the most hateful thing. Because you're pretty much telling them, hey, you can go to hell, I don't care. If we truly love the lost, if you rejoice in your salvation, why would you not preach it to others? Now, Ephesians 6, verse number 13, let's look at something else here. Ephesians 6, verse number 13. Because if we go back to the Song of Solomon, he says, how beautiful are thy feet with shoes. Okay, with shoes. So, why would that, I mean, I guess she's wearing shoes, I mean, shouldn't be any real surprise there. But if we look at Ephesians 6, 13, this teaches us about the whole armour of God. It says, wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand, stand therefore having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness. Look at verse number 15. And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. You see, God wants us to put on shoes too. He wants to say, hey, you've got beautiful feet with shoes because you're prepared to give the gospel of peace to people. That's part of the armour of God. I mean, look, the truth, the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, you know, we should love truth and seek the truth, we should seek to live a righteous life, you know. And, you know, we need the armour of God to protect ourselves from the devil, from the wiles of the devil, but don't forget part of that is being prepared to give the gospel. Are you prepared to give the gospel tonight? You know, if we have someone come into our church who is lost, that doesn't know how to be saved, are you prepared to be used by God to give them the gospel? And if you say, pastor, I'm not, well, you can't put on the whole armour of God then. You must be prepared. Any opportunity. You know, we've got scheduled times that people go out soul-willing, but we need to be prepared at all times. You know, having our shoes on, our spiritual shoes, prepared at all times to give someone the gospel of peace. Verse number 16, it says, Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, so the whole armour of God. And so you can see when we go back to Solomon and Solomon, you know, we're only on verse number one there, okay, but you can see just how deep it starts to go, okay. When you just look at beautiful feet, well, this is about preaching the gospel. Being shot, your feet being shot, well, this is about being prepared. Preaching the gospel. You know, the Bible is this beautiful puzzle. You know, you just look at it and you just compare scripture to scripture, spiritual to spiritual, and it really highlights, you know, how deep this Bible is, how deep this book is. You know, please appreciate the Bible that God has given you. Please appreciate time to read and to study and to meditate on the Word of God. Back to Song of Solomon, chapter seven, please. Song of Solomon, chapter seven, and verse number two. So as I said to you, he's starting from his way up, starting with your feet. He's working his way up now. Spoke about her thighs. And then he speaks about her navel or her belly. It says in there in verse number two, Song of Solomon, chapter seven, verse number two, thy navel is like a round goblet. Say, what is a goblet? Well, it's pretty much, it's kind of like a cup, I guess, but it's kind of like something that you stand on. You know, it's something that you drink from. So her navel's like this, okay? I'll put it here for illustration purposes, all right? It says, thy navel is like a round goblet which wanteth not liquor. All right, so let's be, in fact, let's keep going. It says, I'm going to keep reading to verse number five and then we'll come back to verse number two. It says, thy belly is like a heap of wheat set about with lilies. Okay, so her belly is a little bit swollen here, okay? It's like a heap of wheat, okay? She doesn't have like this completely skinny, model-looking type, you know, abdomen, all right? She's round like a goblet, all right? I mean, what is she speaking about? Verse number three, Thy two breasts are like two young rose that are twins. So you can see he's working his way up. You can see that when he got, you know, then he goes, verse number four, thy neck, so now it's up to the neck, is a tower of ivory, thine eyes, now it's up to pretty eyes, like the fish pools of Heshbon and the gates of Baphrebim. Thine nose is as the tower of Lebanon, which looketh toward Damascus. I'm not sure if my wife would like this compliment, but anyway, you know, if you can compliment your wife on her nose then praise God for that, you know? So he keeps working his way up. Verse number five, Thine head upon thee is like Carmel and the hair, you can see it's gone all the way up from the feet to the head, and the hair of thine head like purple. Now, it's not saying that her hair is purple, okay? It says like purple because it's a royal colour, because it says the king is held in the galleries. It's saying like your hair is kind of like this place, like it's so beautiful, it's like a place of royalty. It's like where the king would be, okay? And he himself is the king, King Solomon is the king, and so I guess he appreciates her hair, maybe plays with her hair as well, you know? But again, what I wanted to show you there very clearly is that he's describing his wife from feet to head. Now, why is that? Why is that? Well, come with me to Song of Solomon chapter four, please. Song of Solomon chapter four and verse number one. So I just want to show you the comparison very quickly. We're not going to spend a lot of time looking at chapter four, but in verse number one it says, Behold, thou art fair, my love, behold, thou art fair. Thou hast dove eyes within thy locks, thy hair is as a flock of goats that appear from Mount Gilead. Okay, so it starts there talking about her head, her hair, you know, her eyes. And then if you just keep going down, verse number five, Thy two breasts are like two young rose that are twins which feed among the lilies. It's the same phrase that he uses in chapter seven to describe her breasts there, okay? But I want to show you, all I want to show you there in chapter four is that he's working his way down, okay? And look, if this is making you uncomfortable, please don't be uncomfortable. This is the word of God, okay? The word of God is it teaching us how we can complement and appreciate our wives, okay? You know, we're not being vulgar, you know, every word of God is pure, okay? God has given us these words to understand marriage, to appreciate that union that God has given us, okay? And so we're not going to go, of course, any more descriptive than what God does in his word, okay? So, you know, this is a PG friendly, this is a G friendly sermon here, okay? But of course he's complementing the parts of her body there. Now, again, I want to just show you the fact that he's working his way down from head to, well, he eventually goes down to the breast there in verse number five. But, say, why is it in reverse? And I'm going to give you my thoughts, okay? Obviously I can't be excessively dogmatic about this. But when you can compare chapter four and chapter seven, there are some similarities. There are certain descriptions that are similar in those passages. But the big difference in chapter number seven is verse number two, okay? That's the big difference. It says, It is my personal belief that he's describing his wife as pregnant, you know? We've seen the intimacy leading up to that in the chapters before, and now she's kind of gotten swollen because she's pregnant, okay? I think that makes logical sense, and I'll explain to you in a minute. Again, this visualization should help you. But he says, Again, it's something that you drink liquor, and I'll use the word that's there, which wants if not liquor. And, of course, when we use the word liquor today, you know, we think of an alcoholic beverage, okay? But liquor obviously comes from the word liquid or fluid, okay? And, of course, you know, it just means a drink, okay? This is not saying, you know, that, you know, she was drinking alcohol or something like that, okay? But when it says which wants if not liquor, meaning that, like, there's enough liquor, okay? There's enough liquid. It doesn't want any more, okay? It's already full to the brim, okay? And if you understand that, and so, again, look at the fact that it says my belly is like a heap of wheat. About with Lily's, again, she's swollen. She's a little bit larger, okay? And, again, I believe this is talking about pregnancy because when a woman falls pregnant, what happens? She can't drink liquor. No, it's not that she can't drink liquor. That's not about alcohol, okay? Is that, again, if this is her belly, and let's pretend that was full of water, okay? It's like she wants if not liquor, meaning it's already got liquor. It's already full, okay? It's because, obviously, when a woman falls pregnant, you know, her body changes, you know, the uterus, and then she's got the amniotic fluid, okay? And that's why women swell up. They get bigger because there's literally liquid within them, which is, of course, where the baby is going to grow and receive all the nutrients it needs. And so it says which wants if not liquor, meaning that she's full. It's like she's getting bigger and bigger and bigger. And this is the biggest difference that we see in chapter seven in comparison to chapter number four. And I'm just going to give you my thoughts around this, Brevin. I don't, you know, the Bible doesn't make it very clear why it's mentioned there in seven, not in verse number four, I mean, besides the fact that she must have fallen pregnant, in my opinion, okay? But what we learn here is that sometimes ladies can become a little bit self-conscious when they fall pregnant, okay? Because ladies, before you fall pregnant, you know, it's easy to keep your body to a certain shape, okay? But when you fall pregnant, your body's going to change. You're going to have swelling. You know, there's going to be stretch marks, okay? There might be scars that develop during pregnancy. There might be scars if a woman cannot deliver a baby naturally. She might have to, you know, do C-section. There might be some scarring in regards to that. And, you know, pregnancy will change the shape of a woman's body, you know? And women become self-conscious about this because they realize, you know, even after having children, they cannot bring their bodies back to what it was like before having children. And it's my personal opinion that King Solomon recognizes this. She's probably a little bit self-conscious, and so he's, you know, complimenting her that, you know, your belly's like wheat, okay? He's complimenting all parts of the body. He says, look, honey, even though you're pregnant, even though your body's changing, you know, even though you're swelling and becoming a little bit larger, of course carrying that child or, you know, everything that's developing in the body, you know, you're still beautiful. You know, you're still someone I appreciate. I mean, you know, the fact that you're even changing physically is a fact that there's been intimacy, there's been love in our marriage, you know, and you're going to bring forth a child. You know, the fruit of the womb is his reward, says the Lord, you know? And so, you know, I strongly recommend and encourage you, Brevin, I think this is what it's teaching us here, that there are times to stop and compliment your wife even when she's having changes in her body, because there are significant changes, okay? After one, maybe not so much. After two, definitely. If you have twins, even more so, okay? Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. There are going to be changes stretching to your body and, like I said to you, hey, veins, sometimes ladies struggle with veins, vascular veins in their legs because the body's pumping blood, not just for itself but also for the baby. So there are changes to the body and you need to learn, men, not to criticise your wife but to appreciate her. This is something very unique. Men, we can't experience this, you know? We can't experience, you know, having a life within us, bringing forth life, something very unique to women, okay? And it's a beautiful thing. It's the fruit of the Lord, okay? So please, you know, if your wife falls pregnant and, you know, her body starts to change, please don't be critical, okay? Appreciate. This is something beautiful. This is something that you see the king is complimenting his wife about. And so that's really what I believe is going on here because the fact that the belly here and the navel is being mentioned in comparison to chapter number four. All right, let's go to verse number six, Song of Solomon chapter seven, verse number six. He continues and says, How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love for delights! This thy stature is like a palm tree, and thy breasts to clusters of grapes. So what he starts comparing his wife to now is a tree, okay? So it's like you're like a palm tree, you know, you situate it up, and your breasts are like clusters of grapes here. And then he's going to basically explain that he wants to climb the tree, okay? In verse number eight, he says, I said I will go up to the palm tree, I will take hold of the boughs thereof. The boughs are like the branches. He goes, look, I'm going to climb. I'm going to get those branches, I'm going to climb up that tree, okay? Why would you climb up a tree, okay? Well, of course, the palm tree doesn't have grapes, but he's just describing her as a tree, okay? And of course, if you're going to climb a tree for the fruits, it's because you're trying to get, you know, probably the best fruit that's on the tree, okay? In other words, he's taking hold of his wife. There's intimacy once again in these passages, okay? And he wants to enjoy the fruits of his wife. He says, Now also thy breasts shall be clusters of the vine and the smell of thy nose like apples. So she's like a palm tree, she's like a grape vine, she's like an apple tree, all of the above. And he goes, I want to just take hold, I want to climb that tree, and of course, again, showing intimacy that he takes a hold of his wife, you know, and appreciates, you know, all these parts of her body, you know, that, again, nothing to be ashamed of. You know, this is how God has created man and woman, right? Man to be attracted to a woman and a woman to be attracted to a man, and this is why God's given us marriage. You know, there's this institution where we can share intimate, you know, intimate relationship in the right boundaries, in the marriage bed. You know, God is against fornication and adultery, all right? But, you know, please understand that these are good and righteous things, but in the right place, okay, in the marriage bed. This is the proper and right place. And so he appreciates, you know, he thinks about, now I just want to enjoy every part of your body, you know, and he describes it as trying to, you know, reach out for those, for those different fruits that are available on the tree or on the vine. Let's keep going there, verse number nine. He says, And the roof of thy mouth like the best wine for my beloved. Why does he know about the roof of her mouth? Okay, because they're kissing, okay? You know, they're French kissing or whatever is going on here, you know. Intimacy, brethren, once again. You know, this is good and proper in marriage. And the roof of thy mouth like the best wine for my beloved, that goeth down sweetly, causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak. Now, when he describes the roof of her mouth as the best wine, once again, in our modern English, we often think about that as alcohol, okay? Now, do you think King Solomon would describe his wife's mouth as like this alcoholic beverage? No, okay? Because if you keep going there, it says, that goeth down sweetly, okay? This is sweet grape juice, okay? Because when you're going to turn wine into alcoholic beverage, the sugars, they get fermented into alcohol, okay? And this is why wine is like a bitter. You know, sometimes people say, oh, no, this is a sweet wine, but it's not sugar, okay? Maybe the fragrance can be sweet, but the drink in of itself is not sweet, because the sugars have been converted into alcohol. The fact that he says that this goes down sweetly, of course, proves that he's not referring to his wife's mouth as alcoholic, okay? Okay, he's referring to, hey, this is like a nice grape juice. It's sweet, freshly squeezed grape juice, and he appreciates, you know, this love and affection, you know? And I say men and, you know, ladies, husbands and wives, which I should say, you know, kiss your spouse, you know, kiss them on the lips, kiss them on the mouth. This is the right thing. You know, this is not just poetic, amazing script, you know, overly romantic language. This is what God expects in a marriage, okay? So if your marriage does not line up with what you read in Song of Solomon, then you need to lift your game, okay? You need to lift the game and say, Lord, I want the standard of my marriage to meet what we see there in Song of Solomon. All right, verse number 10, let's go to verse number 10. Now, finally, we have the wife speaking to the husband. She says, I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me. You know, she's speaking about him. And so she says, look, I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me. So the husband's desire is to be with his wife. Is that your desire, men that are married? Is that your desire, to be with your wife? Again, I always tell you guys, actually, I'm lying now, but, you know, I often tell you guys, first flight back on Friday morning, I'm out of here. I'm back home with my wife, okay, because my desire is toward her. But I'm hanging around for the wedding, okay, so I'm not going this side. But, you know, straight after the wedding, I'm on my first flight back to the Sunshine Coast because my desire is to be with my wife. Now, for the wives, this ought to be the case. You say, Pastor, my husband doesn't really desire to be around me. What's going on? Okay, you know, well, maybe he's not right with the Lord and he needs to up his game in this part of his marriage life, but wives, you've got a part to play in this as well. You know, your attitude, your behavior, your characteristics, your love toward your husband can either bring your husband's desire toward you or drive him away, okay? So keep your finger there and please come with me to the Book of Proverbs. Come with me to Proverbs chapter 19, the Book of Proverbs, Proverbs chapter 19. And don't forget, King Solomon is the one that put together the Book of Proverbs, okay? So we're looking at the Song of Solomon, which he wrote, and of course the Proverbs, which Solomon mostly wrote, maybe compiled some of that together himself from other Proverbs as well. And so this is a good like-for-like comparison. You know, if a husband desires to be toward his wife, then wife, you can help your husband in this area, okay? Proverbs chapter 19, verse number 13, please. Look at this. Proverbs chapter 19, verse number 13. A foolish son is the calamity of his father. That's not the part we're looking at here, but it says, And the contentions of a wife are a continual dropping. The contentions of a wife are a continual dropping. What is that? You know, have you ever, you know, been in your house, maybe you're trying to get to sleep. I've had this happen and maybe, you know, the shower head is leaking. You're like, I'm trying to sleep. And then you go and you close it up and maybe it's not watertight and you're saying, Ah, it's so frustrating, that noise, okay? Have you ever had that experience? You know, just that drip, drip, drip, drip, drip. Well, you know what, wives, if you're a contentious wife, you know, if you're just argumentative, you know, every time your husband makes a decision, you're critical of him, you know, you're comparing him to other men, you know, you don't let him leave the house, you know, what his desire is not going to be toward you. You're going to be like this continual dripping. Oh, man, and then you want to get away from that noise, don't you? So, ladies, you play a part, okay? In your husband's desire towards you, please come with me to chapter 21. Proverbs chapter 21, please, verse number 9. Proverbs chapter 21, verse number 9. Look at this. This is amazing. It is better, it is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop. Now, you know, the houses in these days, you know, the top of the house wasn't like how we have houses where we have like a roof. They had a place that you can actually get to the top and kind of like a balcony if you want to kind of look at it. It is better to dwell or to live on top of the house instead of inside the house. In what way? Okay? It says, then with a brawling woman in a wide house. A wide house is a big house, a house with a lot of room. You know, it is better to just, you know what, if your wife is argumentative, okay, she's a brawler. She's constantly fighting with you. You know, she makes your life miserable. The Bible says, you know what, it's better to just live on the roof. That's where the man is going to be more comfortable, okay? He's going to try to find his man cave or something somewhere else. He's going to try to get away from his wife even though the house is big. But she's a brawler, just argumentative. She fights him about everything. Again, she doesn't let him leave the house. You know what, he's going to rather live on top of the roof. Okay, this is the word of God. Read it yourself. This is what God's word says, okay? But in the Song of Solomon, she says, I am my beloved and his desire is toward me. So if that's the level, wives, that you need to get to, you cannot be this contentious, argumentative, brawling woman. Drop down to verse number 19. Proverbs chapter 21, verse number 19. You say, pastor, I don't have a rooftop that I can live in. All right, verse number 19. It is better to dwell in the wilderness than with a contentious and an angry woman. All right, you haven't got the rooftop. You know where your husband would just rather be in the wilderness. Like literally just get out of Sydney in the middle of nowhere in the outback and that's where he'd rather be than be fighting with his wife, with his angry wife. Ladies, again, you play an important role. You know, I know we live in 2022, but if you're a Christian, if you're saved, the standard of your living is not society. Okay, the standard, of course, is the word of God. It's the word of God, all right? And God has created man and woman differently. Man to be the leader and women to be led. Man to be the provider and for the women to be the receiver of that provision. That's how God's created things to be. That's what's going to give you the greatest joy. And ladies, let me encourage you. Wives, let me encourage you. Let your husband lead. Even if he makes a mistake, just let him lead, okay? Because, hey, if he makes a mistake, he'll be like, hey, honey, made a mistake leading you this way. Let's go the right way, okay? Let him learn, let him grow, let him gain some level of leadership. And look, I know, ladies, many times you're wiser than men. Many times you can see things better than men. And you know what, the right thing for a man to do is, honey, I'm thinking of doing X, Y, and Z. What are your thoughts? Do you have any concerns? And she says, yeah, look, I'm thinking of this and that. Thanks for addressing that with me. Then, you know what, if we're going to go this way, I need to make sure that we address those concerns. That's what a loving husband will do, right? He'll get the information. He'll try to understand how it affects his family. But at the end of the day, he wants to lead his home. And ladies, I know, again, society, feminism does not want you to believe this, but you're going to be most happy when you're being led by a man. You're going to be most happy when you let him take control of the household. His desire will be toward you. If you try to take leadership away from him, his desire is not going to be toward you. He's going to want to be in the wilderness. He's going to want to hang out with the boys. Honey, I just can't handle this. I'm just going to hang out with boys in the wilderness, you know? Let's keep going there. Chapter 25, Proverbs 25, 24, please. Proverbs 25 and 24. It says, It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop than with a brawling woman in a wide house. I don't have anything further to add. I'm just showing you how often this comes up. When the Bible is bringing up the same story, the same verse over and over and over again, God wants your attention drawn toward this. If God has to repeat it multiple times, this is important because this is a problem in many marriages. Come with me to chapter 27. Proverbs 27, verse 15. Proverbs 27, verse 15. A continual dropping in a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike. A continual dropping in a very rainy day. I mean, no one really likes to go out when it's raining heavily. Most people just will, when it's raining heavily, it's like, man, I'd just rather be indoors. Most people are just indoors. But, man, on a rainy day, if you're just out there being bombarded with that wet weather and the rain and you're getting cold and shivery, you know what? That's kind of like having a contentious woman. It's alike. That's how the man's going to feel. He doesn't want to be outside. He doesn't want to be in this rain. He doesn't want to be soaked. Okay? Well, having a contentious woman, he doesn't want that either. It's the same feeling. The uncomfortableness, okay? Not the warmth. So, wives, I'm preaching to you, okay? Please, don't be a contentious woman. Don't be argumentative. Let your husband lead and I promise you his desire is going to grow towards you. He's going to want to do more for you. He's going to want to compliment you more. He's going to want to gift you more. He's going to want to work harder to provide for you more. He's going to want more to give you more security when he sees a loving wife. You know, when he sees a wife that is willing to let him lead. You know, ladies, you can play an important role in how much your husband's desire is towards you. Come with me back to Song of Solomon, Chapter 7, Verse 11. Song of Solomon, Chapter 7, Verse 11. I mentioned that the wife is speaking here. In Verse 11 it says, Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field. Let us lodge in the villages. As we keep going, basically they go into another hollow house, okay? They go into another piece of property that belongs to them. Let's get away from, you know, the politics because he's the king. Let's get away from all the noise and all the drama. Let's just go to one of these little villages that we have. And again, they're able to afford this because he's the king. He's obviously got much land, much property, you know. And you see that she calls him away. Look, you know, you're so busy, you're so overwhelmed with what's going on. You know, come and let's spend some time together. Let us lodge in the villages, okay? And, you know, we see this quite often, don't we, in the Song of Solomon where they go out together. They go to a garden, for example. They spend time together. And I've been preaching just how important men or, you know, ladies, you know, whatever, whoever instigates, it doesn't matter, you know, for a husband and wife to just get out, go on a date, go on a holiday, go on a second honeymoon if you have to. Just spend some time together. It's so important that you make time for each other, away from the day-to-day business of life. You know, most of your time is going to be used up day to day, the same things over and over again. You need a bit of excitement. You need a change. You need to get out there and do something different. Enjoy one another. And so she's calling him out, you know, to go out on a date, to go and spend time together in one of their holiday houses. She says in verse number 12, Let us get up early to the vineyards. Let us see the vine flourish, where the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth. There will I give thee my loves. The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates, you can see this is their property, and at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved. I really like this passage. Just these last few verses. I really love them. Because, you see, it's important, especially men. I think you need to hear this more than the ladies. Husbands. It's important that you find common interests with your wife. Okay? You know, when you start dating, I guess your common interest is your relationship. Okay? And then you get married, and, you know, you learn more about each other. You realize, ladies, that a man is completely different. You know, he thinks differently to how I think, and men, it's like my wife reacts totally differently to what I react to, and men will be like the hobbies that I like. You know, the World Cup, for example. My wife doesn't want to watch the World Cup, and, you know, she's different to me in that, and then she's like, you know, she's got her own interests or whatever. My wife likes the garden. She points out the garden, the flowers. I'm like, yeah, nice, nice. You know, but we have different likes. We have different hobbies. We have different interests, because we are made differently. But what I like about this is they try to find something in common. She says, look, let's just enjoy. Let's go to this place through our vineyards. Let's look at the grapes. Let's look at the pleasant fruits that are there. Let's collect that together and enjoy a nice picnic together, you know, a nice outing together. You know, they're trying to find something where they can have a common interest. You know, men, it's not just, honey, I'm going out with the boys and wives. It's not, you know, honey, I'm just going out with the girls. And look, there's nothing wrong with that once in a while, okay? But there's a reason why you married this individual, you know, to spend time with them. You know, have a date night. You know, if you're able to go on holidays, go on holidays. And I don't want to say this because there's people in our church, members in our church, okay, here on Sunshine Coast, that are very zealous for the Lord. And look, I don't want to steal your zeal. I want you to love the Lord with all your heart and all your mind, okay? And sometimes, you know, in a church like ours, we take this view, well, you know, life is about going to church, and praise God, it is. Life is about reading my Bible, and yes, praise God, it is. And it's about singing the hymns, even when I'm home, I'll open those hymn books and we'll sing praise to the Lord, praise God for you if you're doing that. And you know what, I've got some spare time, so I'm going soul winning, praise God for you if you're doing that, okay? And look, all those things are good, all right? All those things are good. But you need to remember, there is a time you can step away from those things, okay? It's not a waste of your time to go on a picnic It's not a waste of time to go and pick fruits with your wife, okay? Because you're building the relationship, okay? It can't just be church, Bible, hymns, song leading, I guess, soul winning! And then we go to sleep and we just repeat that cycle over and over again. Look, spend some time together, some quality time. Have some fun, okay? I know when you go and pick some fruits, you're not going to win souls, but it's going to strengthen your marriage, okay? Spend that time, find something that you can do together. It is so important. Hey, come into church together, praise God, do it! I'm not saying don't do it, but you've got to find other things, other hobbies, other things that are going to enrich your marriage. You know, I've said to you sometimes, I think I've said to this church, I'm sure, you know, there are times that I've taken my boys, my children, my boys, to watch a soccer game, all right? And you say, well, what's the point, Pastor? Come on, who cares who wins? You're right, I don't care who wins, okay? I do not care if my team wins or my team loses. It's about quality time with my boys. That's what it's about. You know, for them to have memories of, hey, remember that time Dad took us out to that game and we went out and we had lunch somewhere and we had a good time, we enjoyed each other's company? That's what it's all about, brethren, okay? And, you know, I told you guys when we did the soul winning marathon there in Melbourne, yeah, praise God for the souls that were saved. But really, my priority was how can we encourage the brethren? You know, how can we spend quality time together and be an encouragement to all these people? Brethren, spending time with your wife is not a waste of time, okay? You're encouraging her. You're showing that you love her, okay? Find something interesting. I don't know, maybe there's a new restaurant opening in your area and say, honey, you know what, as soon as that restaurant opens, we're going and checking it out. We're going to go spend some quality time together. And you say, is it biblical? Of course it's biblical because we see it here in the Bible, okay? It's not like, come, my beloved, it's time for church. And look, I hope that happens. Okay, it's time for church. But it's just like, look, come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field, let us lodge in the villages. This is biblical. They're spending time on holidays enjoying each other's company. This is so important. You know, please don't have just this narrow view, church, soul winning, you know, Bible reading and that's my life and that's it. And honey, you better get on board or, you know what, our marriage is not going to last. Yeah, that's good, but you've got to add everything else. You know, spending time with friends, people that you know, all right? Spending time just alone, going on a picnic, all right? If there's something you can watch on TV, I don't know, it's very hard to find good things these days, but something nice and pleasant, hey, just enjoy each other's company, all right? If there's a book you guys can read together, read it. It doesn't have to always be the Bible. It can be something else, something you can find enjoyment in. It's all like these verses because it gives us balance. It gives us balance in life, okay? We need to understand that our relationships are important. Our marriages are important. Our children are important. You know, the people, our friends, it's important, but we need to spend quality time together. And you definitely need to spend quality time with your wife. You know what, I don't mind spending quality time with my church members. I don't mind because I do sometimes have to catch up with people, but when that happens and I catch up with people over and over again, you know, to talk about different matters, I need to remind myself, I also need to give quality time to my wife. You know, I don't want my wife to turn around and say, hold on, he married me, but he's spending all this time with all these other people. That would be wrong. Even as a pastor, that would be wrong. I need to give my wife due attention, okay? And we need to find something in common that we can share, okay? And so let me strongly encourage, you know, husbands, wives, husbands to be, wives to be, find things in common. Enjoy each other's company, okay? Go into something different, okay? And, you know, the kids will come along eventually, and then it's going to be more complicated, life's going to be a little bit harder, you know, enjoy your honeymoon period, you know, now when God has given it to you. All right, brethren, Song of Solomon, chapter 7, beautiful feet, beautiful feet. And you know what, if you can go soul winning as a married couple, you know, it's fantastic. You know, the most fun, believe it or not, the most fun that I have soul winning is with my wife. It's the most fun. You know, I remember the first time I took Christina out, soul winning, and she saw a young girl get saved, and, you know, the young girl had tears in her eyes, and I looked at my wife and she had tears in her eyes, and she was like, man, this is great. And I was like, yeah, this is great, you know, going to soul winning with my beautiful feet, beautiful feet, was the title of the sermon tonight. All right, brethren, let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, I just want to thank you for your word. Thank you for your instruction, Lord, that we see in the Song of Solomon. Lord, I do pray for every marriage. Lord, I do pray for every husband to love their wives and for all the wives to be submissive to their husbands as unto the Lord. Lord, help us to love our spouses and, Lord, to love them the most out of anybody on this earth. Lord, of course we love you first, but when it comes to another human being, Lord, I just pray that we would prioritise our marriage. And, Lord, for those that are single or to be married, Lord, I just pray that you'd prepare them for this loving relationship, Lord, that you would lead them to someone that they can love and appreciate and be wedded to one day. And, Lord, I just do pray for the singles of our church and, Lord, that you would lead them to the right person at the right time. But in the meantime, Lord, you just pray that you'd prepare us for those that are single to be married one day to appreciate what we can see here in Song of Solomon and for us that are married, Lord, that we would measure our marriage to what we see in your Word. Lord, help us to have better marriages, help us to have better relationships. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay, brethren, please take your hymnals. Let's turn to hymn number 297. 297, please. 297, close to thee. Close to thee. We ought to be close to our spouses, but now we're singing about being close to our Lord. 297, close to thee. Amen. Thou my everlasting portion, more than friend or life to me, all along my pilgrim journey, Saviour, let me walk with thee, close to thee, close to thee, close to thee, close to thee, all along my pilgrim journey, Saviour, let me walk with thee, not for his or only pleasure, not for fame, my prayer shall be, gladly will I dwell and suffer, only let me walk with thee, close to thee, close to thee, close to thee, close to thee, gladly will I dwell and suffer, only let me walk with thee, lead me through the vale of shadows, bear me all life's little sea, then the gate of life eternal, may I enter, Lord, with thee, close to thee, close to thee, close to thee, close to thee, then the gate of life eternal, may I enter, Lord, with thee. Amen. All right. Brother Tim, would you close us on a word of prayer? Yes, sir. Tim, I want to thank you that we should all be gathered here once again this evening. We pray for those who are not well or who couldn't be here tonight.