The Song of Solomon, chapter number two. I'm going to go ahead and read three verses. Verse three. As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the suns. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love." And then our text says, "'Stain me with flagons, comfort me with apples, for I am sick of love.'" I'm preaching today for a few moments from this passage by the help of the Lord from my heart to your heart. on the subject of symptoms of love sickness. Symptoms of love sickness. Here in our text here, the Shelomite says, I am sick of love. She says that in chapter 5 as well. I am sick of love. I am love sick. I am in, as we would say it 400 years later from the writing here, I am in love. I am in love. Now, the song of Solomon is the courtship and the marriage of King Solomon and the Shulamite. The Bible calls her the Shulamite in chapter 6. I suppose she's from Shulam. But that's what this book is about. And Solomon wrote it. And he wrote a thousand other songs. It's a song. It was to be sung. It's the song of songs, it says, which means of all his a thousand plus songs he wrote, this is the greatest. Now, his bride-to-be is not royalty. She is a commoner. She's a nobody, if you please. She's a country girl. It's very obvious as you read her speech here. She's a country girl. She's a lowly maiden. Somehow, somewhere, she has won the heart of Solomon, the wisest man in the world and definitely one of the richest, maybe the richest too. She has won his heart and he has won her heart. And the Bible here is about the courtship, the marriage, the preparations for the marriage, here in just a few more chapters. Well, I've read a text to you here where this lady, this young bride-to-be, confesses that she's lovesick. She is in love. That's very obviously true, as the chapters suggest. What we want to do for a few moments is consider several ways in which her love sickness is plainly revealed. Number one, her thoughts concerning Solomon. I'll just read maybe three or four other verses in the course of the message, but when you read the eight chapters of this book, you find that she just seems to be obsessed with Solomon. Preoccupied. I'll use the words of the old timers. used. She's smitten. She's been smitten. Now, if you know what I'm talking about every now and then, you say amen. Some of you are married. Amen. Well, she thinks about him all the time. She's entranced. She's lovesick. I think this is I don't want to say this is funny, but she says, stay with me and comfort me. Hold me up. I'm fixing to faint here. I'm so sick. Not physically sick, but I'm just so enamored with this fellow Solomon I'm getting ready to marry that I'm a little bit wobbly on my feet. She's just lovesick. She can't get over. She can't get over, and if you forget everything, and you probably will, because we can only take home one thought from a message, I want you to know that she can't get over how somebody like him could want to marry somebody like her. Now, I know it's going to be very hard for you not to get ahead of me, but I'm going to try not to get ahead of myself. There's nobody here She's going to move from rural route whatever to Main Street, Jerusalem in the Royal Palace. Well, she's not married yet here in chapter 2. She's just getting ready to be here. She's excited. She's planning. She's preparing. And thoughts of her husband are always on her mind. Number two, not only is her love sickness revealed so plainly in her thoughts, In her speech, in her words, she is always telling people about Solomon. She's always bragging about him. She just can't contain herself. She calls him, my beloved, my friend, she calls him at one place. And your spouse ought to be your best friend. Amen. She says, him whom my soul loveth. And you can read it all. She just don't have anything bad to say about him. It's all positive. It's all edifying. She thinks he's just excellent. She says in one place why he's the cheapest of ten thousand. And in another place she says he's just altogether lovely. Trying to help your wife score some points with your husband. I said, she said, he said, they just think nobody like him. Now he has faults, but she don't see them. Love is blind to faults. And the thicker the love, the thinner the faults. And the reverse of that is also true. So if you have a problem seeing people's faults, I know the answer to that. You've got a love problem. Your love's too thin because faults are only thick when the love's thin. Well, there's something that she does more than bragging on him and telling everybody about him. She just stops people on the streets and making the courts of And the maiden there at the court, the maidens of the court, the daughters of Jerusalem, she's just always saying, have you heard of this fellow I'm getting ready to marry? He's just wonderful. But not just her speech about Him, but more her speech to Him. What she says when she's in His presence, what she says to Him, reveals she's very lovesick. Several conversations are recorded in the book, and I won't take time to read any of them, but there's such an affection here. And I like the politeness here, the kindness, the devotion. Some of us need to learn how to talk in a friendly way. Amen. Especially. to the people in your own house. Amen. You could learn from the Shulamite to shower some praise and adoration upon your spouse like she does. Like she does. She just loves the sound of His voice. She loves to talk to Him. Sometimes they just talk for hours. Just talk about nothing. They just like to hear each other's voice. She is lovesick. I am sick of love. It's revealed in her thoughts. It's revealed in her words about Him and her words to Him. Now, I'm going somewhere with this. When I get all done, I'm just going to ask you one question, and I'm going to go ahead and tell you what it is. I'm going to ask you, how much do you love Jesus? That's the whole point of it. That's where I'm going. You say, is that important? Well, that happens to be the most important commandment in the whole Bible. I'd say it was. Some of you don't know this morning why you're so cold and unconcerned and backslidden and depressed. I'm going to go ahead and tell you. You don't love Jesus like you should. I'm going to prove it to you if you don't believe it. You don't love Him like you should. You've taken that love that belonged to Him and you give it somewhere else, willingly or unwillingly. But she demonstrates her love sickness here. I mean, she's marrying Solomon. He's a very busy man. But she just can't bear the thoughts of being separated from him. When he has to go do something, she's counting the minutes until he comes back. She's found her true love. She's burned all her bridges behind her. All she wants is Him. I have an evangelist friend He says, before he got married, he said, I was so in love with my wife-to-be, he said, I'd take her home, he said, and I'd walk her to the door. Good night. And I'd walk back to the car, he said, and she would walk back with me to the car. And we'd talk a while, and he said, and I'd walk her back to the door, he said, and she'd walk back with me to the car. There ain't nothing wrong with that. Amen. I mean, why'd you marry her if you didn't love her? Hello? Hello! That's the way the Shulamite is. She just can't bear the thoughts of being away from Him. And finally, she reveals her love sickness in her desire to please Him. Read it. She just keeps saying, if He pleases. If that's what He wants. If that's okay with Him. She's not obsessed with pleasing herself. She is obsessed with pleasing Him. In everything. Big things, little things, everything. When He's grieved, she's grieved. When He's happy, she's happy. When he said, she said. Why? Because in chapter 4, they get married, they're one. And when people are one, they think and live and breathe. I know they're two, but they're one. The Bible calls them one. Inseparable. Before she does anything, she asks, is this what Solomon wants? Is this going to please him? Is this going to displease him? Everything's put to the test. What does he want? Everything. Well, that's an all true story I just told you. And the Shulamite here represents a devoted wife. But she represents a whole lot more than that, friend, this morning. She represents you. She represents me because she is a bride She represents the church. Are you saved? Are you in the church? She represents the Gentile bride of Christ. Now, she's probably a Jew, but the church is a Gentile bride. She is the bride of Solomon who represents Christ. So, I wonder today, are we in love with Jesus? I mean, anybody can say, I love Jesus, or anybody can sing, oh, how I love Jesus. But if you're in love with Jesus, these very same symptoms that I just mentioned, and I'm going to rehearse them, are going to be clearly evident in your life and mine. Number one, our thoughts will reveal if we're really in love with Jesus. Don't tell me you love Jesus if you don't ever think about Him. How could you dare say you love Him and you don't ever meditate upon Him? How can we let hours go by and days go by and weeks and not be preoccupied with Him? Obsessed! I mean, every now and then we ought to get wobbly on our feet just thinking how somebody like Him could want to marry somebody like us! I don't have to convince you of the weakness and depravity of your own heart. We all know that we're not much. But He loves us anyway, and He wanted us anyway, and He died to make us His own. And every now and then we'll just be so excited about Him. contemplating Him, thinking about Him at work, at home, at school, anytime, all the time? We'll just do what Isaiah said. He said, Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee. Some of us need to get our minds up and off this world. Get your focus and your mind on Him. Because I want to promise you something, as long as you're looking at people, you're going to be discouraged. That's right. I don't care if you're looking at nobody but yourself, you're still going to be discouraged. Because it says, looking unto Jesus. And then secondly, we'll reveal our lovesickness towards Christ and that we will tell others about Him, just like she told others about her Solomon. She told people she knew. She told people she didn't know. She could not be silent, neither will we. You tell me you love Jesus and you never talk about Him to anybody? You don't love Him? We'll be glad to manifest our passion for Him by telling others about Him. I like what happened in the fifth chapter here. She's been bragging on Solomon so much that they just finally ask her, what is thy beloved more than another beloved? In verse 9, what makes him different? Why do you keep talking about Solomon all the time? What's so different about him? What is he more than anybody else? And then she commences to say, cheapest among ten thousand, altogether lovely and so forth. The world shouldn't have to ask us. We ought to just go ahead and be telling them. But that's a fair question. What makes Jesus better than all the rest of them? Amen. What makes Jesus better than Joseph Smith? What makes Jesus better than Muhammad? What makes Jesus better than Confucius? What makes Jesus better than Charles Russell? What makes Jesus better than Ellen G. White? Well, those are some fair questions, and I have a thousand answers for those questions. Number one, I'm not going to give all thousand, but number one, Jesus died for us and rose again, and none of the rest of them did that. Amen. Jesus saves to the uttermost. Thank God. Why, He is more than all the rest of them. He's more than all the rest of them put together. We've got something to say. Nobody else does. That's right. We'll be talking about Him if we're really lovesick. And talking to Him, too. Talking to Him and sharing everything. Praying, learning, listening. Just enjoying His fellowship. His sweet fellowship during the day and during the night. When did you last talk to Him? Is it on a regular basis or not? You know why we talk to Him all the time? Because we're lovesick. You tell me you're in love with somebody and you don't talk to them. Come on! Come on! You don't expect me to believe that. And you don't expect him to believe that you love him if you don't ever talk to him. Well, how would your wife feel if you quit talking to her? How does he feel if we don't talk to him? Why do we talk to him all the time? Because we can't live without him. Because we have found our true love. You ought to tell him sometime today, Jesus, you are my true love. Amen. All we want's Him. So our speech will reveal it. Do you know the whole Christian life's about loving Jesus? Did you know if that's in place, everything else will fall in line? And if that's not in place, nothing else will fall in line? That's right. Do you know why? Every Sunday morning, though, thank God for the people that come to church. But every Sunday morning, between 60 and 70 percent of the people in this country don't go to church. You know why? They're not lovesick. They don't love Jesus. If you love Jesus, wild horses couldn't keep you from coming if you was able to be here. But if it's not in your heart, Nothing else will matter. Nothing else will work. It's the root of the matter. Thirdly and finally, if we really love sick, then our actions will also reveal our desire to do as the Shulamite, to please Him. To please Him. How can we say we love somebody if we're always breaking their heart? You don't love them. You love yourself. You love yourself. That's right. Sometimes it might help us to re-read our marriage vows every now and then. You say, I found the right person. Well, amen. Let me tell you the other half of that. You can find the right person and that will mean nothing unless you're the right person yourself. What would it be like to be married to you? Don't pass out now. What would it be like to be married to you? Why do you never see it from that angle? All you ever see is your angle, what you want. Boy, we're selfish at heart, aren't we? You're going to have your way, you don't care who it hurts. Well, fine, just don't claim to be a Christian. Just don't drag Jesus into that. Amen. If we really love Jesus, we want to please Him. You'll not be going places where He don't want you to go and causing Him grief all the time. Don't say you love Him. If you're always breaking His heart and offending Him, neglecting Him, ignoring Him, forgetting Him, disappointing Him, dishonoring Him, how can you say you love Him if your actions don't Reveal it. Some of you are so miserable, it's written on your face. You know why? I'm telling you why. I'm almost done. You're leading two lives. You're leading two lives. You've got the life you look like right here this morning you're leading, and you've got the real you outside of these walls. It's no wonder you're miserable. Why don't you make up your mind? Do you really know Him? Do you really love Him? If you love Him, you'll think about Him. If you love Him, you'll talk to Him. If you love Him, you'll want to please Him. I just believe that. I believe that's simple. Why do we want to please Him? Because we're one with Him. That's what it says. We belong to Him. We owe Him everything. Who else should we be pleasing this morning? I can't please people. Can you? Did you ever try to please people? And then did you realize they can't please themselves? And did you come to the conclusion that you can't do for people what they can't even do for themselves? Why don't you try to please Him and nothing else will matter but pleasing Him? Did you know it's a mighty sad thing if you don't love Jesus? God's very angry with you if you don't love Jesus. You say, oh yeah, that's right. The psalmist said, kiss the Son lest he be angry. If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema. That's what Paul said. You don't love God's Son? You don't love the One that's done more for you than anybody else has? I'll just tell you plainly, the curse of God's hanging on your head. That's right. You don't love Jesus. What a tragedy. Not to love Jesus. Not to love Jesus, that means you ain't got no peace. You don't have any joy in your life, no purpose, no light, no salvation. All you've got, you don't love Jesus. All you've got in your life is trouble, unrest, darkness. Fear, hatred, death, damnation, if you don't love Jesus. I was reading about the richest man that ever lived. He was a German. Had a hundred banks and a whole lot of other things. Fifty billion dollars back then. Died in 1926. That's a whole lot. But I tell you, If that man didn't love Jesus, he died and went to hell and he wishes this morning he'd never been born. If he could stand right here, he'd tell you. What would it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul? That's what he'd tell you. Oh, if you don't have Jesus, life is poor and nothing can make it rich. But if you know Him, life is rich and nothing can make it poor. Thank God. Do you love Jesus? Not only is there a hell out yonder waiting on you, it's already started in your heart. Do you know we get to taste a little bit of heaven before we go, and sinners taste a little bit of hell before they go? They do. He that believeth not is condemned already, John 3.18. The wrath of God is already on you, John 3.36. You're already under God's curse because you don't love Jesus. Your hell has already started. You already don't like to be around. One day you're not going to be around no Christians, but you already don't like to be around them. You already don't want any mention of God or Christ or the Bible. You're already alienated from the life of God. Your hell of eternal misery has already started, sadly. It's a sad thing, isn't it, if you don't love Jesus, if you don't know Him, if you don't love Him. Well, I know one thing. This young lady was in love with Solomon. And she testified in our text, I'm lovesick. And all the symptoms are there to prove that she really was. So I ask you today, how much do you love Jesus? You love Him enough to live for Him, do you? Or maybe you don't. Some of you don't. You don't love Him that much. Oh, you want the name Christian, but you don't love Him enough to live for Him. You've got your own agenda. You don't care. if you break his heart. I'm just being honest. God called me to preach. He didn't tell me to beat around the bush. Amen. Some of you don't love him enough. Some of you still love the devil and love your sins. If not, you'd get saved. That's right. You still love the darkness. You're still ashamed of him. You don't want to confess him publicly. I tell you what, it's a sorry man that won't say, that's my wife. Yeah. Yeah. Let's not be ashamed. He's got every right to be ashamed of us. We shouldn't be ashamed of Him. Tell others who He is. Are these evidences in your life? How much do you love Jesus? Stand with me, please. We're going to sing.