You might say, wow, Pastor Trey's got a tough job this morning having to do this. Well, I tell you, I've got a tougher job in a couple of weeks. There are other texts and other topics coming that are heavier. This is, I'm so fired up to preach this morning because I got a normal message. I get to tell you how good it's supposed to be, present the ideal and compare it to God's love. Well, let me just, a couple of thoughts here. You're single here this morning, or maybe widowed here this morning, and you're like, what's the point of this? This is salt in the wound. Let me tell you what we're gonna do here. We're gonna go through this text twice. People always ask, what is the hermeneutic? What is the science of interpretation that you should take with the Song of Solomon? There are folks that believe it's purely an allegory. Simply a representation of God is pictured in the groom, and we are pictured in the bride, and that this is not about marital love. It's not literal in any fashion. It is simply an allegory. Others say, no, no, it's literal. It's written by Solomon about his wife Bathsheba, and it is a literal, instructive poem that should teach us the ideal under the Holy Spirit's inspiration about love and marriage. Let me tell you, I had to think about that for a little while. I fall into this camp that it's literal, it's written by Solomon, it's a literal love poem about his bride. But as you think about Ephesians chapter 5 where we are told that it is a great mystery that our marriages are to picture Christ in the church, it would be no surprise that we would find wonderful pictures of God's love for us and the way that we should respond to him in loving, cherishing submission than in our marriages, right? If they are to picture Christ in the church, right? That just seems to make a lot of sense very easily. So what we're gonna do, and even if you're single, widowed, which is kind of funny, because I always say there's only one thing worse than being single, wishing you were married. And that's being married, wishing you were single. Okay? And so it shouldn't surprise us at all that we'll see it. So what we're gonna do is we're gonna go through the text twice. Okay? So if you're single today and in some way you're tempted to check out because you're like, oh no, I don't wanna hear about this. Let me just tell you, you understand love. Cultures write poems about love, chick flick, I mean movies about love and we understand they're a great, William Shakespeare wrote about love and we aspire to love and we enjoy love stories. You can resonate with this because the second time we go through this, we're gonna talk about God. and his love for us, and how we as his bride should respond to the love of God. Don't we sing Jesus, lover of my soul? Well, that's where we're gonna go. I just wanted to give you the map for a second. Well, God gave us five books in the Old Testament that I love. I just love. They're called the wisdom literature. Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon. And a culture's art tells you a lot about their culture. Art has always been the expression of a culture. Either it represents the culture or it represents the ideals of the culture. Incidentally, we're in trouble in America. The current art that represents the current culture of America or the ideals of our culture is troubling to me. But here in the Old Testament, these wisdom literature, they were great poems. And so the book of Job, God gave us, and don't you love stories? I love stories. My daughter's here, she loves stories. She's a storyteller, will sit and watch. I know she would. She would sit there and watch 15 hours straight of the Lord of the Rings. She would watch Hobbit through Return of the King. She would just sit there and watch. She loves the stories. She'll get a book out and she will read Tolkien. and she would read and destroy. We all love stories and great characters, and God is so smart. He gave us the book of Job to give us wisdom about suffering and evil in life. Not just a couple verses, those great verses, James chapter one, verse two, count it all joy, my beloved brothers, when you encounter various trials of many kinds. That's great, but can you show me someone who did it? Yeah, his name's Job. Let me read the story. The book of Psalms, wisdom about God himself. Oh God, you are my God. Earnestly will I seek you. Proverbs, the original chicken soup for the soul. Why do you think people are buying those books like crazy? Chicken soup, because God knew people enjoy quick, skillful wisdom about life. What do I do in this situation? He gave us Proverbs. Ecclesiastes, why am I here? What is the point? Ever felt that way? Wisdom about the meaning of life. What are we doing? What is the highest purpose? The Greeks call it the sunum bunum, the greatest good. What are we doing here? And then the Song of Solomon. Wisdom about romantic love. You think God just gave us a couple of random verses in the New Testament about how to be married? That seems a little bankrupt, doesn't it? But no, he gave us an entire book, a poem of two people that we could read and learn a lot about. Song of Solomon. The stereotypical idea about marriage in America is it starts out hot and just keeps getting worse. All right, that's the way people talk about it. The ball and chain. In fact, even the very way that our culture really misunderstands romantic love and true love is modeled by God. and they don't understand that love is to grow and mature and become deeper and deeper and deeper. And that's what we're gonna talk about today. In Song of Solomon, we're gonna pick it up in chapter seven, and several things have already happened, okay? And we can't preach through the whole book, maybe we could sometime in the future, but that's not my assignment today. But you have a couple who attract If we're ever gonna preach this whole book through in a series of six or eight weeks, I'd be, and actually I have one more coming I'm so excited about. It's directly for singles and how do you know if you're ready to get married? I'm so excited about that, how to prepare to be married, Song of Solomon chapter one, chapter eight. But you have this couple that tract and then court a little bit and then get married and there's two chapters in the Song of Solomon on how to fight clean. Ain't God good? He like included a fight in the Song of Solomon. And guess what they fight about, incidentally, if you don't know? Sexual frequency. God's really smart. Really, really smart. And so we come to a point here in the book, before we find them in their culmination of their growing old together, and we're gonna delve into that just at the end, but they're gonna deepen in their relationship. And guess what? Married couples, we should deepen in our relationship. It should not grow stale. We should not be the stereotypical Americans who think, yes, yes, yes, my career is more fulfilling, my kids are more fulfilling. No, no, no, our spouses. So, so important. So, now there's some language here that we need to talk about. So turn to chapter seven of Song of Solomon, and we need to get going, because that was all introduction, and we need to hit the text now. Guys, I got 11 thoughts for you. Ladies, only four, which is about right, because we're about 82% worse than you normally. So we need more instruction than the ladies. So I recognize that. Song of Solomon chapter 7 verse 1, he says, how beautiful are your feet in sandals. Now wait a minute here. If you ask most people what's the prettiest thing on their body, I bet they're not saying their feet. In fact, to the contrary, one of the most unseemly parts of people's body they cover up all the time and don't want people to see are their feet. And earlier in the chapter, in chapter four, Solomon notices some unbelievably erotic and very, very upfront things about his wife on their honeymoon. But here he notices something new. And guys, number one, his knowledge of his wife has deepened. He says, hey, you know what? Your feet are cute, too. He notices something new. 1 Peter chapter three and verse one says, husbands, dwell with your wives in an understanding way. The King James says, live with him according to knowledge. Can I tell you something? My wife's name is Lori. And I have given my 24 years of my life in marriage, 30 of knowing her to this, to Loriology. Hey, it ain't easy. It's tough. The world says, women. Right, guys? Women, who can understand them? That's true, but God didn't ask you to understand all of them. Oh, thank you, Jesus. But if you get married, he says, understand one. Understand one. And guys, if you're married, I'm studying Laureology, and Greg should be studying Judeology, and we should be studying our wives. The Bible says we're to live with them in an understanding way. Guys, I know it's a moving target. I know it was different the first decade than the second decade. For goodness sakes, we know it's different this Tuesday than last Tuesday. Ladies, sometimes it's different from two o'clock to three o'clock. I know that is true. but He is working at learning new things about us. He's discovered new things. He's like, you're feet. I like your feet. His knowledge of his wife is deepened. Number two, he says, oh, prince's daughter, oh, noble daughter. Guys, his regard for her deepens. At one time, he called her a mare or a darling. Now he calls her royalty. His regard for her, his esteem has just gone up. His perception, I suppose, is what you would say. Number three, he says something very, very intimate here. He says, the curves of your hips are like jewels. The work of the hands of an artist. His praise of her goes up. Guys, can I tell you something? I hope you all know this, but women are really, really sensitive about their bodies. Shame on you if you ever criticize the appearance of your wife. You don't know the harm you can do. He says, in fact, guys don't understand this. When guys really like each other, you know what they do? They insult each other. Yo, fat boy! What's up? I mean, look, Greg and Mike are great examples. You know how Mike Maurice and Greg Clark, you know, they love each other. They insult each other nonstop. And when they really like each other, they insult each other and hit each other. Yeah, dude, what's up, man? You know, and fat boy, you know, and that's how guys, guys, that don't work with women. I have yet to hear a lady call another lady across the parking lot, fat girl! It hadn't happened. It hasn't happened. He is very careful with his words and about intimate parts of her body. He says, they are like jewels, the work of the hands of an artist. Verse two is so cool. He says, and guys, you gotta understand the Hebrew imager here, you're in trouble. Don't say this to your wife without her knowing you understand it. You don't wanna say her belly is like a heap of wheat. Thus you understand it, okay? He says, and there's a lot of Hebrewism in here that you have to understand. I've not been to Hebrew, and I have a couple of instructors that I have gleaned from here, but it says, your navel's like a round goblet, which never lacks the mixed wine. Your belly is like a heap of wheat, fenced about with lilies. In the nation of Israel, there were two great crops. There was the crop of the vine, and there was the crop of wheat, and they were dependent on the early and late rains. And he says, you are God's blessing to me. His appreciation for her goes up. He views her as God's blessing for his good. Guys, you think about that? Genesis chapter two. Well, let's start in Genesis chapter one, a better place to start, right? End of day one, what'd God say? Very good, Bible study lesson here. Now all the rest of you who didn't chime in there, this is your chance to get in, right? End of day two, what'd he say? End of day three, what'd he say? End of day four, what'd he say? End of day five, what'd he say? End of day six, what'd he say? When did sin enter the garden? Genesis three, right? So in Genesis chapter two and verse 18, before sin, against the backdrop of good, good, good, good, good, good, good. This is a literary device, guys. God says it is not good for the man to be alone. I'll make a helper for him. That should smack us. Because no sin, God wasn't saying not good, immoral, not good, wrong. He was just saying not done yet. It's not good for man to be alone. It's supposed to stand in great contrast Moses' writings. Guys, don't you view your wife as a gift from the Lord? A blessing from God? Say, she's a key to a lock. Oh, we don't have those anymore. We have fobs. She's filmed in a camera. No, we don't have that anymore. These things come together and they work well. But he sees, he is deepened in his appreciation for her. Verse three, your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle. And maybe there's nothing deepening here, but I gotta explain to you, this is a quote from Song of Solomon, chapter four, earlier in the chapter where they're having their wedding vows. And I guess I would say that maybe it's the same, but it stands in contrast to our society. Sexual tenderness has not diminished. Hasn't diminished. We have this image in our society about sex and selfishness that is so unbiblical. Take, take, take, take, take. Sexual tenderness will always diminish if it is oriented in a selfish way. But Solomon here now has the same tenderness. In fact, many women, I've done a lot of marriage counseling and I'll just say that many women, that's one of their biggest complaints is that their husbands pursued them and they were engaging and they were charming and they won them. Then they stopped chasing. And they became complacent. And they stopped esteeming and stopped valuing. when Solomon wasn't that kind of guy. He said, nope, I'm not gonna allow our love to diminish. I'm gonna cherish you and treat you tenderly just like on our honeymoon. It's pretty cool, verse four. Your neck is like a tower of ivory. There's no such thing. You know why? It costs too much. And Oliver, there's no such thing as a Tower of Ivory. He is saying to her, your neck, your nobility, the way you carry yourself. His respect for his wife deepens. He says, you are priceless. I mean, you imagine if there was a Tower of Ivory, you'd be like, hey, let me take you by the tourist attraction. In fact, back in 1 Peter chapter three, he says, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way and grant her honor as a fellow heir of life as a fragile vessel, weaker vessel. Some people think weaker in terms of strength or mental capacity, which is incorrect, but the idea there is, the best image I can come up with is the difference between Tupperware and porcelain. We have a, we have a cabinet under the countertop in the kitchen, open it up, Tupperware. When you open that door, if it's closed, because sometimes there's so much Tupperware in there, crooked, it doesn't close all the way, Tupperware will fall out. And when it's time to put it away, we'll kick it in there, you know, we'll throw that one away, because we bought ice cream yesterday, so we can use that, you know, we can wash that and use it for a while. Nobody cares. That's not the way this man thinks of his wife. He thinks of his wife as fine china. In fact, if I want somebody to think well of me, you know what I do? I introduce them to Lori. She's the most gracious, hospitable, kind, loving person I know. And if they think highly of her, they're going, how did you get her? You must be rocking, dude, even though I don't see it. Because this is your prize. And he says, you are like the Tower of Ivory in Lebanon. He says, your eyes are like pools in Heshbon by the gates of Bathrubim. This is amazing. His need for her deepens. Now Heshbon was a very, very busy city in Israel. And up by the gates there were some pools. And so people at the gates would be conducting business, hustle and bustle. And they would leave the gates and they would go sit in the pools for relaxation to escape. And that's the way life is, isn't it guys? And all of us need escapes, and all of us are looking for a place to get away. Life is hard. Man, I go to work, I get beat up. Come to church, there's hard things to deal with. My kids, oh, don't get me started. Sorry, just kidding. And I mean, it's just like life, life, life, life, life. And I will tell you, I don't have a pool of heshpen outside the gates of Bathrobeem, but I got El Rodeo. and my wife, and every once in a while, it's like, we need Mexican, let's go. And she and I, in her eyes, are like the pools of hushpen at the gates of Bathory. And this is, and I need that. I have come to understand that I need the love of my wife, and I'm not embarrassed by that or ashamed of it. God made us one, this is a profound mystery. that the Bible teaches, a blessing. And it's not like, oh yeah, I can go, I got my hobby, or I can go throw myself in my work, or I can find relief and rest in anything other than the eyes of my wife. This is what God intended. Your nose is like the Tower of Lebanon. Here's another one that can get you in trouble, guys. Just, you know, you gotta think about this for a minute. Which faces towards Damascus. The Tower in Lebanon was the national defense of Israel faced to Syria. And what he's saying here is, I trust you. You got my back. His trust in his wife has deepened dramatically. He knows that she's not gonna cut him down behind her back, behind his back. I never ever worry about whether my wife's going to criticize me in public or not have my back. I trust her. In fact, the book of Proverbs talks about how the heart of a husband can trust in his wife, the virtuous woman. His esteem for her deepens next. He says, your head crowns you like caramel. Now if you want to show someone the nationality, the righteousness of Israel, you'd take them to Jerusalem. And if you wanted to show people the austerity of Jerusalem, you'd take them to the wilderness. And if you wanted to show them the weather of Jerusalem, you'd take them to the Philistine Plains. But if you want to show them the beauty of Israel, you took them to the coastal region of Carmel. a long, narrow strip of land that was the beauty of Israel. Not like Carmel, Indiana. No, don't. Some of you probably read that and were like, yeah, right, whatever, why is Carmel in the Bible? I thought the same thing. But he says, your head crowns you like Carmel. Your flowing locks are like purple threads. He is saying, wow. You're the greatest thing I've ever seen. That's how our wives ought to feel about it. We ought to make that very plain to our wives, guys. That shouldn't be the least bit surprising to them. Now, number 11. Oh, I'm sorry, lastly, number 10, second to last. The king is captivated by your tresses. Solomon was the king of Israel, and in fact, under Solomon's reign, the nation of Israel expanded their territorial boundaries broader than at any other time during their existence. Solomon was the ruler. In fact, earlier, after the honeymoon, he says what all guys say. I came into my garden, I've eaten my myrrh, drinking my wine, had my, my, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine. He's like, you are mine. But here he says, I'm yours. I am, it's a subtle language difference, I am captivated by your trusts. Guys, we wanna jump right to number 11. Where as Bill was reading, and sorry, I threw Bill a curve ball this morning, and he's a great champ for leading us in reading a text like that, that obviously could be a little awkward, but I wanna say, guys, guess what? You wanna get to number 11, where your passion deepens in your relationship, do steps one through 10. Don't take the shortcuts, don't try, there's no shortcuts. Several people have written this, not unique to me, but the most important sexual part of your wife is her brain. Not any other part of her body. She wants to be loved. Well, he says now, this is very, very cool, he says, how beautiful and delightful you are, my love, with all your charms. That word charms, actually, in the literal Hebrew, it's the same root of softness. And he says, I will climb the palm tree and take hold of its fruit stalks. What does that mean? It means what it says. He says, man, I desire my wife. And look at this now. It's not just this passion that's just raw as it was earlier in the book that we haven't read, but look what he says. He says, I want the fruit stalks. Your breasts are like clusters of vines removed from figs to grapes, clusters of grapes, and the fragrance of your breath like apples. And he recognizes here that love is much more than simply sex. The love of his wife has become nourishment. to him is the image he uses, and his wife uses the same image later in chapter seven, and they recognize that this is important. And why wouldn't it be, guys? God says, I'm talking about a profound mystery. A man shall leave his father and mother, shall cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one. And we wonder why we are physically, spiritually, emotionally, intellectually, romantically bankrupt, and then we live like this. But God said we've become one. And sex and marriage is more than just the consummation of our, just think about this, if sex and marriage was just the consummation of our selfish desires, then what is love? What is love? That is not artistic, that is not giving, that is taking at its worst. And it shouldn't picture. our marriages. Now this is really, really cool. Solomon uses a wonderful literary device here and breaks up the verse. And the husband is speaking here and he says, your love is like the best wine. And like a good wife, she finishes his sentence. She knew right what he was gonna say. And look, she picks it up and she says, and it goes down smoothly. for my beloved. So now we move from the husband to the wife, gave 11 things to the husband, let me give you four things to the wife, and then we're gonna talk about love, then go back through and make a few observations about God. And we're doing good on time. It must be I'm on page, and I told somebody, I am buttoned up and staying on my notes this morning. But she says, I am, or it goes down smoothly for my beloved. Ladies, how do you deepen your relationship with your wife? Well, number one here, the model is for us that her communication and responsiveness to her husband deepens. She's not threatened by this. She says, this wine goes down smoothly, flowing through the lips of those who fall asleep. The complaints I get in marriage counseling from men is that women are, unresponsive, disinterested, enduring, view sexual relationship in marriage as a necessary chore. That's not the way that Bathsheba here, Shulamite, references it all. She was responsive, communicating. In fact, she says this, I am my beloved's, and his desire is for me. Now this word desire is an unbelievably strong word. It literally comes from the same word as to consume. In fact, think about Genesis chapter four when Cain had killed his brother Abel, right before he killed his brother Abel, and God said to Cain, hey, sin is crouching at the door of heaven. and its desire is for you. It wants to take you, right? Same word. Same word, strong desire. And she's not threatened by that at all. In fact, she says, number two, her desire for time with him deepens. Look at what she says, hey, come on, my beloved, let's go out in the country. Let's spend the night in the villages. Let's rise early, go to the vineyards. Let's see if the vine has budded and the blossoms have opened, whether the pomegranates have bloomed. What time of year is it? It's springtime. I guess it's always springtime when you're in love, right? But here she says, hey, I want to spend more time with you. Now, there are two things that are not present in the book of Song of Solomon. They're not immoral things, obviously, but there are two things that just aren't here, and they're the two biggest time-stealers in our marriages and their careers and kids. And I believe, intentionally so, they are omitted from the Song of Solomon. And she says here, we need to get away. Let's spend time together. When I talked about going to Mexican with Lori, that's not a joke. There are just times that she and I need to get away and spend time together, and we have developed a habit that we both enjoy. And our marriage is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. We can go to dark places quick and fast and fuss, and just like any one of you, and praise the Lord, we tend to clean it up pretty quick, but we both have pride, and I don't wanna be the hero of all my stories here, but it is important for us to cultivate and to build into our marriages the desire to spend time together. You can't build your marriage on hobbies and kids. Those kids will go to college, and you will look at each other across the table and say, who are you? I love my children, but the significance of my relationship with them is much less permanent than the significance of my relationship with my wife. I had a temporary relationship with my parents, and when I became a man and I got married, I left my father and mother to cleave to my wife and become one, and we began to produce children, and they will leave. Don't tell my wife I said that. She'll fall over and cry. But it's hard to have them leave, isn't it? And I don't mean that in any trivial way, that our relationship with our children is not significant. I don't mean it in that fashion at all. I'm simply comparing the two. So her desire for time with her husband deepens. All right. Hang on. If I were, if I were, if I were half serious, I'd say, turn the tape off now. Okay. All right. It gets pretty steamy. In fact, what I'm about to read now, if you read it in Israel, the old women would laugh out loud and the young women would go, you believe he said that. And she says, let's go see if the pomegranates have bloomed. There I will give you my love. The mandrakes have given forth fragrance over our doors, our all choice fruits, new and old, which I have saved up for you, my beloved. Say, what does that mean? Well, it means kind of what you think it means. So I'll bring a little context here and explain this to you. You say, what's a mandrake? Well, a mandrake is a plant whose root resembles a man, if you know what I mean. And so the lady says, and incidentally, you may have, are the Mandrakes any place else in the Bible? Yes, there are, in Genesis chapter 30. Let me give you the idea about this. Remember in Genesis, when Jacob had two wives, Leah and Rachel, and then there were the handmaids, and there was a competition over who was gonna have the most kids? He ended up with 12 children, the 12 tribes of Israel. And one day, I forget which wife it was, either Leah or Rachel, one was supposed to have relations with Jacob that night. Guys, one wife's enough, okay? Oh my. And the other one went out to hunt for mandrakes, Genesis chapter 30. And she dug up the mandrakes, and they were thought to be an aphrodisiac, and they give a proclivity to enjoyable sexual relationships and procreation. So you're gonna have kids, right? That was the whole deal, right? So she digs up these mandrakes, and she's walking back into, and the other wife goes, what are you doing with the mandrakes? Genesis 30, 14 to 16. Well, I'm gonna fry him up and serve him to Jacob. Well, I want the mandrakes. Okay, you can have the mandrakes, but I get to sleep with Jacob tonight. Okay, I'll see your mandrakes and give you the Jacob. It sounds like a poker game. I mean, I mean, but that's exactly what occurs. So this is what the mandrakes were. They were understood in that society to, that was what their intention was. And so the wife says, don't the mandrakes smell good tonight, honey? She is deepening in her sexual desire for him. And she says, the mandrakes smell good and over our doors are all the choice fruits. What were the fruits? Remember the figs and the grapes and the apples? She says, hey, I have gifts for you too. And guess what? I've got old and new fruits. That sounds pretty exciting, doesn't it? Do you have old fruit in your marriage? Old fruit? Like things that you're just so comfortable with. Like my wife stands next to me, I'll put my arm up around her, I'll lean on her head. And she just, that's just old fruit, she's comfortable. Or I'm a little taller than her, so I'll stand down, she'll stand there on the steps and she'll just hug me. And just sit there. And that's just things that are just so comfortable. And so we got old fruit. Aren't you glad for old fruit? Things that are just comfortable and experienced. But she says, I got new fruit too. This is not stale. I got exciting things. Hey, in fact, let's go shut the door and I'm gonna show you something you've never seen before. She's deepening in her relationship. And lastly, I got ladies number four, so her communication responsiveness have deepened. Her desire for time with him has deepened. Her responsiveness sexually has deepened. And number four, she says, oh, that you were like a brother to me who nursed at my mother's breasts. If I found you outdoors, I'd kiss you. No one would despise me either. I'd lead and bring you into the house of my mother who would instruct me and would give you spiced wine to drink. What does that mean? Well, my understanding is, at least in that time, and I think it's not as bad now, but it was even not long ago, that if you went to Israel, and Brian could probably comment on this more than me, but if you showed public displays of affection, husbands and wife, if they held hands, someone's gonna slap your hand. Now, familial relationships, brothers and sisters, they can hug each other, fall all over each other, and that's culturally acceptable, but husbands and wives don't show public displays of affection It's just rude in that culture, make sense? And she says, oh, I wish you were like my brother so I could just kiss you in public. Isn't that sweet? Isn't that sweet? And so her exaltation of her husband deepens. and she is looking to promote him. Randy Patton, a good Bible teacher, a mentor of mine in marital counseling for Lori and I, about 21 years ago, made this statement. And afterwards, I went to my wife and I said, don't underestimate this statement. I want you to think about that, because it's true. And he said, most men would charge hell with a water pistol if their wives were on the sidelines going, you can do it, honey. And I get thinner talking about it because I'm talking about my wife. And I know just how important her cherishing is to me. And ladies, your husband may not say it out loud, he may not nudge you with his elbow, but every one of them said amen. Every one of them. You have some kind of special ministry in the life of your man to cheer him on. And she says, oh, I wish you were, I just wish we were brother and sister, I'd kiss you in public. I'd let everybody know what a great guy you are. And so she cherishes and exalts him. Isn't it cool? This is just the deepening of their relationship. All right, we got a few minutes here, and we're gonna come to the end of this now, and then we're gonna go back to the text and ask a couple questions. Well, as Solomon sums it up, turn over to chapter eight, verse five. Just a couple verses over there. And a rhetorical question is asked by onlookers. Remember, they were out. Let's go out. And a rhetorical question in the literary device here is used to kind of bring a conclusion together. And they say, who is this coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? So I don't know, I think about this question a lot. I'm like, did they not physically recognize her? Did she change? Twenty years, I've seen, you ever seen a lady change under the care and attention of a dutiful husband? I have girls who maybe just were a little shy, a little timid, not sure. 20 years later, under the care of a loving, tender husband, just blossom. I don't know, I just try to think about this. For whatever reason, they ask this rhetorical question to stimulate, who is this? Who is this person leaning on her beloved? And they answer the question, I know there's been some kind of transformation, because they, Solomon answers, he says, I remember, beneath the apple tree I awakened you. Now in Israel, the fig tree was a place of meditation, the olive tree was a metaphor for Israel, and the apple tree is the place of love. And he says, beneath the apple tree I awakened you. There your mother was in labor with you. There she gave labor. She was in labor and gave you birth. Can I make a statement about marriage here? And it falls into the next statement there, but I believe that there's some level of providential grace. Love is providential as it relates to your marriage. In some fashion, I don't know, it's not your job to go find out the one. It's not written in the pages of the scripture that I could find and do some numerology and find my wife's name. But I do believe that in some divine way, God has mapped out a person for you. to be your mate. Love is very providential. God ordains it. It's a wonderful gift. Now you might say, well, maybe I married the wrong one. No, not possible. The will of God is cemented in the word of God. And once you make that commitment, you have found that one. Love is providential. So great here, and the wife says, put me like a seal on your heart, like a seal on your arm. Now a seal was a visible representation of ownership. I think in our culture it might be like this. I didn't fully understand this 35 years ago. One of my Bible college profs kept saying, you got to get you one of these. He said it all the time. It's like you're a crazy man. You got to get you one of these. He was right. And she says, I want you to be a seal on my heart over my emotions, and I want you to be a seal on my arm over my actions. I don't play around with that seal, guys and girls. I don't take my wedding ring off. I mean, I know people take it off to work on cars and work out and that kind of stuff. That's not what I mean, not in a legalistic way, but I mean, I don't go on business trips without my ring. That's my seal in our culture. And she says, I want this, everyone to know that love is possessive. It's not just providential, it's possessive. I belong to Lori. She belongs to me. It's possessive. Isn't love possessive? Sure it is. He says, isn't this an interesting image? Love is permanent. Love is as strong as death. Okay. Not a lot of arguing with that, is there? Once you're dead, you're dead. And love is as strong as death. Guys, listen to this now. This is the best part of the message. This is why we're gonna go back through and look at this from God's perspective in a second. Love is persevering. Jealousy is as severe as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of Yahweh. The only time God's name appears in the book, at the conclusion. And it says, and why I titled my message as I did, Love the Very Flame of Yahweh, that God's love is this unquenchable, burning, undenying, unavoidable image of love? What does a fire do but just consume everything in its path? And God's love's strong. In fact, I had a couple of Got away from looking at my notes. We're running out of time. The very flame of Yahweh. That'll be important in a minute. And lastly, love's priceless. Many waters can't quench love, nor rivers overflow it. Rhetorical question. Didn't start with who wrote Can't Buy Me Love? Is that the Beatles? Is that John Lennon? If a man were to give all the riches of his house for love, it would be utterly despised. Can't buy me love. Nope, you can't buy my wife. There was a movie years ago called Indecent Proposal where I never saw it, but somebody told me about it, that somebody offered a husband or wife who's struggling financially a million dollars if I can spend the night with your wife. Get out! You can't buy it. You can't buy it. You make an offer to me, I don't care how big it is, on the love of my wife, forget it. Can't buy it, can't buy me love. In fact, the Song of Solomon is great, you wouldn't believe. The French think they got the French kiss thing, Solomon chapter four, honey and nectar are under your tongue. It's not a French kiss, it's a Hebrew kiss. The Song of Solomon is full of imagery that is carried into our lives because it is the truest representation of what love really is. Aren't you glad God's love's like that? This love is the love of Yahweh. We spent all this time talking about marital love, and now I wanna transition. I just want you to remember this for a second. Let's talk about God's love for a minute. God's love is providential. Are you glad for that? God knows you. Before you were born, he's loved you with an everlasting love. God's love is possessive. Somebody offered God a little bit of cash to stop loving you, he would say, get out. God's love is permanent. The very flame of Yahweh. God's love is persevering. God's love is priceless. Isn't that good? Well if you go back through this text then and you think about the images and you say that the husband is a picture of Christ and the bride is a picture of the church, well certainly there's some of the metaphor here that breaks down because does God need to deepen in his love for us in any way? Oh no. You can't press the metaphor that hard. Can we say that God deepens in his knowledge of us, point one guys? Can we say that? No, because God is omniscient, right? God has known all things forever and ever and ever. Aren't you glad that God loves you in spite of the fact that he knows everything about you? All the things I don't know? People come to me once in a while, I haven't had them lately, but they'll, hey, I think you're a selfish jerk. I say, you don't know the half of it. It's worse than you think. It's worse than you think. And God loves me with a love that is so full of knowledge for who I am and loves me undeniably, relentlessly in spite of that. Isn't that good? Isn't that good? I mean, God is just such a great lover. His tenderness never, ever, ever diminishes. But the greater application is on the other side. Imagine God saying, my love is like the best wine. And what should we say? And it goes down smoothly. We should be so desirous to return and reciprocate the love of God so that we would be responsive to God. Well, how do you respond to God? Well, you've got to ask yourself, man, how is my prayer life? How is my worship to the Lord? Am I responsive? I am my beloved and his desire is to consume me and I'm okay with it. I want to love God more than anybody else. How am I deepening in my responsiveness and my communication to God who loves me more than my spouse could ever love me? Guys, you wanna talk about God's love. Do you think that our righteousness will ever approach? the righteousness that God talks about in Romans, the righteousness revealed from faith to faith. Do you think our righteousness will ever approach God's righteousness? No, no, no. Do you think our unity here at Heather Hills Baptist Church will ever approach the unity that God wants for us in Ephesians where he says that we are to make every effort to preserve the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace? Is our unity ever really gonna approach the unity that God wants us to have? No, it's not. Guys, we think, we're like, I love you, honey, I wrote you a poem. Are we lovers? Do we know how to love anywhere near how God loves? We are called fish. God is a lover, and that ought to evoke this response in us to say his love is the best wine, and it goes down smoothly. I love drinking the wine of God, and I will respond. Her desire for time deepened with her husband. Remember, how do you spend time with God? Well, in the Bible, she says, hey, let's get away. Come on, we need some time away. You and me, I need my Mexican. I need my Bible. Can you spend time with God? Do you understand how important it is to deepen your relationship with Him? This love is the very flame of Yahweh. She wants to provide choice fruits, new and old. How's your service to the Lord? Not selfishness, how's your service? Do you have old fruit for the Lord? Do you have new fruit for the Lord? Lastly, out in public, she wants to kiss him and not get in trouble. Are you sharing your faith? Are you telling her, hey, I am walking with the Lord and I don't care who sees. The Bible says that husbands are to picture Christ, wives to picture his bride. Is there any reason why we would find this wonderful, there is a picture here for us, a literary, a literal wisdom poem that can instruct us about our marriages, but oh my, if I'm to picture Christ to my wife and she the bride to me, then I can learn from this. God's love is unbelievable. Remember the bride, chapter eight, verse five? The onlookers asked a rhetorical question. What was the question? Who is this? She's changed. That's the question you gotta ask. Would the onlooker say that about you over time? She spent time with Solomon and under his care, and under his nurturing, you'll learn in a few weeks when I get to preach, that she went from being a worker in the vineyard, who was very embarrassed about her sunburned complexion, because she had to work, to people saying, who is this? Who is this person? Who is this bride? Who is this lady? A lot of people say that about me. Who is that? I want my kids to say, who is that? Dad used to be quick-tempered. He's not, man, he's changing. I want my wife to say, man, he used to, whatever. I want my coworkers to say, it was like this, now it's, who is that? Who is that? I wanna be able to say, I've been changed by my lover. God has changed me. And I hope that's your prayer, too.