Mike Bickle explores the profound themes of love and testing in the Song of Solomon, particularly focusing on the bride's journey of maturity and her relationship with the King. He emphasizes the 'ultimate twofold test' where the bride experiences a withdrawal of God's presence and a loss of her ministry, challenging her to love Him unconditionally despite her circumstances. Bickle highlights that true love for God is demonstrated not just in times of blessing but also in seasons of silence and adversity. The bride's response to these tests reveals her deep devotion and understanding of the King's beauty, ultimately leading to a richer relationship with Him. This sermon encourages believers to seek a mature love that persists through trials and to recognize the beauty of Christ in all circumstances.

Song of Solomon chapter 5. We'll be going through the whole chapter. Just a quick review for those that are new with us, just to get us up to date what's going on, because the 8 chapter love song of Song of Solomon, it's an 8 chapter love song. You can interpret it in the natural love story, which is how it was meant originally by Solomon, or you can interpret it in the spiritual interpretation using New Testament truths to affirm and to highlight and to focus on. And it's an 8 chapter love song and she's maturing throughout the 8 chapters. So it's a progression in her maturity and love for Jesus. We're at the turning point right now of the book. Paragraph A, the bride in the last session had prayed for both the north winds of adversity, the north winds of adversity, and she prayed for the south winds of blessing to come to the garden of her heart, because she wanted the spices of God's presence to flow from her, that she would be His garden and not just her own garden. Because up until that point in time, she viewed her life, the garden of her life, as her own. And the Lord was blessing her life. But from this point on, she goes, my garden, it's you. I'm your garden. I'm wholly yours. I'm your inheritance. So in Song of Solomon 4, 16, she prays, blow north winds of adversity and blow south winds of blessing. Blow on my garden that the spice of your presence would flow out. Let my beloved come to His garden. It used to be mine, but now it's His. Now the answer to this prayer from chapter 4, 16 comes right here in chapter 5. Immediately after she prays for the north winds, he says, okay, I'll come and I'll test you with the north winds. Paragraph B, verse 16 is the turning point in the song. I've said this a number of times, but it's so important that you get this if you want to interpret the song spiritually. I believe in a really helpful way that there's two sections to the song. Number one, the chapter 1 to 4, it's God's people as a bride receiving her inheritance in God. The bride receiving her inheritance in God. Number two, the next four chapters, it's the bridegroom receiving his inheritance in his people. Again, most of us, and naturally so, we think of our inheritance in him. That's so important. A million years from now we will still be focused on that truth. We'll never outgrow that. But it's not the entire truth. There's another dimension to the truth. He has an inheritance in us. Paragraph D, what happens in chapter 5, just to kind of give you a snapshot of it before we look at it, is that the King reveals himself in the New Testament language as the Jesus of Gethsemane. Paul prayed, oh that I would know the fellowship of his sufferings. Oh that I would know that I would join in with Jesus and know the intimacy of sacrificially bringing my all to the relationship, even when it costs me and hurts me, to do it for love. And so in that general sense I'm calling that the Jesus of Gethsemane. He went to the cross for love. He gave his all for love. Costly, painful. Now we don't go to the cross in the sense he did, because he did it for us. But then he says in response to his sacrificial love, bear the cross to walk out love in our everyday life. Number one, there are several ways, wrong ways, where people, God's people, can approach the subject of suffering. Sometimes people, some people think all suffering is good and they thank God for it. And we don't thank God for the suffering, we thank God that he has a solution, an answer, and a plan in the suffering. A lot of suffering is the attack of the devil. We're supposed to rebuke it and resist it, not thank God for it. When the devil knocks on your door and offers you a snake to destroy your family, don't say, thank you God, come on in snake. Say, in the name of Jesus I rebuke you and command you to go. Most of the suffering in the New Testament, number two, is persecution. But there is a suffering that is costly obedience, meaning obedience based in love that cost us a lot, and we willingly choose that lifestyle for the sake of love. And that's what's going on here. She's tested in two ways, paragraph E. I call it the ultimate two-fold test. Number one, she's tested by the Lord withdrawing a sense of his presence from her. A sense of his presence from her. Now he doesn't ever draw his presence from her in the real sense, but she can't feel him like she used to. And the Lord's not angry at her at all. It's not because she's disobedient. What he's really going to say to her is, will you serve me no matter what's happening and will you love me? Or do you only love me if you feel good in the relationship? You feel my presence. Will you love me no matter what? That's what she's drawing out here. I mean the Lord's drawing out. Number two, he allowed the spiritual authorities to take her ministry away. I mean the two things she wanted back in chapter one, I want you to draw me. I want to be near your presence. I want to touch you and connect with you. And I want to run together with other people after you. I want to be effective in ministry. That was her two-fold vision at the very beginning of the psalm. She wants to enjoy his presence and she wants a ministry that's partnering with him to touch others. Both of these are temporarily lifted. And he says, the north wind. Will you still love me when you're not getting things the way that you thought they would come? This is a dimension that every believer that's going to go on into mature love will face that probably a couple times over the course of some decades. It's not a everyday task, but there's seasons where the Lord says this is what we're talking about. Roman numeral two. Let's begin the chapter itself. I just gave you a snapshot of where it's going, but let's look at it. She said, I was asleep but my heart was awake. And suddenly the voice of my beloved. Here is his voice again. He knocks. He says, open up for me. And he gives her this fantastic four-fold affirmation. You're my sister. You're the one I love. You're my dove. You're my perfect one. He goes, I see in you what you've prayed. Let the north winds come. Let the south winds come. You're mature. Perfect means mature. You're mature in love. I see that in you. And then he shows a different part of himself she's never seen before. His head is covered with the dew of the night, with the drops of the night. He's in the dark night. My hair is covered with the drops of the night. He's in the dark, lonely night. Again, in the New Testament language, the Jesus of Gethsemane, where he sweat drops of blood in the lonely, dark night. And she's looking at him. I've seen you on the mountaintop. I've come to peace that I'm going to go with you on the mountains. That's the last couple chapters. But I've never seen you with your head and your hair wet with the dark, the dew of the night. Because you've been in the dark, lonely night alone. I don't know this part of you. And he goes, open up to me. I want you to know me in deeper ways than you know. Not just at the table. Not just at the mountaintop. Not just in the city. But I want you to know me even in the darkness of that lonely night. Top of page 2. She says, I sleep. But my heart was awake. When she says, top of page 2, paragraph C, I sleep, what she's really saying here is that in the New Testament language, she's resting with confidence in the King's leadership. She goes, I sleep. And again, in the natural love story, in the poem, the love poem, it has a different application just in their relationship together. But in this spiritual application, it's like when Jesus slept in the storm with full confidence. Her heart was awake though. She goes, my heart was awake. I'm spiritually awake, but I'm resting. I'm asleep with confidence. I have no, I have no fear. I'm not afraid of the north winds anymore. I'm not afraid of the south winds. I want them both to come. I want the fullness of your fragrance to come out of my life. Paragraph D, he empowers her to open up to him. In other words, to move forward in this new dimension, this new dimension of intimacy of the fellowship of suffering by calling her four different names. Now these names are affirming her, her love, and strengthening her resolve to not draw back. He's saying in essence, I love you and I know you love me. I mean, we're here together. It's real. That's what he's saying here. Open for me. In other words, embrace me in this new way. Don't draw back from me. Don't run from me. Open up to me. And she does. He says, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one. And I have a little bit written on each one when he says, my sister. This signifies his identification with her humanity. That Jesus is not just our God. He's a fellow human being. He understands with sympathy, I mean with sympathy, our struggle, our plight. He has mercy and tenderness. He doesn't look at our struggle of the north wind coming, of a new dimension of costly obedience. He doesn't look at us and say, hey, get with it. I mean, I'm Jesus. I'm God. He goes, oh, I understand. I walked in that lonely night. Oh, my sister. My fellow human. He is our brother. Brothers and sisters in that human bond that we have with him. Then he says, my love. He reminds her of his tender love. Then he says, my dove. He says, I see your loyal love. I see the loyalty that you have for me. In the very prayer that you just prayed in chapter 416, asking for the north wind. And then he says in number four, you're my perfect one, or you're my mature one. He calls her my perfect one before this test, and right afterwards in chapter 6 verse 9, he says, you were perfect in love on both sides of the test. And that's important to interpret this chapter right, in my opinion, to see that she was perfect in love. She was operating as his dove, the one that he loves. Paragraph A. The bride instantly arose in obedience to the king. She says in verse 3, I have taken off my robe. How can I put it on again? I have washed my feet. How can I defile them again? She's not resisting him. You'll see that in a moment. Some people see verse 3 as resistance. This is the one of the main verses that different people take two different positions on this. Verse 4, but my beloved put his hand by the door of my heart, by the lock on the door of my heart. My heart yearned for him. I longed for him. I loved him. I arose to open for him. She instantly responds to him in love. My hands were dripping with the myrrh and the handles of the lock of the door. But in the natural love story, but in the spiritual interpretation, it's the door of her heart she's opening. And that myrrh is dripping on the door of her heart. We know myrrh speaks of that fellowship of suffering or that costly obedience throughout the book. But notice in verse 5, she rose to open immediately for her beloved. The very thing he longed for, her heart's yearning for her. She's not drawing back in fear and compromise. Paragraph B, her responsive love to the king is seen throughout this whole passage. First, and the reason I want you to catch this, because the whole storyline changes if you see her as obedient right now or you see her as disobedient being disciplined again. And I think that's the wrong interpretation, though I appreciate the many who have that view. I don't think she's going through a season of disobedience and discipline. It's very, very opposite of what's happening. Number one, look at paragraph B. He called her my perfect one, my mature one. Because of her obedience and arising to open her heart to him. It says in verse 5, she opened her heart to him. She yearned, as her heart yearned for him, in verse 4. So she opened her heart to him, she yearned for him. Her heart leapt up in verse 6. We'll see in a few moments in verse 8, she's lovesick. Verse 10 to 16, she magnifies his great beauty. She's absolutely connected to him and just overwhelmed with his glory and his beauty. She's not drawing back in fear, not in the slightest. Paragraph C, she says, I've taken off my robe, how can I put it on again? She's responding in obedience by refusing to put on her own robe of righteousness. She says, I've done it my way before, I'm not doing it that way again. My feet are clean, I'm not going to go back and make them dirty again. That's not going to happen. She refuses to wear her or to relate to him on the basis of her own garments. We are clothed in the robe of righteousness. And our righteousness, the scripture says, is like a filthy rag. So she says, I've taken off my garments, I've put on your garments, is what is happening here. Top of page 3, his hand, paragraph E, is by the latch or the lock on the door of her heart. His hand is touching her heart. The hand of God, often in scripture, releases grace, speaks of grace. It speaks of grace and releases grace. Verse a little bit lower, I mean under E, in Acts 11, when the hand of the Lord was on the city of Antioch, they witnessed the grace of God was resting on them. The hand of God speaks of the presence of the grace of God, the release of grace on the lock of her heart. To help her open it, his hand is there on the door helping her. Verse 4 again, my beloved put his hand on the lock of the door. I arose to open for him. My hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with liquid myrrh on the handles of the lock. Paragraph F, her hands and fingers dripping with myrrh. This speaks of grace to help her embrace the difficulty. Because the hands and the fingers, they speak of the activity of her faith. I have that written later in paragraph F. But this speaks of the myrrh is on her hands and the lock of her heart and his hand is touching her, helping her to embrace the difficulty of this coming to full test that's going to begin immediately. In verse 6 and 7 is where the test is going to happen. Roman Numeral 4, the first test we find in verse 6. I opened for my beloved. He turned away. He was gone. My heart leapt out when he spoke. He goes, I left when he spoke. I didn't draw back when he spoke. I rose up when he spoke. But it's so different because I sought him. I can't find him. I called him. He gave me no answer. In this test he withdraws the sense of his manifest presence from her heart or diminishes it. In one, you know, that's, it's not a, there's not an exact way he does it every time in this sort of testing. But it's the principle that we're pointing to. I mean, some of you have, have known, I certainly have experienced this. I'm sure that many of you have. You're seeking the Lord with all of your heart. Yes, there's immaturity, but you've committed to obey all the areas. But you don't sense his presence touching your heart. You know he's with you, but there's this divine silence. And Lord, what's wrong? What's wrong? And the answer is there's nothing wrong. I'm drawing you out in love, actually. I'm actually using this in a temporary way. Will you actually love me, whether you feel it or not? Are you in it just for the feelings? Am I just a means to your ends? Yes, you are a means to our ends. Yes, you are the, the, the ultimate means, but you're not only a means to our end, you're the end as well. You are the goal, not just the means to a happy life. We're not just using you to get blessed spiritually forever. We actually are being consumed by you. You are the goal, not just our blessing forever in your salvation, which again, is glorious and to be rejoiced in and never minimized. She said in paragraph B, I sought him. This temporary season of divine silence, this temporary season of divine silence was part of his training to cause her love to mature more. I mean, it's a, that's, you don't hear many messages. I haven't heard many, and I don't want to hear that many, to be honest, but on divine silence. But God is silent in times of some of His most honored and used saints through history. There were times of silence, and they were tested in the silence. And it says about Joseph in Psalm 105, verse 17 to 19, that the Word of God tested him when he's in prison. He didn't hear anything, but the Word of God tested him. Do you believe what I told you in days past? Yes, I do. But Lord, I want you to retell me. He says, no, I want you to believe what I told you, to believe what my written word says, believe what I've spoken to you in a personal way in days gone by. This is a season of temporary divine silence, not total divine silence, but that feeling of He's not saying anything. I've heard that many times over the years. And some people, because it's the chapter 3 discipline, where the Lord's saying, we're not in agreement, I'm trying to get your attention. But sometimes it's the chapter 5 testing, bringing forth maturity, a very, very different reality. Paragraph C, the Lord hid Himself from the bride on two occasions in the psalm, chapter 3 and chapter 5, what I've just said. In chapter 3, it was because of disobedience. Of course, He drew back in fear, but it was still disobedience. But here, it's because of mature obedience. She's the perfect one. She's the one that said, yes, to the north winds. She's the one that said, yes, I'll meet you at the mountain of Myrrh. I'll go all the way, no matter what the cost. He says, okay, let's see. Let's see if you will. And that's not a cynical let's see, but let your heart be exercised in this. Let your heart connect with me through the rigors of this new season, and your love will be stronger than ever. Some Bible teachers in the Middle Ages called this the dark night of the soul. It's not a biblical term, but it's a term that was used for some centuries because of this experience that some of the saints that had the deepest walk with God would testify to, that there was a temporary withholding of the manifest presence of God when they were in the deepest maturity of obedience of their life. And so they began to coin this phrase to talk about it, so they could fellowship around it, you know, and it's in different writings. Well, let's be clear, paragraph D, He never leaves us. The New Testament is very, very clear about that. He never leaves us. He sometimes withdrawals the discernible feeling to test us, but not just to test us. His testing isn't a cynical, distant, hey, I'm testing you, get with it. It's not that, but it's a testing so that we work a new muscle under pressure, so that our love comes to maturity. Because it's times like this, we have a tenacious hold on Him, we refuse to let go, and there's new dimensions of love that grow and mature in us in seasons like this. But it's really clear that He never leaves us. So that's not, we're not talking about Him leaving in the true sense of the word, but that feeling, that it doesn't feel like it did last year type thing, but I'm more obedient than I was. I'm more committed, I'm more focused, I'm more locked into the relationship. Why? The devil comes and says, because God's forsaken you, and the Scripture would come and say, no, the Lord's drawing you forth deeper still, deeper still. Don't be offended, don't be offended. You said you were in it no matter what. Well, this is one of those no matter what seasons. Go deep, go deep, don't go backwards. I mean, I can imagine paragraph E, what Job felt, the most righteous man on earth. It's what the Bible says. Nobody more obedient, and it's as though the face of God turned away from him. It didn't in reality. God was there staring the whole time. Job, come on, come on. He says, I know who you are, and I know how you love me. I mean, the Lord had so much confidence in Job, the Lord went to the devil and said, I promise you, well He didn't say, I promise you, but test him, and he won't back down on me. I know this man. Test him like you want, just don't kill him. He won't back down on me. I know the man, I know this man's heart. That's the kind of thing we're talking about. How about King David, paragraph F. It's a young man. I mean, he's seeking God. He has the favor of God. Suddenly, seemingly in one moment, persecution hits. Favor lifts, and he has bouts of deep depression in those years, those six, seven, eight years of wandering in the wilderness. Like, I don't know what happened, God. It went from favor to darkness, seemingly. What happened? And the Lord says, I'm making you a king. It's not because I've abandoned you, it's because I've chosen you. It's exactly the opposite. The devil is a liar. We have Joseph. He gets this dramatic dreams of his glorious destiny that he would be having his family, and God's favor would be on him. Suddenly, he's in a prison. How can a man under the favor of God, prophetic promises, end up in a prison? Well, worse than that, he went to prison twice. He had two prison sentences. People go, I want to be a Joseph. I said, well, read the whole story. What they want to do is be, you know, on the throne of Pharaoh. The wealthiest man in the earth is what Joseph was, besides Pharaoh. They want to be the wealthiest, most powerful man in the earth. They don't really want Joseph's lifestyle. They want Joseph's the end of the story. Again, Psalm 105, verse 17 to 19, Joseph was tested by the word. He's in prison, and God is, what happened, God? You're not talking to me. What happened? God gave him a few dreams for others, but not about his own life. It's this divine silence. Joseph, what does my word say? In the New Testament language, that's what God would say to us. Or Joseph, I promised you, but Lord, that was years ago. I mean, come on, that was years ago. I needed another word. He says, I never lie. I gave you my word. Lord, that was a long time ago. I've been in prison twice now. And then Joseph became the most powerful man in the world, and was the man God used to bring the salvation of the nation of Israel that saved them from destruction. They were not, this silence and this difficulty wasn't because they were abandoned. It's because they were highly called and chosen by God's favor. It's easy just to see the glory part of the story of God's calling, and not the process. Well, chapter 5 is part of the process. But he says, okay, you love me no matter what. Oh, anything, Lord. I'm yours to the end. He goes, I take that seriously. Okay, let's do it then. Let me lift a few things. Are you in it for me, not just for me to bless you? Yes. Will you run to me when things aren't going your way, or will you back away from me like so many of the others? Lord, I love you. I love you. He says, okay, let's do this. Let me help you work a new muscle in your spiritual life, a new dimension of your relationship with me. Top of page 4. So now the second test. The first test was the lifting of the sense of His presence, that silence, that divine silence. Again, temporary, and it's a relative silence, though it feels complete in the moment sometimes. This time, paragraph A, the leaders took away the bride's ministry or the place of her function in the body. I mean, here it's the spiritual leaders. It's the watchmen. It's the ones she trusted back in chapter 3 that helped her back in chapter 3. Now they're mistreating her. They take her place of function. She goes, wait, I want to be used of God, and you're the authority structure, and nobody will let me do anything. I'm being boycotted. I'm being censored. I'm being set aside. How could this be? Paragraph 7, the watchmen who went about the city. Again, the ones that she was friendly with back in chapter 3. The leaders of the city of God, so to speak. Spiritual leaders. They struck me. They didn't care for me. They struck me. They wounded me. They didn't train me. They wounded me. They didn't help empower me and disciple me. They wounded me. The keepers of the wall, that's these watchmen again, they took my veil. They took my spiritual covering away from me. Paragraph C, when it says they took my veil away, this speaks of removing her spiritual covering. So she can't function in the body now. So she's really in a difficult jam, because the two things she cried out for back in chapter 1, verse 4, she wanted to know His presence. Draw me after you. I want to be close to you. I want to experience, interact with your presence, and I want to run together with other people in ministry after you. I want to run after you with others, making an impact, being used of God in a meaningful way. Both of these are now being lifted in this season. Roman numeral 6, the bride responded to the king with love. The very next verse, she says to the daughters of Jerusalem, verse 8, if you find my beloved, tell him I'm lovesick. She's not backing up in fear. She's not in compromise. She's not questioning. She goes, I love him. And not only does she respond to the king with love, but she responds to the others with humility. The daughters of Jerusalem throughout the song are those that are less spiritually experienced and connected as she is. She's far more mature than they are. She's going to younger ones saying, help me find him. It's the opposite of offense here. In anger, she's tender. She's humble. She's going to the younger ones asking for help. In essence, the king was asking her, paragraph A, will you be mine even if I hold the things you deeply want? Will you be mine if I don't give you the things you want in the timing you want them? Are you mine when you can't feel my presence? Will you love me when you're disappointed by circumstances? Paragraph B, she was sick with love for the king instead of being offended at him. Instead of being offended at him. Matthew chapter 11, verse 6, I think is one of, is a very, very important, important principle from the lips of Jesus. Jesus was talking to the disciples of John the Baptist. And they were saying, are you the Messiah? John sent us and Jesus raised, I mean healed people, blind eyes open, the lame were walking. In other words, he was fulfilling the messianic prophecies right in front of them. They said, John sent us to ask if you're the one. And he raised, you know, raised up the paralytics, blind eyes. He goes, what do you think? They go, wow, it's all the prophecies of the Messiah. You are the one. We'll go back and tell John. Jesus says, we'll stop. Before you go back and tell John, I got one more little proverb for you. Blessed is he that is not offended at me. Why would I be offended at you? I mean, you're raising the dead, opening blind eyes. Why would I be offended? Jesus said, just remember that. Why would I be offended? And here's why they're going to be tested. Because Jesus, having all the power, is not going to deliver John from prison, but John's going to be martyred. And they're going to say afterwards, wait a second, our beloved John, if you're God, why do you deliver him? He says, because I'm God and I do it my way, not your way. That's why I didn't deliver him. Blessed are you if you're not offended. We get offended not only by what he does, we're offended by what he doesn't do, or the timing that he takes to do it. Jesus says, blessed if you don't get offended at my leadership. Roman Numeral 7. So she asked the daughters, if you see my beloved, tell him I'm lovesick, help me find him. And then the daughters, verse 9, Roman Numeral 7 here, verse 9, the daughters say, well we got a question. They have two questions. They ask one now and one in a few moments. The daughter said, what is your beloved? More than any other beloved, why do you want to find him? I mean, consider it. He lifted his presence from you. He didn't, he allowed the elders to wound you. Why do you want him so much? They're very perplexed. Paragraph B. In essence, the daughters are saying, why do you love him so much that you charge us to go find him? He took his presence from you. He let the elders wound you. They wanted to know why she was still so loyal to him. They go, we don't know him like you know him. What do you know about him we don't know? What is your beloved more than any other beloved is the question. Paragraph C. The daughters had many other beloveds that were more important than the ultimate beloved. And it's very, very easy as sincere believers to have other beloveds that are more important than the ultimate beloved. I mean, we love Jesus, but we're more connected to our ministry or a certain relationship, or we're more connected to a certain way or a certain lifestyle, and we want him to bless it, but we want those things actually more than him, though we want him in the equation. We don't want to lose him, but we want them more than him. They had other beloveds that were more important. And it's okay to have things that you love and people you love, but they said, but you love him more than all the others. What is your beloved that he's more than all the others? Why do you love him more than pleasure, and increase, and friends, and favor, and that those key relationships? Why would you take him over them if there was ever a tension point? Why would you do that? Top of page five. Oh boy, she explodes. I love chapter 5, verse 10 to 16. I think it's the greatest statement of the beauty of Jesus in the Bible. It's in poetic terms. It's in poetic terms. He goes, what is my beloved more than the others? The bride answers, I mean for seven glorious verses, by proclaiming the king's beauty. She answered the daughter's question, the daughters of Jerusalem, by proclaiming his majestic beauty, or his beauty. It's one of the greatest statements in the Bible. She goes, what is he? Verse 10, and I have a bit more on the website than I have on the notes here of these 10. She says, my beloved is dazzling. My beloved is chief among 10,000. His head is finest gold. His hair is wavy. His eyes like doves. His cheeks or his emotions are like a bed of spice. His lips are pure like lilies. His hands, his deeds are like the rods of gold of divine power and character. His compassion is like ivory. It's rare, and expensive, and glorious. His legs are like pillars of marble, stable, steady. His countenance is like Lebanon. His mouth is most sweet. He's altogether lovely. This is my beloved. This is my friend. And boy, they're taken back. She's not offended. She's not backing away from him at all. She's not in a time of compromise. She is passing the ultimate twofold test in her life that's going to usher her into greater depths of love with God. Now in this poetic language, she uses the metaphor of the human body with the agricultural images to convey ten different attributes of what the king is like in the spiritual interpretation. She starts with a general statement in verse 10. My beloved is dazzling, chief among 10,000. Then she gives ten attributes, and then she ends with a summary statement. He is altogether lovely. This is my beloved. This is my friend. I have a little bit in paragraph B, quite a bit more on the website, and a lot more that I, you know, it's that glorious day when I put more, I mean, you know, you got that to-do list. I got a lot more to put on the website on this. I taught a bunch of this some years ago, and put lots of notes in, but to get them edited and get them up there, I may not get to that immediately, but I hope to immediately, but probably won't. Okay, paragraph C. There's a lot to these ten, is my point. I've taken these ten before the Lord, and said, Lord, I want to use, I know it's in poetic language, using again the images of the body and agricultural language, and it's even using illustrations from Solomon's temple as well. Those three come together, and I mean making these declarations of his beauty, these ten attributes, is fantastic. Paragraph C. We become familiar with these truths, so we can speak them. We want to know these truths. Again, they're figurative language. They're poetic language, is what I mean. It's a love song. It's a poem, but we want to speak it to Jesus in love. We want to tell these things to Him, and we want to tell them to the devil when he accuses Jesus' leadership. When we begin to think, well, you know, it's not going to work. Jesus is not paying attention anyway. He doesn't have this whole thing. He's not paying attention to my life. We say, devil, you're a liar. Let me tell you about Him. His head, His leadership, His finest gold. He's altogether lovely. He's dazzling. This is who He is. He's filled with compassion. His ways are indescribably glorious. Devil, you're a liar. That is who He is. We say, we speak these things back to Him. We speak them to ourself in a time of temptation. We're thinking about crossing a line. Wait a second. He's altogether dazzling and radiant. Not that. He is. Not that situation. That's a lie. He's the truth. That's a lie. I'm not going there. We're in times of discouragement. Maybe, maybe God just doesn't really care anymore. We say, no. We say to our soul, soul, let me tell you who He is. That's how David talked to himself. He said, I said to my soul, soul, rise up and obey God and believe Him and praise Him. And we can speak it to other people too. Like, I'm giving you just a little bit right now. But boy, there's a whole lot of these ten. She says, paragraph D, my beloved is radiant. That's what new NIV says. He's radiant. He's dazzling. I like, instead of white, dazzling or radiant. He's fascinating. He's chief among 10,000. He's incomparable in his superiority to all the other beloveds. Ladies, I don't care how cool that guy is. There is another guy that is altogether lovely. Guys, I think that girl is really cool. But there's someone that's altogether lovely. I know she's lovely. But there's someone that's altogether lovely. I know, I The only choice is that he is first. And we don't draw back on him in the, our pursuit of the other beloveds. And it's not just people, it's things in ministry and increase and all the things that are the blessing of God. Paragraph E, he's altogether lovely. This is my beloved. This is my friend. Top of page six. Well, right after she explodes with this, because remember the daughters back in chapter five, verse nine said, what is your beloved? She goes, what is my beloved? He's radiant. He's dazzling. He's chief among 10,000. His head is like finest gold. His leadership, his ways, his compassion, his power, his wisdom, his love, all of these things. He's altogether lovely. They took a step back and they went, whoa, man, that was intense. So now they shifted the question because they asked back in chapter five, verse nine, what is your beloved? Here in chapter six, she goes, where is your beloved? We want to know what you know. We want what you have. We don't have this kind of relationship with him. We want what you want. Where is your beloved? Where has he turned aside? We want to seek him. Paragraph B, when they said where, the bride's answer in verse 10 to 16 caused the daughters to change their question entirely. They changed their question. They went from what is he to where can we find him? Here's my point. Here's my point, is that we want to live a life with Jesus that in the most positive sense provokes people to want to have what we have. I want to ask you, do people see your spiritual life, whether at the IHOPU, the internship, just in the community and the workplace, do they see your relationship with the Lord and say, I want more of what he has? Or do they look at you as somebody that will help them, pat them on the back and affirm them in their sin and compromise because you'll do it with them? Well, I can count on him. He'll go do it with me. But I can't count on that other guy because he has a whole other walk with God I don't know anything about. Which one are you? Which one do you want to be? We never know, paragraph C, who's watching us. I mean these young believers, the daughters of Jerusalem, they were watching her and they shifted their whole vision of what they wanted. They said, we don't want to know why you love him now, we want to know how we can experience what you experience. God's raising up lovesick messengers that know Jesus in the way that provoke others to know Jesus. I don't mean just unbelievers, I mean believers. Do you have a life that people around you, I don't mean everything you do is amazing, but do you have a devotion? I mean a reach is what I'm talking about. I don't mean a, have you broke through on all the areas? Do you have profound wisdom in every area? That's not what I'm talking about. Do you have something that's making others go, I want to do what you do with God. Let's look at chapter 6, verse 4 and 5, and we'll develop this in the next session, I mean next week. Paragraph A, the king now breaks his silence, the silence that began back in chapter 5, verse 6. The king now speaks first, because it was the bride speaking, the daughter speaking, the bride speaking, the daughter speaking, they're going back and forth, finally the king breaks his silence. And he says in verse, chapter 6, verse 4, oh my love, you are as beautiful as Tirzah, you are as lovely as Jerusalem, you are as awesome as an army with banners. And the king says to her, turn your eyes away from me, because your eyes of devotion have overcome my heart. Beloved, the bride wasn't in compromise in chapter 5, that's not what she, that's what, again some will take it that way, and again I appreciate all different views and the different folks that are promoting them, but it's so critical that we see what's happening in her heart. Now in paragraph 4, awesome as an army with banners, when an army came back from war, if they're victorious, they would have a procession down the street, a military parade, and they would have all their banners displayed. To be awesome as an army with banners means an army that was victorious, returning victorious over the enemy. She was victorious over the greatest enemy in her life, that was the desires in her own heart. Beloved, there's many enemies without, that will attack and resist you, but the great enemies lie within us, that would pull us not to trust them, that would pull us in another direction. She conquered the greatest enemies in like a victorious army. Paragraph B, he says, turn your eyes away from me, for your eyes have conquered me. Jesus is only, I say quote unquote, conquered by the bride's extravagant love. All the armies of hell can't conquer Him. The only thing that can conquer Him is the eyes of His beloved when they're under testing, when they're not getting what they want, but they love Him no matter what. He says, that overwhelms me, that conquers my heart. He goes, turn your eyes away, not in the true sense of turn away, but He goes, oh, your heart moves me, beloved. Do you know how you move Him? When you go after Him and all the others get offended and some go to the right and the left over the years, you stay steady, you press in, He lifts His presence at times. The ministry doesn't happen, the relationship doesn't happen, the money doesn't work out, the healing didn't come like it should have. He says, will you still love me? And we say, He is my beloved, I'm lovesick. He's altogether lovely, this is my beloved. And He says to you, oh, He says, you're as lovely as Tirzah, you are as beautiful as Jerusalem, and I'll have more about that in the next session. You're like an army that's conquered even the enemies within your own soul of your unbelief and passivity, turn your eyes away from me. You've overcome me with that kind of devotion that moves me. Beloved, do you know the way you move Him? Do you really know? This is the kind of lifestyle that the Holy Spirit is beckoning people, I mean, this type of way to carry our hearts before the Lord. Amen and amen.