Mike Bickle teaches about the cherished heart of God as depicted in the Song of Solomon, emphasizing how Jesus calls His Bride to rise above fear and embrace a deeper commitment to Him. He highlights the importance of God's affirmations of beauty and potential in our lives, even amidst our struggles and immaturity. Bickle illustrates that God sees the seeds of commitment in our hearts and encourages us to respond to His love by stepping into spiritual challenges, symbolized by the call to the mountain. The sermon underscores that God's primary method of cleansing and nurturing His people is through love and affirmation rather than condemnation. Ultimately, Bickle invites believers to recognize their identity as cherished by God, motivating them to pursue Him wholeheartedly.

This is teaching number six. It's the session notes, number 16. And we're only going to cover one set of notes in this teaching time. Session 16, the cherished heart. The cherished heart of our Bridegroom God. Lord, I ask you to release your blessing upon this time. And release revelation even now. Romans number one, just a short review over the last session. Paragraph A, Jesus called the Bride out of the comfort zone. She refused because of fear, not rebellion. Then God released his loving discipline upon her. Paragraph C, we skipped this session. Chapter 3, verse 6 to 11, a very important passage. Jesus revealed himself and his safe leadership to her. Page 178, chapter 4, verse 1 to 8. Verse 1, he says, Behold, you are beautiful, my love. Then from verse 2 to verse 5, he speaks about eight different characteristics of her physical body. And spiritually speaking, they speak of character traits in our spiritual life. Like he says, you have dove's eyes that speaks spiritually of having revelation and insight. So he starts off, Behold, you are beautiful, my love. I love you. And then he speaks in a very positive way about eight different parts of her character. Then in verse 6, she makes the great statement, I will go to the mountain. Now in the last session, she did arise, but she only went to the city. But here she goes all the way to the mountain like Jesus originally called her in chapter 2, verse 8. Verse 7, then he says, You are altogether beautiful. The key word is the word all. He said, there is no spot, there is no negative part in you. Then verse 8, since you are willing to go with me to the mountain, let's go. You are my bride. This is the first time in the book he calls her my bride. He goes, now let's go to the top of the mountains, where there's lions and leopards and dangerous animals. But don't worry, you'll be with me. And I think she's going, okay. There are lions and leopards at the mountaintop? That sounds very challenging. But she's going to partner with him in full obedience in spiritual warfare. So that's a quick overview of this passage. Paragraph A. After a season of divine discipline, she responded and said, Okay, I will arise and go to the city back in chapter 3, verse 2. And look at how the Lord views her. I mean, it wasn't even a full response. She only went to the city, not to the mountain. And he called her to the mountain. A mountain is far more challenging than just going to the city. How does Jesus see her? She is still immature. She hasn't actually walked out obedience, but she's committed to it. How does Jesus see you when you say yes to him, but you haven't actually walked it out and fulfilled it yet? He says, You are beautiful to me. Now, when we're in the process of growing, we see our failure more than the yes in our heart. But he sees the yes in our heart, and that's very valuable to him. Paragraph B. A brief outline of the eight character traits. Now again, he's speaking to a woman who is working on the farm. So he's using agricultural language, because that's the language she's familiar with. And most of us are not so familiar with agricultural language. But she understood it, and it made sense to her. And we compare the Scripture with the Scripture to get the spiritual meaning of these attributes. And he tells her, You have dove's eyes. That speaks of her single-minded devotion. He speaks about her hair. And hair in the Old Testament was associated with the Nazarite vow, the commitment, the consecration. And teeth would be to be able to receive and nourish on the Word of God. And you can read the details of these eight characteristics on your own. And many commentaries will develop these in a far greater way than my set of notes. But many of them agree on these definitions. Most of them agree on these. Now remember, if you sing these in part of your new songs you're writing to the Lord, I tell our worship teams, don't use the exact language of Song of Solomon, but use the meaning of it. Like it's going to be hard to sing, our hair is like goat's hair. But rather sing, we have a whole heart of dedication to you. We give you all of our commitment. And the people will understand the interpretation, not the language. Twenty years ago when I was first studying this, I tried this out on my wife. I was very tender. I put the candles on. I said, your hair is like a flock of goats. Your teeth are like sheep. Your neck is like the Tower of David. It did not work at all. I didn't really do that, I'm just making this up. But we joked about it. My point is this, if you use this language in a public arena, interpret it because the people won't get what you're saying. Page 179, setting our heart upon Jesus. The Lord gives her these eight different affirmations about her character. And it worked. Because in verse 6, she says, I will go to the mountain. If you love me this much, I will go to the mountain. In paragraph B, Paul gives us insight on how Jesus motivates his church. Look at verse 26, that Jesus cleanses his church by washing it, the church, with the revelation of the word. When Jesus wants to cleanse you, he will wash away your shame, your discouragement, and your compromise by speaking the revelation of the word to you. How effective is this? Verse 27, this will be so effective that the whole church will walk in the glory of God through this methodology. Verse 29, Paul said, just as a man nourishes and cherishes his own body, this is the Lord's strategy to get the church to walk clean. That the Lord nourishes and cherishes his church to bring her to glory. How is the Lord going to cleanse us by the revelation of the word? He's going to nourish our heart. He's going to speak things that make our heart strong. To nourish means to feed. In a way that's delightful and healthy and makes the heart strong. But to cherish means to treasure as very valuable, even with affection. Some preachers think the way to cleanse the church is rebuke the church all the time and then one day she'll just wake up clean. If we rebuke the church enough and warm the church enough, finally the church will wake up. And Jesus does rebuke his church sometimes. And Jesus does warn his church sometimes. But the primary method is he nourishes and cherishes. That's his most effective method. But this is not just how Jesus wakes us up and cleanses us. In context to Ephesians 5, this is the most effective way that a man can strengthen his wife. That's what Paul's talking about in this passage. He's saying, Husbands, if you'll treat your wife the way Jesus treats the church, your wife or her heart will be renewed. But it goes on beyond that. This is the most effective way to wake up the heart of a child. Yes, we do rebuke. And we warn. And we tell negative things. But much more we nourish and cherish because the human heart wakes up that way. But it's the same way we train young believers. So whether I'm relating to my wife, my two sons, or young believers that I'm training, I know the most effective way to touch their heart is to nourish and cherish. Not only nourish and cherish, but this is the greatest emphasis. Because this is how the Lord wakes my heart up. This is how the human heart was made to respond to nourish and cherish. And that's what Jesus is doing in this chapter 4. She said, Yes, I'll arise and go to the city. Then He takes eight different aspects of her character and He affirms her in eight different ways about her character. She's not mature in these eight ways. Those are characteristics that are just beginning to grow in her heart. But Jesus calls us forth. When I'm a young believer, and I'm fully committed, but I don't even know what commitment means. When I was just a teenager, I thought commitment was just these few areas. And I was as committed as I knew how to be. Now that I look back 40 years ago, I go, I wasn't that committed. But I thought I was in that hour. It's like the analogy of the microscope. You can take the slide and put it under the microscope. And you can look at it at power 10. And you can see dirt. Then maybe you clean the dirt off. You think, Oh, now the slide is clean. Then you turn it up to a hundred power. And you say, Oh, there's so much dirt. Clean it up. Okay, now the slide is clean. Then you turn it up to a thousand power. Oh, there's so much dirt. This is how it is in our walk with God. We're committed, but only to the light that we have. When I was 15 years old, I was totally committed to Jesus. And then the Lord turned the microscope up, and I went, Whoa, I wasn't very committed. I thought I was. Then when I was 25, I mean, I was really going hard after God. And the Lord turned the microscope up to a higher power, and I went, Oh, there's so much pride in my life, and so many things I'm not happy with. And right now, I feel like I'm as dedicated as I've ever been in my life. Ten years from now, I'll look back and say, Oh, Lord, I didn't even see those areas. Because every time we say yes, the Lord turns the power up. But here's my point. Forty years ago, when I was going hard after God, the Lord would speak to my heart. And the message was like this. I love your dedication. You are so dedicated to me. And with the little bit of light that I had, I thought I was totally dedicated. But when I was 20 years old, I felt the Lord's delight. He loved my dedication to Him. And that made me want to give more to Him. And then when I'm 25, I felt His pleasure over my life. It made me want to give more. Now as these years go by, I can understand the Lord's strategy. Because my commitment was only a beginning seed. It was only a budding virtue in my heart. But He affirmed it and He said, I love the way that you love me. And it made me want to go run and just hang on to His leg and never ever let Him leave me. I wanted to be as close to Him as I could because He was so happy with me. But I look back now, I have so many areas of darkness still working in my mind and heart. And He could say, I cherished you, I nourished you, I affirmed you and I caused you to be more motivated. This is the primary way that God raises up a mature church. It is not the only way, but it's the primary way. Paragraph E, Jesus does not define our life by our struggles. When He looks at our life, He sees our struggles. But He doesn't define us, oh yeah, you're the one that struggles. He defines us by the seeds of commitment that are in our heart that are real. He defines us by the longing that's in our heart to be more given to Him. So the Lord sees weakness in our life. But He sees that we really want to love Him. He calls us the people who want to love Him. He doesn't call us the great compromisers. Your friend may call you the great compromiser. Your own heart may call you the great compromiser. But Jesus calls you the one who loves Him. If you sincerely are trying to walk this out, this changes our whole relationship with God if we understand this one point. That's why I'm spending so much time on this one point. It's such a new idea to some people. Because they see themselves as a failure who's trying to love God instead of one who loves God who still struggles against their sin. This is a big issue. Are you a slave of sin who struggles to love God? Or are you a lover of God who still struggles with sin? You say that sounds like the same thing. It is not at all. When you think of yourself, are you mostly a slave of sin who's trying to love? Or are you mostly a lover of God but you still struggle with your sin? When I saw myself the way God sees me, as a lover of God who still struggles, then I wanted to be as close to Him as I could. Page 180. Paragraph G. When Israel was attacked by the Midianites, Gideon was hiding in fear. Gideon was going to become the great leader of Israel a few years later. But Israel's being attacked by the enemy. The whole nation is afraid. Gideon's hiding and shaking like a leaf and filled with fear. Then the angel appeared and said the most surprising statement. Gideon! O mighty man of valor! Gideon looked around. Who's the mighty man of valor? It's not me! And the Lord saw in Gideon what Gideon could not see in his own heart. The Lord saw the seeds of courage in this man. They were not operating in full strength at all. These seeds of courage. But the Lord named Gideon according to what he would walk in in the years ahead. The Lord was right. Gideon became a fearless and great leader. This is my point. The Lord named him what he was going to be because the seeds were in his heart. Paragraph H. Same with Peter. Jesus said you're the rock. Well Peter was going to deny the Lord before a little girl just a little while after that. The Lord says I know that you still have fear in you. I know you're going to waver one day. But I see what's in your spirit Peter. I'm going to name you according to what you're going to be in fullness one day. You're the rock Peter. I tell you when Peter failed he could remember the times where the Lord called him forth as a courageous man the rock. This is how the Lord relates to you. He sees you want to be fearless and filled with love. He sees the seeds of this in your heart. He sees the longing for this in your heart. And he relates to you according to this definition of your life. Yes, he still corrects us. He still warns us. But he does it with a spirit of affirmation and love towards us. Paragraph I. In the life of Abraham this is remarkable. Paul said that Abraham did not waver at the promise of God. You read this and say Paul doesn't know the Bible very well. When I read the book of Genesis Abraham wavered a number of times. Abraham got his handmaiden and had a child with her and Ishmael was born. Abraham was wavering when he did that. But through the grace of God God edits Abraham's life. And it goes down in the eternal word of God. He did not waver. I believe when Paul met Abraham in heaven Abraham said, Paul, thank you for writing that about me. Yes! And Paul might say, well the Lord showed me that that's how he sees you Abraham. If this is how God edits our life through the grace of God, beloved, we have reason to be confident in love before him. The most extravagant of all. The most extravagant example. Is David. In Acts 13 see what Peter says about David. He said, God raised up David. A man who will do all the will of God. Verse 36 He served the purpose of God in his generation. When I read David's life he committed some very great sins. And I said, Peter, how can you say he did all of God's will? I know from the Bible he had big mistakes, big ones. Peter, have you ever read the book of 1 Samuel? David did many bad things. This is how God looks at David's life. Page 181. Beloved, if we understand that the Lord looks at us in this way, it makes us want to run to him instead of run from him. When we face our own weakness and failure. Paragraph L. The devil says, you're a hopeless hypocrite, just give up. The devil says, you're never going to break through anyway, just quit. And then the devil has plenty of people in the body of Christ to echo that message into your ear, just quit, you're never going to break through anyway. And then you start believing it, I might as well quit, and it's all a lie. You will make it. You do love him. Stick with it. Refuse the accusation and the lies of the enemy. Jesus said, you're beautiful, you love me and I love you, come near me now. Paragraph M. Many people spend much of their emotional energy trying to put out the fire of condemnation and shame that fills their heart. They have so much shame and condemnation in their heart that when they come before the Lord in a worship time, instead of saying, I love you, oh, thank you for the way that you love me, tears of gratitude and love coming down their face, they could do that, but that's not their experience. They come before the Lord, I'm so bad, I'm so wicked, it's so terrible, I think I'm going to just quit anyway. I'm such a mess, just forget me. Oh, I beg you one more chance, I don't even know if I want one more chance. Tears of frustration and shame coming down their face. It could be so different if they understood the truth. I'm talking about an on-fire believer that's filled with shame, it's very common. Paragraph P. Cherishing is the way the human heart changes. And I teach the young men here, they're newly married to their wives. I teach them, cherish your wife in the way the Lord cherishes you. Cherish your children this way. Don't just tell them what their potential is and how bad they are doing, study their heart and see what they're reaching for in their heart and speak to it and call that forth. Well, they're not trying as hard as they could. That's true. They could try harder. But they're still putting effort in to do better. Talk about the effort they're putting in and tell them when you see it and how much you value it. Don't only tell them how much effort they're not putting in, talk about the effort they are putting in. When my prayer life was very weak, I was trying to pray a half hour or an hour a day. When I was 18 years old, I tried to pray an hour a day when I was 18. But during that hour, I was so bored. And I would fall asleep. I would daydream. It was horrible. And the Lord could say, you need to pray two hours a day if you're going to be a preacher. It was terrible. And the Lord spoke, you will be a mighty man of prayer one day. Keep praying like you are. Just keep giving me your heart. You're praying so much more now than you used to. You're praying ten minutes outside of that, in that hour. You're praying ten full minutes. You never used to do that. Look, you're growing. And I began to feel the Lord's heart and it encouraged me to grow more. I'm not just mentioning how you should relate to others. This is how God relates to you. Our two sons are 30 and 31. And when they were 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, me and my wife, we would correct them. But I had this commitment. For every negative I tell them that they need to hear, I'm going to tell them ten positive things about their life. Every time I tell them they're not working hard enough, I'm going to tell them ten sentences about what's in their heart that's good. I didn't exactly do that. I didn't count them up. But that was a principle we were committed to. So now my sons are 30 and 31. And I have a great friendship with them. And they're both walking with God and they have godly wives. And when they talk to me, they say, Dad, you always believed in our heart. Yes, I corrected them. I challenged them. But I tried to always give ten statements positive for every one statement negative. I did not always do that. But that was the principle. But the part that I like is that we have a great friendship for the whole 30 years I've had a great friendship with them. I did not lose their heart when I was raising them up. And the Lord says to us, I don't want to lose your heart while I'm training you up through all your immaturity. I want you to know the person that understands you the most is me, the Lord. And I see your beauty and your value. And when we feel that way with the Lord, we don't lose the heart connect with Him through the seasons of our immaturity. Page 182. He says, paragraph A. Immediately after the season of discipline. He says, you're beautiful. Only God would say that to somebody after they've been disciplined. We would put them on probation for three months. I'll let you know what I think later, young man. You just sit there and suffer. The Lord says, I love you. Lord, she just went through discipline. How could you love her and call her beautiful after what she just did? Let's go all the way to page 189. Because I have several pages where we're looking at the eight different character traits. And you can study those on your own if you want. But page 189. Roman numeral 13. After He gives these eight affirmations to her character. He says, your eyes are filled with insight. Your dedication is real. Your love is true. And He gives eight different affirmations. She just came through a season of discipline. It seems like she should be getting rebuked and the Lord's calling forth her heart the seeds of virtue in her heart. Verse 6. Look what she says in verse 6. I will go my way to the mountain. If you feel this way about me, I will arise and go to the mountain like you told me originally. Paragraph E. She makes a firm decision. I'm going to go all the way to the mountain with you. Now notice, she hasn't gone to the mountain yet. She only said, I'm going to go. She's still sitting under the shade tree at the table eating those grapes and apples. She hasn't done anything, but the commitment is real a hundred percent no matter what it costs. Page 190. Roman numeral 14. Look what he says now after she commits to go to the mountain. He goes, you're all together lovely or beautiful. Paragraph A. He calls her beautiful thirteen times throughout this love song. But up to this time, he has used this affirmation eight different times already, this part of the song. But he says something different here from the other eight times. He adds the word all. You are totally beautiful. You said you would go to the mountain. I see no spot. I see no fault in you at all. Beloved, she's only said yes. She hasn't gone yet. He says, I see something in you that's so beautiful to me the way you've said yes with all of your heart. Page 191. Verse 8. We'll end with this. He looks at her and he says, good, come with me then to the top of the mountains. He said, you're all together lovely. Now come with me. And he takes her hand. This is the first time in the song he calls her my spouse, my bride. He goes, you will be safe with me even in this very dangerous place of spiritual warfare. We are now at the top of the mountains. At the end of verse 8, there's lions and leopards and all these dangerous animals in the mountaintops. Page 192. Paragraph H. There's lions and leopards on the mountaintops. These are animals that devour human beings. The New Testament calls Satan a lion who seeks to devour. So here we find her in full partnership with Jesus on the top of the mountains in spiritual warfare. She said, yes, I love you. I feel your presence. But I'm with you in the mandate to disciple the nations no matter what it costs me. The risks and the fears and the danger of the mountaintop. I say yes. No matter how dangerous or risky or fearful, I'm with you no matter what it costs me. Amen. Let's stand. Now tomorrow, we look at a fantastic verse. It's the next verse. Look at it for one second. He goes, you ravish my heart. That's for tomorrow. That's how he feels about us when we go all the way with him. The ravished heart of our God with his bride. Lord, we come before you now. And we ask you in Jesus' name to touch us, to release your glory even now in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. Bless you. We're just going to end with that.