Mike Bickle emphasizes the significance of Song of Solomon 8:5-7, portraying it as a journey of the bride towards mature love, where she leans on her beloved amidst the wilderness of life. He highlights the Holy Spirit's role in guiding believers to cultivate a heart that is sealed with God's fiery love, which is as strong and encompassing as death. Bickle encourages the church to be intentional in their relationship with God, recognizing that true victory comes from leaning on Him and allowing His love to transform their lives. The sermon calls for a deeper understanding of God's love, urging believers to invite the Holy Spirit to seal their hearts and empower their ministries. Ultimately, Bickle presents the message that God's love is powerful enough to conquer all struggles and that the journey of love is progressive and ongoing.

Chapter 8, verse 5 to 7, and that's the passage we're going to focus on the most. I see this as the three most important verses in this ultimate love song, I mean the great love song of Scripture. It summarizes the journey and the destination of the bride, and the destination of the bride. It's where the Holy Spirit is leading you. It's where the Holy Spirit is leading the church in history. Now, if we know the Holy Spirit is leading us in this place, then we cooperate in a far more intentional way. Some people say, you know, I want to know what God's doing in my life. Well, I know one thing for sure, He's doing this. He's doing Song of Solomon, chapter 8, verse 5 to 7. Are you aware that this is where the Spirit is taking you? Because the more aware of it that you are, again the more conscious and intentional you can be about cooperating, it makes sense what's going on. She has cultivated a leaning heart while becoming victorious in love. She's leaning on her beloved. She's leaning on the one she loves. She comes up in victory over the wilderness of this fallen world. It says in verse 5, who is this? In my opinion, it's the Holy Spirit talking in the three times in this 8 chapter love song. A question is asked, who is this? And I believe that each of the times it's the Holy Spirit speaking out and adding to the narrative of the story. Who is this coming up? That means coming up in victory is the idea. She's coming up from the wilderness, from the wilderness of this fallen world, from the testing, the disappointments, the expectations that did not happen in the way we thought they would happen. But she's not offended. She's not passive. She hasn't given up her vision. She's leaning on her beloved. She trusts Him. She's not offended at Him. She hasn't said, well this doesn't really work, so I think I'll just coast the last couple decades of my life, spiritually coast. I love Jesus. He loves me. I'll see Him in heaven. I'll kind of stay busy between now and then and do a little bit for Him, but mostly not really lay hold of Him. She's leaning. Leaning in this sense is a very strong statement of her connectedness. She's looking to Him. She's reaching to Him. She has no life outside of Him is what is being said here. And then the Lord, then the King speaks. He says, set Me as the seal on your heart. He gives the invitation. Invoke Me, beckon Me, talk to Me about being the seal. I want to be the seal upon your heart, but I want to do it only if you want Me to be. Now the seal on the heart isn't a technical experience where someone says, do you have the sealed heart? No, I'm still seeking the Lord for it. It's a poetic term. Well, you know, like some people say, do you have the baptism of the Spirit? Well, yeah, I spoke in tongues. I think I do. Do you? No, I don't have the baptism yet. You know, I've heard that over the years. You have it, you don't have it, and different views on if they do, if they don't. It's not that kind of deal. It's a progressive, again, it's a poem, and it's giving an idea of this ever-increasing mark of love on our heart, or activity of the Spirit that's awakening, I mean, that's imparting love to us. That's what the seal is. It's not a one-time experience. Yeah, I got the seal back in 2004. It's not that kind of deal. Paragraph 1, the theme of the great love song of the ages, the Song of Solomon, is the king sealing the heart of the bride with fiery love. It's a supernatural impartation of the Holy Spirit to reveal the love of God and to impart the love of God. See, I want to understand the love of God more and more and more, but I don't want to just understand it and rejoice in it. I want it to flow in me and through me. I want it imparted to me. I don't want to just grasp it and have confidence in it and marvel at it, but I want it in me. I want it flowing through me. I want to impart it to others, too. Again, in those little ways where we can speak the Word and lay hands on people, and the Spirit touches them. This seal, again, it's an inching forward. It's not a one-time experience. I want this seal ever growing in my life, and I want to be ever ministering this kind of grace to people by giving them a vision for it, by giving them definition for it, by letting them know it's in the Word. Again, this is a love poem, but it's the language of the first commandment, using Moses and David and the words of Jesus and Paul. It's the first commandment, being in first place, but ever gripping our heart in a greater way. Paragraph C, her journey began with a cry for the kisses of the Word. Remember back in chapter 1, let Him kiss me with the kisses of His Word. She cried out that the Word would touch her heart, the love of God would touch your heart. The cry for the kisses of the Word, and it ends with a seal of fiery love. So it starts with a cry for the kiss of the Word, it ends with a seal of love, the seal of fiery love. Paragraph D, this is all about the Holy Spirit's agenda to establish the first commandment first in the church. Now we hear that phrase so much you could just get used to it, and no longer be personal. I ask the Holy Spirit, don't ever let the language of the first commandment become so familiar that the quest of it is no longer personal and the center vision of my heart. I talk on the first commandment a lot, some of you talk about it a lot, and it could become rhetoric instead of a very personal, central focus of our life and the Holy Spirit's will in our life. And so I ask the Holy Spirit, don't let me ever get familiar with this language and lose out on it. Well the command to love God, paragraph E, doesn't begin with us. We've made that point over the years. The command to love God actually begins in the love that burns in God's heart. God's heart loves God, and God loving us. The reason we're to love Him with all of our heart, He loves us with all of His heart. The reason He loves us with all of His heart, because God loves God with all of His heart. The Father, Son, and the Spirit, they dwell together in that kind of intensity. And the Lord's beckoning us into this. This is what the seal of love is about. From eternity, paragraph 1, from eternity past, God has loved God with all of His strength. The Father has loved the Son with all of His soul, all of His mind. So paragraph 2, we understand the first commandment best, or this seal of love, by seeing it in its eternal context within the fellowship of the Godhead. When I see the first commandment, I don't think of just a kingdom ethic. Well, first commandment, you know, I should put a little bit more time on that. It's one of the main kingdom ethics. You know, one of the main kingdom things I want in my character. No, we want to take a step back, and it's the ultimate reality that burns in God's heart as the Father fellowships with the Son, and as they look upon us and beckon us to them, and I go, I want to be a part of that. That's what this seal of love is about. Paragraph F, our greatest destiny is to participate in the love shared in the family dynamics within the Trinity. The family dynamics, the Father, Son, and Spirit, the ultimate family. We are adopted into that family, and we share the dynamics of that family. The way they love, the way they attend to each other, the way they're connected. I mean, one God in three persons, the mystery of the Trinity. Jesus is the one that told us in the verse that I preach on more than any other verse, John 15, verse 9, and I'm happy for that. You know, I guess there's got to be one verse you preach on more than the others, but it's this idea that Jesus, He told the apostles that as the Father loved me, I love you in the same intensity. The Father loves me with all of His heart. That's how I love you. That's how I love you. Well, paragraph G, my story, which we started 12 sessions ago, I gave a little bit of it, with the Song of Solomon, began in July 1988. It was quite a surprise to me, and the reason I'll just give a little bit of it, because there was a promise. There was a promise in this prophetic encounter with the Lord that bolsters my heart. It constantly calls my faith and my confidence, and my focus to go after this. That it was in July 1988, I was reading a wedding invitation, and on the wedding invitation it had Song of Solomon 8-6, that sent me as a seal, a seal of love on your heart. I thought, wow, that's a cool verse, and I just instantly just started praying. I just said, Jesus, I said, Jesus, set my heart, I mean, seal my heart with your fiery love. Jesus, you be the seal on my heart, and I mean, I'd never thought to pray that verse. It just kind of just, I just started doing it, just instantaneously. But the Spirit of the Lord began to rest on me, and I just began to gently weep, and the Spirit of the Lord continues to, the sense of His manifest presence is getting stronger and stronger, and I mean, I've never read a wedding card that had this happen, or read any card that had this happen. And I'm going, something's happening. And so I picked up the phone, and called, I was at the church office, and called the receptionist, and I said, hey, something really strange is happening. The Lord's touching me. If somebody, you know, comes unexpected, just give me a little time here, and please just ask Him to wait, and I need a bit of time with the Lord here. And don't interrupt me. And the receptionist said, okay, no problem. And it's ten minutes later, I mean, I'm just weeping and tender, and Lord, set your seal upon my heart, and I'm just loving it. And all of a sudden, the phone rings! And I can't believe it, you know. I'll just tell you where I'm at. I went from the ecstasy of feeling the love of God, to what? I just totally in the flesh. One second. Well, that's the truth. I went, what? The receptionist goes, I really hate to interrupt you. But Bob Jones is on the line, and he says he's just heard the audible voice of God for you right now. And I figure, audible voice of God? I mean, Bob Jones has a pretty good track record. Hey, I thought I'd give it a shot. I go, no, no, always. Someone's got an audible voice with a track record, always breaking, no matter what I'm doing. Of course, that's the only time that's ever happened like that. I go, hello, Bob. We probably have a 90-second, 60-second conversation. He says, I only have one minute, literally. He says, I heard the audible voice of the Lord. He said, I heard it like thunder. And he told me, Song of Solomon, chapter 8, verse 6. I'm kneeling with the phone in my hand, with tears, over Song of Solomon, chapter 8, verse 6. He goes, he says, the Lord told me that He's going to talk to you about Song of Solomon, chapter 8, verse 6. I'm listening. I don't say anything. I don't go, wow, it's amazing. I say nothing. I am stunned. He says, but here's the important message. The Lord says that He is going to release the grace for that message across the whole body of Christ. It's way bigger than anything that we're involved in. I'm talking about a sovereign move of God in a hundred different streams, in a thousand different ministries, million ministries, whatever. I mean, all over the earth, He's going to start speaking to hearts about this. And He's going to release grace to enter into this. And He said, and the Lord wanted me to tell you that He wants you to focus on the message of Song of Solomon, 8, 6, all the days of your life. All the days of your life. And He said, there you have it. So I just hang the phone up, and I'm so moved. And I'm just weeping before the Lord. And just never had an experience like that before, or before that, or after that. Nothing quite like that ever. You know, and I love to tell the story that I called my wife a little bit after that. You know, after maybe an hour or so, I said, hey, the most remarkable thing happened. Bob Jones called, and I was at Song of Solomon, 8, 6. I was reading, and the Spirit was touching me. I mean, I've never called my church receptionist and said, don't interrupt me, because the Lord's touching me. I'm ashamed that that's never happened, but it's the only time ever. I said, this was so remarkable. And I said, it's, He said, Song of Solomon, 8, 6, that that's what He's gonna do in the body of Christ. Beloved, this is for you. This is for your children. This is for your grandchildren. This is for the Nazarenes, the Presbyterians, the Assembly of God, the non-denominational, the born-again Catholics. It's for everybody across the earth. Whatever language they use, if they love Jesus, this is for them. All the tribes of the earth, in the, I mean, in the streams of the body of Christ. And the reason I say that, some folks have said, oh, it's for you guys. No, no, no, it's way bigger than anything we're a part of. It's, it's a global thing that the Lord's doing. So I told my wife this, and, and she was so excited. I said, she goes, you heard the audible voice of the Lord? Again, a 60-second conversation, probably. I don't even say anything to Bob. I said, thank you, and I hung up. I didn't even, He said, I'll talk to you later. And it was so moving. And, and so then, for the first time, in a serious way, I'm going to read the Song of Solomon. I mean, because, I mean, the Lord didn't say the book of Song of Solomon is your focus. He said the chapter 8, verse 6 and 7. Actually, it was verse 6 and 7. It was that theme, which is really the message of the first commandment. It's really what it is. And it's, it's not necessarily the book of Song of Solomon. Folks have asked me, how come you don't teach it more? I go, really, it's the first commandment that I'm locked into. And that's just a, Song of Solomon is a great love song that, that enhances our ability to understand and walk in the first commandment. But, so then I read the book, and I am horrified. Now, I'd read it before, you know, in the sense of, as a youth pastor to make jokes in the junior high meeting. I'd read it, but I, I didn't actually understand it or grasp it. And I just, you know, I'm reading, perfume, perfume, body parts, perfume, flowers, flowers, body parts, perfume. And I, I mean, it's, it's kind of funny now, but it was like, huh. Like, no way. No way. And I, I get home that night, and my wife Diane says, boy, this is an amazing day. I said, well, sort of. She goes, what do you mean sort of? Your audible voice of the Lord. The moment you're reading it, the Spirit's touching you. A divine direction from God. I mean, what more do you want? I go, have you read the Song of Solomon? She goes, yeah, it's amazing. I go, give it to the women's ministry. I said, I'm not interested. I said, really, I'm not. I, I just, it isn't interesting to me. And she says, well, I, I think you better change your attitude about that. And, and, and over time, I just read it by faith. You know, just, I said, Lord, let me at least get a feeling for this. And over a little bit of time, then it all began to, I began to understand. It's the message of the first commandment. This speaks of the message of God's love. Song of Solomon 8.6. Let's read paragraph G. It speaks of Jesus as the Bridegroom King. The, the message of Jesus as Bridegroom King. And the message of the first commandment being embraced as first place in the body of Christ. So when I think about the, what the message is that God is wanting, he's called me to focus on. And I'm only telling you about this call in my world to focus on, because I believe there's many of you that are called to focus on that message. That's the only reason I'm saying it. Because I believe that, that though where there's many themes we preach in the grace of God, many themes, that I believe that in the grace of God, the absolute pinnacle of the grace of God is God loves us with all of his heart and it awakens in us love for him with all of our heart. That is to me the high point of the grace of God. So the message, and I'm going to pray for some of you at the end of this, that, that God is calling you to make this your, not your only message, not your only, but your primary focal point. And your, because everybody has a teaching ministry. You may not teach on a microphone. You may not teach outside of one-on-one in a conversational way called fellowship and discipling people. But everybody, whether you're encouraging or you're talking to a new believer, everybody is teaching one way or the other. They really are if they're actively involved with the word of God and they want to speak it with their mouth. And so whether you're teaching your children or the neighbor children or to a few people on through the social media or a lot of people or a few friends that you meet with regularly, you pray with them, you're actually, you do have a teaching ministry. And so don't think of, well, I don't have a, you know, a congregation, so I'm not, this can't apply to me. Yes, it can. This, God, the Lord wants some of you in this room to make this your primary focus. And we're going to pray about that at the end. But when we think of what is the message that is the Song of Solomon 8, 6 message, it's God's love, many facets. It's Jesus is a bridegroom king and the first commandment being embraced in first place. Now you all know, and we can't say it too many times, the first commandment always leads to the second commandment. If we're really walking in the first commandment, you will overflow to the second. Those two commandments are so deeply intertwined and you cannot separate them. The reason I say that, I've had folks have this completely artificial argument of, well, we're really into the first commandment and that group's into the second commandment or however the other way around. Our group is second commandment. We don't really do the first commandment. I go, impossible. The whole thing is, is so, it's just, well, I don't want to say ridiculous. That's not very nice. It's just so not helpful. How's that? And, uh, meaning you can't do the first, second commandment, love one another well, if you're not pursuing the first, you'll get so burnt out and you will get so stuck and disappointed and you'll feel betrayed and people put you down and, and your spirit will get dull. If you're trying to do the first commandment without the second commandment, love one another without the first commandment, you'll end up with no power. You'll end up with no ability to stay with it. And if you do the first commandment, your hearts will get tender and touched. It might, it will explode. Out of you, you will want to invest in people. It's impossible to touch that man who sits at the right hand of the father and not love like he loves in an ever increasing way if you're really touching him. And so don't have this. Don't let anybody get you off track thinking if you're, you got to pick between those two commandments. Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Top of page two coming up victorious and victory. Who is this coming up leaning on her beloved? Well, uh, I was in the, uh, the prayer room today and they were right when I was writing this. I mean, here I am writing. So I'm going to write right here on page two and I'm just typing. And so Lisa Gottschall and her team, they start singing, who is this coming up from the wilderness leaning on her beloved? I go, well, this is helpful. And they said, we know the end of the story. We will come up from the wilderness. I went, okay, we know the end of the story. We will come up. Well, it's kind of cheating, you know, just to get your stuff direct from the worship team. It's happened many times actually. And I got a number of other phrases. They just stayed with it. I said, Hey, it ain't broke. Don't fix it. I was just listening to them pray and singing, just typing in words as they were singing for real. This is how it works. But we do know the end of the story. Beloved, do you have faith? I don't mean for the body of Christ only for you to come up victorious in love. Is that a vision you have for you? Is this something that is that you think about? You talk to the Lord about it. Lord, it's my destiny. It's my calling to come up victorious from the testings of the wilderness of this fallen world. The disappointments, the pain, the setbacks, the temptations, the bitterness, the temptations of all these other things. Do I have a vision? Do I see myself in verse five? Paragraph B, the wilderness speaks of the testings and temptations in the wilderness of this fallen world. And we all have those testings, those setbacks, those disappointments. But I got a vision. I'm coming up. I'm not going to let them change the conversation in my soul with God. The conversation in my soul is not going to change by the grace of God from I'm coming up in victory in love to I can't believe they did that. And if that's the way they treat people and if that's the way it's going to be, well, I'll tell you, I am not letting that conversation get inside this inner sanctuary. That is for other folks that have no vision for where they're going spiritually. But if you have a vision for going somewhere spiritually, when they do it bad and don't give you this or they don't give you that or they didn't give you the recognition or they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, your vision is you're coming up in victory. That's the only vision you got. And you understand they didn't treat you right, but you're not letting that dominate your soul. No, it's not changing your internal conversation. Well, she coming up, she's a paragraph C is victorious in love. Victorious in love is that she faced the bitterness. She faced the mistreatment. She faced the temptation. She faced the money. She faced the lack of the money, the too much money. I mean, well, not too much, but I'm talking about the yielding the temptation to use money outside the will of God is what I mean by that. And but she comes up victorious. Now it's a sign of spiritual maturity. This is important. Paragraph C to see more of our pride and our weakness. The more we, the deeper we get in God, the more of our pride and our weakness we will see. The further I go in God, the more clearly I see my pride. When I had the most pride, I, and I had a lot came by it honestly from a, from a grandpa, uh, Adam, I inherited it. But when I had the most pride, I saw it the least and as I grow more in the Lord, I see my pride more clearly than ever and 10 years from now and 10 years from now, I will see it more clear by the grace of God than I see it now. My weakness. So when somebody comes and says the, the idea that I'm doing something wrong or I'm, or I'm a, got an attitude that's wrong. It's not like, how dare you? It's like, well, of course. Yeah, I'm, I'm for that. That's not scandalous. Yeah. Help me see my blind spots. I'm desperate to get through those blind spots. Not, you know, defensive and offended that you suggested. I'm not perfect. Like what? Some folks are so defensive. If somebody suggests they're doing something wrong, assume you're doing many things deficient in love, many things. And when somebody points it out, give them 10 bucks and say, thank you. Thank you. I need more people like you around me. I need because of course you're deficient in love. Of course you're deficient in humility. Of course. But our problem is we don't see it. And when somebody gives it to us, even if they've got a bad spirit, man, give them 10 bucks. Anyway, that's gold for you. That's gold in your pocket. Well, the paradox of grace is that we see, uh, we see ourself as weak in the flesh, but we see ourself as strong and beautiful in the grace of God. Of course, the song starts off that way. I'm dark, but lovely. That's the paradox of grace that we see. The more clearly we see, we see how weak we are in our flesh, but we see how beautiful we are to God. And we see the strength of the indwelling spirit who lives in our spirit. I mean, Paul, the apostle, look here at first Timothy one. I mean, this is a paradox. Verse 12. He says, the Lord counted me faithful. The Lord counted you faithful. Could you imagine having the Holy Spirit in a very real way, saying the father counts you faithful like, Whoa, I can't think of anything more powerful than that, that he had a witness from the spirit that the father said your life is faithful. Then he goes on to say, the grace of God was abundant. I feel the power of God in my life. Verse 15, Jesus came in the world to save sinners of whom I'm chief, but I'm more aware of my sin that I've ever been before as a chief apostle. I under this is not a false humility statement. Paul, here he is in a mature apostle. He sees his sin far more now than he did at the beginning. But he knows God counts him faithful. So it's that paradox. He says, Oh, I'm going with all of my heart, but I'm still deficient in the way I think I'm deficient in the way that I love. I want to grow more. I see the deficiency more, but I see the abundance of grace and and it's a paradox of grace. And the reason I'm talking about this, because as you're coming up out of the wilderness, you're leaning, you're more aware of how you are tenaciously drawing your life and strength from that man, because you have no life and strength to walk in love and humility and righteousness without tenaciously taking hold of him, clinging on him, talking to him. I mean, interacting with him, filling your mind with the word, putting things aside because you're saying, no, I know I need to be leaning on him, talking to him, interacting with him more. He is my strength and I'm deficient without that living connection. And it's not enough just to have the spirit living in me. I need to be talking and interchanging and interacting with him for this thing to for the abundance of grace to be my experience. Well, paragraph D, this leaning, this leaning heart speaks of the church cultivating a leaning heart or abiding in Christ. It's really the language of Jesus. It's abiding in Christ. Leaning on him includes talking with him, that ongoing conversation that we need to intentionally foster and create that dialogue. It talks, it includes looking to him. It includes trusting his leadership. And we don't do this well without doing it intentionally, meaning we don't just kind of automatically talk to him and look to him and trust his leadership without intentionally developing the conversation and spending time with the word and talking to him from the word. That leaning is talking about the abiding in Christ life. Paragraph 1, leaning involves looking to the indwelling spirit as our source of power. Looking to the indwelling spirit as we feed on the word. We're reading the word, talking to the Holy Spirit, saying, and I can't live without doing this. The only possible way I can come up in victory is leaning on you, drawing on you, interacting with you. We don't trust our discipline. I don't trust my prayer life. I trust the person that my prayer life gets me in contact with. It's not my prayer life that I trust. I don't trust fasting. I don't trust any of the spiritual disciplines. I trust the person I'm talking to, God the Holy Spirit. I don't trust my past victories. I mean I might have tremendous breakthroughs a month ago or a year ago in an area. I don't trust those victories. Those victories, when you have a breakthrough in your heart, that breakthrough is not static. It's not there till the end. That breakthrough can be lost quickly. I don't trust yesterday's victories, but neither do I trust yesterday's failures. I really blew it a month ago. I was stuck a year in that. I'm not going to stay stuck in that. I'm trusting the person who dwells in me. I'm talking to him, and I trust in him. Therefore, I'm talking to him because I have no thought of making this thing work without interacting with him. So don't trust your discipline. Don't trust your victories. Don't trust your failures. Paragraph 4. Now we have a natural resistance to leaning. Our unrenewed mind naturally wants to just get on with the work of the kingdom without interacting with him in an ongoing way. Just to do his work and talk to him a little bit here and there along the way, but not really to lean. Not to develop that tenacious clinging to him, that interaction with him. But the Lord has this way of knocking away the props that we lean on. We, by nature, we have props that we get comfort from. We have props that we get a feeling of success, a feeling of significance, and it's outside of our relationship with him. And the Lord comes and says, you know what? You're leaning on that, and that's keeping you from leaning on me. So because I love you, why don't I pry your little hands off of that and show you the true grandness of who I am to you and who you are to me. No, I want to lean on how people esteem me or lean upon my position of authority. Am I getting more and more sphere of influence? Are more and more people appreciating me? The Lord says, that is a distraction. I mean, it's good that people appreciate you. Don't lean on that. And the way you know you're leaning on it is when somebody disturbs it. When somebody steps into your area and wants some of your authority. They want some of your honor. They don't give you what's due you. What? The Lord says, there you go. You're leaning on it. You're leaning on it. That's the alarm system. Lean on me. Don't lean on that. Let me, because I love you, let me take this out of your hands. And so I just said, okay Lord, take it out of my hands. Just do it slow. Do it nice. Tell me all the time how much you love me as you're taking it out of my hands. But again, if you get defensive and if you get like, how dare them touch my area? That means you're leaning on that for significance, not leaning on the Lord. Well, in paragraph E, I developed the leaning a little bit more, but I'm going to move on to page 3. So now the premier passage, not the premier passage, but the passage in that prophetic encounter that was prominent when the Lord was speaking. Because verse 6 really needs verse 5. Because it's when you get the vision to come up from the wilderness, you're going to have victory over the disappointments, victory over the temptations, victory over the setbacks, victory over the temptation with bitterness. Because we're leaning, we're hanging on to him. So now the king says, okay, okay, you're leaning on me. Therefore set me as the seal. Let me, he's developing this, what leaning really means. Let me be the seal on your heart. This is the king speaking to the bride. The bride asked the king to set her, to set her heart in arm with his fiery love. Because he wants to put a seal of love on her heart, which speaks of her mind and emotions, but he wants to put a seal of love on her arm, which speaks of her ministry. Meaning that her ministry is going to be focused on this as well. What happens often is we get involved, our arm so to speak, our active service for the Lord. We get so involved in our active service, we actually lose our connection with the love of God. We get so involved in serving God that we're not imparting the love of God, we're just building our ministries. And the Lord says, no, I want to seal your arm too. I want you to have a ministry that imparts love and a ministry that as you do it, you grow in love while you're doing the work of the ministry. Which is, I don't have the verse here, but Colossians chapter 1, verse 10 and 11, where Paul prayed that as we do the work of the ministry, we would increase in the knowledge of God. That our intimacy would actually increase while we're serving others, instead of our intimacy decrease while we're serving. And that is, that's a challenge. Because in order to do that, we've got to really be locked in to His heart. In order to grow in love while we're serving people. Because we can get so focused on how the people are receiving us. Whether they're not receiving us well, or their attitude's not right, or things get changed in how it looks. And we can get lost in the process when it comes to the seal of God not being on our arm. Where our ministry is not beckoning us more and more into the love of God. But anyway, here in verse 6, see He says, Because love, and it means in the New Testament context, God's love. It is as strong as death. And death is really strong. Death claims everything. That's the, everything living dies. And He says, I want to put a love so strong on your heart, that just like death in the natural realm, nothing escapes death. No living being escapes death. I'm talking about in this age. Nobody escapes death. Death is comprehensive, is the idea. And the Lord is saying here, I have a love that's so strong, that it's like death. It will encompass everything in your life. Nothing will escape its grasp. That's how strong it is. And He goes on, He says the same thing again. The same thing in a different way. He says, it's a jealousy. And He's talking about God's jealousy. God's loving, His tender jealousy is as cruel. And the word cruel, I don't believe is the best word here. It's a jealousy that is as demanding as the grave. Now the grave is cruel in the sense nobody skips it. It claims everything. And that's why the word cruel is being used here in the New King James translation. But it's talking about a jealousy as demanding as the grave is. Nothing escapes its grasp. God has a jealousy for your life. He says, I can conquer pornography in your life. I can conquer bitterness in your life. I can conquer all kinds of issues in your heart. My love can conquer them. There's nothing bigger than my love. That I don't care how powerful it is, my love is more powerful. My love is more demanding than even the grave is. I can pull you into the liberty of love, no matter where you're stuck right now, is the underlying message. It's flames, the flame of God's love. It's a flame of divine fires, is the meaning in the love poetry here. It's a most vehement flame, a very, very powerful flame. Vehement would be very powerful. Then he goes on to say, he goes, I am, this love is so strong, it's so demanding, meaning nothing is outside of its sphere if you will yield to the love of God. He says, well, let's take water, verse 7. Now water normally puts out fire. I mean, if you have fire, but you've got enough water, the fire goes out. Fire always puts out water. I said it backwards, didn't I? Water always puts out fire, always. But what the poetic language here is that there is a fire that even water can't put out. There's no sin too powerful. There's no sin that's more powerful than this love. When this love is submitted to, when this love is pursued and understood, he says, many waters can't quench this love. Many waters can't. Nor can floods drown it. Somebody says, well, we bring a fire hose out. Well, let's bring a flood. Let's have, you know, the greatest flood in history. I guarantee you'll put that water. If the flood's big enough and the spirit says through this poetic language, no. No matter how great the flood is, there is a fire that's more powerful than anything that can come against it. That's what's being offered here. Then he goes on and he gives this very powerful proverb. It's a proverb to illustrate how powerful love is. For if a man would give for love all the wealth of his house, it would be utterly despised. And the idea of this is the example I've used over the years. You know, the young couple, they find out their little two or three-year-old child has this terminal disease. But the disease, a very, very serious disease, the little child's going to die. But if they get the exact right care, the right care, very expensive, that the daughter's life could be spared. The little girl could be spared. And so the young couple, they're wealthy. They go and they find out they've got to sell their house. They've got to sell their family. They've got to cash in their family inheritance. They've got to empty all their bank accounts. I mean, it cost them everything. But the daughter got saved. I mean, the medical procedure was expensive. It's that one kind of rare thing that it would cost everything to get the daughter saved. The daughter's saved. And then somebody comes up and says, man, you are the most amazing parents. I hear that it cost you millions. You sold out everything for your daughter. You are so amazing. And the man and the woman would say, we utterly despise the recognition that we are amazing. We did it for love. Love is our reward. We didn't do it for recognition. And that's what it's saying here. If they gave up all the wealth of their house for love, they would despise the recognition that they did anything special or noble because the cause of love is so much more noble than the recognition for the sacrifice. That's what this little proverb is saying. Paragraph C. The seal is progressive. It's a progressive impartation of the Holy Spirit. It's our present tense relationship with the Holy Spirit. It's not just that we're born again and the Holy Spirit lives in us. I mean, that is amazing. I'll never get over that. God the Holy Spirit lives in my spirit. And that is the most remarkable reality. But I need to interact with him. This seal on the heart is about my interaction with him to where the inspiration that's in my spirit is touching my mind and my emotions. It's touching my arm. My ministry is the idea as well. I'm not losing ground when I'm involved in ministry. I'm not losing ground in the spirit. I'm actually gaining ground. Now in the ancient world, paragraph 1, a king would put a seal of wax around a document. So they would have just picture like a document and a scroll rolled up, and they would put this encasement of wax around the document. And then the king would put his signet ring, the king's seal, in that wax encasement while the wax was still, had not yet dried. And the king would put his signet ring, his mark, which would be like his signature, and that royal seal spoke of the king's ownership over whatever's in that document. The king says, I am protecting it. I am guaranteeing it. I own it. It's backed up by the power of my kingdom. That's what a seal is. When a royal seal was on a document, the armies of that kingdom would back up whatever was in that document. Well, the Lord says, I'm putting my seal on your heart, and I will back it up with the power of my kingdom. I promise you with all the authority of what I possess, I will fulfill what I'm sealing your heart for. And in this age, of course, in the resurrection, this is ultimately fulfilled for everybody. But, beloved, I want to walk in this now more and more. I'm not interested in just getting a bigger ministry or a more comfortable lifestyle or setup. I want to grow in this seal. And this is what the Lord is promising, just because it's the first commandment, not because Bob Jones heard it audibly at the moment when I was reading it. That only strengthens my weak faith that the Lord is saying, hey, I'm really emphasizing how much I want you to believe this. I mean, I could have believed it just because Jesus said the first commandment is first. I mean, that's enough to believe it because he said it. But when in our weak faith, the Lord allows a supernatural thing to happen, the real Lord, he goes, hey, it's in my word. Again, we don't trust prophetic experiences. We trust the Bible, but they help us to see the Bible and lay hold of it in a more tenacious way. So paragraph D, to set me, Jesus, we're to set him intentionally by asking him to strengthen us. And again, it's progressively imparted to us. Paragraph 1, by the very definition of love, we have to invite the seal. The very fact that it's a seal of love, it's not mandatory. We could say, I don't want that. I'm not going after it. And the Lord says, I'm not forcing you. It's a seal of love by definition. I'm not going to force you to love me. But if you want more of this, I will touch you more. If you can't live without it, you will go deep in this. Now in the New Testament, paragraph 2, Paul the apostle applies this principle. He calls it putting on the Lord Jesus. Putting on the Lord Jesus. You know, in Song of Solomon, chapter 8, verse 6, it's setting, set me as the seal. Put me on your heart. And it means that we're interacting with Jesus according to his word. Now in paragraph E, we put Jesus as a seal on our heart by seeking him. In earnest, in various ways. And I don't have it all comprehensive here. It includes prayer. It includes times of fasting. Fasting is important. Having done fasting over the years here and there, some seasons more than other seasons. But I tell you, fasting tenderizes your heart. You don't have to fast. You don't. You don't have to fast at all. But if you do fast, some, in the grace of God, and you have confidence in God, not in your fasting. You have confidence in the indwelling spirit. Your heart will be tenderized. You will receive more, not because you earned it. Because you put your cold heart in front of the bonfire. And the bonfire causes that frozen heart to get tender and to thaw out. And it melts right before the fire. If these activities, meditating on the word obedience, if they're done in faith. They're done with confidence in grace. Look at paragraph E. They position our heart. We don't have confidence in prayer and fasting. We have confidence in the indwelling spirit and his graciousness. Because of the cross of Jesus and the power of the gospel. The graciousness of God dwelling in us. But he says, put yourself before me. Let me touch you more. Put on Christ Jesus in that way. Top of page 4. Again, I can't say it too many times. Paragraph G. Prayer and fasting are not the seal. Our interaction with the spirit is not the seal. It's the release of the spirit when we interact with him. It's the spirit's activity touching our mind and emotions. That's the seal in this poetic language. Paragraph H. This seal is as strong as death. God's love in us is as strong or comprehensive. The idea of strong means comprehensive. Again, death claims everything. Paragraph 1. Everything in the natural realm is claimed by death. Everything living in the natural realm. The idea, number 2, is the takeaway point. God won't allow any area to escape the grasp. If you're struggling with bitterness, you're struggling with anger, you're struggling with loss, you're struggling with rejection, you're struggling with loneliness, you're struggling with a sense of failure. He says, just like death claims everything in the natural, my love will claim everything in spiritual power. I have power over all that. Let me bring you into victory over it. That's what he's saying. He's saying a very positive thing. He's saying, I'll go after every one of those areas with you if you want me to. I mean, nothing will escape my grasp. Everything will be brought under the influence of my love if that's what you want. And that's called the seal of love. What a glorious reality. Paragraph I. It's as jealous. It's like jealousy. It's as cruel as the grave, as demanding as the grave. He's saying the same thing again, as strong as death. It's as jealous or as cruel or demanding as the grave. God is a consuming fire. He demands everything, just like the grave demands everything. God wants it, but more than the fact that God wants everything under the power of His love, His love is powerful enough to conquer everything, is what he's saying here. It's just not that God wants it. It's that love is so powerful, nothing can escape its grasp, just like nothing in the natural realm escapes the grasp of death. Down in paragraph I, the Lord jealously wants all of our heart, because He loves us perfectly. He doesn't want our heart so He can be our boss. He's already our boss. He's the boss of everyone in hell. He didn't want our heart to be our boss. He's already boss. He says, I want the relationship. I love you. I want every part of you. We cry out, Lord, we want more. We want more. And the Holy Spirit would say, God, I, the Lord, I want more. I want more. And so both of us are in this cry. I want more, says Mike to the Lord. And the Lord says to Mike, I want more too. We're having the same conversation. We're in perfect agreement. Let's give each other more. Now the Lord already gave it all to us, but I'm talking about we want to experience more, is what that prayer means by I want more. Okay. Paragraph K. Paragraph K. Middle of page 4. Its flames are most vehement or most powerful. Most powerful flames. There is no sin more powerful than the love of God, when the love of God is continually submitted to with confidence. If we have faith in the grace of God and the love of God, which is identical, we have confidence in the grace of God. There is no temptation. There is no sin. There is no lust. There is no bitterness. There is no disappointment that is stronger than this vehement, powerful flame, if we will yield to it. John the Baptist said, look at Luke chapter 3, verse 16. He said, Jesus will baptize you. He'll baptize you with fire. And this fire is not judgment. He's talking about that anointing of the Holy Spirit to reveal and impart love. And in Acts chapter 2, the 120 in the upper room, I mean they got a token of that fire as the Holy Spirit fire rested on them. Okay. I'm going to hit the ones where I have the fill in the blanks, and we'll end with that, and then we'll pray for you in just a minute. But I'm going to look at these and cover them. Paragraph L. Many waters. Because I've already covered the principles. Many waters. This fire cannot be quenched by the water of sin. It cannot be quenched by the waters of pressure. It cannot be quenched by the waters of persecution. I mean the people stand against you, even friends and believers. Oh, I'm bitter. I'm hurt. I'm lost. I'm mad. The Lord says, no, no, don't let the water put the fire out. There's a fire in you stronger than that water. Don't yield to that. Get a vision to come up leaning on your beloved in victory over the wilderness. Top of page 5. Well, I've already covered this principle in verse 7, that if a man would give for love all the wealth of his house, he would utterly despise the recognition that he did something noble, because the reward for love is the ability to love. That's the reward of love. When you really love, the reward is loving more. That's the power of love. You'd rather, for one who really loves, they would rather love more than get anything else. They may end up getting a lot of other things, but the power, the reward of love is love. The highest reward of love is found in possessing the ability to love more. The ability to love more. Paragraph B. Those who are wealthy in love don't look at price tags. I mean, you look at somebody really wealthy, they go to the store and they don't go to the store and say, like, $80. Oh, this one's $70. It's $80. Somebody that's wealthy, they don't look at price tags. They go, well, I'll take the whole store, I'll take the whole chain, matter of fact. You know, I've got billions. I'm not worried about it. When we're wealthy in love, we don't examine the price tag. You know, the Lord asked me to do this or that assignment, or to give up that, or to humble myself, or to serve somebody of lesser stature. Beloved, when we love the Lord, we don't care what the assignment is. We don't look at price tags. Well, that's a little bit hard. I don't want to do that one. I mean, what if I don't get the honor? Man, when we love, there is no price tag. The reward for love is love. Paragraph A. Anybody can quit except a person in love. You can quit unless you love. You know, I could say, Lord, I don't like this assignment. I don't like this dilemma in ministry. I don't like this issue in my life. But I can't quit. I love you. That's the problem. You got me. You got me. I love you. I can't quit. I would quit. I promise I would quit. But I love you. I can't quit. And what do I mean by quit? Pressing in. Pressing in to God and pressing in to the assignment he gave you. The assignment's hard. There's not the good response. I can't quit. I love him. He told me to do it. But if you would have just not told me to do it if I didn't love you, oh, I could quit. I could be like other guys and just quit and draw back and live for myself. And that's, and I'm not talking about me versus them. I'm talking about, I'm just personifying the conversation. That's the language. That's the conversation we have to the Lord, with the Lord. Well, look at, I'm going to leave you with this. But Roman numeral 5, chapter 8, verse 8 to 14, the most neglected part of the Song of Solomon. And it is powerful. Chapter 8, verse 8 to 14 is often overlooked and thought, well, whatever. And it is powerful because what happens in paragraph 8, and I'm just going to end with this. The love song tells the story of how the maiden grew until she became a bride filled with fire, the fire of God. Now she reveals how she sees herself. Now she's marked by the fire of God. And now she gives, line by line, how she interprets that God sees her and how she sees herself. This is her identity. This is her intercession, the revelation of who she sees herself in God. And it's a powerful passage of Scripture. Chapter 8, verse 8 to 14. I don't mean my version is powerful. I mean the Scripture is powerful. And so I want to urge you, don't cast that aside and say, well, that's, you know, seems a little bit strange. No, go after this one. It's beautiful and it's glorious. Amen and amen. Let's stand.