Mike Bickle emphasizes the spiritual beauty of Christ as depicted in Song of Solomon 5:10-16, contrasting it with the natural beauty of a husband. He highlights how the Apostle Paul viewed the excellency of Christ as a motivation for radical obedience, urging believers to see Jesus more clearly to deepen their devotion. The bride's lovesickness for her beloved, despite trials and disappointments, serves as a model for unwavering love and pursuit of Christ. Bickle encourages believers to recognize the incomparable beauty and attributes of Jesus, which should inspire a deeper relationship with Him. Ultimately, he calls for a commitment to prioritize Christ above all other loves in life.

As well as the well-known facts of the agriculture and the reality of the life that was commonly known in that day and the meaning is not so mysterious. So we're not looking so much at the beauty of a natural husband. Ladies, you might try this out on your husband. It may not go as good as you hope. But we really want to look at this in terms of the spiritual beauty of King Jesus and what he's really like. Well, Paul the Apostle said it the clearest. Philippians chapter 3. He said, I count everything loss. I give up everything gladly. What motivated Paul to give up everything gladly? He said it was the excellency of the man. The man Christ Jesus. He said, I saw his magnificence, his beauty, his splendor. And the more I saw of him, the easier it was to let go of things that get between me and him. This is the key to wholehearted, radical obedience to the Lord. Is to see him more clearly as he is. I've prayed over the years when I look at this passage, Philippians 3, 8. And that's a passage you want to be real familiar with. You want to go to it often. I say, Lord, let me see what Paul saw and I could pursue you like he did. My ministry won't look the same outwardly, but I could be as radical in my devotion inwardly. Let me see what he saw and I could pursue you like he did. And I believe that this is the key to your own life. And the people that you're sowing into and encouraging. Their problem could always be traced back to a deficiency of understanding of who the man is that they're serving. He's fully God, he's fully man. To see him more clearly, they will pursue him with greater urgency and greater energy. Paragraph B. Well, we're jumping right in the middle of a very important part of the Song of Solomon, chapter 5. As you know, in this series, we're not going verse by verse, but I'm taking themes. I'm approaching it differently than I have in the past. But what's happening in chapter 5 here, before verse 8 and 9, which we're going to read in a moment, is the bride has just encountered the most severe testing in her spiritual life. She has had very painful disappointments. And the daughters of Jerusalem, which speaks of other believers that aren't as mature as her, they wanted to see how she would respond. And so after this test, this severe disappointment, this sense of loss and setback, she says the most remarkable thing in verse 8. I mean, you'd expect her to say, woe is me. But she said, oh, daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, tell him I'm lovesick. I'm not offended at him. I haven't lost my zeal. I'm pained in my love to encounter him more. I'm lovesick. This was so remarkable. Because in verse 9, the daughters of Jerusalem said, how can this be? Why aren't you angry? Why aren't you offended? What is your beloved? What do you know about him that we don't know? What is your beloved? More than all the other beloveds in life, that you charge us to go help you find him. I mean, when somebody has a hard time, they struggle with drawing back from the Lord, disappointed with the Lord, being offended at the Lord, giving up on the Lord. But the bride says, no, I'm lovesick. And this, the daughters, those observing, couldn't understand. What do you see in him that we don't see? What is your beloved? More than all the other loves in life. What are you experiencing at the heart level that's more powerful than the things we naturally love? You know, blessing and promotion and favor and all those things that are good. Well, what does it mean to be lovesick? Well, she's pained with longing for a deeper encounter. She's not offended. She wants more. To be lovesick is to be pained over anything that gets in the way, that hinders her love, her compromise, her, her lethargy, anything. She's, I'm pained by anything that would get in the way. That's what lovesick is. Let's look at Roman number two. Well, we're going to get just a quick snapshot of the passage. So you kind of get the two minute view of it. And then we'll look at it a little bit more in detail. But even tonight, it's only a most casual view of this often neglected, overlooked goldmine. Song of Solomon chapter five, verse 10 to 16. I mean, these seven verses are so dynamic. I encourage you to feast on them often. Well, in paragraph a, just so you understand the passage and this poetic passage, this love song filled with poetry, the bride is conveying 10 different characteristics or aspect of the King's beauty. Like I said, in the natural love song, she's talking about his physical beauty, but in the spiritual interpretation, we're looking at his spiritual beauty, his personality, what he's like. Now, interesting that she describes 10 parts of the human body, but she's using agricultural images as well as references to the temple of Solomon, Solomon's temple. Now she's a farm girl. So the language of her heart is agriculture. He's the King who built a tremendous temple, the worship center of the earth. So she affirms him in ways that she's familiar with and moves her gardens and flowers and animals and those kinds of things. Like I said, I wouldn't try this out on your husband unless you really work it through carefully. And she speaks to him in the language of his heart as well. The glorious temple of Solomon, because she's talking to King Solomon in the natural love story. Paragraph B. Well, it starts off. She makes a general statement of the King's incomparable beauty. Then she makes 10 specific statements about his characteristics, his attributes. And then she ends with a grand summary statement. So she starts off. This is only abbreviated here in the notes. We'll look at it in a little bit more detail in a minute. She starts off with a general statement. My beloved, here she is. Remember, she's come through the most severe trial of her life. My beloved, he's radiant. I like the word radiant and chief among 10,000. There's no one like him. Her opening statement. Then she talks about his head. It's like finest gold. His hair, his locks, his eyes. Verse 13, his cheeks are like beds of spices. His lips like lilies. His hands like rods of gold. His body like carved ivory. His legs like pillars of marble. His countenance like Lebanon. His mouth is most sweet. And now she gives the summary statement. Yes. She says, this is my beloved. He is altogether lovely. There is no imperfection in him. There's nothing he can't improve on. He is altogether lovely. Well, here in the notes, I just give you just a little snapshot of what each of these mean in the spiritual sense. And you can develop these meanings. I mean, it's poetry. So you can have several layers and different applications of these different 10 descriptions. Let's go to the top of page two. Now, before we look at it, I want to give you some practical application of what are you going to do with these seven verses. Verses 10 to 16. As you become familiar with these verses, and I urge you to become familiar with them. It will be like a arsenal, a weapon you can use against the lies of the devil. The enemy comes and he constantly wants to obscure the beauty and the splendor of God from our hearts seeing it. He lies to us constantly about God. And you want to take the word of God, you want to say it right back to the enemy and say, it is written. And you don't have to use the poetry here, but you use the truths that are behind this poetry. But you get familiar with the poetry. You'll just say it right back to the devil. He'll know what you're talking about. But I use this passage first to speak to Jesus. I mean, he understands this better than anybody. I like to tell him, Lord, your head is like finest gold. Your leadership, your sovereign leadership cannot be improved upon. So we talk to him in this language, whether you use the poetry or not, is not my point. You talk to the devil. He lies to us constantly about the personality and the nature of God. You talk to yourself and temptation. Because when the enemy lies to us, we feel tempted or we're discouraged. We need to speak the word of God to our own heart. And fourthly, we talk to other people. We bring these truths to them because these were the truths that caused her from being overcome with fear or condemnation or offense at the Lord in the hour of testing and disappointment. These were the truths she drew on in this poetic love song. Well, paragraph B will start again with a general statement. His beauty, it's radiant, it's incomparable. She says in verse 10, she starts off, my beloved is white and ruddy. He is chief among 10,000. Now the word white in other translations, I like the NIV and a number of Bible translations use this one. He's radiant. Because the idea of white meant dazzling and bright. But you just read white and you think, well, that's not quite good enough. But radiant, dazzling. I think radiant captures it the best. You know, John the apostle described the Lord, his physical appearance as like a Jasper stone, the radiant, brilliant, diamond like Jasper stone. The idea she starts off, my beloved did not fail me. His leadership was not deficient. He's radiant. Then she went on to say he's ruddy. Now ruddy is the same as the word red. Now she's talking to Solomon and Solomon's father, we all know was King David. And it was said of King David in first Samuel 16 that he was ruddy or he had a red complexion was the idea. This speaks of Jesus's humanity. He's not only dazzling and radiant and incomparably beautiful and superior, but he was a man. He understands humanity. He's not so high that he doesn't understand those that are so low. Hebrews chapter four. We do not have a high priest who can't sympathize with our weakness because in every point he was tempted. Every point, every pressure, every category of pressure that we feel he felt maybe different applications, but the categories, he experienced them. The common demand is what the scripture says, but he didn't say it. Isn't it remarkable that the altogether radiant dazzling one, he has sympathy. He looks at our weakness. I love what David said in Psalm 103 that God regards and understands our weakness and our frailty. He doesn't look at us and go, pull your boots up or however that thing goes. Anyway, get with it by your bootstraps. That's it. He doesn't talk to us that way, but with sympathy, he goes, I know. I know the temptations are real. The pressures are real. The attack is real. He doesn't write it off. He's running, but the combination of his incomparable dazzling radiant brilliance as God and his experience as man together. Number three, he's chief among 10,000. That's just a poetic phrase. There is none like him. There's none like him. Revelation five, they were looking all over. Is there any man worthy to take the scroll from the father's hand to take the leadership of the earth? No one is worthy. No one was found worthy. And then they found Saul one. There was a lion that appeared like a lamb who was slain. He was worthy, fully God, fully man. He has the power. He knows God's perspective. He's human. He knows the human struggle and plight. Psalm 45. I love what the psalmist said. You are fairer than the sons of men. It's a verse we sing a lot in the prayer room. You are fair. You are more beautiful. There is no man of all the sons of men. Jesus, you are beautiful. Beloved, that's a verse you want to say to the devil when he comes and tells you it's not worth it. Give up and give in. Say, he's altogether lovely. There is none like him. He's chief among 10,000. And then she says, I love the word she starts with. She goes, my beloved. Again, she's talking. She's giving her answer after the most challenging trial of her life. She refers to him as the one she loves, not the one that disappointed her, the one she loves. She starts off. Now, our relationship with God, it always starts off with his leadership. The heart behind his leadership says here in paragraph C, his head is like finest gold. Now, the finest gold, this is a reference to Solomon's temple. But our way to overcome fear, the way to overcome offense, the way to overcome disappointment, the way to overcome uncertainty is always to begin with his leadership because that's where the enemy always twists it and tells us his leadership is deficient. He forgot us. He's overlooked us. We're on the back burner, you know, just kind of boiling over and God, oh no, I forgot, you know, I forgot, you're back there boiling over in the fire there. His head, his leadership is finest gold. Now, gold speaks of the divine nature, great value, very rare. Number two, his leadership is finest of the finest. It's the highest degree, the greatest quality, an excellence that has no mixture. His sovereign leadership has no impurity, no deficiency in it at all. Nothing can be added to it. It cannot be improved. This is what the poetic statement means. And I tell you, this is what we say in our heart. This is what we say to God, whether times are good or bad. Your head is like finest gold. Your sovereign leadership is perfect. It's indescribable. It's the highest degree of quality and excellence. Indescribably superior is the idea. When we're in difficulty, our confession must be his head is finest gold. I put that in the notes there. Not that you'll take all the poetic language and use it in your response to the Lord, although I encourage you to. But some of it is a little bit strange to our 21st century mindset. But this one, I love to say it. I love to say, his leadership over my life is perfect. I trust your leadership. Your leadership, your head is finest gold. There's a few things that will equal the pleasure of meditating on the Lord's sovereignty. His sovereignty is total authority. Gives us such comfort. Gives us such assurance. And again, that's the thing that the enemy attacks zealously, nonstop, his leadership. Well, she moves on to the next area, his hair. The King James, the new King James, it's his locks. But all the other translations will say his hair. His hair, his locks are wavy and black as a raven. Now she's going back to the agricultural world. She's going back to the farm. Now the hair in Scripture, just symbolically, when it has a spiritual connotation, it speaks of dedication to God. But it also speaks of dedication to God's people and God's purpose. The Nazarite vow. They cut their hair. They cut their hair. They were making a statement. They were breaking their dedication to God. If they kept their hair long, as the vow said, it was a sign of dedication. Now when she says your hair is wavy, again she's talking to her husband and so she says, boy, your hair looks great. In the love story, that's a good one. You can use that one. Wavy may not work. NIV says bushy. You can try that. Black as raven? Well, it depends. But spiritually, the idea is wavy, thick, black hair is the hair of a young man. And the prime of his life is the idea. It's in contrast to the old man that's lost, his hair's lost its vitality and its fullness. That means he's gray and bald. That's what I'm talking about there. That was a nice way to say that. Okay, hang on. I've got a few spots here. In other words, the point that she's making, the spiritual point, is dedication. It's energetic. It's vigorous. It's the opposite of decay and running out or wearing out. His dedication is wavy. Black as a raven. It's energetic. It's eternally youthful. He never, ever runs out of zeal and energy in his dedication to the Father or dedication to his people. Number three, Jesus' dedication to you. Jesus' dedication to the Father. Now, we assume He's dedicated to the Father. We take that for granted, but that's a glorious reality. Because when the kings and days passed in Israel, were not dedicated to the Father, great trouble came in the kingdom. But our kingdom is secure forever because His dedication is eternally vigorous. Renewed. I mean, it's not renewed. It's never, ever lacks or diminishes. It will never wear out. His dedication to you. Number three, He never changes His moods. He's not in a bad mood. You know, I remember as kids, we have seven kids. I grew up as one of seven kids in our family. Seven out of kids in nine years. So, our parents would come home from work and they're tired. They worked all day and now they got seven of us. You know, with energetic mom, dad, all, you know, piled in the same age as, you know, seven and nine years. Can we have this? Can we have that? And we were conscious. They were really tired. It wasn't the time to ask for something new or for something big. But beloved, you never have to worry when you come to Jesus that He's tired. He's in an off mood. We can approach Him anytime because His hair is wavy and black as a raven. It never decays. It never loses its vitality. It never loses its strength ever. That's what He's like eternally. Let's look at top of page three. Now we go on to the another one. Oh, every one of these are so important. But this is really important. His eyes. His eyes are like doves by rivers of water. Now we're back at the farm again. She kind of goes from the farm to the temple to the farm, agriculture to she's going back and forth between the two worlds. His eyes are like doves. This is probably not that great of a one to use in your honeymoon. But spiritually speaking, dove's eyes, it speaks of His ability to see everything. Speaks of His loyalty because dove's eyes talk about a little bit here in the notes. Doves have amazing number one, they have amazing eyesight, unusually clear perception and ability to see and again, being a farm girl, she understood that. But doves had another characteristic that's well-known is that doves mate for life. They're known for their loyalty. You know, how do you call it? A girl and boy dove or something? Married doves or I don't know how exactly I haven't thought how to say this publicly but two doves, the duals, there you go. In nature, they're close-knit. They work together. Doves have this unusual thing. They look at each other all the time and they mirror each other. What one does, the other does. They're always together, nearly. They're known for the way that they work together and their loyalty to each other. Therefore, they're known as lovebirds. Doves are. So his eyes are not only unusual in perception and insight but his eyes are from a heart of loyalty. He sees through a lens of love. I love dove's eyes. I love this idea. You know, earlier in the song, he said to her, you have dove's eyes. You would be loyal to me. You would look at me and look at life through a lens of loyalty to me. Not through a lens of how you could live in compromise and try to somehow figure out a way to live in compromise and be at peace with that. But you have dove's eyes. When he said that to the bride, that meant she was loyal. When she says it to him, he's talking about his supernatural ability. I'm talking about King Jesus. His omniscience. He has all knowledge. He possesses all knowledge, all wisdom, all understanding. Let's look at paragraph 4. You can read a little bit more of the dove's eyes there in the notes. And again, we're just scratching the surface barely of these glorious themes. Number 4, the middle of page 3. Jesus has perfect knowledge. Every secret is seen by the Lord. It says in Hebrews 4, there's no creature hidden from his sight. But all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we give an account. Now, this verse creates a fear of the Lord. Everything is seen. But beloved, not only is the negative seen, the positive is seen as well. You know, the Lord, and I can give you a number of verses on it, but I won't tonight. The Lord sees the yes in your heart. Even when you're struggling and coming up short. And he sees there was a longing to obey and a determination to obey and the weakness of our flesh. We stumbled in that situation. And the Lord looks at us. And he doesn't say, you hypocrite. He goes, I saw your heart. I really did. I see everything. Not just the bad. I see the good. He sees the yes in our spirit. Now, it's interesting that here in Hebrews 4, 13, it says, no creature is hidden from his eyes. All things are open before him. Everything is naked before him. Meaning, there's no way to hide, no circumstance to cover what we're really doing. He sees everything. That's in Hebrews 4, 13. It was the two verses later we looked at a minute ago. He's a sympathetic high priest. He sympathizes with our weakness. That's the next verse or two. And so this idea that he knows all, but the idea that he has sympathy, they do go together. Because we hear he knows all. We go, oh no. But he goes, but I do understand and I'm on your team. But I am God. Don't be dishonest with me. I mean, it's natural to try to come up with ways to where our compromise, we figure out ways where it's not really compromised. We try to, we can fake ourself out, fake out a few friends, but we'll never fake God out. Ever. I hear some of the arguments that are going around in the body of Christ that it's okay to do this. It's right to do that. You get a bunch of people on Facebook. They say, yeah, we agree. We can fake each other out. We can pat each other on the back, affirm each other and compromise, but we can never fake God out. Ever. I look at some of the mindsets and even in the body of Christ, I go, we're before him who sees everything bare like it really is. There's no argument. It doesn't matter what seminary or group of people all vote for something. What he says is truth. It says here in Proverbs 15, the eyes of the Lord are in every place keeping watch on evil and good. This is again one of those really life-changing realities in our life when we settle it. We're living before his eyes. That's what the fear of the Lord is. In one sentence, you know, I may not describe the fear of the Lord more than one sentence, but if someone said, give me one sentence on the fear of the Lord, I would say the awareness that God's watching. That's the fear of the Lord. Not just to avoid evil, but he sees every intention of good. The fear of the Lord is a wonderful thing. The fact that in secret you're saying yes, but it matters. That's part of the fear of the Lord. But let's look at a very important passage. I'll be very brief on it because this isn't the point tonight. Jesus highlights his supernatural perception of his eyes when he was talking to the church here, Thyatira. He was talking about the immorality going on in the church. There's never been an hour that I know of in history where there's more immorality in the church. And the Lord stepped out of heaven and visited John on the island of Patmos, appeared to him, or John went there, or Jesus went to him one way or the other. They were face to face. Verse 18, Jesus said, These things the Son of God says to this church. Verse 18, Revelation 2, he goes, Go tell them I have eyes like fire. I can see through anything. My eyes can penetrate anything. There is nothing that I can't see through. He starts very positive in verse 19. He goes, I know your work. You're doing the work of the ministry. He goes, I love it. I know your love. Your costly way you're helping other people and it costs you. He goes, I know that. I love that. I see your service, your faith, your patience. Patience means perseverance. He goes, I see where it's hard. You don't quit. He goes, That moves me. My eyes see everything and the church is so blessed by this message. He sees that we're really doing it. Even in our weakness, we're doing it. Verse 20, he goes, Go tell them this. Now this is Jesus talking to John the Apostle. Give this message to the church of Thyatira. He goes, Tell them this. Verse 20, I have a few things against you. Not many, but this one's really important. You have this one teacher named Jezebel. She had a whole company of people that were in unity with her. She's teaching the servants of God to do sexual immorality. She's saying it's okay. She has a teaching that makes unmarried people sleeping together okay or a whole lot of other things before that that are okay. He says, Tell them that teaching's not okay with me. There's so much immorality in the church because so much of the church isn't bothered by it. Jesus said, Tell them it's not okay with me. That teaching, that mindset that got a stronghold in the church in that day of Thyatira, then it gets really heavy. Verse 22, but actually what he's saying is glorious. It's heavy, but it's glorious. He goes, I will cast her onto a sick bed. And those people that buy her teaching that reduce the standards of the morality of my kingdom, I'll throw them into great pressure. They'll have pressure, tribulation. He's not talking about the great tribulation at the end of the age. He's talking about pressures will come on their lives to get their attention to wake them up. But they can stop all that by repenting. If they repent, that's not going to happen. Verse 23 takes it up a notch. Now remember, this is Jesus talking. This is not the Jesus of American culture. This is the Jesus of the Bible. He says, go tell them this, John. I know their love. I know their service. I know their patience, their perseverance. I know the way they won't give up, but tell them this one issue I'm not happy with. Verse 23, I will kill her children. I will bring them into a premature death. And when that happens, all the churches, that meant in Asia Minor, they'll know that I'm the God who searches the mind. I'm the God that sees the mind of the heart that people don't think I see. Now, first glance, they go, oh my goodness, Jesus is mean. And he goes, no, no, I'm not mean. I'm really not. I want to wake you up now before you stand before me then because now we can change. But when our life is over and we stand before him, we bring our life deeds with us. Now, if we've genuinely repented of them, they don't show up. But Jesus, like the preacher once prayed, Lord, shock me now. Don't shock me then. And the Lord says, I'm going to intervene now and wake you up. You're not going to want to bring that story, that testimony with you to the last judgment. You really don't. And in my kindness, I'm going to wake Jezebel up or I'm going to give her the chance. I'm going to create pressures to mount up on her. I'm going to box her in a corner. She'll look up and say, he goes, I delivered you. I didn't want to do it that way. But that's a severe mercy, but it's a glorious deliverance that you will be very, very grateful for those rest of those remaining years of your life. You stayed free of that. And Jesus connects this with his eyes. Those eyes are a whole lot more than just seeing this, but we're living in an hour of a pornified culture and the Western world. And it's going to get more and more severe. And the passion and the beauty of Jesus, but also the revelation of his eyes will be part of the deliverance of the church. Paragraph F, his cheeks. Now his cheeks speak of his emotional makeup because our emotions are expressed in our cheeks. You can look at somebody's cheeks. It's a window to how they're feeling. You look at their face. They're either happy. They're mad. They're sad. They're engaged. They're disengaged. See right there on their face by just literally looking at their face. He says that she says your cheeks. She's back at the farm. Now using a farm analogy, his cheeks are like beds of spices, like banks of scented herbs. Jesus's emotional life is compared to a bed of beautiful fragrant spices. His emotional makeup is delightful. It's fragrant. It's beautiful. It's wooing and wowing and draws anybody to him who sees the truth of what he's like. I mean, even the passage I just looked at when he told Jezebel, I'm going to make you sick and I'm going to trouble the people buying into your lies. That's because he was so committed to the people to wake him up. That wasn't about him writing them off. It was very opposite. It was to wake him up while he still had a chance to make it right before. Because in this life, what we do counts and we can still repent and the days ahead we can live different and it really, really, really, really will matter and it will be so valuable. So even that is coming out of his emotional makeup that is the things that he's zealous for, the things that he delights in. I call David a student of God's emotions. When you read the book of Psalms, he was a student of God's emotions and I've studied God's emotions through, well not just through David, but through Jesus and the apostles and prophets as well. But I tell you that the more I study God's emotions, the more I can say your emotions are like a bed of spices. The diversity of the sweet and attractive ways that you carry your heart. I don't want to just be more like you, I do, but I want to be near you. I want to be close to someone like you. You're attractive in the way you think and feel. Paragraph G. It's off of page four. His lips. Now his lips speak of his words. His words are like lilies dripping with liquid myrrh. That's again, agricultural analogy here or metaphor. His words are sweet like myrrh because myrrh was a fragrant, sweet smelling, but burial spice. It wasn't only a burial spice, but it was commonly associated with burial. Speaks of death. And in this context, death to ourselves. Now to drip with myrrh, his lips, when he talks to us, there is a sweetness in what he says, but there's also a clarity when he talks to us that he will convict, expose and point out the areas we need to die to ourself and deny our flesh. And again, even this. It's for our deliverance. It's for our liberty. You know, you can get with a bunch of believers, all get together in the same mindset, pat each other on the back and affirm each other in compromise and delusion. Because when one of your friends come to you and they say, what do you think? And you go, well, I don't want to say you're bad because that means it sounds like I think I'm better than you and then you'll be mad at me and then you'll talk bad about me when I'm not around. Oh, I understand. I think maybe the Lord's okay with that. And it's real easy for us as weak human beings. I mean, all of us. I'm not saying this is some big, you know, attack on the human race, but we're so prone to give counsel to our friends that affirms what they're doing, whether what they're doing is good or not. And so we can't always trust what is popular or who's patting us on the back. And Jesus said, when I speak to you, my words will be sweet. They will be untarnished by the fear of you rejecting me. I will tell you the truth because I am the truth. And he tells the truth not to condemn us, but to free us. He's saying, if you let go of that, it will liberate your heart and it will position you to bring freedom to others. Well, Lord, I don't want to let go of that. Everybody's telling me it's okay. And I kind of like that. And the Lord says, no, when I talk to you, my words are dripping with myrrh. Sweet myrrh. I will woo you. I will wow you, but I will be truthful with you. I will tell you the counsel that will liberate you and make you great. Even this, filled with desire and emotion for us. So when Jesus, he walked through the cities of Israel, they were so angry at him because he spoke the truth, but he wasn't speaking the truth to condemn them. He was speaking the truth to free them because if they stayed in the way they were, they would stay in bondage at the heart level and they would end up in condemnation. The sentence over their life when they stood before God would be very disfavorable. It would be tragic. And the Lord says, my word is your life. My word is your freedom. My word is your joy and your liberty. His lips are like lilies. They're pure. Lilies are pure, but there's the sweetness and the purity of the lily and the sweetness and the death to self dimension of the myrrh. Paragraph H, his hands. Now his hands speak of his works, the works of his hands. You see that phrase in scripture a number of times. I mean his hands are all of his works. I have here the works of creation, the works of his hands, the work of redemption, his leadership over history, his leadership in your life is the hand of God intervening in your life. His hands are like his head, his leadership, they're like gold set with burl. His works are all powerful. He can accomplish anything. His hands and his head, they go together. His works flow out of his sovereign leadership, his head. We can trust his works. They are glorious. They cannot be improved upon. And again, the enemy wants us offended. But we want to have confidence in his leadership, in his work in our life. Romans 8, 28, all things work together for good. Even that which are failures, the Lord says, if you'll respond to me, I'll overrule it and your failures will rebound back and be for your good and for your greatness. I mean that doesn't mean you go fail on purpose because you know the Lord will use it. There'll be some ouchies along the way that could have been avoided. I don't want to learn the hard way. I want to learn the right way. Though I've learned the hard way a number of times. I don't like that way. Paragraph I. His body is like carved ivory. Now the word body here, I have it written down here. I'm not going to go through it. It's the same Hebrew word that's used earlier in Song of Solomon 5. Here we are in chapter 5, verse 14. Go back to chapter 5, verse 4. Just 10 verses earlier. And the word, the same word used as his body is his heart yearn. It's his, again I got it written out here. It's the yearning of his heart she's talking about because the scripture talks about King James translation says his belly or his deep inward parts is the idea. His compassion. His feelings. The yearning of his heart is like ivory, which is rare. Ivory was very rare. And carved ivory was even more rare and more valuable because it took skill to carve ivory. Now we're going to Solomon's temple and the artisans there that could have this ability. But not only is it rare ivory that's carved, it's inlaid with sapphires. It's got precious jewels. The Lord is saying, my deep emotions. They are rare. They're skillful. They're precious as jewels. There's nothing like it. Carved ivory inlaid with jewels. With sapphires. Talking about his compassion. The deep yearnings that he has for us. We never have to fear that he writes us off. He's finished with us. He's exasperated. He's had enough. We have enough with ourselves and we have enough with other people. But he never has enough with us. The yearnings of his heart are like carved ivory. There's nothing like it. Very rare. Only the kings and a few of the wealthiest in the land could afford such rare and precious skillful things as carved ivory. Paragraph J. His legs. His legs refer to his walk or the way that he unfolds his purposes. His legs are like pillars of marble. Legs provide the forward motion of one's body, obviously. The way that he leads his purposes. The way that it unfolds, step by step, day by day. All the details of the outworking of his grand purposes in our life. The day by day, step by step going forward. What's it like under his leadership? She said your legs are like pillars of marble. Now pillars were in Solomon's temple. They spoke of strength. But pillars also spoke of beauty. They put pillars not only for strength but also for beauty. For orderliness. There's many reasons why in the ancient world they put pillars. Architectural reasons for the beauty and the orderliness of the buildings. But they were not only pillars. She said pillars of marble. Marble is the strong building material that's permanent. In other words, the outworking of your ways. Your step by step leadership and the way that you treat me and what you allow and don't allow. He's never too late. He's never too early. It's never too intense. It's never too passive. It's never too soft. It's just exactly what was made for us to grow in love. So when we stand before the Lord we present a heart of love, a heart of wisdom on the last day. The goal in life isn't for life to be easy. It's to finish your time on the earth and present to Him a heart of wisdom and a heart of love. That is what wisdom, that's what success is. It's not an issue of how many people follow you, how much money you have, how easy it is, how hard it is. Did you grow in love and wisdom? If you present that on the last day your life was successful. And He has that in mind. So He constantly keeps that in focus saying you will be glad when you see the whole picture. You will be glad. I held the line. Look back in those early days and this year and that year. Back in your earlier days. I held the line. I pushed it. I wouldn't let you off the hook on that point. And you changed. And look what you offer to God now. A very different heart response. When we see the big picture on the last day we'll be so glad for His day-to-day leadership in our life that doesn't always seem apparent. Paragraph K says His countenance. Now David prayed in Psalm 4 verse 6 that the light of God's countenance would shine on us. That God's countenance from His face. You know Revelation 1 Jesus has a face like the sun. When Jesus looks down and the countenance of God is released. Aaron the high priest prayed it in number 6. Verse 24 to 26 that the light of God's countenance that Jesus' face shining like a sun. It speaks of the impartation of God's glory. When God's countenance is shining on a man or a woman or a situation that's an impartation of His glory and of His purposes. Paragraph L. The very end. The final thing. His mouth. His mouth is most sweet. Verse 16. Worship team go ahead and come on up. Now when He says your mouth in the spiritual interpretation it's not the same as your lips. His lips speak of His words. His mouth was introduced at the very beginning of the song. The kisses of the mouth spiritually speaks of intimacy with God. Intimacy with God is most sweet. Your leadership in my life has brought forth this developed, deepened intimacy. It's what I was created for. That you and I would walk together forever in love. I would enjoy you. You would enjoy me. She declares Oh the intimacy with your heart is most sweet of all things. And then she explodes in verse paragraph B. Verse 16. Yes. Summary statement. Yes. He's altogether lovely. This is my beloved. This is my friend. Oh daughters of Jerusalem. Because they asked her How come you're not offended? How come you're not angry? How come you're not What do you see in Him that we don't see? She said He's dazzling. He's radiant. He's chief among ten thousand. His leadership is like gold. His hair, His dedication is vigorous. Eternally vigorous. His hands, His legs, His eyes. Oh it's most sweet to be close to Him. Yes. This is my beloved. This is why I love Him more than all the other beloveds. We all have a handful of beloveds in our life. I don't mean just a person but things. Positions. Goals. But we want our beloved to have a superior place from all the other beloveds. She said this is my beloved. This is the one I love. This is my friend. So remarkable that the radiant one the dazzling one stooped so low. The one that was so high stooped so low. She goes He's my friend. Friendship with God together forever. Beloved that's what we were created for. We were created as the song goes I'm in it for love. Misty sings that worship song. I'm in it for love. Amen. Let's stand before the Lord. I'm in it for love. This is my beloved. Now the enemy has got some of you really under condemnation. Others of you under despair. Ready to quit. Others of you borderline offended with his leadership. Why doesn't God get with it? And we're being tempted to pursue other beloveds more than we pursue Him. The other beloveds are good but they have to be second for this thing to unfold in its fullness. I want us to just everybody just close your eyes for a moment. Just talk to the Lord. I want us to declare without looking around and being distracted. Your head, your leadership is like finest gold. Devil, you're a liar. His leadership is like finest gold. He's leading me to love. Everything works together for my good. His leadership is finest gold. Cannot be improved. It's perfect. His eyes, His countenance His words to me are so good. Are so good. Just declare those to the Lord. Reject the compromise or the despair or the temptation to quit. Lord, we say yes to your leadership.