Mike Bickle explores the bride's journey in the Song of Solomon, emphasizing the paradox of grace where believers recognize their sinfulness yet remain lovely to God. He highlights the importance of understanding our identity in Christ, which fosters gratitude, humility, and confidence before God. Bickle discusses the pressures believers face, such as shame and overwork, and encourages them to maintain their relationship with God despite struggles. He reassures that even weak love for Jesus is genuine and that God sees us as beautiful, urging believers to embrace their identity in Christ and to serve others as a means of spiritual revival. Ultimately, the message is one of hope, urging believers to run towards God rather than away from Him in times of difficulty.

Welcome. Turn to page 103. This is our third teaching. And it's our session notes number 10. And number 11. Father, we come to you in the name of Jesus. We ask you for the spirit of wisdom and revelation. We ask you for impartation of the beauty of Jesus. In Jesus' name, Amen. Okay, session notes number 10. We're going to talk about the bride's journey. It begins in verse 5. She says, I am dark but lovely. O daughters of Jerusalem, I am like the tents of Kedar and the curtains of Solomon. Now, her first confession is that she's dark in heart. But she's lovely to God. And the tents of Kedar were dark tents. Out in the countryside. But the curtains of Solomon were the bright clean tents I mean, curtains that were in the temple. Paragraph 8. Her journey begins with spiritual crisis that we all understand. She struggles with what I call the paradox of grace. The Holy Spirit shows her her sinfulness. But also shows her her loveliness to God. And this is a very difficult tension for many believers to take hold of. Most believers just see their sinfulness and they don't see who they are in the grace of God. Some go to the other extreme. They see who they are in grace but they don't really pay attention to their sinfulness. But the combination of these two truths we are dark in heart but we're still lovely to God. Because of the grace of Jesus and the work of the cross. This combination of truths it produces in us gratitude and humility. And confidence before God. Paragraph B. We are beautiful to God in the grace of God for four reasons. First, we receive the gift of righteousness. I mean, think about this. The very righteousness of Jesus is given to us. That righteousness will never ever increase even in eternity. You have a righteous standing before God that's equal to Jesus right now. That challenges our faith. It's indescribably glorious this truth. But secondly, there's a yes in our spirit. At the new birth, the Holy Spirit came to live in us and He helped produce a yes, I will obey you God into our spirit. The Bible calls this a willing spirit. The yes is in our spirit before we mature to walk it out fully. But Jesus sees the yes. And even the yes moves His heart. We often disregard that. We think, until we follow through perfectly it really doesn't matter. The Lord would say, Oh no, that yes in your spirit is beautiful to me. It's the beginning of your victory. Then number three, we are beautiful to God in the grace of God because of God's personality. Because He's so kind and so passionate, that's how He sees us. If He was an angry God who was disinterested, we would not appear beautiful to Him. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. Because of His heart, He sees us differently than others do. Number four, He sees us in the big picture. For billions and billions and billions of years, you will walk in perfect obedience. And though we struggle in this life, it's only a fraction of one percent of our life before God in eternity. And so He sees the whole truth of who we are to Him. We see our struggle and we're tempted to quit. He sees who we are in the big picture and He goes, Oh no, don't you see? Paragraph C, there's three stages of our victory in Christ. Stage one, when we sincerely decide to obey, that is actually the beginning of the victory. Before we even get the breakthrough, the seeds of victory begin right here. The second stage is when we get a partial breakthrough. We obey on a regular basis, but we occasionally stumble. That's the next stage of victory. And the third stage is the substantial breakthrough. When our very desires are so transformed, we're not even tempted with the thing that we used to struggle with. Many believers only see stage three as victory. Stage one, they don't even pay attention to. But where did that sincere desire come from? It's not the work of the flesh. It's not the work of the devil. It is actually the work of the Spirit in your heart from the very beginning of your journey. And when God sees us, He sees that work. And it moves His heart. Top of page 104, now we look at her crisis in detail. Paragraph A, she describes five different pressures that she is experiencing. And we all understand these five spiritual pressures. In verse 6, she says, do not stare at me because I'm dark at heart. So her first pressure is she feels the shame of people looking at her and wagging their head, no, you're failing. Then she goes on to explain, my mother's sons were angry at me. They were the ones in charge of the vineyard. So now she doesn't just feel shame, she has people angry at her. Then they made me keepers of other vineyards. They overworked me, they gave me more than I could faithfully follow through with. So now the brothers are angry, now she's overworked. And she goes, my own vineyard, my own heart, I've not kept. So now she's neglecting her own heart in relationship with the Lord because of the overwork. Then in verse 7, she cries out, oh you who I love, she goes, I still love you Jesus. Where will you feed me? I am in such a mess right now. Where will you make my heart lie down in rest like the sheep would lie down? Why should I be like a veiled woman who serves by the flocks of your companions? Now a veiled woman in that society serving far away in the distant flock, what that speaks of, why should I serve at a distance from you? I want to be near you. So just to go through it again, she feels the shame of people looking at her wagging their head, you have been a failure. She feels the rejection of the angry brothers who are over the vineyard who she works with. She's overworked taking care of other vineyards beyond her ability to be faithful. She neglects her own vineyard, her own heart in God, and so therefore her spiritual walk is getting weakened. And she's serving the Lord but at a distance. She cannot feel the connect with Him. Turn to page 105. Now we all understand these five pressures. I mean I can find myself in that description in many places. But she cries out, Oh Lord, where will you touch my heart and help me recover? Paragraph E. She said, they made me keepers of the vineyard but my own vineyard I've not kept. The vineyard in the Song of Solomon speaks of the heart or the garden that the Lord is cultivating. Our first responsibility in ministry is to keep our own heart connected to the Lord. Many people get so involved in the work that they're disconnected from the relationship. And in the end they become burned out and discouraged and they lose motivation. Originally what she wanted most was the kisses of His Word. And the very thing she wanted she's not staying up with. Paragraph F. And here I talk about how the veiled woman is one that serves at a distance. And you can read that on your own. But the idea is that many of us understand what it means to serve but disconnected from the Lord's heart. Page 106. Then in the midst of this great pain that is so common to all of us she doesn't give up. She goes, I'm not giving up on my life vision that you would draw me after you and we would run together. I'm not letting go of my desire to have the kisses of Your Word touch me. Many believers when they find themselves stumbling and they find themselves stuck they buy the lie of the enemy. I might as well just quit. It's not going to work anyway. Maybe it's just never going to get right in my life. I will always be stumbling. But I want to encourage you to do what this maiden does in the beginning of her journey. Instead of giving up and giving in to sin she says, no, I'm going to recover my walk with God. Verse 7. Oh you who I love. My love for you is still real, Jesus. I'm stumbling. My own vineyard I've not kept. I'm dark in my heart. Many things are not working. But my confession is I do love you. And in a moment we're going to see Jesus believes it even more than she does. Because in a moment he's going to say I do see your love, you do love me. In one of the earlier session notes I outlined the testimony of Peter when he denied the Lord. Then in John 21 when the Lord appeared in his resurrected body and he talks to Peter. And Peter is very uncomfortable when the Lord begins to talk to him about his denial. He denied the Lord three times. And Jesus did not write him off as a failure. But he restored him to the place of love. Because Jesus actually saw the sincerity of Peter's love though he failed in it. Paragraph number one. Under A. Weak love is not false love. Our love for Jesus is weak. It's fragile. It fails. But that doesn't mean it's false. There's not only two types of love. Mature love or false love. And many believers that's all they see. When my love is mature then and only then is it real. When my love for Jesus is weak it must be false. And the Lord would say, No, that's not how I see it. When Peter denied me he still loved me but he did not know how immature he was in his love. And then he recalled Peter back to confidence in his relationship with the Lord. Beloved, when you stumble in your love for Jesus you're not a hopeless hypocrite. We confess our failure and we sign right back up. I mean within the hour to go full blast for God again. We don't take three weeks off and go cry in the corner. So maybe we can even the score and Jesus will say, Okay, since you're so sad, come on back. I mean it's okay to cry over your failure. That's good. But jump right back in the relationship and you love me and I love you and I'm with you, Jesus, within the hour. Let's turn to page 108. Now Jesus answers her. This shocks her. It's so surprising. Her heart is dark. She's not taking care of her vineyard. People are angry at her. People are staring at her and wagging their head no. And she's in desperate situation. And Jesus says in verse 8, He goes, I'll tell you where I will feed your heart. I will give you the answer to where I will feed you. He says, Oh, most beautiful among women. What? Beautiful? No, I'm stumbling. I'm at a distance from you. No, you're sincere. You're just immature and you don't understand it. In one of the session notes, I described the difference between immaturity and rebellion. They're very different. Some people are rebellious against Jesus's leadership. Others, they stumble but they're sincere so they're immature. The Lord looks at immaturity and rebellion very, very differently. And when somebody thinks they're rebellious, when in truth they're immature, we have to help them. We have to help them see how God sees them. Because what it does is it encourages their heart and they run to Him instead of from Him. I've had people comment on this kind of teaching in a negative way. They say, Oh, if you make people confident they will get careless in their walk with God. We keep them afraid with shame, condemnation, feeling real bad, then they will try harder. I say that's not really how the human heart works. They feel shameful and like a continual failure they may cry for years but they won't press into God's heart with any confidence in a regular way. I've been a pastor 35 years and when a person who's stumbling has confidence that God likes them if they have a sincere heart for Jesus they get excited with this confidence and they run to Him with great energy instead of giving up. This message does not make them careless this message gives them hope to pursue Jesus with great fierceness. So Jesus answers. He goes, Oh, most beautiful. Now she's still only in chapter 1 at the beginning of her spiritual journey. She doesn't have the beauty of full maturity. That's not what He's talking about. The maturity begins to come in chapter 4. But without knowing how Jesus feels about her she'll never ever grow to chapter 4. Paragraph A. Jesus hears her desperate prayer from verse 7. And He answers her. And He makes seven important statements here. We won't have time to look at all of them but I want to stir you up just to alert you that Jesus is making some important statements for you. Because He's answering the question Where will you feed my heart? He says, This is the place where I will feed you. Now He's speaking in poetic love poem and so we interpret the Scripture with the Scripture and so we ask the question What would Jesus be saying through this poetic language? Because though it is a love poem about natural love and marriage this love poem has an application that has Jesus at the center of it. There's a natural interpretation and there's a spiritual interpretation to this book. And so we say, Jesus what do you have to say to my heart to encourage me in love from this passage? So He makes seven statements. First He gives a declaration of her beauty. He says, Oh most beautiful. This is the beginning point. This is the essential point for a person struggling. It's too good to be true to our natural thinking. But it's clear from the Bible this is how God sees a sincere believer with the gift of righteousness. Then He gives three points of instruction and then He gives a three-fold affirmation of her sincerity. Paragraph C His answer shocks her. Now, I don't really mean shocks her in the poem. I'm talking about shocks us. That's what I really mean. She was very unlovely to the angry brothers. Brothers were angry. They didn't think she was very lovely. And she was tempted to despise herself. She did not feel beautiful in her own eyes. But Jesus is the truth not the angry brothers and not even your own heart. We must agree with what He thinks about you. Page 109 Paragraph F He gives a three-fold answer as to where He feeds the flock. First, He declares her beauty to Him. But then He does not want her to overreact and retreat in isolationism. When the brothers are angry when people are staring at us because we failed when we feel overworked and serving at a distance it's real easy to overreact. Well, if people are going to treat me this way I'm just going to forget them anyway. If this is how it is in the church I'm not even going to bother with it anymore. Jesus is saying through this poetic language don't overreact. Don't draw back in isolation. This is where I will feed you. Number one, knowing you're beautiful to me. That's first. And then He gives three unusual I mean three instructions that seem unusual at first reading. But they're not so difficult to understand. He says in verse 8 This is where I will feed you. I want you to follow in the footsteps of the flock. What? Follow in the footsteps of the flock. He's saying I want you to stay in the way where all the sheep are. Number two, I want you to feed the little ones I put in front of you. Number three, I want you to have a right relationship to the shepherds. Stay near their tent. Page 110 Paragraph H The first thing He challenges her is do not get into isolation. That's our temptation. When we stumble, to draw back and not just I don't want to even interact with anybody. I want to just go to the corner and just cry and feel bad and be bitter at the way that people are rejecting me. He says stay in the footsteps of the flock. Get back into fellowship. I have watched this for many years. The people draw back in isolation. They say I'm just going to seek the Lord private for a season. And I believe in seeking the Lord in a private way for a season. But many times they are being motivated by rejection and shame and failure. The Bible tells us do not forsake the gathering together of the saints. The last thing we want to do is be with other believers when we feel shame and rejection. Jesus said you're beautiful to me. Now trust my word. Get back in the fellowship with the saints. And I will feed you. That's one place I will feed you. Paragraph I. I want you to take care of the little ones that I put before you. I don't feel like being involved with other people right now. I am hurting over my failure. I feel shameful. If they knew the truth about how much I'm struggling then they would just reject me anyway. I've seen people they get into laziness and idleness in the name of well I'm just waiting on the Lord. The Lord will give you more even as you feed the little ones He puts in front of you. Maybe it's just the ones and twos. I'm not saying you have to lead a Bible study. That's not what I mean. But you're pouring out to this one and that one you're investing into their life. And I have found over the years when I give to others when I give truth to others even when I feel terrible and my own failure and struggle the Lord revives my own heart by the very words I tell them. How many times over the years talking to a young person struggling with failure and I would give them an answer and then I would walk away going that's my answer! Wow! Thank you Holy Spirit! The Lord gives more when we feed He gives more to us when we feed others. I'm talking one on one conversations. I'm not saying go lead a Bible study. Unless of course the Lord leads you that way. Then paragraph J This is a tough one. He says, Now go feed the little ones but do it near the shepherd's tent. Oh! I don't like those leaders. I will stay in the body and I will feed people but I don't like those leaders. They're imperfect. They make lots of mistakes. They do lots of things wrong. Beloved, settle the issue. Every leader in the body of Christ is weak and broken. We don't respect leadership because they're perfect. We respect leadership because God put them in place. Every leader is weak and broken. Even in their maturity they have still many blind spots. Like sometimes people will come to me in my ministry and say, you're wrong. I go, oh, I'm assuming I'm wrong many times. I'm not troubled by that. That's my assumption. Yes, I'm right many times but I'm wrong many times. That doesn't trouble me. I said, we all are in this position. We need to grow together. But here's my real point. God puts leaders in our life and they're weak and broken but they reveal the areas in our own life that the Holy Spirit wants to touch. If I had only perfect leaders then I could walk with God better. And the Lord says, no, these imperfect leaders will reveal things that you need for me. Page 111. Roman numeral 5. Then he gives her three affirmations for her sincerity. And then gives her a promise. I'm not going to go through that right now but I just wanted to highlight that it is part of the notes here. Let's go to page 115. So we're still in our third teaching. So in our session notes number 11 because remember, we're covering all 24 session notes so we're just giving you just a little bit on a few of them. Because the real point of this teaching, these eight teaching sessions is so that you would go back home and study Song of Solomon for the next many months. So Roman numeral 1. Let's review what's happening. Paragraph A. The bride is having a tough time. Or let's call her the young maiden at this time. Because she's not the bride yet. She's on her way to being the bride. She is struggling and she says, where will you feed me? Then Jesus gives a sevenfold answer. In verse 8 to 11. And we just looked at that real brief. Paragraph B. Now she gives her response to that answer. And I want to encourage you. These seven things Jesus says through this poetic language you can find them all in the New Testament. Every interpretation of Song of Solomon we have to anchor it in the teaching of Jesus and the apostles. But these seven principles that we just barely talked about they are the answer to causing people to revive in their heart. And have confidence to run to the Lord instead of from the Lord. And she has a threefold response to these seven principles. She says in verse 12. While the king is at the table and I'm sitting with him eating at the table with him my perfume sends forth its fragrance. She says verse 13. She goes, My beloved to me is like a bundle of myrrh. That's her view of Jesus. He's like a bundle of myrrh. And next verse 14. He's like a cluster of henna blooms. So that's her response to these seven principles. What does this mean from a New Testament point of view? Let's look at the meditation on the cross. Verse 13. A bundle of myrrh is my beloved Jesus to me. And this bundle of myrrh it lies on my heart all through the night. Top of page 116. Now myrrh throughout the song of Solomon and other places in the Bible when it speaks symbolically it usually speaks of death. Myrrh was one of the most common spices or perfumes used in preparing a body for funeral. When a person was buried they would put myrrh in. It was very expensive. Only the rich people would have this of course. Very expensive. But it had a very bitter taste. But a very beautiful smell. They made perfume with myrrh. The holy anointing oil was made with myrrh. But more specifically it was used to prepare a body for funeral. When the three wise kings came to Jesus at his birth they brought myrrh. That was actually symbolically speaking of his future death. I mean imagine bringing embalming fluid to a baby shower. I mean they're celebrating a new baby and they're bringing the elements used for a funeral. But they brought myrrh, frankincense and gold. And they spoke of Jesus as prophet, priest and king prophetically. Myrrh spoke of his death. Paragraph C. So throughout the song of Solomon Myrrh is fragrant because when we say yes to his death it's sweet smelling to God. But it's bitter. It's fragrant but it's bitter. Very costly but it's very important. And so she says my beloved Jesus is to me a bundle of myrrh. It lies on my heart all night long. She goes the suffering of Jesus is a focus of my meditation all through the night. Paragraph G. That all through the night would speak of the consistency. If we are to grow in our confidence in the grace of God we have to meditate much on what the cross means and the implications of it for our lives. Many believers they kind of run they rush over that truth and they move on to other things. And then when they stumble in their sin they don't have confidence before God because they don't really understand what the cross did for them. Beloved he bore the penalty of your sin before God. You cannot add anything to the payment. Many believers they think that they're being sincere by adding their own suffering to the suffering of Jesus. I know Jesus died for me the bundle of myrrh is what he is. But just in case that's not enough I will just suffer for a month to prove to God how sincere I am. Beloved that doesn't make God receive you the blood of Jesus makes him receive you. The death of Jesus gave you the gift of righteousness imagine what that means. This righteousness cannot be improved upon ever. You stand before God as righteous as Jesus is. We must meditate on Jesus as a bundle of myrrh to our heart. When I see what his suffering produce Beloved I don't want to draw back and go put myself in the corner for a while I want to stand confident with God in the finished work of the cross. Romans 2 Now she sees the revelation of Jesus' beauty and his delightfulness. She goes he's not only a bundle of myrrh to me he's not just the one who paid the price and made a way for me to stand before God but he's a cluster of heena blooms to me in the vineyards of Engedi. Now a heena bloom or a heena was a shrub or a tree with very fragrant flowers and she is saying you're like a cluster of beautiful fragrant flowers to me. Many people when they think about Jesus they think about him as a savior who stamps our passport. So when we die we go to heaven instead of hell, that's the big point. And then he gives us a work assignment that's real hard then he gives us these burdensome commandments so that our character lines up with God. Okay, I don't want to go to hell so I'll take a deep breath and I'll grit my teeth and I'll do what I have to do because I don't want to go to hell. And what the Holy Spirit would say do you understand how beautiful this man is? Do you know how amazing he is and how he would exhilarate your heart? He's not a burdensome boring God that you have to grit your teeth and endure how boring he is. No, he's a cluster of heena blooms beautiful flowers fragrant flowers He's not one flower he's a cluster such diversity and abundance of his beauty The vineyards of Engedi they were famous for these abundant flowers, these heena blooms She was saying he is the most beautiful the most fragrant in great abundance Page 118 Paragraph D We must tell the whole world of his beauty He is a bundle of myrrh I mean he embraced death and suffering for us to give us confidence with God But he didn't just make a way for us to stand before God He himself is very beautiful and fragrant Paul the Apostle in Philippians 3.8 He said Oh the exceeding greatness of the knowledge of who Jesus is He isn't just a boring God who tells us we have to grit our teeth and obey him He's the most exciting human being that's ever walked the earth Fully God, fully man And he really likes you And he has the keys of life and death and the city of God is his forever And he wants you to reign next to him forever This is exciting My beloved is to me a cluster of Hina blooms The most beautiful The most fragrant He died to make a way for me Oh I love him That's what she's saying Romans 4 She says While the king is at his table And when I'm there with him is the idea And he's feeding me at his table My perfume scents forth its fragrance She says when these truths about who he is and who I am to him When these truths touch my spirit Spontaneous worship like perfume arises out of my spirit The spikenard perfume Very expensive Very fragrant She says when I'm at the table feeding on his beauty And how much he loves me Something just rises out of my spirit to God It's called spontaneous worship Page 120 H What kind of fragrance arises out of your heart, your spirit? When God looks at the way you come before him Does he smell the confidence and gratitude in your spirit? Or is the fragrance of your heart filled with shame and rejection and complaint? Well, by nature we are rejected we have complaints and we feel condemned Let's sit at his table Let's feed on him who is a bundle of moons Let's feed on him who is a cluster of heena blooms Let's feed on these seven principles that we looked at so briefly a few minutes ago And then our spirit will erupt with gratitude and fragrance Roman numeral four Now Jesus speaks to her as her spirit is just flowing and worshiping speaks to her He says I want you to know You are beautiful and I love you Look at those two words He says to her you are beautiful to me And you are my love I love you Now she is still the maiden struggling in verse six and seven She hasn't matured any She is just talking to him understanding how he views her And she goes You think I'm beautiful? Well he said it in verse eight now he says it again in verse fifteen And you love me? He says Oh the way your spirit flows and worship when you understand who I am this is what I'm after this kind of relationship Paragraph A So here's the two foundational truths that Jesus speaks again to her He had just spoken to her in verse eight to eleven Then she responds in the three ways I've just described in verse twelve to fourteen So now he comes back and says You're beautiful, I love you We cannot speak this truth enough to believers when they're young in the Lord Let's look at the bottom of page 121 Paragraph D Beloved, when we feel loved by God When we feel beautiful in the grace of God in His eyes We don't feel shame We don't feel dirty Our hearts exhilarated We grow fast in the Lord I have been teaching these things to these young twenty year olds And I am watching many of them break free of all kinds of negative emotions There's nothing they long for more than to have assurance that God enjoys them When they have this assurance because of the grace of God They run to Him They don't run from Him and compromise Roman numeral six Page 122 Right in the middle He continues And he says I'm reading the same verse Verse 15 You are beautiful You are my love or you are the one I love And then he says this very interesting phrase You have dove's eyes What does this mean? The dove in the Old and New Testament would be spiritually speaking is a picture of the Holy Spirit Paragraph B A dove is single-minded They have no peripheral vision They can only look straight ahead And then page 123 A dove is loyal And he tells this young believer this young maiden who's very sincere but very immature still He says I love you and you're beautiful And your vision is like a dove's eyes You're focusing on the truth about me and the truth about how I see you And you're loyal to me You believe what I say not what others say Beloved, the enemy has many people to tell you about yourself in ways that God didn't agree with Yes, you are dark of heart We all know that But you're also beautiful to God And when someone tells you you're dark of heart that's only half the truth Yes, you are dark of heart and you need to grow in that area But you're beautiful to God that's the rest of the truth And if we're to have dove's eyes we have to have the whole truth We have to see like God sees when we look at ourselves We have to see Jesus like God sees Jesus He's a bundle of bird that's who he is to me He's a cluster of heena blooms that's who he is to me I am beautiful to him and he loves me that's who I am to him Yes, he says you have dove's eyes you agree with what I say Then in Romans 6 she then gives a five-fold response back to him And I'll just end with this you can read the notes on your own She says number one you are beautiful God She says in this love poem she says you're handsome But in the language of the Bible our God is beautiful David said this one thing I do all the days of my life I gaze on the beauty of God But not only are you beautiful Jesus you are my beloved I love you with all my heart though my love is very weak But not only that you're pleasant You're not boring and burdensome You excite my spirit when I see the truth of you And our bed is green Our bed is green Strange term That speaks of the rest that she has And then she speaks of the house how we will dwell together with him forever So when she hears this great statement from Jesus in chapter one that's how she responds at the end of chapter one Now we're going to take a break and we're going to come back and look at how she sees herself and how she responds even more Amen, let's stand Lord I ask you to touch our hearts Lord I ask you to touch our hearts I ask you to fill us with revelation of the beauty of Jesus And the beauty of the grace of God who we are to God In Jesus name, Amen Beautiful God We'll take a 15 minute break And then the worship team will come and bring us back and we'll worship for a few minutes Then we'll look at chapter two verse one to seven