Mike Bickle explores the paradox of grace in the Song of Solomon, emphasizing that while the bride acknowledges her darkness, she is simultaneously lovely to God. He highlights the importance of recognizing our sin in the light of God's love, and how spiritual maturity involves understanding both our shortcomings and our inherent beauty in Christ. Bickle encourages believers to respond to their spiritual crises with a willingness to grow rather than retreat, and to seek a deeper relationship with God that transcends mere ministry activity. He reassures that God delights in us despite our flaws, and that our sincere intentions are precious to Him.

In the Song of Solomon, we're only doing 12 sessions on Song of Solomon, which means we can't go very deep in 12 sessions. Well, I'm calling this the paradox of grace. It's here where the bride's journey begins in verse 5, with what I call the paradox of grace. She's dark in heart, but she's lovely to God. Now, Stuart Greaves always quotes this verse to me. He goes, it isn't dark in heart. He says, the African-Americans are the most lovely to God. And you know what? I go with it. I say, you know what? I'll do it. And then I get him in chapter 5, verse 10, where it says that I'm white but radiant. And he says, yeah, but... Anyway, we have a lot of fun, actually, with these verses. But in the spiritual interpretation, it's this paradox of grace. This is where the journey begins. Because verse 1 to 4 is the theme of the book, and so now she begins. It's what we do with this paradox will determine our spiritual future. Because she discovers her sin. That's the first thing she discovers. And when we're really walking close to God, we'll actually see our sin more clearly. And a lot of believers, I mean, not a lot, but there's a bunch out there that are not even hardly aware of sin in their life because they're not close enough to the Holy Spirit and to the Word to even see the darkness of their heart. But it doesn't end there. She has a tremendous revelation of the darkness of her heart, but she also sees that she's lovely to God. She sees that she's lovely to God. So she says, I'm dark, but I'm lovely. Oh, daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar. And the tents of Kedar, the fields of Kedar, those tents are very dirty. She goes, I'm like one of the dirty tents out in the field, but I'm also like the curtains in Solomon's temple that were magnificent and beautiful and fragrant. She goes, I'm like a dirty tent and a fragrant curtain that's filled with color and light and the glory of God. This is her twofold confession of faith. And every believer that's going to mature in the Lord is going to encounter, I mean, going to have to hold this intention because, again, the closer we get to Him, the more clearly we see our sin, but the more deeply we see His love and how beautiful we are to Him. It's really an intense reality that gets more intense the closer we get to the Lord. Paragraph B, the spiritual crisis of stumbling, of reaching for the highest things in the Word of God in our life and then coming up short. It's common for every believer. But how we respond to the crisis of stumbling, I mean, I'm talking to people that really love Jesus. Stumbling is a crisis. It's not casual. If stumbling is casual, then ask the Holy Spirit where you and Him are at because it's not casual to stumble. It's a crisis in our life when it happens. And how we respond to this crisis determines, first, if we'll go forward to grow strong in the Lord. How we respond to this crisis determines if we'll go forward or if we will draw back. A lot of folks, when they see the depths of sin, they get so discouraged because they don't see the loveliness of who they are in Christ. They want to just quit. They go, forget it. What's it worth? And if you have a, I just want to give up, it's not worth it, then this message is for you. You need a revelation, not only of the darkness of the heart, but how lovely you are before God in Christ. Paragraph C, God has different emotions related to how people respond to Him. Now, some believers live in confusion about how God's feeling about them. They don't know if He's mad. They don't know if He's glad or if He's sad. They can't tell what's going on. Are you mad at me, angry? Are you sad, just grieving? I mean, you love me, but you're just grieved all the time when we relate. Or do you actually enjoy the relationship? And again, how we answer this greatly determines if we're going to go forward or we're going to draw back. We don't want to think God's mad at us and live in condemnation, imagining that we're kind of evening the score out, that if we wallow in our sin a bit, then we feel like we've evened the score. And we just feel bad and say, God, are you glad that we feel bad or are we even now? And that's a completely wrong approach. Paragraph D, now the foundational premise of this whole teaching, this first part of Song of Solomon 1, the foundational premise is that spiritual immaturity is not the same thing as rebellion. And a lot of folks confuse those two, because outwardly they look the same sometimes. You can look at a believer living in rebellion, and you can look at a believer who loves Jesus, and they're very sincere, and sometimes their outward behavior and their attitudes, they look the same. You look at them and think, wow, I can't tell which it is. But they come from a very different heart response. A sincere believer stumbles in their sin, but they're quickly repenting and reestablishing their war against that area they stumbled in. It's not okay that they sinned. And they will probably stumble in it again and again, but it's not a small thing to them. They take it very, very seriously. The analogy I've used over the years is in the Old Testament, there's clean animals and there's unclean animals in the Old Testament. From the Moses, I mean from the Levitical priesthood point of view. And there's the swine, or the pigs, and there's the sheep. And the swine, the pigs are unclean, and the sheep are clean. But both the swine and the sheep get stuck in the mud. They both get stuck in the mud. But the sheep are kicking and struggling to get out of the mud. And when the shepherd comes and delivers them, they think, oh, I don't want to go back there again. That was horrible. But you get that little pig out of the mud, the minute you turn around, he'll go right back to the mud. He's looking for mud holes. And so that's an imperfect analogy of the difference between spiritual immaturity and rebellion. Now one of the key concepts is this issue of the willing spirit. In Matthew 26, verse 41, Jesus told Peter on the night where he betrayed Jesus, he said, you're going to betray me. Peter said, you're wrong, I'm not. Jesus said, no, you are. But he says, here's the situation, Peter. Your spirit is willing. I see your willing spirit, but you have weak flesh. You don't see how weak your flesh is, but when you stumble, you're going to be so overcome with sorrow and shame, you're going to lose sight of the fact that I see that you have a willing spirit. And when we stumble, when a sincere believer stumbles, because we discover a new dimension of our weak flesh, remember the Lord told Peter before he fell, your spirit has a yes in it. There's a yes in your spirit. That's what I refer to as a willing spirit, a spirit that's willing. There's a yes in your heart, and that yes in your spirit really matters to God. Matter of fact, that yes in your spirit is the beginning of victory. We think that victory only matters when you're completely free in every issue of your behavior, but beloved, the victory begins with the yes in your spirit. That is a part of the victory. Now I want the whole victory, but I don't want to undermine the value of the yes in our spirit to God. It moves Him. It matters to Him. We get condemned because of an unrenewed mind, and the devil's accusing us. So we think, we're so bad, we're going to quit. The Lord says, wait, wait, I've worked in you a willing spirit, and it's beautiful to me. It is. There's nothing about my life that's beautiful to you, Lord. He goes, oh yeah, there's a lot in your life that's beautiful to me. Paragraph F. I believe the most powerful longing of the human heart is the assurance that we are enjoyed by God. I believe that's the strongest longing in the human heart, that if we don't have the assurance that God, we could say God loves us, and that's biblical to say God loves us, but I like to say it a little more in a different way, that He actually enjoys the relationship. He can disagree with an area of our life, but enjoy the relationship. Just like a father or mother may with their children disagree in an area of their behavior with their seven-year-old child, but love the relationship. Well, if we as weak and sinful parents can figure that out, can't God figure that out? He actually enjoys us and enjoys the relationship while the issue in our life is being settled, because we're warring against it, and there's a yes in our spirit. We are created with a longing to be delighted in by God. There's a longing in us to be enjoyed by God, and that's what the devil takes advantage of and accuses you. The devil's called the accuser. In Revelation chapter 12 verse 10, he's the accuser of the brethren. He accuses you. God's finished with you. And the reason that's so painful, because you were created with a longing to want to be enjoyed by God. God built you with that longing. It's that God-shaped vacuum that drives us back to Him constantly. The trauma of shame or the fear that God's finished with us, the fear of rejection, I mean the fear that He's finished with us, is emotionally devastating. I mean, and it really, that trauma, that fear that God's finished with us, will really hinder our spiritual life if we don't bring that emotion and submit it to what the Word of God says about who we are in Christ and about who God is and what He's like. Paragraph G. A believer will grow most effectively when they have confidence in love. That's just a phrase we use a lot around here. I encourage you to use it. Confidence in love. That's the same thing as the assurance that we're enjoyed. It's exactly the same thing. Confidence in love. And when I talk about confidence in love, confidence that He loves me, enjoys me, but not only that, confidence that my weak love, He sees it as genuine though it's weak. It still moves Him, is the idea. When I have confidence that He enjoys me in my weakness and I have confidence that the love I offer Him in my weakness is still genuine and it moves Him. Beloved, that sets your life on an entirely different path. The devil loses so much ground in your inner life if you settle that issue. And it's not like one day it's settled. It's not that kind of thing because we renew our mind over and over. We confess the Word and we bring these truths to God and we speak them and ask the Holy Spirit to write them on our heart and we thank God for them. Paragraph H. At the end of the paragraph, a hypocrite is not a person who says one thing and does another. That's what we say a hypocrite is. They say one thing and do another. No, really, what a hypocrite is is somebody who says one thing without seeking or intending to obey it. I mean, everybody says one thing and does another at some level. I mean, if we say, walk in love, and if you come up one degree short of perfect love, which we come up a lot shorter than that, you're a hypocrite by that definition. You're not a hypocrite because you're aiming high and coming up short. You're a hypocrite if you proclaim something but you don't seek it. You're not seeking to obey it or you're not intending to obey it. Use whichever word that you want. That's what a hypocrite is. If I tell you, you know, seek God, but I'm not trying to live that lifestyle, I can come up short and still be truthful to call people to it. Double page 2. We're still on this paradox of grace. Let's go down to paragraph B. Why are we lovely to God? For four reasons we're lovely to Him. Number one, because He's so kind. He is so generous in His personality. You've heard the phrase, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. Well, the one that's looking at us is so kind, so it's already, we're in a good position already because the one evaluating us is so filled with mercy and so generous. So one reason is because of the very personality of God, what He's like. I mean, if somebody else looked at you, they wouldn't have the same opinion, even though they knew you were in Christ. Number two, we're lovely to God because we have the gift of righteousness, and I cannot exaggerate the significance of having a righteousness so perfect, even God can't improve it because it's His. We're talking about the very righteousness of God has been imputed to you, and it dwells in your spirit. Your born-again spirit actually was made the righteousness of God, so much so the Holy Spirit can live in you comfortably. If your born-again spirit was not righteous, the Holy Spirit could not dwell in you. Number three, Jesus sees the willing spirit, the sincere intention to obey, the yes in our spirit. Look at 1 Peter 3, that He says He calls it the incorruptible beauty of a right spirit with God is what in essence. You could put different phrases in there. It's an incorruptible beauty to have a right spirit before God. It's precious. No, it's very precious in God's sight. God looks at your right spirit, and it's not, well, that's kind of neat, you know. No, it's very precious, and it is incorruptibly beautiful to God. And then our eternal destiny, the fact that God looks at us. You know, He sees the end from the beginning, so He sees you in the light of how you're going to respond to Him for billions and billions and billions of years. I mean, the 70 years on the earth, a little bit more, a little bit less, is a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of your life with Him. And He actually sees us in the fullness of how we'll be with Him forever and forever and forever. And that's part of even our relationship with Him right now. That's part of our hope. That's who we are. He sees this. Anyway, there's just nothing more enjoyable than feeling God enjoys you even though you know there are issues that are not yet settled, but you're bringing them into the conversation with Him, and you care intensely. You're not casual about sin. You care intensely about it. Well, she makes the twofold confession, I'm dark but lovely. Now Romans 3. Now her spiritual crisis, we see five different points of pressure that are negative in her crisis. Here in verse 6 and verse 7, she says, Don't stare at me because I'm dark. My mother's sons were angry with me, so they gave me a lot of extra work in the vineyard. My brothers were so mad at me, they made me do all this extra work. They overworked me. So my own vineyard, the vineyard of my heart, in the spiritual interpretation, I haven't kept my own vineyard. So she cries out in verse 7, Tell me, O you whom I love. She's talking to the king, the bridegroom king. Tell me, O you whom I love. She loves the Lord. This is not a weak, struggling believer who doesn't care. She's weak and struggling, but she really cares, and her love is real. Tell me, O you whom I love. Where will you feed your flock? Where will you feed me is what she's really saying. Where's the place where my heart can get fed like it was in the early days of our relationship? For why should I be like one who veils herself by the flocks of your companion? What she's really saying here is, Why should I be like one who serves you at a distance? And we'll break that down in just a few moments. Well, let's look at the notes here in paragraph A. She felt ashamed because of those that were staring at her because of her failure. She says the brothers are staring at her, and this is not an inviting stare. This is not an affirming stare. They're staring at her because they see the darkness of her heart because of her failure. Then she felt rejected by her angry brothers. They were angry, and they overworked her. They gave her the way-out-of-the-way assignment and just made it as hard on her as possible. So she felt rejected by her brothers. Then she felt overworked. Then her own vineyard wasn't kept. And then she served Jesus at a distance. She served him at a distance. She said, By the flocks of your companion as a veiled woman. Instead of drawing near to him, that's what she signed up for. Remember the theme of the song is draw me near to you. Let me know the kisses of your word. Let me know the fragrance of your good perfumes. Oh, that's why the people of God love you, because your love is better than wine. That's the vision of her heart. That's what she signed up for. And that's what you signed up for. Well, let's look at paragraph C. The sons were angry at her in her youthful zeal. The sons speak of the older spiritually dull leaders. They're angry at her. They're overworking her. They don't value her fervency. And there are those in the body of Christ that have been at it for years that would be symbolized by the sons, and they don't value the fervency of the young believer. Now, a young believer isn't always young in age. A young believer may be a year or two older than the Lord, but they may be 70 years old, and they're on fire because they're just going for it, and they're excited, and the older ones go, well, we'll see, you know. Well, I'll give you a little time. You'll calm down. And one of the reasons that the brothers are angry, because if you're on fire for the Lord at meaning, and I don't mean you're just exuberant in your style of relating. That's not what I mean by on fire. Some people think on fire means verbally being, you know, bold and boisterous. That's what on fire means. No, on fire means that you are going for the highest and the things of God's heart of obeying. You can have a quiet spirit of pressing into God, but that brings a spirit of conviction to the people around you. I don't mean because you get in their face and you tell them everything you're doing. Your lifestyle bothers them. And as young people, I'll just tell you something, going through my early years, the number one thing that the older guys would tell me, I mean, I had a lot of encouragement from older guys too, but when I was bothering them, when I was in my 20s, I was pressing in to have a prayer life and times of fasting and wanting to devour the Word of God, X amount of hours in the course of a day or a week, whatever it was. And I had older pastor friends, and they were saying, you're going to burn out. You better slow down. They'd say, that's legalism anyway. And I'd go, what's legalism? Well, if you're doing all that, that must be legalism. So I found out that legalism was code for you are convicting me by your lifestyle. Because a young person, if you say legalism, I mean, that's the ultimate cuss word in the kingdom. Legalism, no! Okay, I'll get drunk and I'll quit legalism. Please don't use the L word on me. A lot of folks are really, they get so scared if somebody goes, legalism. It just really, really scares them. And when I was in my early days, whenever I bothered somebody by my devotion, they were older, they would say some word like that. Or they'd say, you're going to get burn out or it's unnecessary. But also, I have written here, is that there's another reason that the sons can be angry. Because I know in my case, that in my 20s, I had untempered zeal. And some of the things, meaning my zeal for God was good, but I was expressing it to them in ways that had pride in it, it didn't have humility, it didn't have wisdom in it. So I was poking them in the eye and making them angry. It wasn't just my dedication. But you put the two together and it's a perfect storm. You got a young person that's, their lifestyle is convicting the other one, and then they're just lack enough wisdom and lack humility to where they poke them in the eye while they're being dedicated. It's just, again, it's a perfect storm. Paragraph D. Burn out. She's being mistreated by the angry brothers, because the angry brothers overworked her. They made her take on more vineyards. They said, hey, go to the vineyards, plural. Take all these vineyards. Care for them. And she didn't care for the vineyard of her own heart. I've said this many times over the years that spiritual burnout doesn't really, doesn't come from hard work near as much as working with a wrong spirit. Working with a wrong spirit is where burnout mostly comes. I mean, there's that one guy that puts too many hours in. But most people over 40 years, I've looked back and evaluated, that have burnout, it's not because they're putting too much effort in. It's because they're serving or seeking. They're seeking God or serving in the kingdom or whatever they're doing. They're doing it with the wrong spirit. They're trying to gain the approval and the attention of people. Nobody will applaud them so their feelings get hurt. They get burnout because they're not being applauded. Or they're competing with other people, trying to outdo them, and they get burnout because they're living with competition, spiritual competition. Or they get burnout because they're serving in ministry, but they're not actually connected to the Lord. You know, you can lead a worship team. You can sing on the set chair and not connect to the Holy Spirit at all and get burnout and think it's the effort that burns you out. It's the fact that you're serving without connecting. Or you're comparing or you're seeking someone's approval. That will burn you out so quick. And so don't automatically think it's the hard work that burns you out. Sometimes I know a few folks where they need to do a little bit less, but that's about 1%. Really, it's not more than 1%. So don't go there. Go to look, say, what spirit am I doing? Am I praying, fasting, seeking God so the leaders, so the people, so the girl I'm trying to get her attention thinks I'm amazing? Is that why you're doing it? Oh, no, he caught me. Well, hey, man, I was 20. You know, I wasn't born at age 58. I did some of that. I did get the girl. Okay, paragraph E. It's a great story, but I had a couple of negative things between the blah, blah, blah. Anyway, that's for another day. I just got to say, you know, a little bit more of the story. It's been fun for 37 years. There's a couple of hard years before that. Okay, dullness. They made me, she said, they made me the keeper of the vineyards, plural. I was working. They made me do this. But my own heart I didn't keep. Taking care of her vineyard speaks of nurturing her personal relationship with the Lord. Taking care of her own vineyard speaks of nurturing her personal relationship with the Lord. Do you keep your own vineyard, or are you so focused on having a responsibility that others can see you in a place of impact and influence, and you're not even keeping the vineyard of your heart? And my point isn't how bad you are. I mean, we all know how to do that. I've done that a number of times over the years. But my point is that's the problem when we don't keep the vineyard of our own heart. We can't impart to others what we don't possess in our own secret life in God. What I don't have in my own life in God, my secret life that is between me and Him, that nobody else can even understand it. Everybody has a secret history in God, a secret life in God. You can't impart to others what you don't have there. I mean, you can be a gifted musician, a gifted singer, gifted preacher, gifted writer. You can stir people up. But that doesn't mean you're imparting something that's going to change their life in a way that's lasting change. I'm not interested in just getting people excited in a meeting. I want people to actually believe that they can interact with God in a deeper way and actually go do it afterwards. That's what I'm after. And the reason I say that, because if you're a gifted communicator or a great singer or you know how to do the drums and the bass, you can get people excited and still have a completely barren life in God and say, Hey, it's working. No, that's not what I'm getting at. I'm not talking about a room that's enthusiastic or talking about you. I'm talking about people that were imparting something that moves their heart to God in a way where they change the way they live outside the meeting. That's what I'm interested in. And that's what so many of you are interested in as well. Well, originally, we're still on paragraph E, what she wanted most was the kisses of His word. But the vineyard of her own heart is choked with busyness. It's choked with sin, choked with shame, with comparison, with trying to get people's approval. I mean, that's a rat race to be working hard. I mean, fasting and praying and searching out the word and, you know, ministry and serving. And the core thing driving is to get people's attention to think you're amazing. And nobody does. You know, one year goes by, five years go by, and you still don't have some great ministry. Why am I doing this for? The Lord says, I thought it was about you and me. Paragraph F, she goes, why should I be one who veils herself by the flocks of my companion? Now, women veiled themselves when they were working with strangers, when they were working with somebody they were not familiar with in a family relationship. She's going, why am I serving at a distance from you in other fields? You're the one I love. Why am I doing this? I'm serving at a distance from you. I'm like a veiled woman. I'm in the other part of the field or the pasture out there, and I'm not even close to you. I'm like a veiled woman because I can't even interact with the others because I'm so far away from you. Because if it's a family relationship, if it's a married relationship, those kinds of relationships she would not have her veil on. So she's saying, I'm far away from you serving at a distance. Paragraph 4, her desperate cry. Verse 7, tell me, oh you whom I love. She cries out. She goes, I'm burnt out. I'm keeping other vineyards. I'm dark. The brothers are angry at me. Nothing's working right. My own vineyard has got weeds in it. My heart is dull. Tell me, oh you whom I love. Where do you feed your flock? I want you to touch my heart. Where will you touch me? Not where I get the attention of people or get a new open door or get a bigger platform. Where will you touch my heart? That's what I'm in this thing for. Where will you make it rest, the flock, at noon? Because the sheep would only rest at noon in the heat of the day. The sheep had to be fed and satisfied or they would not lie down. So when she says, where will they rest at noon? In essence she's saying, where can I be so satisfied like the sheep that when they're full they will lie down? And it says, he makes me to lie down and grieve pastures. That means I'm full. I'm satisfied. That's when the sheep lie down. Why should I be like the one who veils herself? Why should I serve at a distance? And that's the cry. And there's a number of you in this room right now. That's the cry of your heart. You're going, why should I be serving at a distance? She remembers the sweet times of communion in the king's chamber back in verse 4. Paragraph C. Bible teachers can inspire you. Bible teachers can point you to the green pastures of truth. Like tonight I can point you to green pastures. I can point you to truth. That's what I'm doing. I'm sorry. But those are truths that if you don't feed on them outside of a meeting, they won't touch you. All I'm doing here really is advertising truth for you. To where you go, and the Holy Spirit, my prayers, the Holy Spirit will stir you a little bit and touch you. And you go, yeah, yeah, I'm going to. And some of you go, yeah, I'm going to go study that later. This is a successful meeting. I'm going to go talk to God about that later. It doesn't change you or feed you until it gets into your conversation with Jesus in private. These are verses that you write down and, you know, you tell them to a friend or put them on Facebook. That's all cool. But if it doesn't get in your conversation with Jesus, it does not feed you. Truth does not feed you. A lot of folks are happy to know truth and to have truth so they can tell somebody else truth. But the Lord wants you to talk to Him about truth, and that's the only time you get really fed. Again, you get stirred by somebody else singing or teaching or a drama. But it's what you do with that stirring that determines if you're fed or not. I've had people say, boy, I was really fed in the Word tonight. And that's great. They can keep saying that. But I know they're not really fed. They're stirred until they go away and talk to the Lord about a couple of truths. And it enters into their dialogue with the Lord. Paragraph D, she longs to be satisfied with Jesus. That's what, not ministry, but Jesus. Not just the kingdom activity. She wants to be satisfied with the man who's fully God, fully man and fully God, to be satisfied with Jesus. Let's go to Paragraph G. Now, many, many believers, when they repent, sincere. I mean, we come up short. And I don't mean just a stumbling into scandalous sin. Some folks stumble only means, coming up short only means a scandalous sin. I want my tongue to be bridled. I want to have a spirit of prayer. I want my time spent right. I want my money spent right. I want to love my enemies well. I'm talking about a definition of walking with God that's bigger than, well, I haven't done a scandalous sin. I haven't stolen any money. I haven't beat anybody up. I think I'm doing pretty good. No, I'm talking about without a spirit of prayer, without loving the unlovely, without communicating with God, spending my time and money right, processing my inner life right, I'm not happy. I want more. I want to touch Him at that level. I think that's important to say because some people say, well, repent of what? And they're thinking only of the big outward scandalous kind of things. We want to abide with it. We want to connect deeply. Is that the vision of your heart? Well, I think it is. Most of you, you wouldn't be in this room. But many repentant believers expect to be rebuked. That's what they expect. When they come up short, they're expecting to be rebuked by the Lord. And it's shocking when the Lord actually does the opposite of rebuking them. From the Spirit of the Word, He wants to speak comfort to our hearts. He wants the spirit of shame to be broken off of our lives. Paragraph 1, the Lord wants to give Jerusalem double honor. And you can read it right there in Isaiah 40. He wants to give her double honor in place of shame. And what He does for Jerusalem is indicative of what kind of personality He has. This is what He's like. He takes those who deserve shame. They come to Him in their brokenness and repentance and sincerity. He says, I want to give you double honor. I don't want to give you what you deserve. You deserve shame. I want to take it away and give you double honor. He commands. He commands us to speak comfort to Jerusalem. Because God speaks comfort to those that are in sin in the process of repenting of their sin. He gives them comfort. Look at Isaiah 40. Comfort, yes. Comfort my people. Somebody could say, comfort them. It's like a question mark. Comfort them. Look at them. They're not obeying you. And the Lord says, yes. Comfort them. Speak comfort. Cry out for them, for her, that her sin is pardoned. And this is talking about to the Jewish people. But my point isn't that right now, though that's a glorious point. But I'm saying this is what God's like. When we deserve to have our sin crush us, God says, I want my people to comfort you because I'm speaking comfort. That's why I want you to speak comfort to the one. They've come to me in sincerity. They're in their brokenness. They deserve shame. But I want you to speak comfort because I, the Lord, am speaking comfort. That translates to he's speaking comfort to you right now. Beloved, when I feel his comfort and his double honor for my sin, I go, what kind of God are you that this is what, this is how you talk, this is how you think, this is how you want us to talk. Wow. Paragraph 2. He gives his people a new name to show that he delights in them. He delights in them. I mean, what a powerful statement here in Isaiah 62. And I've told the dream many times. I had it November 1995. Very powerful dream. I'm in a big auditorium like down at the convention center. There's thousands of young people. And I'm up on the platform with a microphone, and I hear an audible voice of God like thunder. And it's coming from the right. Not that that matters. And it's booming voice. Tell them. No, call them Hephzibah. Tell them. I delight in them. Tell them. I delight in them. And this voice, this thunderous audible voice was saying this to me. And I was supposed to say this. Well, you're supposed to say it. We're all supposed to say it. Tell them. And the them are sincere believers. I'm not talking about a person who's not sincere. They're hanging out in the church world. They're not trying to walk with God. They're trying to get away with whatever they can get away with and still have a little prestige in the church world. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about people that are trying hard, and they're coming up short, which is everybody who loves Jesus. We're trying hard, and we're coming up short in one of those areas. And the Lord says, speak comfort. Tell them. I delight in the relationship. I like talking to them. I like relating with them. Roman numeral five. The bridegroom's sevenfold answer. So now she says, where will you feed me? Where will you make me lie down? I mean, make the flock lie down at noon. Where will you satisfy me is what she's really saying in verse seven. Well, verse eight to eleven, the bridegroom gives seven statements to answer that prayer. Of where she could find him and where she could be fed and where she could be satisfied and lie down as the sheep lie down in green pastures. Verse eight. Now the Lord speaks up. He says, because she said, where will you feed me? And he goes, good. I'm glad you answered. I have the answer. Verse eight. If you don't know, oh most beautiful one, follow in the footsteps of the flock. Feed your little goats besides the shepherd's tents. Now again, this is in that agricultural language of which the entire love song is set. So it's, the meaning's pretty, I think it's pretty easy to follow. But the first thing he says to her, here she is. Her vineyard's not kept. She's dark in heart. She's lost her way. She's not fed. She's serving at a distance. And he goes, you're beautiful to me. Me? Now? You mean down the road? No, right now. The cry of your heart to touch me and please me, says the Lord, is beautiful to me. Really? No, no, Lord, I got this going on and that going on. Let me remind you again how bad I am. Oh, I see you're dark, but you're not only dark in heart, you're lovely to me. And he starts off saying, you're beautiful. Paragraph C. He gave a threefold instruction. He said, follow in the footsteps of the flock. Feed the little goats and feed them besides the shepherd's tents. He gives a threefold instruction in verse eight there. Turn to the top of page five. We'll just do this ever so fast because I'm just going to mention the points real quick. Because they're really simple points. We just need to do them. And they're not hard to do. But they need to be done. Instruction number one of the threefold instruction. He goes, follow in the footsteps of the flock. In other words, be involved in the body of Christ is what he's saying. Be involved in my kingdom purposes. Not just going on a ministry trip. Be involved in the local body of Christ in your area. Don't be aloof. Be where the flock gathers. Be a part of it. I've said over the years that the church is, like, real out of style right now in the western world. But I've got good news. The church is about to have a major comeback because Jesus is building the church. And he's coming for a church filled with glory. Don't buy into the rhetoric that the church is over and we're just going to have little fun times and go on some ministry trips. He wants the body functioning in every geographic area according to the New Testament pattern. He is committed to his church. And every believer needs to be a functioning, contributing, serving, giving member of a local church. And you do that when you're in Bible school. You do that when you're on the mission field. You do that when you work at Sprint. You do whatever you are, wherever you're at. Get involved in the body of Christ in that geographic area. That's God's purpose. Follow the footsteps of the flock by being involved. Being involved in a local church. Don't live in isolation from it because that's a popular trend. That's not what the Spirit is saying. The Holy Spirit's not following Facebook trends. The Holy Spirit's not following anybody. He's leading His own agenda that's in the Word. I look at the Word and I know what He's building. Paragraph E. Instruction number 2. He says, feed your little goats. He's talking about the younger believers. Don't call them little goats from Song of Solomon. By serving others. That's how you're feeding. He goes, go invest in those that are younger spiritually. Again, they may be 70 years old and a year old in the Lord. You may be 20 and 10 years old in the Lord. Go help them. They don't have to be younger than you physically. Just a younger believer. Go serve them. Go give yourself. Disciple some younger ones. Don't just hang out with Christian friends that socialize together. That's good. I'm certainly not that. But there's more to the kingdom than having some fun with a few friends. We want to disciple a generation. And that's one-on-one, one-on-two, one-on-five. It takes work. It's not easy to do. I don't mean it's hard work, but it takes time and effort. It's not always fun. Get a vision to be a discipler. Instruction 3, paragraph F. And do this serving by the shepherd's tent. In other words, by honoring spiritual authority. One of the primary characteristics of the generation the Lord returns is the spirit of lawlessness. And lawlessness will be in the church activities as well. The Lord has, he wants the body of Christ to walk in humility, to honor spiritual authority from a biblical point of view. That's a very important part of the church walking in victory. Top of page 6. Now he gives, I'll just end this in just 90 seconds here. Now he gives the three things. He goes, you want me to feed you? I want you in the body, in the life of the body. I want you giving out to young people. And I want you in a right relationship to spiritual authority. Wow. I was thinking of more of a heavenly visitation with an angel or something. The Lord says, no, that's where I feed my people. Because humility is involved in it. Denying our own rights. Laying down our pride. All of that's involved in those three things. And then he says, then he affirms her. He says, I've compared you, my love. And again, this language of affection. Here she is. She hasn't changed anything. But he says, I love you. You're beautiful. It's this paradigm of love and beauty. Right through the song. It's I love you and you are beautiful. Every stage of the way. It's I love you and you are beautiful. That's the paradigm of which the kingdom grows strong. He gives three affirmations. To my filly among Pharaoh's chariots. Now Pharaoh had the strongest and the most obedient or trained horses in the world. Pharaoh was famous for it. He goes, I compare you to this dedicated, trained, submissive horse. Which was the glory of Pharaoh's court. That's how I see you are. He's looking at this young believer. The Lord is saying, you have brought your strength into the relationship. You're seeking to love me with all of your heart. You're resolute. Yes, you're weak. But I see in you a heart cry of you're beautiful. Like Pharaoh's horses are to me. Again, using this language of the ancient world. Goes on in paragraph C. He goes, your cheeks are lovely. And the cheeks throughout the song of Solomon speak of the emotions. Because through the cheeks you can see anger. You can see joy. You can see sadness. You see the countenance of the face reveals the emotions of the heart. He goes, your cheeks, your emotions. Though you're not there. You're unsettled in some areas. But you're beautiful to me right now. Then he goes on and says, your neck is lovely. And the neck throughout the song of Solomon speaks of the will. Because the will is the scripture. There's the stiff neck, the rebellious. But also the neck isn't just the stubborn. But the neck speaks of the act of the will. And he says, the choices you're making are lovely to me. I see them. Even though it's weak and it's small. I see it. I see what's in your heart. Even though you think there's a storm on the inside of you. I see your cheeks are lovely. There's a cry in your heart that touches me when I see it. I'll end with paragraph B. The very beauty that Jesus possesses is the beauty he imparts. I mean, because he ends in verse 11 by promising to make her beautiful before him. To bring forth the beauty of the Lord. The beauty he possesses is the beauty he imparts. Beloved, this is the journey that we're on. We're on it individually and we're on it together. Amen and amen.