This is a Jack Hyles-type of sermon (like "Woman, the Comforter" sermons he is so famous for) only I will preach with the Scriptures as final authority and for final example instead of some Baptistic Opinion preached with whoops and hollers.  I challenge you to allow the Holy Spirit to guide you with this Book within your marriage and family relationship with your children as well as your relationship with the Lord - your Master and friend.

Remember, we all had fallen short before we were married but that sure didn't seem to matter at the time; it shouldn't matter now, either!  If it does, then you probably have an unhappy marriage, or if you are good actor, a marriage that does not 'work' except by the grace of God!

As in everything, there must be GRACE from each other towards each other in our marriages!  Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.  Hebrews 13:9.

We couldn't do it ourselves before and we can't do it ourselves now!  We need the grace of our spouse as we need the grace from Christ!  He is in us as we are in Him and so we need to let Him do His work!   Galatians 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

It should be reassuring to know that, as a Christian, we can not ever 'blow it all' as we strive to improve our walk.  If so, Jesus would have to deny himself in order to impute our sin to our account.  We are dead to sin so all that we are dealing with here is 'bad works,' all of which will be judged at the Judgment Seat of Christ - not now.  Colossians 3:24,25

Always continue to press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:14  Be desirous to become that great husband / great wife.  Be one that pleases God!

Blessings are abounding 'after' this all gets settled properly!  I Thessalonians 4:1 Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.

In Part II, we looked into practical Scriptural example for us to follow in regards to "friendship" within a marriage.

We say that we believe this Bible to be our final authority in all matters of faith & practice - we also should say it is our "final example in all matters of faith and practice."  This book gives us those perfect examples for us to follow!  With God's grace and the guidance of the Holy Spirit with the Love AND friendship of Jesus Christ, I hope this series helps your relationship with Jesus Christ AND your spouse!

I believe that we all are aware that there are fewer and fewer married couples who are even willing to 'try' to seek out a Godly marriage let alone be able to find one these days.

But maybe - just maybe, there are still:

• some couples willing to rebuild their marriage God's way
• some couples somewhere willing to save their marriage just before it crumbles
• some couples willing to make their good marriage even better
• some young folks out there wanting to start a marriage as God has designed it
• and maybe there are even some parents out there wanting to learn how to teach their children to have a good godly marriage relationship.

The same goes that if you have a good Biblical "master-servant relationship" with Jesus Christ, and if you two are also "friends" as He defines friend, then the true "Love of God" will be an obvious testimony from the family. I Corinthians 8:3  But if any man love God, the same is known of him.

So, this morning, if we are going to look at the "Lovin" aspect within a marriage, we know that there is no better place to turn that to that of Song of Solomon.  For Biblical directions for those intimate moments with your bride or as a bride, the Song of Solomon is the book to read.

Catholics take an erotic and mystical view with the bride being Mary.  Now that gets pretty perverted and is an obvious damnable heresy knowing what the Scriptures say about the true Mary, not the perverted Catholic Mary.

Origin taught it in a profane and perverted form - and should we be surprised?  Look at the perverted bibles that came from his teachings.

He taught that Song of Solomon is about two girl friends, one of them being a shepherd and the other being the queen, and Solomon is playing them both against each other and talking about them - a love triangle, eh!  Nothing but a typical modern TV sitcom view - the type that attracts most people today.

The Grecian Eastern Fathers taught the Mystical Spiritual view - they teach that this is not Christian doctrine but is just a mysterious place of Spiritual Rest.

To a Bible Believer, it is only obvious that this is a book written as a love song set in Springtime - also the time of the Lord's return for His bride.  The similarities here regarding Jesus Christ and us are spectacular, but only for those who believe the Scriptures first - only then can they see what God has for us in this book.

Keep in mind, that reading and understanding this book can be difficult at times, though, because of so many "SST's"- Sudden Speaker Transitions.  The verses switch from speaker to speaker and from place to place with no explanation.  (Maybe all you TV remote experts will understand this book better than those one channel only watchers!  :-)

King Solomon is a type of Christ.  He is the 10th son of David, 2nd son by Bathsheba and 3rd King of Israel.

The Bride is called the Shulamite in S of S 6:13.  It is commonly accepted that she must have been Abishag of Shunem, the fairest maiden in all the land who attended David in his last days (I Kings 1:1,4), and who also became Solomon's wife, for her marriage to another might have endangered his throne (I Kings 2:17,22).

This bride is a type of the church of which all of us belong, not just some local assembly, etc. (Matthew 9:15; 25:1; John 3:29; II Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 5:23; Revelation 19:7; 21:2; 22:17)

This is all about our relationship with Jesus Christ as His bride with Him being our groom - our King!  This Book teaches us about marriage being designed and compared to the glorious & final wedding of Jesus Christ and His Church!

1:15: Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves' eyes.

1:16: Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant: also our bed is green.

2:10: My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.

2:13: The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell.  Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.

4:1: Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves' eyes within thy locks: thy hair is as a flock of goats, that appear from mount Gilead.

4:7: Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee.

4:10: How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse!  how much better is thy love than wine!  and the smell of thine ointments than all spices!

5:9: What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women?  what is thy beloved more than another beloved, that thou dost so charge us?

6:1: Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women?  whither is thy beloved turned aside?  that we may seek him with thee.

6:10: Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?

7:6: How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love, for delights!

Notice that in that first church, God liked their works - he liked their labour - He liked their patience.  He liked how they abhorred evil to the point to not have it around or to even just be around it; and they even exposed the pulpit liars who called themselves apostles and did false works, false signs and miracles & wonders, etc.

In verse 6, He even liked that they hated the deeds of the Nicolaitans - those who wanted to control the church family's lives and deeds.

So it is with us here - you folks do some good works here as well as to others - you work for the Lord hard around here and in other activities - you have had patience with some sins that still exist in your life as well as others, you haven't let that inner battle with the flesh and spirit get you to be down and out!  You know about many of the pulpit liars out there in modern christianity - and you even hate the deeds of the church controllers, be they be a pastor, missionary or even people within the church body.

Many of you exhibit these same good traits within your own family and marriage - and those things do please God, as they did for the church at Ephesus.

Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

Read my written sermon on Song of Solomon chapter 4 in regards to the purely physical element of your marriage relationship.  It is amazing what is dealt with in that Book.  This goes far beyond simple romancing.

Read the stuff on pornography, nudity and pre-marital sex from a Biblical perspective.  Some serious warnings there!  I see the reading of a modern bible version the same as fellowshipping with devils - in other words, fornicating with the whore of Babylon.  The difference between an NIV and a KJV is the difference between sex and real lovin'!

I encourage you to read those materials closely and remember these verses - the ignorance of these two sets of verses have destroyed many marriages!

As the Bride of Jesus Christ, we are not to defraud Him of any close relationship - we know that there is no relationship with God without Jesus Christ - John 14, etc. and so knowing that this closeness is necessary for a good marriage, then this is an obviously proper application with Jesus Christ our Lord!

If you are not saved, you are defrauding God of a love that He desires from you - after all, He gave His only begotten Son, and if you reject His son, you are defrauding God of the love He deserves because of His sacrifice for you!

If you are saved, and if you are lacking in any of these three parts of this relationship, then you are defrauding Him of the Love He wants from you, as one of His children.

Psalm 73:28 - But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works.

Psalm 22:11 - Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.

Ps:22:19: But be not thou far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste thee to help me.

Psalm 119:169 - Let my cry come near before thee, O LORD: give me understanding according to thy word.

John 14:20-23 - At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

John 15:4-11 - Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

Revelation 3:20 - Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

March 31 - morning - Pilate delivered our Lord to the lictors to be scourged. The Roman scourge was a most dreadful instrument of torture. It was made of the sinews of oxen, and sharp bones were inter-twisted every here and there among the sinews; so that every time the lash came down these pieces of bone inflicted fearful laceration, and tore off the flesh from the bone.

The Saviour was, no doubt, bound to the column, and thus beaten. He had been beaten before; but this of the Roman lictors was probably the most severe of his flagellations. My soul, stand here and weep over his poor stricken body.

Believer in Jesus, can you gaze upon him without tears, as he stands before you the mirror of agonizing love? He is at once fair as the lily for innocence, and red as the rose with the crimson of his own blood. As we feel the sure and blessed healing which his stripes have wrought in us, does not our heart melt at once with love and grief?

If ever we have loved our Lord Jesus, surely we must feel that affection glowing now within our bosoms.

We would fain go to our chambers and weep; but since our business continuously calls us away, we will first pray our Beloved to print the image of his bleeding self upon the tablets of our hearts all the day, and through it all, we will continue to commune with him, and sorrow that our sin should have cost him so dear.

March 30 - Evening - Are you content to follow Jesus afar off? Can you contemplate suspended communion with Christ without alarm? Can you bear to have your Beloved walking contrary to you, because you walk contrary to him? Have your sins separated between you and your God (your husband/wife, your Bible), and is your heart at rest?

O let me affectionately warn you, for it is a grievous thing when we can live contentedly without the present enjoyment of the Saviour’s face. Let us labour to feel what an evil thing this is - "little" love to our own dying Saviour, "little" joy in our precious Jesus, "little" fellowship with the Beloved!

Hold a true sacrifice in your souls, while you sorrow over your hardness of heart. Do not stop at sorrow! Remember where you first received salvation. Go at once to the 'Book.' There, and there only, can you get your spirit quickened. No matter how hard, how insensible, how dead we may have become, let us go again in all the rags and poverty, and defilement of our natural condition.

Let us clasp that 'Bible,' let us look into those languid eyes, let us bathe in that fountain filled with blood-this will bring back to us our first love; this will restore the simplicity of our faith, and the tenderness of our heart.
 

April 1 Morning - Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth. Song of Solomon 1:2
In beginning of this new month, let us seek the same desires after our Lord as those which glowed in the heart of the elect spouse. See how she leaps at once to him; there are no prefatory words; she does not even mention his name; she is in the heart of her theme at once, for she speaks of him who was the only him in the world to her.

How bold is her love! it was much condescension which permitted the weeping penitent to anoint his feet with spikenard - it was rich love which allowed the gentle Mary to sit at his feet and learn of him - but here, love, strong, fervent love, aspires to higher tokens of regard, and closer signs of fellowship.  The spouse in joyful liberty of perfect love knows no fear. If we have received the same free spirit, we also may ask the like.

By kisses we suppose to be intended those varied manifestations of affection by which the believer is made to enjoy the love of Jesus.

The kiss of reconciliation we enjoyed at our conversion, and it was sweet as honey dropping from the comb.

The kiss of acceptance is still warm on our brow, as we know that he hath accepted our persons and our works through rich grace.

The kiss of daily, present communion, is that which we pant after to be repeated day after day, till it is changed into the kiss of reception, which removes the soul from earth, and the kiss of consummation which fills it with the joy of heaven.

Faith is our walk, but fellowship sensibly felt is our rest. Faith is the road, but communion with Jesus Christ is the well from which the pilgrim drinks.