HIS HEART SONG Part 18

“Pure Devotion”

  • The Beloved affirmed every part of His bride…in turn…she knows that its not about HER anymore…its all about HIM and His desires
  • When our SELF has really been dealt with in this way…when we really have DIED to our selves….THEN we can finally begin to work WITH our Beloved…
  • This is where the Bride finds herself…look at her response…

Song of Songs 7:11 “Come, my Beloved, let us go forth to the field; let us lodge in villages….”

  • O MY GOODNESS! Such simple words…..but words that totally fill our Beloved with OVERFLOWING JOY!!!!!
  • She wants what He desires!!!! WOOWOO!!!
  • Remember earlier when HE had asked her to go with Him….way back in chapter 2…. But she didn’t want to go….now here she is asking HIM!!!!
  • His PRAYER was that we are ONE with Him…..and here it is, coming to pass…
  • John 17:22 “And the glory which You gave Me I have given them; that they may be ONE, even as we are one.”
  • She says…”let US go….”
  • She is not about to go by herself…but it totally doesn’t matter to her WHERE, or WHEN, or WHY….it just matters that it is with HIM. She KNOWS that he has her best in mind and she TRUSTS in Him completely!!!!
  • When will we get to this point…that we totally TRUST in Him to GO where He says to GO and to DO what he says to DO????
  • God is working in this bride…and she is working WITH Him!
  • Philippians 2:13 “For it is God which works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.”
  • What kind of response do you give Him?....are you willing to work WITH Him
  • She says “LET US” 4 times…twice in this verse and twice in the next one…indicating that they are WORKING TOGETHER….just like the disciples did…
  • Mark 16:20 “THEY went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working WITH THEM and confirming the word through the accompanying signs.”
  • They preached EVERYWHERE….just like the bride wants to do…she wants to go to the fields and the villages….to the places where the hungry and hurting are…to the places where people are troubled and depressed…she didn’t care if it was way over in Kenya, or deep in Port Arthur…she DOESN’T CARE WHERE …as long as it’s with HIM!!!! She TRUSTS Him completely!!!
  • 2 Corinthians 2:14 “I am grateful that God always makes it possible for Christ to lead us to victory. God also helps us spread the knowledge about Christ everywhere, and this knowledge is like the smell of perfume.”
  • This next Scripture reminds me of what Missionary Deborah Smith said before they left for Africa…she said something like “even if we perish over there, we perish doing the will of God. We are exactly where He wants us to be”…
  • 2 Corinthians 4:7-17 “We are like clay jars in which this treasure is stored. The real power comes from God and not from us. We often suffer, but we are never crushed. Even when we don't know what to do, we never give up. In times of trouble, God is with us, and when we are knocked down, we get up again. We face death every day because of Jesus. Our bodies show what his death was like, so that his life can also be seen in us. This means that death is working in us, but life is working in you. In the Scriptures it says, "I spoke because I had faith." We have that same kind of faith. So we speak because we know that God raised the Lord Jesus to life. And just as God raised Jesus, he will also raise us to life. Then he will bring us into his presence together with you. All of this has been done for you, so that more and more people will know how kind God is and will praise and honor him. We never give up. Our bodies are gradually dying, but we ourselves are being made stronger each day. These little troubles are getting us ready for an eternal glory that will make all our troubles seem like nothing.”
  • TRUE BRIDES have total TRUST in their Beloved…
  • When the bride is talking about serving in the FIELD…this is the area right around her…her family, neighborhood, job, church, Wal Mart….
  • When she talks about going to the VILLAGES…these are more “out of the way” places….unknown places…not just the well established big cities…
  • Song of Songs 7:12b “…Let us GET UP EARLY to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourishes, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth: there will I gie you my loves.”
  • LET US…LET US…here it is again!...Let us GO…let us LODGE…let us GET UP EARLY…let us SEE…..it’s all about US…not “me” or “you”….but US….the two have become ONE!
  • She wants to GET UP EARLY…check this out….do a google search on that and you will find that there are several people in the Bible who also had that desire to get up EARLY….super cool!...
  • JESUS…Mark 1:35 “Very early the next morning, Jesus got up and went to a place where he could be alone and pray.”
  • ABRAHAM…Genesis 21:14; 22:3 “Early the next morning Abraham… So Abraham got up early the next morning and chopped wood for the fire. He put a saddle on his donkey and left with Isaac and two servants for the place where God had told him to go.”
  • JACOB…Genesis 28:18 “When Jacob got up early the next morning, he took the rock that he had used for a pillow and stood it up for a place of worship. Then he poured olive oil on the rock to dedicate it to God, …”
  • MOSES…Exodus 34:4 “So Moses cut two flat stones like the first ones, and early the next morning he carried them to the top of Mount Sinai, just as the LORD had commanded.”
  • JOSHUA…Joshua 3:1, 6:12, 7:16, 8:10 “Early the next morning, Joshua and the Israelites packed up and left Acacia. They went to the Jordan River and camped there that night. …14Early the next morning, Joshua and everyone else started marching around Jericho…16Joshua got up early the next morning and brought each tribe to the place of worship…Early the next morning he got his troops ready to move out…”
  • DAVID…1 Samuel 17:20 “David obeyed his father. He got up early the next morning and left someone else in charge of the sheep; then he loaded the supplies and started off. He reached the army camp just as the soldiers were taking their places and shouting the battle cry. “
  • HEZEKIAH…2 Chronicles 29:20 “Right away, Hezekiah called together the officials of Jerusalem, and they went to the temple”
  • MARY MAGDALENE …John 20:1 “On Sunday morning while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance.”
  • There must be something to this GETTING UP EARLY STUFF!....notice that there is NO HESITATION WHATSOEVER!!!! There is an EAGERNESS to do what He has asked you to do!!!...she is DILIGENT…she knows that it is URGENT for her to do what He asks of her!
  • Did you know that you can be busy, busy, busy…and THINK you are doing the work of the Lord…but you’re really not….you’re just staying busy….I know…I’ve done that!
  • God wants us to be DILIGENT…steady, earnest, hard-working, persistent
  • NOT LAZY, which is being…resistant to work, slow-moving, sluggish, idle
  • Ephesians 5:16 “making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. “
  • Colossians 4:5 “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.“
  • No time any more for PETTINESS…her focus is not on HER stuff…but she is now focused on the FIELDS and VILLAGES….the WORLD!!!!
  • “…let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear and the pomegranates bud forth…”
  • At this point…since she is capable of guarding her own vineyard…she can now turn her attention to OTHERS…
  • Can you imagine how excited He is as He watches her check for buds…He is watching her care for the exact things that matter most to Him…she is looking for SIGNS OF LIFE on the vine!
  • The TRUE HEART AND IMAGE of the vine is displayed by the FRUIT it produces
  • We know that HE is THE VINE and we are the branches…she is checking the very young branches out…the very young BELIEVERS…she is PROTECTING them and watching over their tender grapes….because little foxes would love nothing more than to trample them!
  • She is most probably not just staring at the vines, but she is most probably TOUCHING them too…touching the tender grapes to be sure they are OK…this is a picture of how we are to be with new believers…we can’t minister to them from far off…we have to TOUCH them…we have to establish a loving relationship with them…to DISCIPLE them!
  • THINK OF IT THIS WAY….if we really do our job of DISCIPLING new believers…then they will automatically have someone they are ACCOUNTABLE to…which will help them to CONTINUE TO FLOURISH and bear fruit
  • New born baby believers, like these tender grapes, need to be UNCONDITIONALLY LOVED, PROTECTED, NURTURED, and WARNED of what might be harmful to them…they need to see their mentors SO IN LOVE with Jesus so that they can learn to be so in love with Jesus FIRST and FOREMOST….then the “serving” and “working” will come….
  • THINK ABOUT IT….just like new born babies…they need to be shown LOVE and CARE…so that they can learn how to show LOVE and CARE as they grow in the knowledge of God….
  • EX: Adi…as we love on her and tell her kind and loving words…she learns to show that love right back to us and to others…and to her baby dolls!
  • EX: Cohen…as he comes into church every week and watches as his parents and grandparents love on God by worshipping and lifting his hands…at ONE YEAR OLD…he is excited about coming to church to love on God too!
  • The Bible COMMANDS us to bring up our BABIES this way…
  • Deuteronomy 6:1-9 “These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. Hear, OIsrael, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, promised you. Hear, OIsrael: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates”.
  • It’s IMPORTANT that we train up these little ones in the LOVE of the Lord…
  • She is checking out the POMEGRANATE…checking to see if there is PRAISE AND WORSHIP…the pomegranate is so very important!!! God LOVES it when His people praise Him…that is WHY we were created!
  • Isaiah 43:21 “These people I have formed for Myself, they shall declare My praise.”
  • She is LOVING what she is seeing in these buds and vines apparently….because the next thing she says is
  • “…there will I give You my loves.”
  • Even while she smack in the middle of ministering to others…she has not lost a single bit of intimacy with Jesus…
  • THAT takes a LOT of maturity!!!!!
  • IMMATURE/YOUNG believers seem to be able to love Jesus when it’s just them and Him…but when they start serving others…and they start having difficulty and going through a bit of persecution…and they start getting disappointed cause “so-in-so said something about me that hurt me”…and they seem to fall away from THEIR FIRST LOVE
  • As the BRIDE…we are supposed to embrace HARDSHIP…..this is not an easy thing at all!
  • But how many “mature” Christians do you know that, when a little trouble or heartache comes their way, or things don’t go like THEY planned it to go….they get all cold and crazy acting and then fall away from their FIRST LOVE….
  • How many burned out preachers do you know?
  • It’s much easier to hang with Jesus under His apple shade tree and in His banqueting house then to do it while being persecuted!
  • But check out what Paul said in Philippians 3:10 “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,…”
  • Paul loved On Jesus even when he was chunked in jail…he still ministered to the jailer!
  • Paul went through all kind of stuff…
  • 2 Corinthians 11:23-28 “In labors more abundant…in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness…besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches”
  • It takes MAJOR MATURITY at this point
  • Are you here yet? Can you handle being persecuted and still have that incredible intimacy with Jesus that you had when it was just “you and Him”????
  • The BRIDE IS AT THIS POINT…and in the midst of her ministering with Him…she is ready to pour out her loves on Him
  • Yes, it is LOVES…the Hebrew word for LOVE is PLURALIZED…that means that it means THE VERY BEST (superlative)
  • So….she is ready to pour out her VERY BEST LOVE on Him….not just on Sunday morning or when she thinks other people are watching her…but ALL THE TIME VERY BEST…PURE LOVE that He can enjoy in her ALL DAY LONG!
  • Love God, and love one another…
  • Romans 13:10 “Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”

Song of Songs 7:13 “The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for You, O my Beloved.”

  • MANDRAKES….has a purple flower with a super great fragrance. Barren women in ancient times used the mandrake fruit to enhance their chances of bearing children. Because of this, Mandrakes symbolize love and fertility. Just like in the story of Rachel, who while she was struggling to bear children, her sister Leah told her to use the mandrakes in Genesis 30:14-16 (5 times!)…the idea was so that she might have a greater chance of fertility. This is the ONLY time in Scripture that the mandrake is mentioned outside the Song of Songs. Even to this day, the mandrake fruit in Jewish traditions is known as a fruit associated with LOVE.
  • The MANDRAKES appeared in the fields at the time of WHEAT HARVEST (which you can read in Genesis 30:14)….now how cool is that!!!!!?
  • It was a time of CELEBRATION and REJOICING…a time of FIRST FRUITS OFFERING to the Lord!!!
  • That SWEET FRAGRANCE is going out!...
  • There’s something about our FRAGRANCE…
  • 2 Corinthians 2:14 “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the FRAGRANCE of the knowledge of him.”
  • “…and at our gates…”
  • GATES represent OPPORTUNITES….opportunities that they go in and out of as they minister together
  • Psalm 100:4 “Enter His GATES with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise.”
  • There are lots of references to GATES in the Scriptures…this is just a few…
  • GATES were a place of concourse, where people could gather together (Proverbs 12:1), courts of justice was held there (Deut. 16:18, Prov. 22:22-23), land was redeemed there (Ruth 4:1), proclamations were made there (Prov. 12:1, Jeremiah 17:19), public commendation was given at (Prov. 31:23, 31:31), they were the chief points of attack in war (Judges 5:8, Isaiah 22:7, Ezekiel 21:15), experienced officers were placed over them (2 Kings 7:17)
  • GATES also were illustrative of CHRIST…John 10:9 “I am the door: by Me if any man enter, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”
  • GATES were also illustrative of the entrance to life…Matthew 7:14 “Strait is the GATE, and narrow is the way, which leads to life, and FEW there be that find it.”
  • There are GATES mentioned that were in Jerusalem….super important meanings here…remember that Jerusalem means “foundation of peace” and that He called US that (Jerusalem) just a few verses earlier! …even the ORDER they are mentioned is significant…just like our bride has matured…they are mentioned in a clear order of GROWTH…
  • The life of faith begins at the SHEEP GATE, by forgiveness of sins for the sake of Jesus’ redemption in His blood. The SHEEP GATE proclaims about forgiveness and the grace of God. After we’ve been saved, we want to tell everybody about Jesus (fishers of men) which is the FISH GATE. After salvation, God speaks to us about death of the old man…which is symbolized through the OLD GATE. The VALLEY GATE speaks of our new way in Christ, where we can wander. The DUNG GATE is about sins that we must reject. The FOUNTAIN GATE show us our source of Living water. The WATER GATE symbolizes our obedient life in the Holy Spirit. The HORSE GATE symbolizes the spiritual warfare we must go through. The EAST GATE is about the returning of the Messiah and how His disciples are waiting for Him. The MIPHKAD GATE(means numbering/census and appointed place) reminds us that God dwells on us (the place where the presence of God is, which is ON and IN us!) in the Holy Spirit by the blood and redemption of Jesus Christ.
  • SO….can you imagine the bride going in and out of the gates with her Beloved…they would go out…and minister to others, helping them to grow in their love for Christ, ministering to their needs, and encouraging them…then He would bring her back in and they would rest and relax and talk about the victories they had together and the FRUITS they saw that were blossoming…then they would go through another gate of opportunity…and every gate produced new and PLEASANT FRUITS!
  • Surely anyone who would’ve passed them would have been able to smell the incredible fragrance of the MANDRAKES (of the love and fertility!)
  • MUCHO FRUIT!!!
  • And it’s NEW and OLD, that she has laid up before her Beloved…
  • She remembers and meditates on what they have accomplished in the past and in the present
  • Psalm 143:5 “I meditate on all Your works; I muse on the work of Your hands.”
  • Psalm 145:5 “ I will speak of the glorious honor of Your majesty, and of Your wondrous works.”
  • Jesus even talked about the fact that we were supposed to remember victories of the past…remember the proven truths…
  • Matthew 13:52 “Every scribe instructed…brings out of his treasure things new and old.”
  • When she “laid up” these fruits…she gave them to Jesus
  • Matthew 6:20 “Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys…”
  • Why do we want to have these things laid up for Him…because Revelation 4:10 tells us that we will cast our treasure at His feet when we stand before Him…this stored up treasure will be our crown on the last day…it should be our life goal to accumulate riches to offer at His feet on the last day….because we LOVE HIM…we go out into the fields and villages and serve Him
  • EX: We should have no problem finding volunteers who will go out and help with the Apartment complex Outreaches…there should never be a shortage of people who love to love on others for His sake!!
  • She loves Him so much that she wants to share it with everyone….she continues this in the first two verses of chapter 8

Song of Songs 8:1-2 “Oh, that You were like my brother, who nursed at my mother’s breasts! If I should find You outside, I would kiss You; I would not be despised. I would lead You and bring You into the house of my mother, she who used to instruct me. I would cause You to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate.”