This Week's Sunday School Lesson, "Marriage and The Church, 10/23/2011

Song of Solomon 4:8

MARRIAGE AND THE CHURCH

God compares the church to marriage. Therefore His first church was Adam and Eve

They gathered in His name. The church was created in His image and His likeness. He

bonded it together in Love.

Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines. I doubt that fidelity was high on his

priority list. Perhaps the lesson here is twofold, the love in a marriage and the love God

has for His Church. Christ is the bridegroom and the Church is His bride.

V.4:8. Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, with me from Lebanon:

A. Come with me; an invitation

1. Become "My"; connect with me.

2. Come form where you are to the top.

3. When we connect with God we are on top, because God is "top" John 3:31

a. With God we go from the valley of life to the top of life.

b. Accepting Christ as our personal savior we become the bride of Christ.

c. Christ is the bridegroom and the church is the bride. John 3:27-29

B. "Look from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the lions'

dens, from the mountains of the leopards."

1. The valley is the low point of life.

2. The lions and the leopards are the troubles of life.

3. God invites us to come to Him from the valley leaving our troubles behind.

4. Mount Hermon rises up to 9000 feet.

a. From the top, you have a better view of the world around you.

b. God enlighten us, so we understand the world around us.

V.9. "Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck."

A. God desires an intimate relationship with us.

1. He considers us sisters; blood relatives. John 6:53. Mark 14:24

2. The word "sister" also indicates His affection for us

B. "Thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck."

1. The heart of Christ is moved by His love for us.

2. The eyes of the heart is the mind.

3. When you meditate on the Word, your mind is chained to the Lord.

V.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!

A. Fair= beautiful

1. The Love we have for God should be much more important than the love we have

for anything else.

a. There should be nothing equal to the love we have for God.

2. God's love for us was so important to Him that He sent His only son to

die for us.

3. Men have a love for wine.

a. Women have a love for spices and ointments.

b. Our love for God should be much more than our love for stuff..

4:11."Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb: honey and milk are under thy

tongue; and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon."

A. Milk and honey is what the Lord promised the Israelites in the promise land.

1. God delights Himself in giving us the sweeter things of life.

2. Therefore, out of our hearts ought to flow sweetness to Him.

a. We should lift Him up in prayer and praises.

B. What we do for others in the name of the Lord pleases Him.

1. We should lift one another up in prayer and encourage others along the way in

the Lord.

2. We ought to see the good in others and bring it up to them to promote them to

higher good.

3. Out of our mouths ought to be words well pleasing to God. Col 4:6

4. We ought to remind ourselves of how pleasing God is to us.

a. Therefore we should make it our business to be pleasing to God.

4:12. "A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed."

A. God looks at us through the pure eyes of Jesus Christ, the bridegroom, holy and

undefiled. Heb 7:26.

1. We are owned by Jesus because He shed His blood for us.

2. No one has a right to us but Jesus. Heb 13:4.

3. When we trust the world for our needs we defiled the marriage bed.

4. When we run after the world to fulfill our desires, we defiled the marriage bed.

5. We have made our bed with Jesus and therefore we should stay in it.

6. To stay in tuned with Jesus we have to follow His commands.

7. Having accepted Christ as our personal savior we are sealed. Eph 4:30

4:13. "Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with

spikenard."

A. It was in the garden of Eden that God placed man with all the fruit trees of life. Gen

2:16.

1. Man was shut up there to enjoy eternity.

2. It was in the garden that man enjoyed the presence of the Lord.

3. It was in the Garden that man enjoyed all the good pleasures of life.

B. It was in the garden that sin entered and defiled it.

1. Man was cast out of the garden and locked out because of his sin. Gen 3: 23

C. God desires to return us to the garden but only through Jesus Christ. Jer 3:12-14.

1. Man cannot come to the Father on his own. John 6:44

2. In the garden is eternity.

3. Jesus was crucified by the garden for your sins and mind. John 19:41

4. Therefore, our sacrifices to God ought to be pure and undefiled and pleasing

to God.

V.4:14. "Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense;

myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices."

A. In the garden was an abundance of odors pleasing to the senses.

1. The pleasure of man was undefiled with the best.

2. It was frankincense and myrrh that the Wise Men brought to Jesus as an offering

because they saw a Star in the sky marking His birth as King.

B. In the garden is all the best.

1. Jesus is our King.

2. Jesus is the Star of our lives.

3. We ought to give Jesus our best because He gave us His best.

V. 4:15. "A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon."

A. Jesus is the Fountain of living waters.

1. There is a fountain that never dries up.

2. There is a fountain that has no end. Rev 21:6

3. The river of life, the fountain started in the garden. Gen 2:10

V. 4:16. ”Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the

spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant

fruits."

A. It should be our prayer that God bless us with His Grace and Mercy.

1. Bless us with the North wind of conviction.

2. Bless us with the South wind of comfort.

3. We ought to invite Christ into our lives.

4. We ought to honor Christ with our lives.

5. We ought to show Him our love by keeping His commands and loving our

neighbors.

B. God placed us in the garden of life to be fruitful

1. He gave us His Word to guide us.

2. He gave us a helper, a comforter, a teacher to enlighten us. He gave us the

Holy Spirit who indwells us. John 14:26

3. He gave us the living bread. John 6:51