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You might be familiar with a picture like this. This is a shoe but this is not a shoe by Ferragamo or Gucci or Chanel or Jimmy Choo, this is a shoe that is from the story of Cinderella. Now the story of Cinderella is well known by everyone across the world. And when I researched it, I realized that there are many versions of the story Cinderella. The oldest documented version of Cinderella according to Wikipedia is from China. Errargh, you say wow, well, they are very loose with the idea of Cinderella I suppose. But the most well known version is from France, written in 1697.

Now, the story in France, or the version from France is that, is that which you are familiar with about the pumpkin that became a carriage and about the fairy godmother and in that story we are told of Cinderella, a beautiful young lady who is bullied by her stepmother and the terrible two wicked stepsisters. They would mock her, they will make her dress up in rags, they will make her work from dawn to dusk, all the menial household chores that she is no time to take care, really of herself. So it's a story of a depressed little, but beautiful girl, but her life completely changed when one day her Prince charming came for her, that's the story of Cinderella.

But can I suggest to you that there is a version that is even earlier than China or France and that's the Hebrew version. The Hebrew version is found I believe in the Song of Solomon about this Cinderella we are going to read, the Shulamite woman because this Shulamite in the Song of Solomon, likewise is a beautiful lady who has been abused and bullied by her brothers. She has to work in the vineyard, she has to take care of the sheep, she has to be out in the sun so much that now she is black, she is dark and she has no time to take care of herself. But one day her Prince charming came and swept her off her feet and her life is completely changed. This is the story of the Song of Solomon.

That's what we're going to study for the next few weeks. This is the Song of Songs in verse one, the Bible says; Solomon says this is the Song of Songs. What do you mean by the Song of Songs, it means the very best of songs, it's a superlative, almost like the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords or the Holy of holies. It's the greatest song or maybe in Singapore context, the ‘猫山王‘mao1 shan1 wang2，a type of top grade durian ’, the king of kings of fruit. The King of kings, the Song of Songs, this is the greatest song and they say it is which is of, which is Solomon's. What do you mean by which is Solomon's well it can be it's about Solomon or it's written by Solomon or it can be written by Solomon about Solomon, it could be. So the authorship of the book of Solomon I would say is one that has been contested, the majority of people would think that this book is written by Solomon but there are some who think that it may not be. Nevertheless, I think the majority view is that this is Solomon's work and if so, this is a remarkable piece of work. The Bible tells us that Solomon was a brilliant man. He's an extremely intelligent and wise man, wiser than anyone who has ever lived except apart from Jesus, of course, and he was so brilliant, he was good in botany, architecture, everything you could think of, he's great at it and he was an artist himself, he was a poet, a songwriter himself, he spoke about 3000 Proverbs and had thousand and five songs, but this that we are going to study is the Song of Songs, the greatest song.

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So what we can to study today is about this greatest song. I want you to appreciate first of all that this is poetry and the way to study poetry is very different from studying a scientific paper or a legal document or a lecture message, it's very different right? I mean poetry is graphic, it's it's flowery, it's dramatic, that's what poetry is about, because poetry is not about arguing a case, poetry is about expressing. It's so that you can feel, so that your heart may be touched. So that you may be swept over by emotions, so that you may be right in the middle of this experience. So when you read the Song of Solomon, you read a lot about things that delight or affect your senses. You will you will see the spring, bloom of the flowers, you will hear the birds singing in the trees, you would smell the aroma of spices and herbs, you will feel the caress of the wind, you would have all these senses so that you are brought right into the scene, to feel and experience. That's the purpose of poetry.

Now, I think poetry today is very under appreciated in our modern culture because everybody is in a rush, no time to listen to your ‘花言巧语‘ hua1 yuan2 Qiao2 Yu2，Chinese idioms which means graceful words, flowery speech ’ or no time to listen to your eloquent words and and such a long description. People want to get to the point, what's your point they say, but that's not the purpose of poetry, it's really to help you feel. Now just in case you don't know, it is estimated that one third of the Bible is poetry, one third, Psalms, Proverbs, Songs, Job, Ecclesiastes, various poems, scattered throughout the Bible, one third is poetry, that's a lot isn't it and I think it's appropriate for us to slow down and to immerse ourselves in the world and the scene that the word in that poem seeks to re-create.

Now because this is poetry it's not so easy to understand, it's not so, it's not plain, it's not, it's not like Epistles that are just blow-by-blow and the poems, employ metaphors or similes. You say what are metaphors or similes. Well they are just things that allow you to compare. For example, your smile is as bright as the sunshine, that's a simile, right? Your smile is as bright as the, I am not saying that you're the sun, but it's so bright it reminds me of the sun. That's a metaphor, a simile and in this book you will read a lot of it, you will read a lot of it. So Solomon in modern day context, we will probably say to our wives, you very beautiful, that's all. But how beautiful, the woman, like to hear how beautiful, then Solomon, very good lah says, your eyes are doves, you are doves, you are like a lily among brambles, amongst shrubs, everything, all the women are like shrubs, you are the lily. Okay, I get what you mean, I can feel it now, tell me some more. Your lips drip nectar, wah your, you are so sweet, your tongue is honey, you're like a locked garden, locked spring, your orchard of pomegranates, henna, nard spices. You smell good, you are a fountain, a well, a stream, your belly is a heap of wheat, no, not, not literally, maybe don't say lah, you ‘chiak’ [Hokkien dialect which means eat] eat too much like a belly of wheat, what do you mean.

So Solomon uses a lot of this comparisons, metaphors are exactly you, you are this, he is this, but similes are when there's a like, like, like, like, like, like, like all right, but still comparison. So your complexion is like tents, it's dark.  My dear, you're like one of the horses.  Okay, this one, modern context, don't fit very well, your face, you're saying is more like a horse, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, that's not what I mean, but you like a horse, why you're majestic, you are regal, you are glorious, maybe that's what Solomon meant.  So there's a lot of comparisons, your hair is like a flock of goats, I'm not sure if I want to hear that from my husband, you say, your teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes, your cheeks are like pomegranate, ‘ang ang’ [Hokkien dialect which means rosy], your lips like scarlet, your neck is like a tower of David, rows of stones, thousand shields hanging on it, you are going to have a lot of loose skin is it, your breasts like fawns and gazelles, this deer like animals and so on and so forth. Your thighs are like jewels, your neck is like a tower, you can read on.

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Now, when you read poetry, it is obvious you cannot take this literally. Why, because if you take all this, literally, the Shulamite woman would look like this. I mean this is not the Shulamite right, who wah, the flock of goats and the hair, the pomegranates, wah the nose is, don't know what, got warts or what, then this is what, sausage or drip honey, I mean no, no, no, no, no, no, Solomon is not saying, the Shulamite I love is so ugly, but he's picking up certain characteristics in her that reminds him of something in in the sun, in the moon and in the animals, and he extols the beauty and so we got to take this in the right angle.

Poetry has to be read and understood as poetry, it is not a scientific paper, not a legal document. So there's beauty in all these, just like you would read Romeo and Juliet. Now I don't read many books in my life, I am a poor reader ah, storybooks especially, but one thing I'm forced to read in my school days is R & J, Romeo and Juliet.  O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo, my favorite line, the only thing I remember. So anyway, Romeo and Juliet, works of Shakespeare, now why is Shakespeare so popular because he doesn't write Romeo, ler jin [Hokkien dialect which means you are] handsome , Juliet ler jin swee [Hokkien dialect which means you are beautiful] . I mean, he doesn't just says simple things, he paints the picture with his words and so Juliet would say give me my Romeo and when I shall die, take him and cut him out in little stars, and you make the face of heaven so fine, that all the world will be in love with night.

Now everybody who reads this understand, Juliet is not say go kill Romeo, cut his face and throw it into the sky. No, that's not what she meant, she is saying Romeo is so handsome, so beautiful that if we could just bring his face out into the night sky, everyone will look at night and say how beautiful that is. Likewise, when Romeo praises Juliet, he says, ooh, look at the light that breaks through the windows, O, it is in the sun, it is in the east and it is isn't but it's not the sun, it is Juliet.  She's beautiful like the sun, arise, fair sun and kill the envious moon is already sick and pale with this, even the moon is jealous of Juliet.  That's how beautiful, how bright she is.

So I hope you get that, because we are entering a genre that is unfamiliar to most Christians churches - poetry.  Don't take it overly literally alright, it is meant to be representative, to help you experience, to help you feel. Now there is one thing about the Song of Solomon, that is also unique, is that there are quite a bit of sexual references. So if you have children here, just be aware that in the series to come, there will be sexual references. But I want to say this; the world today looks at sex and eee, run away from it. I hope by now you have understood that sex, in the Bible, is a beautiful thing, in the right context. The right time, the right place, in the right relationship, it is a beautiful thing and the Song of Solomon celebrates that. It doesn't shy from it, it doesn't extol ascetism, neither does it extol a perversion, no it's right in the middle, that there is a proper place for the beauty of sexual intimacy between a husband and a wife.

Now, I'm told that the Jews, Jewish men, the Jews, they are not allowed to read the song of Solomon until they are 30 years old, that's what I read. But then I've a Jewish friend who tells me that the Jewish men are not to read the Song of Solomon until they're 40 years old.  I'm 40; I read it alright, 40 years old and if they have two kids. Anyway I'm not sure if it still holds today, but that their tradition, but I believe this is still profitable for our learning, so maybe that's why people avoid the greatest song, poetry, there's a lot of metaphors, there's sexual references and they feel uncomfortable and most of all, I think people do not know how to interpret, approach, this book. Should this be a celebration about human love or is this book about Israel and God, or is this about the church. How do I approach this rather profound book?  Well, I hope you will be clear by the end of this sermon.

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But this story is a very straightforward story, it's a story about a pair of lovebirds, it's about Solomon and the Shulamite. They are the stars, the spotlight, the camera is all squarely on the two of them. I think if you watch drama series and love stories, it's always this couple that you always want to watch right, everyone else is just, don't waste my time, tell me quickly about how this, this pair of lovebirds will progress in their love life and this is what song of Solomon is about. Well, there are some calefare, some, some role players, some side actors, like the brothers of the Shulamite, like the daughters of Jerusalem, like the watchmen. These are characters you see in the story, but they are very minimal in their roles, the majority is about this pair lovebirds.

So let me tell you a little bit about Solomon. Solomon, the man, the star of the story is named seven times in this book. He is called king five times; he's called the shepherd three times. So Solomon here is the shepherd king, who is the great lover in this story. Now some people have great difficulty believing that Solomon is writing about himself. Why, because if you read the rest of the Bible, you realize that Solomon was hardly a faithful man, at least not in the later part of his life, where the Bible tells us he has 300 wives and 700 concubines. I mean, even this entire room is not enough for him, just so many women in his life. So how could he be this lover, who is absolutely passionate and devoted to the Shulamite, this cannot be Solomon.

So people say, well, maybe he wrote this when he was young, then later on in his life he wrote Proverbs and then when he's old age, he wrote Ecclesiastes. Maybe, I do not know, but maybe another possible suggestion is that Solomon is not really writing literally about himself. Yes, the Song of Songs, which is Solomon's, Solomon, wrote this and Solomon is writing somewhat about him, but not the historical accuracy that we are looking for. He is writing a poem, so he's writing about the poetic persona, someone who is the idealized figure of a true lover, loosely based upon his life, but really he's looking to something beyond himself.

He probably couldn't love the way, the Solomon of the Song of Solomon would love, but he is writing about that ideal lover. So when you read the Song of Solomon, you see this is the portrayal of an ideal lover, probably not himself.  Then the Shulamite, now that's even more obscure, we don't even know who the Shulamite is. Some people think the Shulamite refers to someone who lives in Shunam which is in somewhere in Galilee, they think Shulamite, scholars think Shulamite and Shunamite which you find in the Bible are synonymous. So we do not know, is she really from Shunam, that's why she's called the Shulamite or is she the, is she Abishag, you say who's Abishag. Abishag is the lady; the girl was called to accompany David in his last days. Is she Abishag?  We do not know, or is she really the first wife of Solomon, we do not know. Basically, her identity is obscure to scholars up to today. But all we know and what we can be sure about is what is given in this song, the details, is that she is a keeper of the vineyard and she is a shepherdess who takes care of sheep. She's abused by her brothers, her skin is dark but she's deeply loved by Solomon.

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Now, the story Song of Solomon, really revolves around this love scene between the two of them, and the timeframe, you say how long is the story going to be how what's the story like in general. Well, this story last for about a year or so. The reason why we know it, is because there's a mention of springtime in song chapter 2, behold, the winter is past, the rain is over and so it speaks about spring time and then in chapter 7 again, we read let us go out early to the vineyards, see whether the vines have budded, whether the grape blossoms and again, it speaks of spring time. So the distance between chapter 2 and 7 is about a year, so people think it's about a year or so, this entire story and it brings you along this story of love and romance.

Now, I would want to pitch this story primarily from the angle of the Shulamite. The Shulamite is truly the star of this song, because she speaks 54% or 53% of the time. Solomon speaks about 34% and the rest of the other calefares, the daughters of Jerusalem, the brothers of the Shulamite, the watchmen.  But she spoke the most, 54% and so from her perspective, the story of the Song of Solomon could take this form.

Number one, I mesmerized by you. So chapter 1, you read, is how she fantasizes, what she dreams of her love with Solomon, I am absolutely smitten by you, I'm head over heels with you. So she's mesmerized, it's magical thing, love!  And that's how she expresses it. Then quickly, we move on to how she met with Solomon. So this is a time, Solomon comes into her life, now she's already met of course, that is why she fell in love and now he comes back for her. She meets with him and we will watch the fireworks that emerge from there.

The story is not like Hollywood. Hollywood always stops the story that marriage or slightly after marriage and usually it's, is not so good right, so no one writes about it, but the song of Solomon is real, it goes on to marriage, chapters 4, 5 you read about their marriage and after that, you see some difficulty in their marriage, where she will say, I'm missing you.  She did something inappropriate; he left her for a while, not in a bad way. But, but he did leave, for a while and she said I'm missing you in chapter 5, you read about that or 6 you read about this, and then when they got together again, you see how they are maturing together in love and she says, I maturing with you. So these are the movements I'll bring you through in the series, in the Song of Solomon, it's a love story.

So this is a song of love and romance, it's a great song of love and romance and I want to say this, it is a beautiful thing to be in love and romance. The Bible is not against it; it's a celebration of love and romance, especially one that leads up to marriage and consummation. That's what the Bible extols really and there is no better genre to express this excitement, passion, delight and joy in romance than poetry. I mean, who are the, who are the most expressive, greater lovers in the eyes of the world, poets, songwriters, singers right?  That's why women like to marry rock stars and pop artiste, wah the actor, because they are romantic. You look for a scientist or research worker not so cool.

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I mean very objective, very cold. Maybe that's not, but poetry is ideal, poetry hits you with all the right bombardments of senses and so Solomon understands it, he writes to appeal to our senses, like I said, the sights, the sounds, the smell, the touch, it's all meant to evoke experience and feeling and we all understand this, we may not appreciate Romeo and Juliet, I, I don't, hey, to be honest, so cheong hei, say something, so so long-winded, I don't, but I think everyone of us will appreciate poetry in songs.

For example there's this, I was just trying to think of songs that are romantic, songs that remind me a little bit about Solomon and the Shulamite, the poetry there and how your world changes when you fall in love and I think about this song, Loving You, not modern, I know it's er. I can remember it is at least 40, 50 years ago lah, this song, but the song is nice, it says, it says,

No one else can make me feel the colors that you bring, ooh, my world is so black and white until I met you dear, and now the colors blossom.  Stay with me while we grow old and we will live each day in the springtime, everyday with you is spring. Of course Singapore, you can say that, it's summer, but elsewhere where there are where there are four seasons, you can say whether there's winter or whatever, it is springtime with you, cause loving you has made my life so beautiful and every day in my life is filled with loving you.

You all know this song, no! My goodness, I was just looking at, no one knows this song, no one wow, anyway I'm not here to popularize secularism, I'm just letting you see that this is what humanity does, when you love someone, you “你唱情歌“ ［ni3 chang4 qing2 ge1, 有are singing love song] you sing, right. The Filipinos, you serenade right, you bring your guitar under the apartment and you sing, of course in Singapore, you throw the flower pots at you, but it is cultural to sing songs of love to the person you love and the songs you sing are often graphic, you speak about the colors, the spring.

So this is Song of Solomon, in modern times, almost. Of course another song, ‘the first time ever I saw your face,’ don't ask me to sing this one, don't know how to sing. I only know that it speaks about, wah first time ever I saw your face; I thought the sun rose in your eyes and the moon and the stars were the gifts you gave to the dark and endless skies. So, it's graphic, it is pictorial and this is what the song of Solomon, it's about love and romance.

I remember the days of love and romance between my wife and I. My wife is deeply embarrassed now, but this is not Aaron Kwok, it's me. Centre parting, I know but no no no. So this is us, in December 1992, the photo is so old, well, it in our house now, it's stuck to a photo frame. I tried to take it out yesterday, cannot take out the photo, it is stuck to the glass already, it's like fused there. But that was a long time ago, but it is one of the, one of the highlights of my life and I think for my wife too. I mean in those days, we would, pou tien wah chook, you know. You know what is pou tien wah chook, never heard of it before? Pou tien wah chook is that you're on the phone for so long, that you could cook porridge at the same time. I really porridge you need to need a long time to make it really smooth and runny and it takes a long time to cook and that's what we did on the phone, I mean we are on phone the whole time, my father has to install the call waiting function because I'm like hogging the phone all the time and that was the time I would wait for her after school, those were days where things just seem more colorful, brighter, the sky is clearer, no haze, like today.  When we eat ice cream, it taste better, it's just that thrill, the passion, the delight, one in another. Natural your world turns upside down.

I still remember it was Christmas when we first went out together, so wah the atmosphere is so nice, rainy, Christmas, nice music, wah just just beautiful memories. Of course, God continue to give us good memories in our lives, good times in life even in marriage and that’s the celebration of love. So the Song of Solomon helps us romance our spouses, I hope. I need to grow in that area, men, you probably need to grow a lot in this area like I do, but it's about romancing, it's about being the spouse, you ought to be that your wife, your husband will be wowed by your love and there will be teachings on sexual intimacy at the appropriate time when we come to it. But that's not where my heart goes when I read the Bible.  I mean, those are helpful thoughts I'm sure in marriage, and it's always good to focus on that. But that's not I think the primary intention of the book of song of Solomon and that's not where my heart longs for, because I think the song of Solomon is a story of love but not just love between a man and a woman but the love between Christ and his people.

You see the Bible gives us a very important principle, a human marriage today, yes it is for pleasure. Yes, it is a partnership, yes, it is for procreation. These are all biblical reasons for marriage, but supremely, I think the reason for marriage is portrayal, to portray what, it's the portray the mystery between Christ and the church, so that when people see your marriage, the way you love your wife and the way the wife loves the husband, they should see Jesus and his church. So this love between a man and a woman should remind us of the love between Christ and his people.

I believe whilst we must not over spiritualize the book of song of Solomon to think that the pomegranates referred to the 10 Commandments or the flock of goats referred to what, what,  that's over spiritualizing it. But certainly the overall principle is this; this is the celebration of love and what greater love is there, than the love between God and his people.

You see when you read the Bible; you got to read it in its mega thematic view. What I mean by that is this, the Bible is made of different books, many books joined together, but all the books joined together is meant to tell a story, a great story. The story of the entire Bible is the story of the prince who will come for a sinful world. You see, we are Cinderella, I am Cinderella, I don't look like one, but I am Cinderella, you are Cinderellas, you are meant to be beautiful, you know that, you are made in the image of God. But you have been trampled upon, you have been abused, you have been ruined, you have been darkened by sin. But let me tell you the good news, the good news is that the Prince of glory loves you, even when we are dark and true love is shown when Jesus went to the cross to die for our sins.
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This is the story of love, this is the story, God gave to Adam and Eve right in the beginning.  You blew it, you sinned against me, but you know what, I still love you and I promise you, a seed who would crush the serpent's head. Abraham, come let me tell you, that in your seed shall all nations be blessed, I still love you men. David from your throne, there will come a king who have an everlasting reign, he will rule like no one else, I still love. You see, the Bible is telling a story. The Bible is telling us the story of the Messiah, the Saviour, about God's love for man even though we sin against Him.

So I suggest to you the book is really about the Song of Songs and it is called the Song of Songs, why, because it's, it's in the Book of books from the Lord of lords about the love of loves. It's about the greatest song in the greatest book from the greatest God, about the greatest love, that God would love us and give His Son for us while we were yet sinners. This is a story of the Song of Solomon.

Some of us might think that the Song of Solomon is an impracticable book. I mean, there are other books to read why read songs, why read poetry, so cheong hei so, so long-winded. But you see, love is something you need to experience. You don't teach someone to fall in love right?  You've got to experience it right. And Solomon is trying to help us experience love, to think of the love that God has for us, when we see this garden, when we se the two of them interact with one another, we, we see glimpses of the love I have with God.  And so there's no more practicable book I feel, than this book about love.

You say pastor why do you bother to take Song of Solomon when we are going to Punggol. I say, there is nothing more important that we than that we know God's love, because you can serve, do, do, do, do, do, but if you do not know the love of God, you won't last the distance. I've seen too many examples of that in church. But if we are filled with his love, we can.

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This book, I pray by the grace of God would help you feel, experience, dwell deep into the immeasurable love of God. The thrilling thing folks, is when you read the song of Solomon, you're not just reading God loves me and gave His Son for me, no, it is important, but when I read Solomon and his desire, his delight, his passion for his bride. Oh, I read, I think about my God desire for me, my God's passion for his people, my God delight in all of us, and I pray you will be won over, you'll be ravished with his love.

But it's bilateral right, it's two ways. So this book also reminds me about how I need to love my God. You see, when Solomon ravished the Shulamite with his love, she said, I love the way you love me and I love you. God's love begets our love. We love him because he first loved us and when you know Christ, when you turn from sin and believe in him and you know that he died for you, you know what, it is inevitable that you and I, we would love him. I say this, you will love him, can you say today, you love God?  Because some of us we say, I go to church, I read the Word of God, I pray to God but I have no understanding what it means to love God, I say to you, do you have a passion for God? Do you desire God?  Do you delight in God? Do you rejoice in God or is your joy and delight in soccer, in money, the things of this world? Do you really love God?

You see God tells us, the greatest commandment is to love God with what, with all our heart, soul, mind. Love for God is not just doing things, understanding things, reading things, memorizing things, not just that. It may involve that, but it's about the heart and the soul, passion, that's what God will do for you when you turn from sin and believe in Jesus, this is what God promised way back in Deuteronomy.  There will come a day where God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring that you will love the Lord your God.

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You know, Christianity, I think it's the only faith that says, God loves you and you love God. Every other religion says you do something that is worthy of God, then maybe he loves you or likes you. But the love of God in the Bible is amazing, while we were yet sinners, and you don't serve God, because you want to earn that love, you serve God because you have already experienced that love.

You know, JC Ryle he says, The heart is the part of man which God chiefly notices in religion. What, what does God for today in you, the fact that you came church, well; he says what God looks for is the heart, that's what he notices. The bowed head, the bended knee, the grave face and the rigid posture, the ritual response and the formal amen, all these together do not make up a spiritual worshiper.  The eyes of God look further and deeper, he requires the worship of the heart. My son, he says to everyone of us, give me your heart, just like how the Shulamite gives of her heart to Solomon, give me your heart.

So you say, pastor why do you preach this series? My prayer, is that you will grow in love with God, I pray I will grow in love with God, as I go through this series myself, do you love God? Are you afraid of saying that - I love God?

So my friends, you might be here, you may have been to many churches, the key question for you today, do you love God? That's the work of grace, that is what it means to be born again, a new heart, that we repent and believe in Jesus Christ.

I close with this illustration, it's about this pastor, preacher named James Thornwell lived over hundred years ago. He has a daughter named Nancy, who is to be married, so they invited everyone for the wedding feast people all over the world came, but Nancy got stricken with cholera typhoid and she was gravely ill, she wouldn't be able to make it for the wedding. Her father sat beside her on her bed and said, I'm so sorry, Nancy and Nancy said, dad, don't be sorry, I know the Savior, I know him, it's fine. But Nancy you have been waiting for this wedding, this marriage for all your life. I know, but now I'm ready to meet a greater groom, my Lord, Jesus Christ. Nancy didn't make it, she died, she passed away. But this is how she died or this is how she was, she spoke in the last, in the way she died. She wore a wedding gown in her tomb and on her tombstone were written these words, prepared as a bride for the groom, referring to Jesus Christ.

My friends, today, you may be a single person, meaning, you're not married, you are in any relationship and you are saying, the song of Solomon has nothing to do with me, I, no, no, no, it has everything to do with you, because this is not merely about man and a woman, this is about God and you and I pray you will find your love, your delight, your passion, your joy in this great bridegroom we will have, Jesus our Lord.

Let's bow for a word of prayer together. The love of God brings colors to our lives. It brings the sound and the music of the birds, it brings the aroma and the fragrance of spring, life is bursting forth, there's exuberance and joy, there's delight, that's what God loved us. Our Prince of glory has come for us Cinderellas, we are darkened by sin, but he loves you.

This morning let God's Word remind you of his ravishing beauty and love in your life. Ask God that in this journey together, you will have your heart open to appreciate, to experience and to feel his love, not just a clinical, surgical look at love, but really to say, Lord, work in my heart, my soul, because I want to love you more and more each day.

My friends, behold your Solomon. He came from heaven's throne to seek after you, dear Shulamite, he came from heaven's throne, gave it all up on the cross, that he may win you for the marriage supper of the Lamb. Behold what love! I am my beloved’s, for my beloved is mine. It's a personal relationship; it's an intimate relationship. This is Christianity, this is the face of the Bible, O, Christianity is about faith, Christianity is about discipleship, that's true, but Christianity supremely, is about love. So let me ask you, have you loved left your first love? Have you been such a routine in Christendom, Christianity, Christian ministry that everything seems dry and ritualistic and lifeless?  It's all now black and white, the smell of death, is in your home, ooh, friends, Solomon he will make the difference, you got to look to him and maybe in these next few weeks, I do not know how, but pray that the spirit will take His Word and immerse you back to him and to look to the cross.

Maybe some of you are here today and you say you love God, let me ask you, do you serve God? Do you follow Jesus? Do you follow Solomon? I mean, the Shulamite is willing to follow where Solomon goes and would you be willing to follow your love. Maybe some of you do not know His love. Let me say this, Solomon is still here, Jesus is still inviting you to receive his love, if you are willing to repent and believe in his finished work on the cross, you can know this love and I pray you will. The love of God how rich and pure, how measureless and strong.

Father, we thank You, this morning for Your Word, bless it to each and every heart today, make our lives, a continual spring time, let our lives emit the aroma of fragrance, let our lives be full of that delight and joy because of our Solomon, Jesus Your Son, win our hearts, ravish us with the beauty, let us run after Him. We thank You; we pray all this in Jesus Name, Amen.

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