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Alright, so today is the last sermon, the 7th and the last message here and I just want to begin with a brother’s comment or message to me through the Song of Solomon. He wrote…… “thanks for your teaching from the Song of Songs in such an accessible way, with a big and merciful heart.  I am much encouraged.  I think it's wonderful that within the guts of the Old Testament, amongst the wars, law and much doom, there's a song of tender love.”  So often when we read the Old Testament, we read about wars and sin and violence and disappointment but it is truly wonderful that there is a book here that is totally dedicated to tender love and that's what, that is what the Song of Solomon is all about. It’s a song, it's a story, it's a drama of love and romance, of love between King Solomon and i-idealized version, I don't think it’s literally, historically Solomon but a poetically idealized figure, Solomon and his future bride, the Shulamite woman. We have seen that this drama is beautifully organized into five parts.

We began the story by hearing how the woman, Shulamite says I’m absolutely mesmerized by you. I'm smitten with you.  I'm head over heels over you.  I'm absolutely passionate for you.  Real love is passionate and then we saw after that, that she says I'm meeting with you, this is not just an ordinary date. This is a special meeting where Solomon would ask for her hand of marriage and so she agrees to that and he goes back home to prepare a place, hoping one day to come and receive her to himself, so in the meanwhile, she longs for him. She anticipates eagerly, awaits the return of her soon-to-be groom and this speaks of the longing and anticipation of the church today for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, we want to be with Jesus and we’re waiting for His return, beautifully displayed in scene 2 of this drama.

The 3rd scene brings us to the night of consummation, marrying you and how they spoke of that night with great delight, beautiful language, colorful pictures to help us appreciate how wonderful and delightful that day would be and that speaks of that delight and ecstasy and intimacy that the church will have with our Savior, when He should return.  But there is a little threat to the relationship once when she was rather lazy, I think.  She didn't want to be inconvenienced. She didn't want to get out of bed and she neglected Solomon.  She rejected him and therefore, we see the 4th scene, missing you. There's always this danger of neglect in our lives. Neglect is a great killer of relationships, whether it's at home or our relationship with God, that's beautifully again portrayed for us. Would that break their marriage?  Would that ruin their relationship? It didn't because Solomon was magnanimous. He displayed generous love.  Didn't give her a cold shoulder, didn't mistreat her but with his grace and winsome magnanimity, he won her heart over once again and so she says, we are maturing, we, I'm maturing in love with you.  So it’s a beautiful development of love that gives us various nuances and perspectives of love and so after they have got together, that delight is restored, she said in our last sermon, I will lead you and bring you into the house of my mother so she says, it's great that we are back together, let's go back to the time of intimacy we had, we had, let’s go back to the ah honeymoon suite, to the wedding chamber we were in so it's a language that says, let's enjoy ourselves, let's be together again, let's rediscover that magical time.  It's probably this, on their way back to the wedding chamber, on the way back into the honeymoon suite that now we enter the last segment in the Song of Solomon.

Now chapter 8 verses 5 to the end is what we are going to look at today err, it's what we will call or maybe the literary people will call the epilogue, you know in a drama, in the literature work, you would have a prologue, you have the story, and then you have epilogue, epilogue sort of wraps it up, gives you the final comments or developments of the story and that's what we are coming to and so in the epilogue, in verse 5 we read, who is that coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved, so someone sees the Shulamite, locked in arms with another man and her head leaning on her shoulder, on his shoulders, so they walk like that, I don't know how they walk, but must be a sweet lovey-dovey picture, ooh we love each other and so someone says look at them, who is that coming out from the wilderness towards where probably towards the mother's house, towards the wedding chamber, towards the honeymoon suite so this is the scene.

The last scene we are going to see and at this point of time, we shift the camera to Solomon and Solomon then looks at the darling, who is resting on his shoulder and say under the apple tree, I awakened you, there your mother was in labor with you, there she who bore you was in labor so she says, he says to her, under the apple tree, I awakened you, what do you mean?  Was she sleeping under the apple tree, no, this is a, as you would have already realized throughout the Song, this is a pictorial, euphemistic, nice way of saying something rather awkward. That was the time they were intimate together and he says there, remember, the honeymoon suite, that's where we had our real first moment of intimacy and he rejoices in that, this is where you were born, this is where you grew up, this is where we consummated our marriage. The Shulamite then looks up to him, what would she say, she said set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm. A seal is a symbol of ownership, you stamp your seal, your seal on something and it indicates it belongs to you so she's saying, let your heart be stamped with me, let your arm be stamped with me. In other words, I desire you, love seeks to possess in a good way so she says, let me be yours and let you, may you be mine and she goes on to express the experience of love so far. She says love is strong as death jealousy is as fierce as the grave. What do you mean?  Well, nobody cheats death right, death is strong, you can't break out of death you can't cheat death.  No one can snatch anyone out of the grave.  When you’re dead, you are dead so she’s saying, my understanding of love is that it is strong, it is undeniable, not only undeniable, it is unquenchable. The flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord.  Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it so her expression of love, her experience of love is profound, it's strong, it's unquenchable and she says it's so rare.  If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he will be utterly despised even if you sell your whole house, give me everything, it is not enough to purchase real love.  Real love is hard to find.  Just ask Hollywood celebrities and they will tell you it's hard to find. If anyone of you today can get love, put it in a bottle and sell it, you will be a very rich person so she is saying, it is hard to find so this is a scene alright, the last scene is of Solomon and the Shulamite, lovey-dovey, saying nice things to each other, expressing their understanding of love, their appreciation of love, coming out from the wilderness and moving towards the maternal home.

Now, who said these things?  We can't be dogmatic, you can't really be sure but I think it's, it might be the Shulamite’s brothers. We read about the brothers in chapter 1 and they never say anything in the middle but this is probably the time where they spoke as they see their sister and the brother-in-law come back home. They said who is that?  Is that our sister coming out from the wilderness? I think it's the brothers, because the next verse, in verse 8 tells us, we have a little sister and she has no breasts, what shall we do for our sister on the day when she is spoken for?  Now this is difficult right, so what is this, what is this all about?  Well, I think this is probably the brothers seeing the sister returned and reminiscing about the past, they have a flashback, wow she's married now, remember the time she's not married.  That's probably what's happening she says, they say, we have a little sister and she was young, she has no breasts, pre-pubertal stage, not ready for marriage but when she was young, they were already thinking. Now, what shall we do for her on the day when she is spoken for, when the day she is to be married.  I do not know which brother thinks like that, I don't.  I never thought about what will happen when my sister gets married, I would say good riddance, when I was young I was like that, alright, yay, she is out of the house. I don't know but interestingly, the brothers, when they were young, younger would look at their sister and say what will we do for her on the day she is married, she's still young, she's pre-pubertal we know, what will we do?  Then they said something even more cryptic to us today. If she is a wall, we will build on her a battlement of silver, but if she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar. What is this, what do you mean she's a wall or she's a door and silver and say what in the world, that's why Song of Solomon is so challenging for most people but the best way to look at this I think, I, I think there are almost unanimous in this understanding is this - they are saying what should we do for our sister when she should get married. Well, it depends, they say, if she is like a wall, in other words, she has been chaste, pure then let's regard, respect and honor her with lavish honor, silver but if she has been loose, promiscuous, unchaste like a door, then less honor so what the epilogue is saying here is that there is a great premium, there's a great value to chastity in marriage.  Are you sure you’re getting it right, Pastor?  I think so because that's what the Shulamite also said in verse 10, I was a wall and my breasts were like towers then, then I was in his eyes as one who finds peace so she says I'm now of age, my breasts are of like towers, I'm no more the little girl, I'm of a marriageable age but I was a wall.  I was chaste, I was pure and therefore I was in Solomon's eyes as one who finds peace, the word peace there, is shalom, I find favor with Solomon. This chastity of, is of such great value and beauty. It's a great gift to my future husband so the epilogue gives us a little focus on chastity. She goes on and I think we are coming to the end, she invokes a picture, a kind of reasoning, she says Solomon had a vineyard and in those days, when you own a vineyard, you don't do all the work, you hire or you get people to do the work so he lets out the vineyards in different parcels and portions to different keepers.  They will work the ground, and they will sell the produce of the land but they will always pay a kind of rental to the owner so Solomon will have this kind of a business, he sells or he lets his land out to keepers, they sell the goods, they will give him a thousand pieces of silver and the rest, they will keep so she says we are familiar with this idea. I am familiar with this idea, but I'm not talking about agriculture, I'm talking about me so she says my vineyard, my very own, my life, me, is before me, you O Solomon may have the thousand and the keepers of the fruit 200. In essence, she's saying, I belong to you, Solomon, I was a wall, I kept myself pure but now I am yours so again, it's a beautiful profession, proclamation of love so Solomon says, O, you who dwell in the gardens with companions, listening for your voice, let me hear it, I love to hear you talk. I wish husbands like me would say more of that, I love to hear you talk, please talk with me more, huh and then she goes on to say, make haste, my beloved and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices, come, that the picture she described or that was described earlier on in the chapters before they were married so we are left here, that's the end of the Song of Solomon.

It sort of brings you back full circle and reminds you that love has its challenges but properly treated, properly nurtured, real love grows deeper and deeper and so this is a story of love and romance and it reminds me of my own story of love and romance.  Me and my wife, or my girlfriend, some 24 years ago and I hope that this journey in the Song of Solomon is a journey of your romance with your spouse alright. Someone as I've mentioned, wisely said that when they started the Song of Solomon series, they looked at each other and said we want to grow in our marriage together and I pray it will be true for you.  My marriage or my relationship with my wife brings me back to the days, we were mesmerized by each other.  We er 16 years ago, married each other and then we continue to grow in love with each other.  Now, for those of you here first time, we did not become rabbits, but something along the way represented our love and I hope we will continue to grow strong in love with each other.

So Pastor, is this a great sermon series on marriage, I say yah, but not just marriage between a husband and wife. I think supremely, the Old Testament, in fact the entire Bible is about Christ, right?  I mean, the Bible tells us, is about Christ and I think therefore the great love story that Solomon wrote in the Song of Solomon is not between himself and another woman but he's trying to tell you of the great love between Christ and His people. I think this is the real theme, love- true but a love and romance between Christ and His people.  So today I just want to wrap up.  I want to wrap up this Song of Solomon series with just a clear picture of what love really looks like. Say Pastor, how would you describe love?  In Chinese you say “qing wei he wu - 情为何物 ?” What is love?  What is it really?  People struggle with it, what does it really look like?  Well, I think, let’s conclude with 3 big points about love.

First, real love either between husband and wife or God and the church demands a passion, fire, passion.  I think that's why God chose to write about love in a poetic style because poetry conveys emotions beautifully.  Lawyers don't convey emotions very well in their lawyer's letter right?  Maybe the emotion of fear lah, but that's about it but if you want to woo someone, you don't write a lawyer's letter, I hereby want to ask you for a date, so that perhaps legally we can be contractually married… you don't say things like that but you write a love letter. Oh, you look like… okay, don't use the Solomon picture but you look this, I'm absolutely… and you write poetry, you write love languages and the Song of Solomon is full of emotional language. It is passionate, where she would say, set me as a seal upon your heart, not literally get something to chop there but she say let it be something like this.  Oh, I long to hear your voice, oh that’s where we, we, we awaken each other under the apple tree, emotional words and language and picture so love demands or is expressed in passion and I tell you, this is the amazing reality of the Bible.  God is passionate for His church.  God is not just committed to His church, sometimes, we think of God this way and at least in my own thinking, I think of God this way.  God is very committed to His church.  He doesn’t really like us, but He's committed to us, He loves us almost like got no choice but He's got to do it kind of mentality. You know we call this in Hokkien [local dialect] here, to those who don't speak dialects, I’m sorry, but I think it’s very appropriate like the Hokkien, we say “buay kum wan” [Hokkien : unwilling or reluctant] I love the church, but actually “buay kum wan”…yiii, look at these people, no choice I got to die for them la… haiya..huh…die la, I didn't hear the Bible say that Jesus in His last 7 saying say, aiyah, “bo bian” [Hokkien for no choice] it is written by Chinese, Chinese people. If Jesus is born a Chinese, maybe have aiya, “bo bian” ah ….no, no, it will never happen because Jesus didn't die, reluctantly, on the Cross because He didn’t love us, no, the Bible tells me of a God who is passionate for His people. You say how do you know that? But that’s how God describes it right?   Husbands, love your wives, husbands, at least on the day of marriage la ... ah, on the first wedding day after that I don’t know, but on the first wedding night or for the first few days during honeymoon. I, if I were to ask you do you love your wife, of course I would die for her, know!   She's my light, she's my joy, she's my everything and you would, you would probably say, I really really love my wife.  She's my delight, my desire, my devotion. I can’t live without her. Every day I see her my my my my day brightens up and when she’s not around, I’m so sad, I really love my wife, isn’t it?  Deafening silence not a good sign … finally one amen!  After I said that but that's how it is in marriage.  I mean this is not a legal contract. This is not, I mean God didn't say bosses treat your servants well, as Christ treats His servants well, no no this is another picture, a picture that describes passionate love.  God is passionate for His church, red-blooded hot love.  In Jeremiah, we read of God, now this is God, this is not specifically Christ but the principle holds. God is a God of love, I will rejoice in doing them that is Israel good, I will plant them in this land in faithfulness and look at this phrase, with all my heart and all my soul, now God doesn't have a heart like a organ beating but He uses this term, so that we can understand it is passionate and emotional.  God is passionate for you, for His church and to, to understand that already is stunning and let me add to the amazing reality of God’s love. He loved us while we were absolutely unlovely.  I love this little picture that says I love you at your darkest, Romans 5:8 “For while we were yet sinners, in other words, a people who are ugly, rebellious, haters of God, I love you! The Song of Solomon tells us that the Shulamite says oh I am black, do not look at me.  She knows she's ugly, in a sense, but Solomon loved her deeply. You know the Bible is telling you in the Song of Solomon, God is crazy over His church in a good way, He loves, He is passionate about, about His people, even when we are unlovely. Sometimes we fear that we will let our spouse know too much about us because when they know too much about us, they see how ugly we are and they don’t want to love us, that's a kind of a fear so in courtship, in dating, you usually put up the best front right, when you're courting, you don’t dig your nose, you don't anyhow anyhow eat, halfway “poot” you won’t do that right, you will try not to la, but after marriage, what happens at home? “Poot” doesn't matter, you you start to take one another for granted, …. it’s ok, we’re done deal but in courtship you are very careful not to let others know too much but there is no way we can hide too much from God.  God knows everything about you and me and the amazing thing, when He sees right to the core of our being, our sinfulness and ugliness, He still loves me so Keller says to be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. You won’t dare to unravel yourself too much. On the other hand, to be known and not loved is our greatest fear but to be fully known and also truly loved that is how God loves you today.

My friends, God's love for us is not just commitment, not just duty, it is passion. It is delight, it is amazing love, alright, it is amazing love and when we understand how much He loves us when He gave Jesus for us. The Bible says, I think the Bible says we will love Him if we really understand that because the Bible says we love Him because He first loved us and so I say to you this passion for God is not just or passion is not just for God towards us, I think is also from you to God. Are you passionate for God? The Bible, Jesus told us the great commandment, the first great commandment is that we will love the Lord our God.  He could have stopped there but He didn't. He went on to say, with all your heart, soul, mind, strength, because loving God is not just duty, not just dry ritual icy cold, szzz…yiii...very dry one, my Christianity is very dry. I just do things because is the right thing to do but I don't really feel anything about it, no no  no no no, real Christian faith, a man who is really born again, a man who knows the love of God, his heart beats for God. He has a passion for God. He desires God, he doesn't come to God, just because God given goodies or gifts. He comes to God because of God. Heaven is heaven because of God. John Piper has the whole ministry called Desiring God, because that's what it is.  Am I a Christian, am I born again? Do I really know Him?

Let me ask you this question, do you genuinely desire God, love God?  This love will then permeate everything you do, your Bible reading, your evangelism, your service towards God, your money, your stewardship. This love for God is going to ooze out in every area of your life but if every area of your life you’re struggling and you’re not having this passion for Him, I say to you, maybe your heart has not been changed so everything you do is weak and tiresome and anaemic.  A passion for Him.   I pray you have a passion for God today. I pray this church will grow in our passion for God. You know we’re going to Punggol and it, I always want to remind the church, going to Punggol is going to require a lot of things to do but please, there is no way this church is going to do a lot more things, if our heart is cold towards God. No way but if your heart is set ablaze for God, there is nothing too much for us to do. It all starts here and our love for God can only be possible if we drink in the love of God in the Gospel so I pray, when you read the Bible today, read to see Christ. Read to see His love for you. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you comprehend the length, the breath and the depth and the height of the love of God that you will be rooted in love and then you will abound in fruitfulness towards Him. Passion of God for us, passion for God from us and I say also a passion for one another in marriage, I wonder how you're doing in your marriage?

I know marriage is not easy.  I’ve been married 16 years, all easy, no, plenty of ups and downs but my prayer, my desire is when I get old, I will still hold my wife's hand with tender affection and love and I will not hold her hand because I'm the Pastor I’ve to do it but I’ll truly desire and love and delight in Winnie, my wife. I pray that would be true for you.  Husbands love your wives. Okay, Pastor, I'll commit myself. Good, but don't stay at commitment. Ask God repent of your own selfishness, ask God to give a true beating heart for your life, passion for her. Spend time to cherish her, ravish her, spend time to nurture, spend time to date to hear each other out. I pray you’ll have a passionate marriage that will reflect the passion of God for us so what is love you say but get this clear. Love is not just dry commitment. It is red hot passion, alright.  Song of Solomon is about passion.

Secondly I want to say Song of Solomon tells us love is about purity.  Real love is not just feelings and desires and emotions, much as it is necessary and is wonderful but real love leads you to purity. I was a wall huh that is the emphasis right at the epilogue.  What will we do for her?  If she's a wall or a door, you see chastity is beautiful, it's precious in love.  It’s valued.  I’m sure you understand that if you love your wife or if you love your husband, you will not be sleeping around with others. Real love keeps oneself pure and I say to you who are single today, you're not married, keep yourself pure. Aiyo! Bible, God, you’re very old-fashioned la, the Bible, very restrictive the Scriptures, always tell us, cannot do this, cannot do that, being a Christian is so difficult, God is so unreasonable... no no no no no. The biblical commands are not meant to be prohibitive in a bad sense but the commands are protective because the commands are meant for you to preserve your chastity so that you have a great gift to give to the one you’ll marry.  I mean there is nothing that’s more romantic than that you will keep yourself chaste so all you young people, who are single, I think this is a lesson on real love.  Real love keeps oneself pure.  It’s not a restrictive legalistic thing, it's a beautiful protective will of God but I do want to say, I know, even in a church like this, some of you may have already been involved in premarital relationships, does that mean you're hopeless and broken beyond repair, no, I think there's the grace of God but certainly I don't think you should take that grace for granted.

Now I want to say this purity in life is not just applicable in marriage, but also in Christian-dom.  What does it mean if I said I love God, it means I keep myself pure for God.  I mean that’s the great concern of apostle Paul when he says, I feel a divine jealousy for you since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. The emphasis is purity, chastity.  What does it mean for the church to be pure? It means that we will not be deceived by the serpent.  We will not be deceived by false teachings, that we will not be led astray by false prophets but that we would have a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.  If you really love God, you will value His word. You would not say, oh I know there's a little bit of an error there but I, I feel so inspired, I feel so encouraged, I I love that feeling and it’s a little error but I think I can bear with it … no if you really love Christ, you keep yourself pure, you won’t allow yourself a little fling right, so that's the great concern today that the church might be flirting with danger and false teachings.  If we really love God, we keep to the Scriptures.  We remain loyal to Christ and His word. Not only in false teachings but also in sin or in obeying of His commands and everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself.  Pastor, I thought Jesus sets us free from sin?  I thought Jesus cleanses us from all sin so why do I still need to obey God's command?  Do you mean that obeying God's command is going to get you more of God's love…. No no no no no no no no…obeying God's commandment is not going to give you more love from God or get you more love from God or you’re going to get Him to love you more, you can't, why, because He loves you maximally in Jesus Christ, not in what you do. He loves us because of grace not because of works so I am not saying that you obey or keep yourself pure so that now God will love you but on the other hand, it is this, God loves you, John, He loves you so much.  He loved you while you were dark. He loved you when you were unlovely and He still loves you today if He could love you then He loves you today.  In the light of His amazing love, let me ask you, would you love Him by obeying Him? This is what Jesus says if you love me, keep my commandments. Jesus didn't say, keep my commandments and I will love you … no no no… it's not conditional but His unconditional love inspires a love for Him and if we really love him, we will obey.  One of the true tests of whether you’re a man touched by grace, one of the true tests of whether you really know the love of God is your obedience. Obedience is not a bad word, today we talk about obedience as if it’s a bad word, oh it’s all about grace, all about grace, all about grace, real grace leads to obedience otherwise, it’s fake grace so if you love me, you’ll keep my commandments, because real love leads to purity of life.

That's what Song of Solomon is about but finally I want to end by saying, real love demands a need to pardon, forgive.  Pastor, why you use all heart huh… because it’s love la! Then, Pastor why do you use purple flowers, well because of what Mark Twain said … he said forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it, a bit “chim” [hokkien:difficult) huh, a bit old old time writers, they always write like that I don’t understand why but forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it. You know the only way I, I can really understand Solomon's generous, magnanimous love is when he was rejected. He was trampled upon, eh, but something strange happens, when she treated him in such an unworthy way, I smell something, I smell forgiveness and I know that is love, real love forgives.

If you love your wife, you’ll forgive your wife, but but but but she is so terrible … but but but but… every day it’s the same story, but, but, but, but is always the same, but you don’t forgive her or you don’t forgive him because he or she deserves it.  Supremely you forgive, because God for Christ's sake has forgiven you, as I’ve said, you don't look at the person to be your motivation to forgive, you would be terrible, you want to kill him not forgive him, you look to Christ. You look to God in Christ, forgiven people, forgive people, that's what the Bible teaches us and so, in marriage, if there is real love, there will be forgiveness and a happy marriages as I’ve shown you the last time, is the union of two good forgivers, not two handsome people, beautiful people, but two good forgivers. That's the journey of marriage, I have been on and I'm learning.

Now what about our relationship with God, but well let me put it this way, how about your relation today with one another, because I suspect that maybe someone sitting at that corner who is not happy with someone in this corner, yiii, he didn't greet me just now, never shake my hand.  I’m upset with him for saying that about me.  Maybe there's someone like this but my encouragement to you is forgive, because God in Christ-sake, has for Christ-sake has forgiven you but how about our relationship with Christ, our relationship with God?  Well wonderful verse which we have and which we have in our church worship service help you to remember and that is if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive.  You see you got to know this love of God in order for you to turn to Him. If you think that God is going to treat you differently because you sin and ah He is not going to love you the same way then you probably will be ashamed to turn back to Him, you, you probably be afraid to turn back to Him, but this is the assuring Word of God. I love you, you know what that means?  I will forgive you.  It’s amazing but God, this is my 679th time, I know, but if you confess your sins, I am faithful and just and will forgive, but this is my 1,000th time, yes, but I am faithful and just.  I hope this doesn't make you feel like ah …what a great get out of jail kind, I can sin all I want, no, you wouldn’t, if you really touched by grace, you wouldn’t think in such a way, but if you should sin today, there is forgiveness from God. Remember those verses, never will I leave you, never will I forsake, forsake you, Hebrews 13. The Greek is so emphatic, it is 5 nos or nevers in one statement never, no, will I forsake you, never, no, no, never will I leave you and nothing separates us from the love of God in Christ Jesus so maybe today you are living in sin and you have been harboring that and you're wondering if God will ever accept and love you again?  I say to you, the Song of Solomon tells me, real love is passionate, the Song of Songs Solomon reminds me, real love leads to my pursuit of purity in life. The Song of Solomon tells me that there is pardon in God's love.

Let’s bow for a word of prayer together.    The love of God is beyond what man could figure himself.  We are so used to love that is highly conditional. We are so used to loving people only if they’re nice to us, great to us and somehow we transfer that knowledge of love and impose that upon how we think God loves us but the Bible gives us a picture that absolutely shatters that unworthy view because this is the amazing strong love of God, it cannot be denied. It cannot be quenched by many floods.  It is strong as death. This is the love of God.  A love that is red hot passionate for dark and blackened people, a love that inspires us to pursue holiness and righteousness of life, a love that we drink in every single day when we fail Him in our sin and amazing love that captures our heart.

This morning, my friends, do you love God, do you love God, or do you just come to church, do you just read the Bible, do you just go through the motions or is your heart beating for God?  Do you come to church because you want God to give you some gifts, some goodies, some breakthroughs in life, but you don't really want God?  Do you treat Him like a Santa Claus?  Or would you say with the Shulamite, I love you Lord, set my seal upon your heart and upon your arm.  Do you love God and if you do, would you obey Him today?

I know we all fail Him many many many many times or maybe God is dealing with a particular issue, particular sin, particular relationship in your life today and you know you need to get right.  Let me ask you, would you love God and get right today, right now, confessing your sins, rejoicing that there is forgiveness in Jesus.  This is a call for devotion to God. This is a call to repent and be reconciled.  Amazing reality is God has never loved you less throughout your rebellion but you have separated yourself from Him by your ways.  Today come back to His love, your Father's arms are open for you.

Maybe this morning, you need to get right in your marriage because God values your marriage.  Your marriage reflects Christ and the church.  He doesn’t want your marriage to be dry and icy cold.  He wants it to be passionate and loving and warm, just the way He loves us.  So maybe there’s something you need to say to your husband, there’s something you need to do to your, for your wife.  Would you ask God for strength and grace to do just that or maybe some of you are here today and you're not a believer.  Let me point you to the love of God.  He loves you today, even when you are a sinner, He gave His Son for you and He invites you, and indeed commands you to repent and believe and you will be His and He will be yours.  You said, Lord set me as a seal upon Your heart and upon Your arm and you say how, repent and believe in Jesus, My Son so would you come to Jesus, this morning, right where you are today, right in your heart, would you repent and cry out to God to save you and change your life.

Father we thank You this morning, and may we today not get out of this place just knowing some facts, not just saying I will do this or do that, but that we would cry out to You, give us a passion for You that will fuel and energize and motivate us in every aspect of our lives.  May the love of Christ constrain us today for Your glory, we thank You in Jesus’ Name, amen.

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