Standing Without Offense at the End of the Age

7/25/2019 Standing Without Offense at the End of the Age

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INTERNATIONALHOUSEOFPRAYER DAVIDSLIKER

Standing Without Offense at the End of the Age (Song 5:8-6:3)

I. THE BRIDES CRY FOR THE INCREASE OF GODS PRESENCE IN HER LIFE

A. There are many powerful ways to read and understand the Song of Solomon. I want to look at itthis afternoon as the Old Testament Book of Romans or the testimony of what the gospel and

the grace of God can produce in our lives. How far can the grace of God take us? How far can

we go? The truths of the gospel from the book of Romans are put to song here they are applied

to a young womans story as she grows into mature love and obedience. Her story is our story

and in this song we can see the trajectory of grace and how high, how wide, how deep the love of

Jesus can take us in our lives.

B. There are two questions that matter related to the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit

where am I goingby grace and where are we goingtogether(where is the church going) the

Lord is working with all of His heart, soul, mind, and strength to bring us into the fullness of Hisglory together as a family. He is very committed and passionate about the subject of the destiny

of the church. He has a high vision for us as a family. Therefore, we want to ask how far can the

grace of God take the church? How far in holiness and beauty can we go together?

C. The story of the young Shulamite girl and her journey in growing in grace and love gives us such

a powerful picture of the plans of God for us as believers in our lifetime and for his church at the

end of the age. What does a mature Church look like before the Lords return? How does it get

there in His leadership? The picture we see in this story is a picture of prayer and desire formed

within her heart as she overcomes adversity, immaturity, and compromise.

D. Her song begins with her sincerity in serving others while neglecting to experience the love ofJesus herself. Every leader, servant, and shepherd in the body of Christ can relate with this. Her

story begins with failure that leaves her with a lack of tenderness, compassion, and grace for the

very ones she was serving. She needs to be refreshed in the love and affection of Jesus, which is

true of so many of us right now. She experiences His love in a fresh and powerful way, after

which Jesus calls her back into ministering and serving His people. She is afraid to respond

because of her previous compromise, and draws back. She eventually repents and lays hold of a

desire to obey at any cost, with a longing to give the fullness of her life and heart to Him. Jesus

responds by proclaiming His deep love and affection for her in profound and specific ways. She

is overwhelmed, and here she prays one of the most powerful prayers in all of scripture.

E. The Bride prayed for both the north winds of adversity and the south winds of blessing to come

to the garden of her heart that the spices of grace and Gods presence might flow in her life.

15Awake, O north wind, and come, O south! blow upon my garden, that its spices may flow

out. Let My Beloved come to His garden and eat its pleasant fruits... (Song 4:16).

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Song of Solomon: Progression of Holy Passion DAVIDSLIKERStanding Without Offense at the End of the Age (Song 5:8-6:3) PAGE2

F. This is one of the greatest prayers for mature love and dedication in Scripture . The prayer is

that God would do whatever it takes to cause our spices to come forth or for love for God and

others to grow.

G. Will we seek God if He withholds the things we deeply desire? Will we be His when we cannotfeel His presence? Will we love and trust Him when we are disappointed by circumstances?

We must work our faith muscle as the way to re-align our heart so as to grow in love in

difficulty. When we do not feel His presence or when circumstances are difficult, our first

tendency is to be depressed or to complain. In the process of prayer we ask the question why

we feel this way. In this, we re-align our hearts with the truth that we are His inheritance and

are in it for love.

II. OVERVIEW OF SONG 5:8-6:3

A. In difficulty, the Bride expresses her love for Jesus (Song 5:8-16). She is lovesick instead of

offended at God. We confess, Jesus, I am in it for love because You are beautiful (Song

5:8-10). She responds to God in love and to others in humility by asking for help from the

daughters of Jerusalem who are less spiritual. (She does not despise the church that wounded

her).

B. The immature daughters ask her two questions. First, Why do you love Him so much? (Song

5:9). He took His presence from you (v. 6) and let the leaders wound you (v. 7). Then after

hearing her answer they ask the second question, How can we know Him like you? (Song 6:1).

III. FIRST QUESTION: WHAT IS IT ABOUT HIM THAT MAKES YOU LOVE HIM? (SONG 5:9)

9What is your Beloved more than another beloved, O fairest (most beautiful)among women?

What is your Beloved more than another beloved, that you so charge us? (Song 5:9)

A. The spiritually immature daughters ask the Bride questions throughout the Song. They see that

she is lovesick for Jesus in the midst of her difficulties instead of being filled with complaints

and depression. Her deep love for Jesus provokes them more than her wisdom or giftedness. We

are made beautiful to others by our love more than by our wisdom or power (1 Pet. 3:3-4).

B. What is your beloved more than another? They saw that Jesus has the power to awaken love

in the Bride in the midst of severe trials or Why are you so loyal to Him? What do you know

about Him, that we don't know? The daughters do not understand this kind of dedication.

C. The daughters had "other beloveds" that were more important to them than Jesus. The other

loves in the lives of believers include people, friends, ministry, money, leisure, pleasure, power,

prominence, and comfort, etc. Many born again believers love these things more than Jesus. The

definition of spiritual maturity is when Jesus becomes the first Beloved of our soul. The

Holy Spirit is restoring the First commandment to first place in the Body of Christ worldwide.


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D. The same question is repeated for emphasis. It expresses their earnest desire to know the answer

We see the sincerity of their question in Song 6:1, because they ask a follow up question. The

most important question is the one Jesus asked, "Who do you say that I am?" (Mt. 16:15)

Pharaoh asked Moses this question, "Who is the Lord that I should obey Him?" (Ex. 5:2).

E. Passion for Jesus is the most powerful dimension of any ministry (2 Cor. 2:14-17). Do

people seek you out to show them how to walk in the devotion that they see in you?This can be

part of your life vision to so show forth devotion to Jesus in difficulty that peoplewant to know

what you know and how you carry your heart.

IV. THE BRIDE'S ANSWER: THE MAJESTIC SPLENDOR OF JESUS (SONG 5:10-16)

A. Song 5:10-16 is one of the most powerful revelations of Jesus in Scripture. She starts with a

general statement of His beauty, develops ten attributes and then gives a summary statement. The

first three are particularly striking to me:

1. His head His sovereign leadershipover all

2. His locks His dedicationto God and the Church

3. His eyes His infinite knowledge, wisdom, understanding, discernment

B. She is lovesick because she focuses on Jesus instead of being preoccupied with her 2-fold test

She overcomes her self-focus by going deep in searching out Jesus beauty. Revelation of

these attributeswill bring stability to our heart when we go through the storms of life.

C. It is remarkable to me that, as a response to the mistreatment, the Bride first proclaims the

beauty of His leadership followed by a confession of His dedication and commitment to herand her destiny. She is consumed by who He is with absolute confidence in His leadership and

wisdom. She trusts Him completely in the midst of the storm of controversy and trouble. She is

without offense for three reasons: first, she is not consumed with herself; secondly, she does not

confuse her circumstances with Jesus acceptance and commitment; finally, she is fixed on the

truth of who He is with great joy and deep satisfaction. Her history and experience in all of the

areas she proclaims the detailed and intimateknowledge of who He is and how He leads is

her source of power in the midst of the storm.

D. The progression of maturity in the face of mistreatment: (1) Talking about the ones who

mistreated us with others; (2) Talking about the ones who mistreated us with God; (3) Using the

occasion of conflict to talk about ourselves and where we can repent and grow; (4) Talking to

God and others about God with an untouchable, unoffendable heart.


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E. Paul the Apostle warned that, at the end of the age, men would be lovers of self, lovers of

money and lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of Godin 2 Timothy 3:1-5. There is a surge

of narcissistic, self-absorbed, self-protecting self-centeredness that is sweeping through our

nation that is leaving our young people unprepared for the coming storms of trouble

mistreatment, and conflict. The answer to overcoming bitterness and offense is to be consumedwith Christ and His beauty. However, as young men and women are being consumed with

themselves and their own good and their own promotion and blessing, the obstacles to money

pleasure, and promotion are creating much anger and offense within the soul. What are we in this

for? Are we in this for love?

V. SECOND QUESTION: WHERE IS HE THAT WE MAY SEEK HIM WITH YOU? (SONG 6:1)

1Where has your Beloved gone, O fairest among women? Where has your Beloved turned aside, that

we may seek Him with you? (Song 6:1)

A. The conversation that began between the Bride and the daughters in Song 5:8 is continuing. Here

the daughters see the Brides intimacy with Jesus and conclude that she knows something about

Jesus that they do not know. Therefore, they ask a second question, Where is your Beloved that

we may seek Him like you do? We want to know Him like you do. We want what you have.

B. The Brides answer in Song 5:10-16, cause the daughters to change the question from "What is

He?" to "Where can we find Him?" They are no longer content to serve Jesus at a distance. They

ask the same question the Bride asked in Song 1:7, "Where does Jesus feed His flock?"

C. The daughters refer to Jesus as "your Beloved" because He is not yet their Beloved. They

continue to see her as a godly person filled with God's Presence. "O fairest among women?" Thedaughters of Jerusalem want to seek Jesus with the Bride (Song 6:1d). The Bride's proclamation

of Jesus beauty stirs them to seek after Jesus with passion. They are now willing to let go of

their other beloveds. We all have other beloveds until we see Jesus splendor.

D. The Brides testing results in the lives of others being dramatically changed. We never know

who is watching, as we love Jesus in our difficulties. The Holy Spirit is raising up lovesick

messengers who know Jesus in a way that will change the expression of Christianity in the whole

earth and prepare the Bride to be strong in love in the End-Time pressures (Rev. 15:2-4).

E. The church at the end of the age will be unshakable in love, without offense or bitterness,

consumed with the beauty of Jesus, responding to pain and hurt in a manner that provokesmany to jealousy and a passionate pursuit of the love of Jesus and the power of the Holy

Spirit. The Lord will have a Victorious Church awaiting Him at His return! The victory of the

Church will be won by the overcoming power of the grace of God to turn from compromise and

offense and truly become lost in His love and beauty.


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F. The end-time church overcomes, which means that it overcomes internal compromise and

failure, external temptations and pressures of life, and refuses to quit. Quitting = settling for

less than what the grace of God offers us as a people. I want to believe the promises of God

all the days of my life - with a tender, faith-filled heart beyond the disappointment, conflict, and

trials of this life. I have found that the zeal of my youth could be quickly overtaken bydisappointment, disillusionment, or cynicism. It becomes all too easy when the heart is wounded

disappointed, or angry to settle in and settle for less. In His perfect leadership and love, Jesus is

jealous to bring us into mature love and true joy: a heart that is rooted and grounded in His

affections, unshakable and unmovable able to provoke others to ache to experience that kind of

love and confidence in Him.


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Standing Without Offense at the End of the Age

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