1 00:00:01,111 --> 00:00:09,581 Let's pray. 2 00:00:09,581 --> 00:00:11,215 We heard about it in the song; 3 00:00:11,215 --> 00:00:14,721 we heard about it in the first hour - 4 00:00:14,721 --> 00:00:18,882 the grace and truth of Jesus Christ. 5 00:00:18,882 --> 00:00:22,245 Grace and truth. 6 00:00:22,245 --> 00:00:24,294 Lord, we pray for that. 7 00:00:24,294 --> 00:00:26,566 Please deal with us in a way 8 00:00:26,566 --> 00:00:29,477 that is not according to our sins. 9 00:00:29,477 --> 00:00:32,111 Grant us grace. 10 00:00:32,111 --> 00:00:36,218 And truth - sanctify them with Thy truth. 11 00:00:36,218 --> 00:00:37,667 Thy Word is truth. 12 00:00:37,667 --> 00:00:40,028 We pray for that cleansing, 13 00:00:40,028 --> 00:00:42,613 purifying, sanctifying reality 14 00:00:42,613 --> 00:00:44,762 to be in this place today. 15 00:00:44,762 --> 00:00:46,163 Father, please. 16 00:00:46,163 --> 00:00:48,016 You sent Your Son to this earth. 17 00:00:48,016 --> 00:00:49,561 The Word became flesh 18 00:00:49,561 --> 00:00:51,122 and He dwelt among us. 19 00:00:51,122 --> 00:00:53,250 And because He did and because He has 20 00:00:53,250 --> 00:00:54,433 and because He died 21 00:00:54,433 --> 00:00:57,431 and because it is finished, 22 00:00:57,431 --> 00:00:59,478 because there is salvation to be had 23 00:00:59,478 --> 00:01:02,967 and there is a room full of saved people in this place, 24 00:01:02,967 --> 00:01:05,670 we would appeal to that blood by which we were saved 25 00:01:05,670 --> 00:01:08,410 and that cross work that was finished 26 00:01:08,410 --> 00:01:09,653 and made complete, 27 00:01:09,653 --> 00:01:11,327 so that we don't have to stand here 28 00:01:11,327 --> 00:01:13,403 in any of our own doings or works 29 00:01:13,403 --> 00:01:15,658 or accomplishments or merits. 30 00:01:15,658 --> 00:01:19,133 We stand here based on that sacrifice - 31 00:01:19,133 --> 00:01:20,775 the Lamb of God, 32 00:01:20,775 --> 00:01:24,113 who, we thank You, has put away - 33 00:01:24,113 --> 00:01:26,713 many of this in this place can say 34 00:01:26,713 --> 00:01:30,183 You've put away our sins. 35 00:01:30,183 --> 00:01:33,603 And we stand here forgiven - a forgiven people. 36 00:01:33,603 --> 00:01:36,450 And Lord, because of the kindness that You've shown to us, 37 00:01:36,450 --> 00:01:38,444 we pray, Lord, we want to appeal 38 00:01:38,444 --> 00:01:41,889 to Your past mercies to give us fresh ones. 39 00:01:41,889 --> 00:01:47,085 We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen. 40 00:01:47,085 --> 00:01:50,131 The love of Christ. 41 00:01:50,131 --> 00:01:51,550 I would take you once again 42 00:01:51,550 --> 00:01:55,068 to the Song of Solomon. 43 00:01:55,068 --> 00:01:59,449 This is a little bit of an aside 44 00:01:59,449 --> 00:02:02,828 for a number of weeks 45 00:02:02,828 --> 00:02:05,825 to the Song of Solomon. 46 00:02:05,825 --> 00:02:13,449 But the purpose is to keep 47 00:02:13,449 --> 00:02:18,827 in the spirit of Ephesians 3, 48 00:02:18,827 --> 00:02:20,640 "and that we would have the strength 49 00:02:20,640 --> 00:02:22,296 to comprehend with all the saints 50 00:02:22,296 --> 00:02:23,738 what is the breadth and length 51 00:02:23,738 --> 00:02:24,767 and height and depth 52 00:02:24,767 --> 00:02:27,344 and to know the love of Christ 53 00:02:27,344 --> 00:02:30,677 that surpasses knowledge." 54 00:02:30,677 --> 00:02:32,889 And as we're seeking to explore 55 00:02:32,889 --> 00:02:34,301 that love of Christ 56 00:02:34,301 --> 00:02:38,733 and to span some of the depths of it, 57 00:02:38,733 --> 00:02:43,111 as I told you last week, 58 00:02:43,111 --> 00:02:45,008 my thoughts have come back 59 00:02:45,008 --> 00:02:47,421 to the Song of Solomon 60 00:02:47,421 --> 00:02:48,846 again and again and again. 61 00:02:48,846 --> 00:02:50,897 The Song of Solomon. 62 00:02:50,897 --> 00:02:53,738 It's in your Bibles right before 63 00:02:53,738 --> 00:02:56,448 the major prophet Isaiah. 64 00:02:56,448 --> 00:02:58,150 Isaiah's typically easy to find 65 00:02:58,150 --> 00:02:59,788 even though the Song of Solomon 66 00:02:59,788 --> 00:03:02,337 may not be so easy. 67 00:03:02,337 --> 00:03:12,228 The Song - Solomon's Song. 68 00:03:12,228 --> 00:03:19,162 The old preachers called it: Canticles. 69 00:03:19,162 --> 00:03:26,652 Found right before the prophet Isaiah. 70 00:03:26,652 --> 00:03:29,498 I want you to look at 2 verses 71 00:03:29,498 --> 00:03:34,928 in chapter 1 of the Song of Solomon. 72 00:03:34,928 --> 00:03:40,550 Verses 15 and 16. 73 00:03:40,550 --> 00:03:43,990 Some of your Bibles don't supply this. 74 00:03:43,990 --> 00:03:46,468 Some do. 75 00:03:46,468 --> 00:03:51,367 The ESV has actually separated 76 00:03:51,367 --> 00:03:54,807 this letter into parts. 77 00:03:54,807 --> 00:03:57,472 And you can tell in the original language 78 00:03:57,472 --> 00:04:01,174 there are indicators as to who is speaking. 79 00:04:01,174 --> 00:04:02,963 You can see it in the flow 80 00:04:02,963 --> 00:04:04,446 of the song as well. 81 00:04:04,446 --> 00:04:10,698 But in v. 15, it says, 82 00:04:10,698 --> 00:04:12,616 "He." 83 00:04:12,616 --> 00:04:15,247 And He says, 84 00:04:15,247 --> 00:04:20,077 "Behold, you are beautiful, My love. 85 00:04:20,077 --> 00:04:24,298 Behold, you are beautiful. 86 00:04:24,298 --> 00:04:26,554 Your eyes are doves." 87 00:04:26,554 --> 00:04:29,916 V. 16, she says, 88 00:04:29,916 --> 00:04:35,186 "Behold, You are beautiful, my Beloved, 89 00:04:35,186 --> 00:04:39,559 truly delightful. 90 00:04:39,559 --> 00:04:41,180 Our couch is green." 91 00:04:41,180 --> 00:04:44,765 Now, I am not going to preach on "our couch is green." 92 00:04:44,765 --> 00:04:47,157 You can take your own meanings with that one. 93 00:04:47,157 --> 00:04:49,107 I don't know what that means 94 00:04:49,107 --> 00:04:54,010 and I haven't really thought about it. 95 00:04:54,010 --> 00:04:58,819 But hear me. 96 00:04:58,819 --> 00:05:02,578 Look back at v. 1. 97 00:05:02,578 --> 00:05:07,811 The Song of Songs. 98 00:05:07,811 --> 00:05:11,417 This is a song. 99 00:05:11,417 --> 00:05:14,960 Yes, we say, the Song of Solomon, 100 00:05:14,960 --> 00:05:17,055 but it's a song. 101 00:05:17,055 --> 00:05:19,763 It's meant to be sung. 102 00:05:19,763 --> 00:05:23,689 God gave it to us to sing it out. 103 00:05:23,689 --> 00:05:26,244 This is inspired. Don't miss that. 104 00:05:26,244 --> 00:05:27,569 This is in your Bibles. 105 00:05:27,569 --> 00:05:28,962 This is inspired. 106 00:05:28,962 --> 00:05:32,377 God gave a song for us to sing. 107 00:05:32,377 --> 00:05:33,824 And I can tell you this, 108 00:05:33,824 --> 00:05:36,185 that if you went up and down this road 109 00:05:36,185 --> 00:05:38,350 singing a song about Solomon 110 00:05:38,350 --> 00:05:39,575 and one of his harem, 111 00:05:39,575 --> 00:05:44,189 I would think you were pretty weird. 112 00:05:44,189 --> 00:05:47,082 That is not the kind of song He wants us to sing from this. 113 00:05:47,082 --> 00:05:50,698 That is not the song of songs. 114 00:05:50,698 --> 00:05:54,160 "Holy of holies" is used for the most holy. 115 00:05:54,160 --> 00:05:56,072 "King of kings" for the greatest King. 116 00:05:56,072 --> 00:05:57,960 "Lord of lords" for the highest Lord. 117 00:05:57,960 --> 00:06:02,290 And so this is the song of songs, 118 00:06:02,290 --> 00:06:05,044 being the most excellent of songs. 119 00:06:05,044 --> 00:06:06,550 You know what that means? 120 00:06:06,550 --> 00:06:09,215 Never has man spoken or written 121 00:06:09,215 --> 00:06:12,737 a song to excel this song. 122 00:06:12,737 --> 00:06:14,239 It surpasses all others. 123 00:06:14,239 --> 00:06:16,342 Not only human songs. 124 00:06:16,342 --> 00:06:18,643 Remember, if Solomon was simply saying this; 125 00:06:18,643 --> 00:06:20,270 if a man walked in here and said: 126 00:06:20,270 --> 00:06:23,587 of all the songs that I ever wrote, this is the song of all my songs. 127 00:06:23,587 --> 00:06:26,345 But you have to hear God's voice. 128 00:06:26,345 --> 00:06:28,493 This is inspired. 129 00:06:28,493 --> 00:06:33,442 The Holy Spirit is saying, Christian, 130 00:06:33,442 --> 00:06:37,921 this is the song of all songs 131 00:06:37,921 --> 00:06:39,406 not only humanly speaking, 132 00:06:39,406 --> 00:06:42,463 but divinely speaking. 133 00:06:42,463 --> 00:06:44,660 Again, if you were to say that's simply 134 00:06:44,660 --> 00:06:47,316 Solomon and one of his harem, 135 00:06:47,316 --> 00:06:54,009 that is not an impressive song. 136 00:06:54,009 --> 00:06:58,085 And remember just how fitting 137 00:06:58,085 --> 00:06:59,924 the placement of this book. 138 00:06:59,924 --> 00:07:04,871 You come out of vanity of vanities 139 00:07:04,871 --> 00:07:09,517 into song of songs. 140 00:07:09,517 --> 00:07:12,581 The emptiness, and then, 141 00:07:12,581 --> 00:07:17,856 Solomon turns us to the fullness. 142 00:07:17,856 --> 00:07:20,703 And as I reminded you last time, 143 00:07:20,703 --> 00:07:26,486 this isn't one woman 144 00:07:26,486 --> 00:07:29,006 with one she loves. 145 00:07:29,006 --> 00:07:36,140 If you look at chapter 1, v. 3, 146 00:07:36,140 --> 00:07:38,752 "Your anointing oils are fragrant. 147 00:07:38,752 --> 00:07:40,897 Your name is oil poured out. 148 00:07:40,897 --> 00:07:44,701 Therefore, virgins love you." 149 00:07:44,701 --> 00:07:46,584 Or you look at v. 4. 150 00:07:46,584 --> 00:07:48,966 "Draw me after You..." 151 00:07:48,966 --> 00:07:54,496 Not, let me run, let us run. 152 00:07:54,496 --> 00:07:56,529 As I said before, 153 00:07:56,529 --> 00:08:00,530 there's no woman who glories 154 00:08:00,530 --> 00:08:05,929 in the love other women have for their own husband. 155 00:08:05,929 --> 00:08:08,082 But if the virgins are those 156 00:08:08,082 --> 00:08:11,944 in the spirit of 2 Corinthians 11:2 157 00:08:11,944 --> 00:08:16,631 where Paul says that he's betrothing us 158 00:08:16,631 --> 00:08:18,874 as virgins to Christ, 159 00:08:18,874 --> 00:08:20,345 the whole thing makes sense. 160 00:08:20,345 --> 00:08:22,456 Each of us as individuals can glory 161 00:08:22,456 --> 00:08:23,957 in the love of Christ, 162 00:08:23,957 --> 00:08:26,293 but we can glory in the fact that other people 163 00:08:26,293 --> 00:08:29,447 run after Him as well. 164 00:08:29,447 --> 00:08:32,738 That's the flavor of the Song of Songs. 165 00:08:32,738 --> 00:08:40,561 Now, when we come to v. 15 and 16, 166 00:08:40,561 --> 00:08:43,128 the reason I want to take you here 167 00:08:43,128 --> 00:08:46,505 is you have mutual expressions. 168 00:08:46,505 --> 00:08:47,913 What jumped out at me first 169 00:08:47,913 --> 00:08:51,127 was what He says to us, 170 00:08:51,127 --> 00:08:52,153 we say to Him. 171 00:08:52,153 --> 00:08:54,184 What we say to Him, He says to us. 172 00:08:54,184 --> 00:08:55,542 It's the same language. 173 00:08:55,542 --> 00:08:56,893 Do you see it there? 174 00:08:56,893 --> 00:09:00,479 "Behold, you are beautiful." 175 00:09:00,479 --> 00:09:03,213 Both say that to each other. 176 00:09:03,213 --> 00:09:06,293 There's a mutual expression 177 00:09:06,293 --> 00:09:09,305 of admiration and attraction. 178 00:09:09,305 --> 00:09:17,586 Now, we know how we feel about Christ, 179 00:09:17,586 --> 00:09:19,869 because the truth is, we feel it. 180 00:09:19,869 --> 00:09:21,192 We know the attraction. 181 00:09:21,192 --> 00:09:24,981 What makes the Song of Songs so precious 182 00:09:24,981 --> 00:09:29,523 is that we hear God-inspired words 183 00:09:29,523 --> 00:09:35,754 as to how Christ feels about us 184 00:09:35,754 --> 00:09:38,432 and the attraction that He has for us. 185 00:09:38,432 --> 00:09:41,009 And the truth is 186 00:09:41,009 --> 00:09:45,399 it's something we would hardly believe 187 00:09:45,399 --> 00:09:48,530 unless it was written here. 188 00:09:48,530 --> 00:09:53,337 And watch this, in v. 15, 189 00:09:53,337 --> 00:10:00,582 "Behold, you are beautiful, My love." 190 00:10:00,582 --> 00:10:04,367 She never calls Him by that terminology. 191 00:10:04,367 --> 00:10:08,130 Those are His words for her. 192 00:10:08,130 --> 00:10:14,683 "My love." 193 00:10:14,683 --> 00:10:16,801 As you go through here, 194 00:10:16,801 --> 00:10:19,629 do you know what He calls her? 195 00:10:19,629 --> 00:10:23,864 My beautiful one, 196 00:10:23,864 --> 00:10:27,777 My perfect one, 197 00:10:27,777 --> 00:10:30,176 My dove, 198 00:10:30,176 --> 00:10:32,669 My bride, 199 00:10:32,669 --> 00:10:36,009 My sister. 200 00:10:36,009 --> 00:10:41,652 And that possessive pronoun: Mine. 201 00:10:41,652 --> 00:10:43,529 You know what that reminds me of? 202 00:10:43,529 --> 00:10:46,184 You kind of come across this 203 00:10:46,184 --> 00:10:47,941 and you must maybe shoot past it. 204 00:10:47,941 --> 00:10:51,379 You're reading Revelation. 205 00:10:51,379 --> 00:10:53,963 You know when Jesus is speaking 206 00:10:53,963 --> 00:10:58,384 to the churches in Asia Minor? 207 00:10:58,384 --> 00:11:01,720 Chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation? 208 00:11:01,720 --> 00:11:03,732 He says something. 209 00:11:03,732 --> 00:11:08,650 He gives a promise to the people of God 210 00:11:08,650 --> 00:11:10,543 who overcome. 211 00:11:10,543 --> 00:11:12,145 Listen to what He says. 212 00:11:12,145 --> 00:11:15,949 He says, "I will give you..." if you overcome, 213 00:11:15,949 --> 00:11:21,112 "I will give you a white stone." 214 00:11:21,112 --> 00:11:22,480 What's that? 215 00:11:22,480 --> 00:11:25,729 Well, it's not so much the stone 216 00:11:25,729 --> 00:11:30,081 as what's written on it. 217 00:11:30,081 --> 00:11:32,606 Do you know what's written on it? 218 00:11:32,606 --> 00:11:35,632 A name. 219 00:11:35,632 --> 00:11:39,825 Does anybody remember what name? 220 00:11:39,825 --> 00:11:42,287 What was it? 221 00:11:42,287 --> 00:11:44,779 A new name. And listen to how it says it. 222 00:11:44,779 --> 00:11:47,577 "A new name written on the stone 223 00:11:47,577 --> 00:11:50,022 that no one knows 224 00:11:50,022 --> 00:11:54,762 except the one who receives it." 225 00:11:54,762 --> 00:12:02,186 Jesus has personal intimate names 226 00:12:02,186 --> 00:12:06,369 just between you and Him, 227 00:12:06,369 --> 00:12:09,188 and no one else knows it. 228 00:12:09,188 --> 00:12:12,179 He says these names, 229 00:12:12,179 --> 00:12:15,321 "My love," "My dove." 230 00:12:15,321 --> 00:12:19,063 Mine - not just love - My love. 231 00:12:19,063 --> 00:12:22,465 "My beautiful one," "My bride," "My dove." 232 00:12:22,465 --> 00:12:24,371 So what are we talking about? 233 00:12:24,371 --> 00:12:29,403 We're talking about the love of Christ for His people. 234 00:12:29,403 --> 00:12:31,986 A love that surpasses knowledge. 235 00:12:31,986 --> 00:12:35,436 And as we're looking at these two verses, 236 00:12:35,436 --> 00:12:37,825 v. 15 and 16 of chapter 1, 237 00:12:37,825 --> 00:12:39,492 I want to say something that might 238 00:12:39,492 --> 00:12:43,214 at first not register with us. 239 00:12:43,214 --> 00:12:44,877 If I were to ask you, 240 00:12:44,877 --> 00:12:46,782 which of these two verses 241 00:12:46,782 --> 00:12:51,649 seems to most capture Christ's love for us? 242 00:12:51,649 --> 00:12:55,443 Which one would you pick? 243 00:12:55,443 --> 00:12:57,538 You'd probably say that's easy. 244 00:12:57,538 --> 00:12:59,059 Yeah, v. 15. 245 00:12:59,059 --> 00:13:01,431 And undoubtedly it does express His love for us, 246 00:13:01,431 --> 00:13:03,318 but you know what? 247 00:13:03,318 --> 00:13:05,827 As I looked at these 248 00:13:05,827 --> 00:13:12,415 and I read through the whole book again, 249 00:13:12,415 --> 00:13:15,904 I found myself struck 250 00:13:15,904 --> 00:13:22,517 by how much v. 16 reveals His love to us. 251 00:13:22,517 --> 00:13:25,970 And yes, you heard me right. V. 16. 252 00:13:25,970 --> 00:13:32,372 V. 16 expresses Christ's love to me. 253 00:13:32,372 --> 00:13:39,403 Think what Christ has done for you 254 00:13:39,403 --> 00:13:42,958 that such expression should ever come 255 00:13:42,958 --> 00:13:46,445 from people like us. 256 00:13:46,445 --> 00:13:49,209 Think about the expressions here. 257 00:13:49,209 --> 00:13:52,272 Think about what Christ has done 258 00:13:52,272 --> 00:13:54,023 and how He's responsible 259 00:13:54,023 --> 00:13:57,248 and what expressions of love it is 260 00:13:57,248 --> 00:14:01,958 from Him to us that out of our mouth 261 00:14:01,958 --> 00:14:07,202 should ever come such expressions as these. 262 00:14:07,202 --> 00:14:10,003 If you think about where you have come from: 263 00:14:10,003 --> 00:14:11,727 the miry clay, the pit - 264 00:14:11,727 --> 00:14:13,793 if you remember the things you've done, 265 00:14:13,793 --> 00:14:15,981 if you remember the things you've thought, 266 00:14:15,981 --> 00:14:20,676 if you think about the stock. 267 00:14:20,676 --> 00:14:40,249 Look at chapter 2:3. 268 00:14:40,249 --> 00:14:52,208 2:3, "With great delight, I sat in His shadow." 269 00:14:52,208 --> 00:14:54,547 Now, here's what I want you to feel. 270 00:14:54,547 --> 00:14:58,005 I want you to feel the expressions 271 00:14:58,005 --> 00:15:00,365 of the church to Him. 272 00:15:00,365 --> 00:15:02,064 Think about these. 273 00:15:02,064 --> 00:15:05,850 I find the most amazing expressions. 274 00:15:05,850 --> 00:15:09,967 She is saying, 275 00:15:09,967 --> 00:15:13,056 "Behold, You are beautiful." 276 00:15:13,056 --> 00:15:16,158 In 2:3, she says, 277 00:15:16,158 --> 00:15:20,281 "With great delight, I sat in His shadow." 278 00:15:20,281 --> 00:15:22,379 Now see the delight. 279 00:15:22,379 --> 00:15:25,613 Look at 2:5, she says, 280 00:15:25,613 --> 00:15:29,079 "I am sick with love." 281 00:15:29,079 --> 00:15:30,070 Now think. 282 00:15:30,070 --> 00:15:31,745 We're talking about the Christian. 283 00:15:31,745 --> 00:15:33,366 Think about the Christian. 284 00:15:33,366 --> 00:15:34,734 Think about you. 285 00:15:34,734 --> 00:15:37,933 Think about you going through this life, 286 00:15:37,933 --> 00:15:41,109 living in this world. 287 00:15:41,109 --> 00:15:42,868 We heard "love not the world," 288 00:15:42,868 --> 00:15:44,631 but you're actually going along 289 00:15:44,631 --> 00:15:46,673 and your mind is working 290 00:15:46,673 --> 00:15:48,350 as you go through your day 291 00:15:48,350 --> 00:15:49,719 and go through your life, 292 00:15:49,719 --> 00:15:54,763 and such feelings well up in you 293 00:15:54,763 --> 00:15:58,597 that you could say I find beauty in Him. 294 00:15:58,597 --> 00:16:01,144 Or that you're even speaking to Him 295 00:16:01,144 --> 00:16:04,365 on an intimate level. 296 00:16:04,365 --> 00:16:07,958 You are beautiful, my Beloved. 297 00:16:07,958 --> 00:16:12,212 Not just that: truly delightful. 298 00:16:12,212 --> 00:16:17,165 "With great delight I sit in His shadow." 299 00:16:17,165 --> 00:16:20,181 I'm sick with love. 300 00:16:20,181 --> 00:16:22,690 I mean there's an ache to have more of Him, 301 00:16:22,690 --> 00:16:24,243 to see more of Him, 302 00:16:24,243 --> 00:16:26,781 to hear His voice more clearly, 303 00:16:26,781 --> 00:16:28,510 to have a visitation. 304 00:16:28,510 --> 00:16:32,999 Look at chapter 5:9-10. 305 00:16:32,999 --> 00:16:36,936 Here you have others in v. 9. 306 00:16:36,936 --> 00:16:38,215 Others say to her, 307 00:16:38,215 --> 00:16:41,083 "What is your Beloved more than another beloved?" 308 00:16:41,083 --> 00:16:43,233 I mean who is this? 309 00:16:43,233 --> 00:16:45,904 Who is this that you talk about Him like this? 310 00:16:45,904 --> 00:16:47,771 "O most beautiful among women, 311 00:16:47,771 --> 00:16:50,902 what is your Beloved more than another beloved?" 312 00:16:50,902 --> 00:16:54,231 And in v. 10 she says, 313 00:16:54,231 --> 00:16:58,287 "My Beloved is radiant." 314 00:16:58,287 --> 00:17:01,726 The NAS says "dazzling and ruddy." 315 00:17:01,726 --> 00:17:04,659 "Distinguished among 10,000," 316 00:17:04,659 --> 00:17:07,093 or "Chief among 10,000" in KJV. 317 00:17:07,093 --> 00:17:08,507 Or the New American Standard, 318 00:17:08,507 --> 00:17:12,343 "outstanding among 10,000." 319 00:17:12,343 --> 00:17:17,160 Look at v. 16 of Song of Solomon 5. 320 00:17:17,160 --> 00:17:21,905 "He is altogether desirable." 321 00:17:21,905 --> 00:17:23,491 Or as the KJV says, 322 00:17:23,491 --> 00:17:27,992 "He is altogether lovely." 323 00:17:27,992 --> 00:17:29,557 And here's the thing. 324 00:17:29,557 --> 00:17:33,521 I would say to you, Christian, 325 00:17:33,521 --> 00:17:37,342 when you have felt the most, 326 00:17:37,342 --> 00:17:39,611 when you have seen Him most clearly, 327 00:17:39,611 --> 00:17:42,570 when you've heard His voice 328 00:17:42,570 --> 00:17:46,355 with most audibleness, 329 00:17:46,355 --> 00:17:49,181 when you've smelled the fragrance of His presence, 330 00:17:49,181 --> 00:17:52,067 when the power of the Word has opened up, 331 00:17:52,067 --> 00:17:54,972 when He has come across most beautiful to you, 332 00:17:54,972 --> 00:17:57,276 I would say where's the pen? 333 00:17:57,276 --> 00:17:58,567 Where are the thoughts? 334 00:17:58,567 --> 00:18:00,537 Who is the poet? Where is the songwriter? 335 00:18:00,537 --> 00:18:03,504 Some of the songwriters are fantastic 336 00:18:03,504 --> 00:18:06,435 in the way they're able to bring out 337 00:18:06,435 --> 00:18:08,564 what we feel, 338 00:18:08,564 --> 00:18:12,552 but who can put what a Christian feels into words? 339 00:18:12,552 --> 00:18:14,217 But the Song of Solomon 340 00:18:14,217 --> 00:18:17,723 seems to capture it oftentimes. 341 00:18:17,723 --> 00:18:21,330 And look, right now, 342 00:18:21,330 --> 00:18:24,259 I am not speaking to everyone. 343 00:18:24,259 --> 00:18:28,594 I'm speaking to you who know what I'm talking about. 344 00:18:28,594 --> 00:18:31,491 You who have felt this. 345 00:18:31,491 --> 00:18:32,953 Have you ever considered 346 00:18:32,953 --> 00:18:38,450 what Christ's love has done for you 347 00:18:38,450 --> 00:18:41,147 that you could even be delighted in Him? 348 00:18:41,147 --> 00:18:43,083 I mean, do you hear what I'm getting at? 349 00:18:43,083 --> 00:18:46,990 Christ finding me beautiful? 350 00:18:46,990 --> 00:18:50,074 I mean, that should blow us away. 351 00:18:50,074 --> 00:18:53,230 What sort of expression of love is that to me! 352 00:18:53,230 --> 00:18:56,190 But here's the thing, me finding Him beautiful, 353 00:18:56,190 --> 00:19:01,108 that too is a massive expression of His love to me. 354 00:19:01,108 --> 00:19:04,862 All these, I mean, they are vehement 355 00:19:04,862 --> 00:19:09,908 expressions of affection to Christ. 356 00:19:09,908 --> 00:19:12,966 Look, think with me. 357 00:19:12,966 --> 00:19:16,047 If you go looking around the world, 358 00:19:16,047 --> 00:19:17,803 go looking on the Internet, 359 00:19:17,803 --> 00:19:19,782 go through the channels, 360 00:19:19,782 --> 00:19:20,700 do whatever, 361 00:19:20,700 --> 00:19:23,356 do whatever gives you a picture into this world. 362 00:19:23,356 --> 00:19:28,457 Go through the radio stations. 363 00:19:28,457 --> 00:19:30,178 You know what? 364 00:19:30,178 --> 00:19:34,301 To find men who are attracted to women 365 00:19:34,301 --> 00:19:35,900 on the computer screen, 366 00:19:35,900 --> 00:19:38,410 that's common. 367 00:19:38,410 --> 00:19:43,411 To find young men attracted to computer games, 368 00:19:43,411 --> 00:19:46,613 that's pretty normal. 369 00:19:46,613 --> 00:19:49,060 To find young ladies that are interested 370 00:19:49,060 --> 00:19:50,706 in being attractive, 371 00:19:50,706 --> 00:19:53,150 addicted to their cell phones, 372 00:19:53,150 --> 00:19:55,545 trying to make themselves pretty, 373 00:19:55,545 --> 00:19:57,470 that's average. 374 00:19:57,470 --> 00:19:59,456 To find people grasping for money, 375 00:19:59,456 --> 00:20:03,230 movies, popularity, clothes, food, fame, power, 376 00:20:03,230 --> 00:20:06,011 there's nothing unusual about that. 377 00:20:06,011 --> 00:20:08,162 You think with me here. 378 00:20:08,162 --> 00:20:12,300 To find a man, a woman, or a child 379 00:20:12,300 --> 00:20:15,666 whose heart jumps 380 00:20:15,666 --> 00:20:19,540 when they hear the name of Christ, 381 00:20:19,540 --> 00:20:22,546 that is rare. 382 00:20:22,546 --> 00:20:25,301 That is special. 383 00:20:25,301 --> 00:20:28,905 That is a mark of God at work in somebody 384 00:20:28,905 --> 00:20:31,514 in an absolutely miraculous way 385 00:20:31,514 --> 00:20:33,617 because that is not common. 386 00:20:33,617 --> 00:20:35,984 Not at all. 387 00:20:35,984 --> 00:20:38,084 The thing to ask is this: 388 00:20:38,084 --> 00:20:44,682 Where do such people come from? 389 00:20:44,682 --> 00:20:45,796 Go back there. 390 00:20:45,796 --> 00:20:59,294 Go back to Song of Solomon 1:16. 391 00:20:59,294 --> 00:21:02,800 Now I recognize that for a man 392 00:21:02,800 --> 00:21:06,355 to actually speak 393 00:21:06,355 --> 00:21:09,093 with some of these words 394 00:21:09,093 --> 00:21:10,749 and speak them about Christ - 395 00:21:10,749 --> 00:21:12,761 I don't know, maybe it would cause some people 396 00:21:12,761 --> 00:21:14,066 to be uncomfortable. 397 00:21:14,066 --> 00:21:16,092 But I can tell you this, 398 00:21:16,092 --> 00:21:18,602 the manliest of men - 399 00:21:18,602 --> 00:21:20,165 and Christians should be men. 400 00:21:20,165 --> 00:21:22,091 "Quit you like men." 401 00:21:22,091 --> 00:21:24,109 Be men. 402 00:21:24,109 --> 00:21:26,072 But you know what? 403 00:21:26,072 --> 00:21:30,800 The purest men in this world, 404 00:21:30,800 --> 00:21:32,338 they may not walk around using 405 00:21:32,338 --> 00:21:33,655 terminology like this, 406 00:21:33,655 --> 00:21:38,622 but God's man, he feels this in his heart. 407 00:21:38,622 --> 00:21:41,149 He feels v. 16. 408 00:21:41,149 --> 00:21:45,053 When he feels the realities of Christ, 409 00:21:45,053 --> 00:21:48,142 he can say, 410 00:21:48,142 --> 00:21:54,551 "Oh Christ, You are beautiful. 411 00:21:54,551 --> 00:21:57,663 You are truly delightful." 412 00:21:57,663 --> 00:22:02,110 He feels it in the very fabric of his soul. 413 00:22:02,110 --> 00:22:06,451 And the thing to ask is where do they come from? 414 00:22:06,451 --> 00:22:09,681 Where do people who truly feel 415 00:22:09,681 --> 00:22:11,713 in the depths of their being 416 00:22:11,713 --> 00:22:14,425 that Christ is beautiful and desirable - 417 00:22:14,425 --> 00:22:17,646 where do they come from? 418 00:22:17,646 --> 00:22:21,527 Seminaries don't make them. 419 00:22:21,527 --> 00:22:25,843 The truth is churches don't make them. 420 00:22:25,843 --> 00:22:32,160 None of us have a mother that makes people like these. 421 00:22:32,160 --> 00:22:34,419 Listen - in fact, turn there. 422 00:22:34,419 --> 00:22:35,806 You're very close to it. 423 00:22:35,806 --> 00:22:38,153 Turn to Isaiah 53. 424 00:22:38,153 --> 00:22:41,723 Isaiah's right after Song of Solomon. 425 00:22:41,723 --> 00:22:53,130 Go to the well known Isaiah 53. 426 00:22:53,130 --> 00:22:55,705 All I have to do is take you here 427 00:22:55,705 --> 00:22:57,616 and take you in your mind 428 00:22:57,616 --> 00:23:02,364 back to former days. 429 00:23:02,364 --> 00:23:04,383 And here we are. 430 00:23:04,383 --> 00:23:09,189 Isaiah 53:2. 431 00:23:09,189 --> 00:23:15,048 "Like a root out of dry ground..." 432 00:23:15,048 --> 00:23:21,505 A root sticking up out of dry ground. 433 00:23:21,505 --> 00:23:23,988 "...He had no form or majesty 434 00:23:23,988 --> 00:23:27,782 that we should look at Him, 435 00:23:27,782 --> 00:23:33,682 no beauty that we should desire Him." 436 00:23:33,682 --> 00:23:40,061 That statement right there 437 00:23:40,061 --> 00:23:47,747 given the chapter of Scripture that it's in, 438 00:23:47,747 --> 00:23:56,710 man in his fallen state is so backward. 439 00:23:56,710 --> 00:24:00,033 "No beauty..." and look at v. 3. 440 00:24:00,033 --> 00:24:04,999 "Despised, rejected by men, 441 00:24:04,999 --> 00:24:10,275 as one from whom men hide their faces, 442 00:24:10,275 --> 00:24:13,502 He was despised 443 00:24:13,502 --> 00:24:17,982 and we esteemed Him not." 444 00:24:17,982 --> 00:24:19,603 Do you remember? 445 00:24:19,603 --> 00:24:23,193 Pilate said to the Jews, 446 00:24:23,193 --> 00:24:27,160 "Behold your King." 447 00:24:27,160 --> 00:24:28,711 And they did. 448 00:24:28,711 --> 00:24:31,320 They looked. They beheld Him. 449 00:24:31,320 --> 00:24:32,936 See Him standing there 450 00:24:32,936 --> 00:24:35,854 with His crown of thorns. 451 00:24:35,854 --> 00:24:38,487 His robe of purple. 452 00:24:38,487 --> 00:24:40,789 I mean, never, never had they stood 453 00:24:40,789 --> 00:24:43,496 in the presence of one pure 454 00:24:43,496 --> 00:24:46,717 or more beautiful or more pleasing to God 455 00:24:46,717 --> 00:24:48,750 or more willing to save, 456 00:24:48,750 --> 00:24:52,841 and they cried out. 457 00:24:52,841 --> 00:24:54,425 You know what they cried out. 458 00:24:54,425 --> 00:24:56,725 "Away with Him! Away with Him! 459 00:24:56,725 --> 00:25:00,294 Crucify Him!" 460 00:25:00,294 --> 00:25:04,856 You know what that songwriter said. 461 00:25:04,856 --> 00:25:10,884 "Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice 462 00:25:10,884 --> 00:25:15,966 call out among the scoffers." 463 00:25:15,966 --> 00:25:18,170 Do you remember? 464 00:25:18,170 --> 00:25:21,127 Do you remember those days? 465 00:25:21,127 --> 00:25:23,023 That was your voice. 466 00:25:23,023 --> 00:25:25,548 That was my voice. 467 00:25:25,548 --> 00:25:27,569 Ashamed. 468 00:25:27,569 --> 00:25:31,148 Ashamed. I can hear my voice 469 00:25:31,148 --> 00:25:34,400 in that crowd. 470 00:25:34,400 --> 00:25:37,536 I can listen for it. 471 00:25:37,536 --> 00:25:40,028 Clint was telling me 472 00:25:40,028 --> 00:25:42,602 that when he's over on the oil rigs, 473 00:25:42,602 --> 00:25:45,362 he sometimes watches us livestream. 474 00:25:45,362 --> 00:25:48,072 I said you listen for Caroline's voice 475 00:25:48,072 --> 00:25:49,697 in the singing, don't you? 476 00:25:49,697 --> 00:25:53,878 And he said, yeah, I do. 477 00:25:53,878 --> 00:25:57,438 But you listen for your voice 478 00:25:57,438 --> 00:26:01,274 in this crowd because it's there. 479 00:26:01,274 --> 00:26:03,783 We didn't esteem Him. 480 00:26:03,783 --> 00:26:08,072 We despised Him. 481 00:26:08,072 --> 00:26:10,032 Despised Him. 482 00:26:10,032 --> 00:26:13,926 That any of us should find Christ attractive 483 00:26:13,926 --> 00:26:16,913 is only shocking to the degree 484 00:26:16,913 --> 00:26:19,154 that we realize it is not natural, 485 00:26:19,154 --> 00:26:20,404 it is not normal. 486 00:26:20,404 --> 00:26:21,806 Do you know what normal is? 487 00:26:21,806 --> 00:26:23,687 "They hated Me without a cause." 488 00:26:23,687 --> 00:26:25,755 You know what normal is? 489 00:26:25,755 --> 00:26:27,170 "He came to His own 490 00:26:27,170 --> 00:26:31,069 and His own received Him not." 491 00:26:31,069 --> 00:26:33,549 You know, we get these guys. 492 00:26:33,549 --> 00:26:35,373 They want to write these stories 493 00:26:35,373 --> 00:26:37,063 about the end times; 494 00:26:37,063 --> 00:26:38,536 tell us about the antichrist. 495 00:26:38,536 --> 00:26:41,118 You know, he's going to come from the European Union. 496 00:26:41,118 --> 00:26:45,703 He's going to have 666 stamped on his forehead. 497 00:26:45,703 --> 00:26:50,339 You don't have to look to Europe, 498 00:26:50,339 --> 00:26:52,497 because the reality is all we had to do 499 00:26:52,497 --> 00:26:56,275 is walk into the bathroom 500 00:26:56,275 --> 00:27:00,187 and look at ourselves in the mirror. 501 00:27:00,187 --> 00:27:02,663 You know what John said? 502 00:27:02,663 --> 00:27:12,569 He said, "Now many antichrists have come." 503 00:27:12,569 --> 00:27:15,658 We were the antichrists. 504 00:27:15,658 --> 00:27:20,911 Anti means to be against. 505 00:27:20,911 --> 00:27:22,500 We were them. 506 00:27:22,500 --> 00:27:24,506 We would have never admitted it, 507 00:27:24,506 --> 00:27:27,249 but that's precisely... 508 00:27:27,249 --> 00:27:30,043 Man's natural disposition is such 509 00:27:30,043 --> 00:27:32,515 that the Song of Songs 510 00:27:32,515 --> 00:27:36,358 is a foreign language. 511 00:27:36,358 --> 00:27:40,949 The lost man - it is unintelligible. 512 00:27:40,949 --> 00:27:44,076 It's basically a parable. 513 00:27:44,076 --> 00:27:46,363 And you know how in the New Testament, 514 00:27:46,363 --> 00:27:48,014 the disciples asked, 515 00:27:48,014 --> 00:27:50,561 why do You speak to them in parables? 516 00:27:50,561 --> 00:27:53,362 And Jesus said this is why I speak to them in parables: 517 00:27:53,362 --> 00:27:56,222 "Because seeing they do not see, hearing they do not hear, 518 00:27:56,222 --> 00:27:57,738 nor do they understand." 519 00:27:57,738 --> 00:27:59,909 You see, that's the thing with this. 520 00:27:59,909 --> 00:28:04,267 The Song of Solomon to the unconverted: 521 00:28:04,267 --> 00:28:06,203 what's that? 522 00:28:06,203 --> 00:28:11,998 It is in a foreign language. 523 00:28:11,998 --> 00:28:15,638 But I know we have a whole number 524 00:28:15,638 --> 00:28:17,329 of people in this room 525 00:28:17,329 --> 00:28:20,315 that do have eyes to see and ears to hear 526 00:28:20,315 --> 00:28:22,058 and you do understand. 527 00:28:22,058 --> 00:28:25,382 And when you hear these expressions 528 00:28:25,382 --> 00:28:29,355 come from her to Him, 529 00:28:29,355 --> 00:28:32,782 something jumps inside you and says, 530 00:28:32,782 --> 00:28:37,007 yes, that's how I feel. 531 00:28:37,007 --> 00:28:38,789 You see the thing is 532 00:28:38,789 --> 00:28:41,775 Christ is not ugly. 533 00:28:41,775 --> 00:28:44,433 He is not unkind. He is not cruel. 534 00:28:44,433 --> 00:28:47,068 He is the Savior of the world 535 00:28:47,068 --> 00:28:49,623 and robed in the beauty of holiness. 536 00:28:49,623 --> 00:28:52,732 He's altogether lovely, altogether desirable. 537 00:28:52,732 --> 00:28:54,849 Man's great problem? Newton said it 538 00:28:54,849 --> 00:28:57,289 in his most famous song: 539 00:28:57,289 --> 00:29:00,653 "I was blind, but now I see." 540 00:29:00,653 --> 00:29:05,118 Do you recognize 541 00:29:05,118 --> 00:29:08,738 that when Adam took that fruit 542 00:29:08,738 --> 00:29:11,995 and he brought it up to his mouth, 543 00:29:11,995 --> 00:29:15,730 you can just imagine two daggers right there. 544 00:29:15,730 --> 00:29:18,152 The moment his teeth 545 00:29:18,152 --> 00:29:21,347 broke the skin on that thing, 546 00:29:21,347 --> 00:29:27,504 those daggers took his eyes out. 547 00:29:27,504 --> 00:29:29,063 And the problem was they took 548 00:29:29,063 --> 00:29:32,039 all of our eyes out as well. 549 00:29:32,042 --> 00:29:34,904 They were gone. 550 00:29:34,904 --> 00:29:38,031 We could see the ground, 551 00:29:38,031 --> 00:29:39,772 the fields, 552 00:29:39,772 --> 00:29:42,974 the weeds that now were in the world. 553 00:29:42,974 --> 00:29:46,973 We could feel the pain that came, 554 00:29:46,973 --> 00:29:48,945 the age. 555 00:29:48,945 --> 00:29:52,871 We could see the sun, the moon, and the stars. 556 00:29:52,871 --> 00:29:55,064 But we couldn't see. 557 00:29:55,064 --> 00:29:58,822 Our eyes had been put out. 558 00:29:58,822 --> 00:30:01,111 We sang this too: 559 00:30:01,111 --> 00:30:06,754 "Something lives in every hue, 560 00:30:06,754 --> 00:30:11,951 Christless eyes have never seen." 561 00:30:11,951 --> 00:30:16,249 Beloved, do you remember 562 00:30:16,249 --> 00:30:19,630 when you carried around in your head 563 00:30:19,630 --> 00:30:25,194 Christless eyes and Christless ears? 564 00:30:25,194 --> 00:30:28,161 I remember it. 565 00:30:28,161 --> 00:30:29,866 You remember how it was? 566 00:30:29,866 --> 00:30:31,823 Jesus said it. 567 00:30:31,823 --> 00:30:34,693 Jesus said it this way, 568 00:30:34,693 --> 00:30:39,317 "those who are well 569 00:30:39,317 --> 00:30:43,256 have no need of a physician." 570 00:30:43,256 --> 00:30:46,457 Do you know how it was? 571 00:30:46,457 --> 00:30:48,889 No need. 572 00:30:48,889 --> 00:30:51,132 We didn't need Him. 573 00:30:51,132 --> 00:30:52,989 We were okay without Him. 574 00:30:52,989 --> 00:30:55,429 We could walk around. We could smile. 575 00:30:55,429 --> 00:30:59,540 We could joke. We could laugh... 576 00:30:59,540 --> 00:31:00,869 without trembling. 577 00:31:00,869 --> 00:31:04,145 We could casually sin without screaming in terror. 578 00:31:04,145 --> 00:31:06,104 We could go to sleep each night. 579 00:31:06,104 --> 00:31:07,811 We could talk about death and hell 580 00:31:07,811 --> 00:31:10,063 as if they were fairy tales. 581 00:31:10,063 --> 00:31:12,200 I mean, here we were walking through life, 582 00:31:12,200 --> 00:31:17,210 this great big mouth of hell 583 00:31:17,210 --> 00:31:21,016 underneath us waiting to swallow us. 584 00:31:21,016 --> 00:31:23,730 And we were so casual. 585 00:31:23,730 --> 00:31:27,426 So careless. So confident. 586 00:31:27,426 --> 00:31:29,689 No thought ever crossed our minds: 587 00:31:29,689 --> 00:31:32,703 "Oh, may He kiss me 588 00:31:32,703 --> 00:31:34,872 with the kisses of His mouth." 589 00:31:34,872 --> 00:31:39,544 Things like that - what? Christ? 590 00:31:39,544 --> 00:31:42,153 We sang "Joy to the World." 591 00:31:42,153 --> 00:31:44,458 He's a little baby in a manger. 592 00:31:44,458 --> 00:31:45,650 I would see it. 593 00:31:45,650 --> 00:31:48,176 Yeah, that crucifix up on the wall. 594 00:31:48,176 --> 00:31:52,160 Yeah, that's Christ. 595 00:31:52,160 --> 00:31:54,230 For me it was a word of cursing 596 00:31:54,230 --> 00:31:56,465 and swearing in my mouth. 597 00:31:56,465 --> 00:31:59,769 Some effeminate looking picture 598 00:31:59,769 --> 00:32:08,731 of probably some Catholic priest. 599 00:32:08,731 --> 00:32:12,224 Isaiah is spot on. 600 00:32:12,224 --> 00:32:14,810 Look at it. 601 00:32:14,810 --> 00:32:17,989 V. 2, "No beauty." 602 00:32:17,989 --> 00:32:22,663 Isaiah 53:2, "No beauty 603 00:32:22,663 --> 00:32:26,197 that we should desire Him." 604 00:32:26,197 --> 00:32:34,660 What Christless eyes we had! 605 00:32:34,660 --> 00:32:40,139 "One from whom men hide their faces." 606 00:32:40,139 --> 00:32:43,376 We don't want to look at Him. 607 00:32:43,376 --> 00:32:44,786 We hide our faces from Him. 608 00:32:44,786 --> 00:32:47,359 We don't want to look His way. We don't want to look at Him. 609 00:32:47,359 --> 00:32:48,791 We don't want to regard Him. 610 00:32:48,791 --> 00:32:51,306 We don't want to esteem Him. 611 00:32:51,306 --> 00:32:53,360 And just see where Isaiah takes us. 612 00:32:53,360 --> 00:32:56,252 Look at v. 4. 613 00:32:56,252 --> 00:32:59,756 This is what's so amazing about it! 614 00:32:59,756 --> 00:33:02,392 It's not as though you continue reading here 615 00:33:02,392 --> 00:33:04,126 and you look at it and you say, 616 00:33:04,126 --> 00:33:06,559 oh yeah, yeah... 617 00:33:06,559 --> 00:33:08,273 yeah, there was no beauty. 618 00:33:08,273 --> 00:33:10,990 He was ugly. 619 00:33:10,990 --> 00:33:12,254 Listen to it. 620 00:33:12,254 --> 00:33:14,914 "Surely He has borne our griefs 621 00:33:14,914 --> 00:33:17,809 and carried our sorrows." 622 00:33:17,809 --> 00:33:22,225 V. 5, "He was pierced for our transgressions, 623 00:33:22,225 --> 00:33:24,833 crushed for our iniquities. 624 00:33:24,833 --> 00:33:27,115 Upon Him was the chastisement 625 00:33:27,115 --> 00:33:29,261 that brought us peace. 626 00:33:29,261 --> 00:33:32,074 With His wounds we are healed." 627 00:33:32,074 --> 00:33:35,468 Or v. 6, "The Lord laid on Him 628 00:33:35,468 --> 00:33:37,625 the iniquity of us all." 629 00:33:37,625 --> 00:33:41,957 V. 8, "Stricken for the transgression of My people." 630 00:33:41,957 --> 00:33:45,693 V. 11, "Out of the anguish of His soul, 631 00:33:45,693 --> 00:33:49,752 God shall see and be satisfied. 632 00:33:49,752 --> 00:33:52,867 He shall make many to be accounted righteous. 633 00:33:52,867 --> 00:33:54,918 He shall bear their iniquities." 634 00:33:54,918 --> 00:33:57,357 V. 12, "He poured out His soul to death 635 00:33:57,357 --> 00:34:00,828 and was numbered with the transgressors, 636 00:34:00,828 --> 00:34:03,052 yet He bore the sin of many, 637 00:34:03,052 --> 00:34:06,795 and makes intercession for the transgressors." 638 00:34:06,795 --> 00:34:08,920 What Christless eyes! 639 00:34:08,920 --> 00:34:10,649 Do you remember? 640 00:34:10,649 --> 00:34:13,187 Well, I have no memory of these verses 641 00:34:13,187 --> 00:34:18,339 because I doubt I ever saw them. 642 00:34:18,339 --> 00:34:20,635 I didn't care. 643 00:34:20,635 --> 00:34:21,855 In the midst of my life, 644 00:34:21,855 --> 00:34:24,215 if somebody would have read those verses to me 645 00:34:24,215 --> 00:34:28,952 it's like clear them aside. 646 00:34:28,952 --> 00:34:31,950 I lived for the weekends. 647 00:34:31,950 --> 00:34:34,590 I just existed during the week. 648 00:34:34,590 --> 00:34:37,606 I lived for the weekends. 649 00:34:37,606 --> 00:34:41,299 Make money during the week to live it up. 650 00:34:41,299 --> 00:34:44,410 Words like this meant nothing. 651 00:34:44,410 --> 00:34:46,818 Don't bother me with that religious nonsense. 652 00:34:46,818 --> 00:34:49,663 We had it figured out, right? 653 00:34:49,663 --> 00:34:51,509 I mean, most of us, 654 00:34:51,509 --> 00:34:53,952 we kind of come from the same stock. 655 00:34:53,952 --> 00:34:56,630 A bit of religion - that was me. 656 00:34:56,630 --> 00:34:57,822 Just a bit. 657 00:34:57,822 --> 00:35:02,136 A lot of superstition. 658 00:35:02,136 --> 00:35:06,287 A good dose of self-love. 659 00:35:06,287 --> 00:35:09,146 A portion of self-righteousness. 660 00:35:09,146 --> 00:35:11,915 We were good. We were good! 661 00:35:11,915 --> 00:35:19,138 Jesus? We had a manger thing growing up. 662 00:35:19,138 --> 00:35:24,441 Or my dad had a crucifix on the wall. 663 00:35:24,441 --> 00:35:28,326 Yeah, He's either a baby or He's dead, 664 00:35:28,326 --> 00:35:30,420 but don't bother us with that. 665 00:35:30,420 --> 00:35:32,359 We're pretty good. 666 00:35:32,359 --> 00:35:36,610 We esteemed Him not. 667 00:35:36,610 --> 00:35:41,603 And that is the world around us. 668 00:35:41,603 --> 00:35:45,222 This idea, this Song of Solomon 669 00:35:45,222 --> 00:35:50,025 is so foreign to this world. 670 00:35:50,025 --> 00:35:56,730 People - yeah, show me how to miss hell. 671 00:35:56,730 --> 00:35:59,540 But the idea, 672 00:35:59,540 --> 00:36:03,228 this is what it means to be saved. 673 00:36:03,228 --> 00:36:05,473 So often, people just think 674 00:36:05,473 --> 00:36:07,568 no lake of fire in the end. 675 00:36:07,568 --> 00:36:10,206 That's not really being saved. 676 00:36:10,206 --> 00:36:12,431 Yes, yes, that's not suffering 677 00:36:12,431 --> 00:36:14,453 the consequences and the punishment 678 00:36:14,453 --> 00:36:15,908 that our sins deserve. 679 00:36:15,908 --> 00:36:18,731 But to truly be saved, 680 00:36:18,731 --> 00:36:20,868 to truly have life 681 00:36:20,868 --> 00:36:27,051 is to know God and to know His Christ. 682 00:36:27,051 --> 00:36:31,959 To know - intimacy - to have this love. 683 00:36:31,959 --> 00:36:34,026 We know this. 684 00:36:34,026 --> 00:36:37,670 Listen, the greatest thing 685 00:36:37,670 --> 00:36:40,258 about the way God has designed us; 686 00:36:40,258 --> 00:36:43,555 the thing that causes the greatest joy 687 00:36:43,555 --> 00:36:47,766 and expression in who we are as human beings 688 00:36:47,766 --> 00:36:52,048 is when we are madly in love. 689 00:36:52,048 --> 00:36:54,504 There's no getting around that. 690 00:36:54,504 --> 00:36:57,623 This is what we find here. 691 00:36:57,623 --> 00:37:01,269 Brethren, how did we ever come 692 00:37:01,269 --> 00:37:03,122 to esteem Him? 693 00:37:03,122 --> 00:37:05,420 What happened to us 694 00:37:05,420 --> 00:37:08,930 that we looked up one day? 695 00:37:08,930 --> 00:37:12,172 I can remember that time in my life. 696 00:37:12,172 --> 00:37:22,201 It's like suddenly the fog was gone. 697 00:37:22,201 --> 00:37:29,229 How did I never see Him before? 698 00:37:29,229 --> 00:37:32,126 Who is this? 699 00:37:32,126 --> 00:37:35,216 I was stunned. 700 00:37:35,216 --> 00:37:38,860 (incomplete thought) 701 00:37:38,860 --> 00:37:42,132 How did this even happen? 702 00:37:42,132 --> 00:37:45,503 John tells us. 703 00:37:45,503 --> 00:37:51,849 We love Him because what? 704 00:37:51,849 --> 00:37:54,574 You see, the thing is, we're incapable of loving Him - 705 00:37:54,574 --> 00:37:57,945 and you say, I didn't get that. What did he even say? 706 00:37:57,945 --> 00:38:00,676 1 John 4:19, 707 00:38:00,676 --> 00:38:02,881 "We love Him because He first loved us." 708 00:38:02,881 --> 00:38:04,540 What John is teaching is this: 709 00:38:04,540 --> 00:38:06,334 The one has to come before the other 710 00:38:06,334 --> 00:38:08,611 because the one is responsible for the other. 711 00:38:08,611 --> 00:38:10,505 The one produces the other. 712 00:38:10,505 --> 00:38:12,584 We're incapable of loving Christ 713 00:38:12,584 --> 00:38:14,643 apart from what He does to us. 714 00:38:14,643 --> 00:38:16,565 Left to ourselves, the reality is, 715 00:38:16,565 --> 00:38:21,867 there's nothing in us to call forth love for Him. 716 00:38:21,867 --> 00:38:24,153 I loved everything else. 717 00:38:24,153 --> 00:38:26,862 Many other things. 718 00:38:26,862 --> 00:38:28,650 What did our Lord teach us? 719 00:38:28,650 --> 00:38:31,446 He said this - 720 00:38:31,446 --> 00:38:33,231 He said one day after He had fed 721 00:38:33,231 --> 00:38:34,855 those 5,000 people, 722 00:38:34,855 --> 00:38:38,647 He was talking about the true bread. 723 00:38:38,647 --> 00:38:43,315 He said, "No one can come to Me 724 00:38:43,315 --> 00:38:49,668 unless My Father who sent Me draws..." 725 00:38:49,668 --> 00:38:53,583 What sort of drawing was that? 726 00:38:53,583 --> 00:38:55,815 It wasn't chains of a slave. 727 00:38:55,815 --> 00:38:57,865 It's something else. 728 00:38:57,865 --> 00:39:01,443 Something pulled us to Christ. 729 00:39:01,443 --> 00:39:03,767 This is how He saves. 730 00:39:03,767 --> 00:39:10,759 He saves by causing us to behold Christ. 731 00:39:10,759 --> 00:39:13,069 Christ asked the question: 732 00:39:13,069 --> 00:39:16,706 What think ye of Christ? 733 00:39:16,706 --> 00:39:19,919 How you answer that 734 00:39:19,919 --> 00:39:22,623 says everything about you - 735 00:39:22,623 --> 00:39:23,923 not about Him. 736 00:39:23,923 --> 00:39:25,809 What you say positive or negative 737 00:39:25,809 --> 00:39:27,098 doesn't change Him. 738 00:39:27,098 --> 00:39:28,924 But how you answer that question 739 00:39:28,924 --> 00:39:31,118 says everything about you. 740 00:39:31,118 --> 00:39:33,460 And it says everything about the love 741 00:39:33,460 --> 00:39:36,519 that Christ has expressed to you, 742 00:39:36,519 --> 00:39:38,458 what He has done for you, 743 00:39:38,458 --> 00:39:40,518 what He has done in you. 744 00:39:40,518 --> 00:39:43,081 And we can go back to Song of Solomon now 745 00:39:43,081 --> 00:39:44,677 if you're in Isaiah. 746 00:39:44,677 --> 00:39:48,432 Song of Solomon - you remember this. 747 00:39:48,432 --> 00:39:53,185 Chapter 1:4 - I mean, yes, you have 748 00:39:53,185 --> 00:39:55,643 there in John 6, 749 00:39:55,643 --> 00:39:59,671 "No one can come to Me 750 00:39:59,671 --> 00:40:03,457 unless My Father draws..." 751 00:40:03,457 --> 00:40:08,717 Here it's the church herself saying - 752 00:40:08,717 --> 00:40:11,742 she's coming to that recognition. 753 00:40:11,742 --> 00:40:16,595 "Draw me. Draw me." 754 00:40:16,595 --> 00:40:20,240 We will run. Let us run. 755 00:40:20,240 --> 00:40:24,607 Draw, draw, draw. 756 00:40:24,607 --> 00:40:26,478 (incomplete thought) 757 00:40:26,478 --> 00:40:30,014 Look, this is appealing to Him 758 00:40:30,014 --> 00:40:32,529 to do something to us. 759 00:40:32,529 --> 00:40:35,215 Pull me. 760 00:40:35,215 --> 00:40:38,203 We are so willingly hard, 761 00:40:38,203 --> 00:40:41,587 so willingly blind, so willingly do we not 762 00:40:41,587 --> 00:40:44,358 want to find anything beautiful in Christ 763 00:40:44,358 --> 00:40:46,394 that unless there is this powerful, 764 00:40:46,394 --> 00:40:50,058 effectual drawing of the soul to Christ, 765 00:40:50,058 --> 00:40:53,068 both at conversion and afterwards, 766 00:40:53,068 --> 00:40:56,874 we will gladly run right into hell. 767 00:40:56,874 --> 00:40:58,102 We will. 768 00:40:58,102 --> 00:41:00,877 A soul's coming to Christ for life 769 00:41:00,877 --> 00:41:03,981 is not the product of any power 770 00:41:03,981 --> 00:41:06,526 or free will of man - 771 00:41:06,526 --> 00:41:08,065 power found in man - 772 00:41:08,065 --> 00:41:11,452 it's the result of Christ giving us life. 773 00:41:11,452 --> 00:41:14,598 Have you ever read this? 774 00:41:14,598 --> 00:41:20,851 "Whoever does not love 775 00:41:20,851 --> 00:41:24,545 abides in death." 776 00:41:24,545 --> 00:41:27,529 Think about that. 777 00:41:27,529 --> 00:41:31,550 To love is to live. 778 00:41:31,550 --> 00:41:34,822 To live is to love. 779 00:41:34,822 --> 00:41:36,467 We looked up one day 780 00:41:36,467 --> 00:41:40,738 and we can't explain how it happened. 781 00:41:40,738 --> 00:41:45,805 But Christ was increasing. 782 00:41:45,805 --> 00:41:49,008 He was growing brighter. 783 00:41:49,008 --> 00:41:52,297 And everything else was growing pale. 784 00:41:52,297 --> 00:41:55,764 Everything else was decreasing. 785 00:41:55,764 --> 00:41:56,740 You know. 786 00:41:56,740 --> 00:41:58,275 The Apostle Paul comes along 787 00:41:58,275 --> 00:42:02,244 to the Philippians and he says, 788 00:42:02,244 --> 00:42:06,032 there was a day my circumcision, 789 00:42:06,032 --> 00:42:08,787 my Jewishness, 790 00:42:08,787 --> 00:42:12,186 my belonging to one of the premier tribes - 791 00:42:12,186 --> 00:42:13,280 the tribe of Benjamin - 792 00:42:13,280 --> 00:42:14,751 that was one of the two tribes 793 00:42:14,751 --> 00:42:17,337 that stayed loyal to the Southern kingdom. 794 00:42:17,337 --> 00:42:22,485 A Hebrew of the Hebrews. 795 00:42:22,485 --> 00:42:26,278 He says but I saw Christ. 796 00:42:26,278 --> 00:42:28,759 I saw Him. 797 00:42:28,759 --> 00:42:32,823 I mean, the Christless eyes were taken away. 798 00:42:32,823 --> 00:42:34,309 And what does he say? 799 00:42:34,309 --> 00:42:37,359 I count it all loss 800 00:42:37,359 --> 00:42:40,814 that I might have Christ, 801 00:42:40,814 --> 00:42:42,549 that I might know Christ. 802 00:42:42,549 --> 00:42:43,722 For the sake of Christ. 803 00:42:43,722 --> 00:42:45,385 Indeed, I count everything as loss 804 00:42:45,385 --> 00:42:47,428 because of the surpassing worth of knowing 805 00:42:47,428 --> 00:42:50,406 Christ Jesus my Lord. 806 00:42:50,406 --> 00:42:53,601 We looked up one day 807 00:42:53,601 --> 00:42:55,253 and we began to have such thoughts 808 00:42:55,253 --> 00:42:57,956 as like we find in the Song of Solomon. 809 00:42:57,956 --> 00:42:59,679 Do you notice? 810 00:42:59,679 --> 00:43:04,048 Do you remember how that happened? 811 00:43:04,048 --> 00:43:07,205 Out at Community, we used to sing a lot - 812 00:43:07,205 --> 00:43:08,571 we sing it sometimes here, 813 00:43:08,571 --> 00:43:12,717 but from Revelation 5 - 814 00:43:12,717 --> 00:43:15,577 4 and 5, they both have the words: 815 00:43:15,577 --> 00:43:17,599 Worthy. 816 00:43:17,599 --> 00:43:22,141 Can you remember when you were lost, 817 00:43:22,141 --> 00:43:24,341 you never, unless you were lost 818 00:43:24,341 --> 00:43:26,260 and your parents made you go to church 819 00:43:26,260 --> 00:43:29,236 where they sang Revelation 4 or 5 - 820 00:43:29,236 --> 00:43:34,643 you never put the word "worthy" 821 00:43:34,643 --> 00:43:39,730 in the same sentence with Christ. 822 00:43:39,730 --> 00:43:42,049 Ninety-nine percent of the time 823 00:43:42,049 --> 00:43:47,381 when His name came out of my mouth, 824 00:43:47,381 --> 00:43:52,612 I was simply cursing and swearing. 825 00:43:52,612 --> 00:43:56,667 Never did the term worthy 826 00:43:56,667 --> 00:43:59,356 fall in the same sentence with Him. 827 00:43:59,356 --> 00:44:01,585 Or the term "precious." 828 00:44:01,585 --> 00:44:07,526 Or the term "beautiful." 829 00:44:07,526 --> 00:44:11,494 Therefore - this is the KJV, the New King James Version, 830 00:44:11,494 --> 00:44:14,727 but you know this from 1 Peter 2:7. 831 00:44:14,727 --> 00:44:17,522 "Therefore to you who believe, 832 00:44:17,522 --> 00:44:23,075 He is precious." 833 00:44:23,075 --> 00:44:25,714 And the thing that was amazing 834 00:44:25,714 --> 00:44:28,869 is that once you have the eyes to see - 835 00:44:28,869 --> 00:44:30,810 because I remember this - 836 00:44:30,810 --> 00:44:35,246 I could see and I suddenly looked around, 837 00:44:35,246 --> 00:44:37,892 and all my friends - 838 00:44:37,892 --> 00:44:40,201 all the comrades that I hunted with 839 00:44:40,201 --> 00:44:41,304 and drank with 840 00:44:41,304 --> 00:44:42,718 and lived my life with 841 00:44:42,718 --> 00:44:44,641 and my co-workers, 842 00:44:44,641 --> 00:44:47,478 my family - 843 00:44:47,478 --> 00:44:50,018 and you look around, 844 00:44:50,018 --> 00:44:54,112 and they're like the deer caught in headlights. 845 00:44:54,112 --> 00:45:00,111 I had such revelations to my soul. 846 00:45:00,111 --> 00:45:03,849 I said oh, I am certain 847 00:45:03,849 --> 00:45:06,316 that once I tell them, 848 00:45:06,316 --> 00:45:07,980 they are going to see what I see 849 00:45:07,980 --> 00:45:10,595 and they are going to jump on board. 850 00:45:10,595 --> 00:45:12,531 And one after another, 851 00:45:12,531 --> 00:45:17,951 they looked at me like I had three heads. 852 00:45:17,951 --> 00:45:19,743 Unwilling to come to Christ for life. 853 00:45:19,743 --> 00:45:21,049 But this is what He says, 854 00:45:21,049 --> 00:45:23,758 "You refuse to come to Me that you may have life." 855 00:45:23,758 --> 00:45:27,566 All day long - the book of Romans - 856 00:45:27,566 --> 00:45:30,462 "I have held out My hands to a disobedient 857 00:45:30,462 --> 00:45:32,337 and contrary people." 858 00:45:32,337 --> 00:45:33,934 But here's the thing, 859 00:45:33,934 --> 00:45:36,175 those Christ sets His love upon 860 00:45:36,175 --> 00:45:40,950 are made willing in the day of Christ's power 861 00:45:40,950 --> 00:45:44,817 by some secret, invisible power. 862 00:45:44,817 --> 00:45:47,640 He slays that enmity that was in us. 863 00:45:47,640 --> 00:45:50,532 That that despised Him; that that didn't esteem Him; 864 00:45:50,532 --> 00:45:53,692 that that was repulsed, that hid our face. 865 00:45:53,692 --> 00:45:56,200 We didn't want to see. We didn't want to know. 866 00:45:56,200 --> 00:45:58,890 Give me a small christ, a weak christ, a dead christ - 867 00:45:58,890 --> 00:46:00,385 not the Christ of Scripture. 868 00:46:00,385 --> 00:46:01,490 I can't tolerate Him. 869 00:46:01,490 --> 00:46:03,871 Not the one that says that I have to die to self 870 00:46:03,871 --> 00:46:05,859 and carry my cross and follow after Him. 871 00:46:05,859 --> 00:46:10,076 And unless I forsake all that I have, I can't be His disciple. 872 00:46:10,076 --> 00:46:12,131 And unless I repent, I'm going to perish - 873 00:46:12,131 --> 00:46:14,210 not that Christ. I don't want Him. 874 00:46:14,210 --> 00:46:16,389 Not the Christ that deals with me about my sin. 875 00:46:16,389 --> 00:46:18,378 Not the Christ that's going to make me holy. 876 00:46:18,378 --> 00:46:21,587 Not the Christ that's going to love me so much 877 00:46:21,587 --> 00:46:26,125 that He's going to remove every single idol from my life. 878 00:46:26,125 --> 00:46:29,995 I don't want that. 879 00:46:29,995 --> 00:46:31,922 But we were made willing. 880 00:46:31,922 --> 00:46:36,834 Christ exercised such a power on us. 881 00:46:36,834 --> 00:46:41,446 He killed that enmity that was in here. 882 00:46:41,446 --> 00:46:43,169 It was in the heart, in the brain, 883 00:46:43,169 --> 00:46:46,438 in the thoughts, in our discernment. 884 00:46:46,438 --> 00:46:50,432 (incomplete thought) 885 00:46:50,432 --> 00:46:53,063 Something way beyond our power. 886 00:46:53,063 --> 00:46:56,477 But we weren't forced. 887 00:46:56,477 --> 00:47:00,881 It was like it was a sweet drawing. 888 00:47:00,881 --> 00:47:04,968 It was us beholding that He was desirable 889 00:47:04,968 --> 00:47:07,132 that makes us run. 890 00:47:07,132 --> 00:47:13,095 He captures us by capturing our affections, 891 00:47:13,095 --> 00:47:14,544 changing the desire. 892 00:47:14,544 --> 00:47:18,241 That's precisely what happened. 893 00:47:18,241 --> 00:47:21,854 I was thinking as we were listening to Jeff 894 00:47:21,854 --> 00:47:23,997 in the first hour. 895 00:47:23,997 --> 00:47:25,182 Those words: 896 00:47:25,182 --> 00:47:31,012 We have seen His glory. 897 00:47:31,012 --> 00:47:36,995 But you know, what glory? 898 00:47:36,995 --> 00:47:38,527 He didn't walk around shining. 899 00:47:38,527 --> 00:47:40,512 I know on the Mount of Transfiguration, 900 00:47:40,512 --> 00:47:42,237 but I don't believe that is at all 901 00:47:42,237 --> 00:47:45,300 what John is talking about. 902 00:47:45,300 --> 00:47:48,272 His glory - we have seen His glory. 903 00:47:48,272 --> 00:47:50,122 But that "we" right there, 904 00:47:50,122 --> 00:47:53,645 that is not everybody. 905 00:47:53,645 --> 00:47:55,747 There are many people who with their eyes 906 00:47:55,747 --> 00:48:00,948 they saw Christ do His miracles. 907 00:48:00,948 --> 00:48:02,775 They didn't repent. 908 00:48:02,775 --> 00:48:05,091 They didn't believe. 909 00:48:05,091 --> 00:48:07,277 Jesus appeals to them in John 5. 910 00:48:07,277 --> 00:48:09,820 We'll see that when our brother gets there. 911 00:48:09,820 --> 00:48:11,930 He says they bear witness. 912 00:48:11,930 --> 00:48:20,415 My works bear witness that I am Him. 913 00:48:20,415 --> 00:48:27,680 It is a gift of all gifts 914 00:48:27,680 --> 00:48:32,297 that you stand in the crowd 915 00:48:32,297 --> 00:48:35,955 and Christ does His miracles 916 00:48:35,955 --> 00:48:45,232 and you say, 917 00:48:45,232 --> 00:48:48,203 I need Him more than I need anything else. 918 00:48:48,203 --> 00:48:50,039 I've got to have Him. 919 00:48:50,039 --> 00:48:51,710 There's a beauty, there's a power, 920 00:48:51,710 --> 00:48:53,038 there's forgiveness. 921 00:48:53,038 --> 00:48:56,801 This is what my heart has been looking for forever. 922 00:48:56,801 --> 00:48:59,464 When the crowd is big 923 00:48:59,464 --> 00:49:03,970 and you look around and most in the crowd: 924 00:49:03,970 --> 00:49:06,054 what's for dinner? 925 00:49:06,054 --> 00:49:11,511 And away they go. 926 00:49:11,511 --> 00:49:15,571 This is a phenomenal gift. 927 00:49:15,571 --> 00:49:18,242 Brethren, do you count it 928 00:49:18,242 --> 00:49:22,130 one of the greatest gifts of Christ's love to you 929 00:49:22,130 --> 00:49:24,769 that your heart aches for Him? 930 00:49:24,769 --> 00:49:28,201 Because it is. And it's special. 931 00:49:28,201 --> 00:49:30,516 And He doesn't just haphazardly 932 00:49:30,516 --> 00:49:33,759 and randomly throw that gift around. 933 00:49:33,759 --> 00:49:38,551 They are for His loved ones. 934 00:49:38,551 --> 00:49:42,561 He said this, that drawing - 935 00:49:42,561 --> 00:49:45,193 He said you lift Me up 936 00:49:45,193 --> 00:49:48,103 and I will draw all men. 937 00:49:48,103 --> 00:49:50,382 That doesn't mean all without exception. 938 00:49:50,382 --> 00:49:53,417 It means men from all the nations. 939 00:49:53,417 --> 00:49:55,096 There were Greeks there. 940 00:49:55,096 --> 00:49:58,372 That's the context in which He said that. 941 00:49:58,372 --> 00:50:00,960 The thing that is so beautiful about Christ 942 00:50:00,960 --> 00:50:03,007 is not like the beauty that we would find 943 00:50:03,007 --> 00:50:08,850 in a woman necessarily or in a sunset. 944 00:50:08,850 --> 00:50:12,278 Actually, that which Christ Himself says 945 00:50:12,278 --> 00:50:15,882 has that drawing efficacy 946 00:50:15,882 --> 00:50:18,792 is lift Me up and I will draw. 947 00:50:18,792 --> 00:50:21,683 Do you realize His death, His blood, 948 00:50:21,683 --> 00:50:25,225 the gore, the agonies, 949 00:50:25,235 --> 00:50:30,497 the shame of that cross, 950 00:50:30,497 --> 00:50:33,670 that's where so much of His beauty is found. 951 00:50:33,670 --> 00:50:37,144 It's found in those words we read in Isaiah 53. 952 00:50:37,144 --> 00:50:42,630 That is the most precious thing imaginable. 953 00:50:42,630 --> 00:50:45,509 "The Word became flesh 954 00:50:45,509 --> 00:50:47,986 and He dwelt among us." 955 00:50:47,986 --> 00:50:52,597 But He took His humanity - the God-man, 956 00:50:52,597 --> 00:50:53,845 to do what He did. 957 00:50:53,845 --> 00:50:56,176 Would you not say it is one of the greatest gifts 958 00:50:56,176 --> 00:50:57,535 He has ever given you 959 00:50:57,535 --> 00:51:02,279 to find Him whom you have never seen - 960 00:51:02,279 --> 00:51:04,647 this is what Peter says. 961 00:51:04,647 --> 00:51:08,260 Peter says though you have not seen Him, you love Him. 962 00:51:08,260 --> 00:51:09,658 I mean, can you imagine it? 963 00:51:09,658 --> 00:51:13,951 Can you imagine that you have been given a gift 964 00:51:13,951 --> 00:51:18,296 to ache for, to worship, to long after, 965 00:51:18,296 --> 00:51:21,740 to feel the need of, to have a love for, 966 00:51:21,740 --> 00:51:27,570 to find desirable this Christ. 967 00:51:27,570 --> 00:51:30,080 And you love Him more than anything else. 968 00:51:30,080 --> 00:51:34,754 More than father or mother or husband or wife. 969 00:51:34,754 --> 00:51:37,529 And you've never seen Him. 970 00:51:37,529 --> 00:51:40,544 That is a miracle. 971 00:51:40,544 --> 00:51:43,017 That is a gift. 972 00:51:43,017 --> 00:51:46,437 And that is altogether an expression of His love 973 00:51:46,437 --> 00:51:49,472 that you can look up and say, 974 00:51:49,472 --> 00:51:56,778 You are beautiful, my Beloved. 975 00:51:56,778 --> 00:51:59,999 Altogether desirable and precious. 976 00:51:59,999 --> 00:52:02,871 That is a manifestation of His love. 977 00:52:02,871 --> 00:52:05,920 Now next week, what I want to look at 978 00:52:05,920 --> 00:52:10,648 is Him looking at her - 979 00:52:10,648 --> 00:52:12,867 looking at us; 980 00:52:12,867 --> 00:52:16,885 looking at His people and saying, 981 00:52:16,885 --> 00:52:21,444 "You are beautiful, My love." 982 00:52:21,444 --> 00:52:25,279 "You are beautiful." 983 00:52:25,279 --> 00:52:28,733 Because we often don't feel it. 984 00:52:28,733 --> 00:52:30,668 But I want you to see His heart 985 00:52:30,668 --> 00:52:34,484 expressed to you, Lord willing, next week. 986 00:52:34,484 --> 00:52:36,111 Father, I pray, 987 00:52:36,111 --> 00:52:41,497 help us just to delight 988 00:52:41,497 --> 00:52:46,538 in the fullness, the realities 989 00:52:46,538 --> 00:52:49,921 of what it means to be loved by Christ. 990 00:52:49,921 --> 00:52:52,207 This love that surpasses knowledge. 991 00:52:52,207 --> 00:52:57,587 Help us, give us according to the riches of Your glory, 992 00:52:57,587 --> 00:53:00,324 Lord, enable us to comprehend 993 00:53:00,324 --> 00:53:02,738 with all the saints 994 00:53:02,738 --> 00:53:06,493 what is the breadth and length and height and depth. 995 00:53:06,493 --> 00:53:09,340 We ask this in the name of our Savior, Amen.