Strong Young Man 1

Young Man Song of Songs 3:6-5:1

1 John 2:13 “I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one.”

1. Babe phase 1:2-1:7
2. Child phase 2-3:5
3. Strong Young Man “1” 3:6-5:1 and he is a Strong young man “2” 5:2-8:4
4. Father/Mother fully adorned 8:5-8:14

The outline of the Young Man

1.  7 steps to getting back the one your heart loves. (Song 3:1-5).  God lovingly disciplining His child.
   1. Recognize your woeful, miserable, lazy, joyless, deserted, not growing, unfruitful condition.  You go night after night, expecting Him to be there, in your bed looking for Him, but He is not 3:1
   2. Resolve to do something 3:2
   3. Do whatever it takes 3:2
   4. You find help from the watchmen in the night 3:3
   5. Hold onto the one you love. 3:4
   6. Do not let go 3:4
   7. Do not arouse or awaken love til it so desires. 3:5 
2. Coming up out of the wilderness (Song 3:6-3:10)
   1. You are sure and it feels like your coming up out of the wilderness 3:6
   2. You know you have had help in the battles 3:7-8
   3. You have crowned Him King 3:9-10
3. The Glories of the Young Man (Song 4:1-5:1)
   1. Her internal moral Beauty consisting in
      1. Focused eyes 
      2. Glorious hair
      3. An ability to clean her teeth
      4. Holy speech
      5. Perfect meditations
      6. No flaw in her 4:7
   2. The Young Mans attainments
      1. 1,000 shields
      2. Captivating fellowship
      3. An ability to stay humble after longer praises and honor. 4:8-9
      4. Your love is beautiful!  4:10
      5. Lips that drop sweetness 4:11
      6. Fruitful cultivation skills. 4:12

The young man has overcome the evil one.  This is the main mark of the Young Man. If I could sum up the Young Man with two portions of scripture, they would be Ephesians 6:10-18 and Matthew 4:1-11.  This is your life Song 3:1-5:1.

The Strong Young Man

 7 steps to getting back the one your heart loves.

1. Step 1  Recognize your woeful, miserable, lazy, joyless, deserted condition.In the darkness (Song 3:1-5)  You go night after night expecting Him to be there but He is not. 3:1  Spiritual Lethargy. Night after night you look for the one your heart loves.  You look for Him but he is not there.  You felt him there.  You saw Him there.  But now He seems to have withdrawn himself.  The first night he was gone, maybe tomorrow he will be there.  Nope, not there the next day. He is gone and it doesn’t feel good at all.  Kiss the rod of discipline.  In love He has tuned His back.  Your feeling deserted. Melancholy.  Lost.  Confused.  Sorrowful. Your joy is gone and strength to obey seems very weak.  It feels like Is. 49:14 “The Lord has forsaken me, And the Lord has forgotten me.” or Isaiah 54:8 “In an outburst of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, But with everlasting lovingkindness I will have compassion on you,” Says the Lord your Redeemer. You can relate to David in Psalm 22:1-2  “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?  Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning. 2 O my God, I cry by day, but You do not answer; And by night, but I have no rest.”  How do you get out of this dark night of the soul.  When the light is gone from your eyes and the joy of your salvation is gone, what do you do?
2. Step 2.  Resolve to do something about it.  You can’t go long without Him so you aren’t lazy anymore so you resolve to do something about it. “I will get up now”  3:2.  She resolved to do something about Him being missing.  Don’t just sit there thinking things will get better.  Resolve to figure out why the one you love feels so far away.  Resolve to do something about finding the one your heart loves.  Figure out a solution, figure out how to hang onto Him.  Have a firm determination to not stop til you have no doubt you are His child like being at your Mother’s house, you know who your mom is and you know who birthed you, you know who’s child you are when at your mother’s house. Song 3:4. It’s to bad that some wait so long before they resolve to do something that they have to be humbled and disciplined before they come back to Him.  You left Him, He never leaves you.  Go back to Him.  Resolve to do whatever it takes to get things back to normal and moving forward.  The first step to getting back the one you love is to resolve to do something about it!  Are you deserted now?  Then resolve to do something about it!  Now!  Get up!  Get your first love back. Your first step out of the nightmare is to resolve to do something about this feeling like God/Jesus/the Holy Spirit is not there.  So resolve now!!
3. Step 3  Do whatever it takes to find Him 3:2 “go about the city through its streets and squares” refers to you doing whatever you know whatever you can think of.  So resolve to do whatever you know and whatever you can think of to get Him back. Generally you will know what to do.   Job 36:15 “He delivers the afflicted in their affliction, And opens their ear in time of oppression.”  You should know many things to do already from being a babe and child.  Do those things and then everything in the young man phase and you will soon find the one your heart loves.  Fast, pray, read, repent, humble yourself etc.  Do whatever it takes for however long it takes!!  Resolve to do whatever it takes to find Him.  What you know to do is here in the Song, in this phase of Growth.  Resolve to do chapters 1-4 till you are becoming a strong young man and beyond.  Whatever it takes in this context refers to but not limited to:
   1. The things you have learned,  Resolve to do them without delay
   2. The things your are learning, Reslove to do them
   3. The things the watchmen told you 3:3, Resolve to do them
   4. The things in Chapter 4, You need to Resolve to do them:
      1. Love God (pray Song 1:2-4), clean your teeth, maintain holy speech, proper mediations and being able to humble yourself after much praise and honor.
   5. Put on the full armor of God, fight and win.   Ephesians 6:10-18
   6. Learn how to fight like Jesus in the wilderness.
4.  Step 4  You find help from the watchmen in the night 3:3 “Scarcely had you passed the watchmen, then you found the one your heart loves.”  Oh, how wonderful!! You found Him!  The watchmen helped out here.  Friends, pastors, parents, mature believers, books, the Book, follow the tracks of other sheep who found Him after they searched and couldn’t find Him.  They will lead you beside still waters and green pastures.
5. Step 5 Stay obedient until you have have Him back  “I held him and would not let him go”  “I held him”  You found Him then you held him.  You figured it out, did whatever it took.  Your life is back on track.  There is both a getting him and then keeping him in 3:4.  First you find him near the watchmen, ministers, means of grace.  Some promise, some truth, something of God or the cross.  Something got you back on track,  this getting back on track is “finding him”.  What an exceeding joy it is!!  You found him you hold him and He has you under the shadow of His wings.
6. Step 6 Don’t let go 3:4  You found Him now hang onto Him.  Do not let Him go!  Keep Him. Worship Him!! Adore and Praise Him!!  Listen and quickly obey without delay.  Keep moving forward there is more work to be done.  Do not rest in your assurance.  Stay humble and move forward. God gives rest on the narrow journey up the mountain but the first rest is not the stopping point.  Fight on! Put the full armor on so you can stand firm and fight with it in this new found joy!  “Eph. 6:10-18”  memorize an meditate on Eph. 6. this is your battle, this is your life.  You are no longer a babe or child so fight like a young man!  Wrestle with the Angel of God, hold Him til you get a blessing like Jacob wrestled with God.  The blessing desired here in 3:4 is to feel like your home again, safe in the arms of your Mother.  Feeling safe and secure like a child at home.  Not lost, doubting God’s love and thinking your not a child of God, because you believed some lie of the Devil.
7. Do not arouse or awaken love til it so desires. 3:5 In God’s timing you will be together again with the one you love.  Do not use unbiblical means to hasten love.  Go Here for further explanation.

Coming up out of the wilderness (Song 3:6-3:10)

1. You don’t feel like your in the wilderness being tempted but by this point you feel your “coming up out of the wilderness” 3:6 “The Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness for testing and the Spirit led Him out.  Once you have learned to hang onto the one your heart loves, you will know what it feels like to be “coming up out of the desert”  Your teeth will be clean and your temples matched as well. Song 4:2-3  Israel went through the dessert wilderness also.  They were tested.  And now soon after you received assurance of your salvation, and know that your sins are forgiven for His Names sake.  The devil is right there trying to get you to believe every lie possible while you are in the wilderness so that you doubt the love of God and your adoption into His Kingdom.  This is the context the Young Man is in.  In this phase you need to be thinking of yourself as being in a spiritual wilderness being tempted by the devil.
2. You know you have had help in the battles 3:7-8 In the context of the Young Man we are talking about spiritual warfare.  Angels help out in the warfare.  They are “experienced in battle” Song 3:8 There is great help in this battle.  You go to battle with all the armor of Ephesians 6.  You can’t lose the war!! You lose some battles, yes but you will win the war.  Christ will crush Satan head under your feet even though he nips at your heals.  You win with help from angels and help from within for greater is Him that is in you then Satan that is in the world.  2 Kings 6:17 “And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.”
3. You have crowned Him King 3:9-10 King doing it for himself,  “v9 made for himself)  This was all for his glory.  How is this not pride?   To fulfill his duties as the lesser Christ.  He makes the carriage for Himself.  Solomon made the carriage so all my see the glory of God reflected in him.    Everything good that she has comes from him.  She was a slave, miserable, laboring, endless needing redemption.  All I have is from him, all I am is because of Him, to him be the glory and honor. 2 Chronicles 1:12 ” I will give you riches and wealth and honor, such as none of the kings who were before you has possessed nor those who will come after you.”All area’s of your thinking, feeling, choices, words, actions, beliefs are all submitted to the Word of God, God is King. Guided by infinite wisdom when Solomon spoke it was as if you were speaking to God.  The perfect Prophet, speaking the words of God, with lips dripping with myrrh and honey. Not only is He the authority in your life, but your life shows it now.  Your not hanging onto any sin and you have overcome the evil one if you are becoming a young man.  And a Young Man has overcome the evil one and crowned him King.  You were looking forward to it when you were a babe and now you have crowned Him King in your life.  Praise the Lord!!  All that is in me praise His Holy Name!!

1. The Glories of the Young Man (Song 4:1-5:1)   By “glories” I mean what is internal.  Internal weight, internal glory, whatever is excellent, praiseworthy, or worthy of regard.  Psalm 8:5 “You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor.”  What is it that is worthy of regard here.  He is praising her moral beauty. Prov. 31:28-29  This is easy because what Solomon regarded as praiseworthy, he praises her for in chapter 4. (excluding the promise of v.6, the command in v. 8 and her request in v.16) As shepherd of her heart the husband praises her noble character.  Obviously, not in a way that puffs her up, but making sure she can come down, and stay humble after the compliments. As shepherd of her soul the husbands job is to praise her noble character Prov. 31:28-29.  Here are the praiseworthy aspects of the young man. The worth and excellency of the soul is to be measured by the object of it’s love.  Therefore, compare 4:1,7 and 10, this is the context.  It is her love that the husband is praising.
2. Her moral Beauty consisting in Her Love to God. Her beloved delights to behold her beauty.   Beauty,  this mark of dignity or moral excellence is what makes her lovely and delightful to her lover.  Her beauty is the holiness of her heart.  She is “Beautiful” and oh how “Beautiful”.  What is beautiful about her? 4:10 Her love is “beautiful” thats whats lovely about her.  Love the “Flame of the LORD” written on her heart is most lovely.  All her love to Solomon flows from the sweet flame she has in her heart for God!  Not only an earthly beauty but this beauty is a moral beauty beyond bones.  This beauty he is talking about extends to the depths of her heart. He looks into her heart and see’s a love that is unquenchable, unyielding an can’t be bought.  Oh, how beautiful she is.  When He views His image upon her, Oh, how beautiful.  His Son in her.  This is a special love, only those who have the flame of God (Song 8:6) in them have it written on their hearts.  Believers have God’s love in them.  This is what makes her beautiful. “Dark” she is, yes, but “Lovely” Song 1:5 Imagine an externally beautiful woman that is not saved.  Is her love more delightful than wine?  No, her love is selfish, failing, quenchable, displeasing and worthy of rebuke and not praise.  The praise here is directed to the beauty of her love to God not an external beauty.  Look, in context, she has just overcome the evil one!!  She has overcome the evil one by her love to Him, which is in her.  Greater is He that is in her that he that is in the world.  She overcame by the unquenchable power of her love for God, fueled by the flame of God increasing in her soul.  She is altogether beautiful” 4:7  Her Love is beautiful because the object of her love is God. Her moral excellency is her holiness.  Holiness consists in Love to God.  This is her beauty.  The love of God written on her heart. ( I could write forever on this point, it is so hard but I will refrain)
   1. “Doves eyes” She has not lost her focus on His love. Song 1:2-4 is still on her mind and in her heart always.  They both have doves eyes yet his are much more excellent. Song 5:12  Staring at His Eyes of Love and being shown affection changes her into the same.  Psalm 33:18 “Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, On those who hope for His lovingkindness”  Whatever attracts one’s affections ultimately conforms him (according to each ones capacity) to the object attracted to.  Though the devil temporarily gets our eyes off God’s love by some flaming arrow, her eyes stayed straight ahead.  Doves have no peripheral vision.  Also only one mate for life. He calls her dove and sister 5x, and 9x “My darling”
   2. Glorious hair. Her “hair is like a flock of goats descending from mount Gilead” Some poets say that the gorgeous hills and fertile valleys of mount Gilead were so beautiful one could hardly think they were real.  The woman’s hair is her glory,  1 Corinthians 11:15 “but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory”  The inward glory of this young woman is represented in the impressions upon the mind that her lover gets when when he beholds a flock of goats with long, silky hair, amid richness, beauty, and the grandeur of Gilead.  Therefore her glory comes from “on High” from the words “descending”.  So I take it as, her glory is weighty and comes from the highest heavens.  Her “glory/dignity”… is “most beautiful/dense” coming from above as her doves eyes view His glory, glory of the only begotten Son of God, reflected in Solomon’s wise and just rule as king in Jerusalem, the holy of holies and his marriage.  Her being kissed over and over again, being shown His love by her eyes fixed on Him, gives her soul a level of glory from above that is most beautiful to behold in the heart of the young woman. And oh, how beautiful she is!
   3. Ability to clean your teeth by matching them.  “Your teeth are like a flock of newly shorn ewes Which have come up from their washing, All of which bear twins, And not one among them has lost her young. Once you have assurance of your salvation.  Satan will soon be at your heels.  He will bruise you with all kinds of lies.  The lies are aimed at getting you to sin, and also doubt the love of God by believing his lies/half truths.  Cleaning your teeth will consist of but is not limited to:                    
      1. Believing truths=clean teeth.  Romans 7:22 “For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man” And Jesus in all 3 temptations in the wilderness he kept His Teeth clean, for He was the living Word of God full of Grace and Truth, we behold this glory!!  Believing a truth with the wrong application=dirty teeth.  Dirt thoughts.  Clean them.  Find out where Satan tripped you up and clean your teeth by driving the truth you should have obeyed deep into your heart.  Treasure that truth.  This is cleaning your teeth.  The new found you man is learning this and the full young man has cleaned up many of these dirty thought patterns.  Take every thought captive to the Word of God.  Why? Hebrews 4:12
         “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

         The belt of truth. Believing that God loves you. Believing that sin is evil and not okay.  Believing that disobeying God is a big deal and not thinking “oh, its a small sin, its no big deal compared to others”.  There are all kinds of lies that the devil will throw at you.  The Holy Spirit is a Spirit of Truth.  If truth is in your mind then when a lie comes you will be able to detect it.  The Holy Spirit along with the Word of God treasured in your heart will work perfectly as your strength to resist the devil, your enemy whom you hate with a righteous indignation, and he will flee from you.   Submitting to the Word of God written on your heart, living by every Word of God, not testing God and worshipping God alone (Jesus, our High Priest, in the wilderness) with the full armor of God on you will resist the devil and he will flee from you as you humble yourself.

         James 4:8  “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”  Rashi a great Rabbi (Artscroll-Song of Songs), translates washing to mean “well-sifted”.  So the Young Mans thoughts have been sifted by Satan like Peter was sifted.

         Luke 22:31 “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat”  Peter failed when Satan sifted him but then cleaned his teeth, and then was equipped to “strengthen his brothers”
      2. Temptation of Christ by Thomas Manton a must read!!
      3. Precious remedies against Satan’s devices by Thomas Brooks
   4. Holy speech. 4:3 “Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon; your mouth is lovely.”   Proverbs 10:13  Proverbs 10:20  Proverbs 10:21 ;  16:21-24   Holy speech is the mark of a young man becoming strong.  Scarlet thread,  Rahab or scape goat.  The scape goat would have a scarlet thread on the goat that carried their sins away.  She speaks and praises as if her sinful thoughts are far from her.  Christ blood also washes our words and makes them holy.  The word of God is abiding in truth in the strong young man.  His sword never leaves his hand like Davids vacant man Eleazar who “stood his ground and struck down the Philistines till his hand grew tired and froze to the sword.” 2 Sam. 23:10  The idea of the Sword of the Spirit, walking by the Spirit and in Grace, abiding in that love,  abiding strong has the same idea that Eleazar did not let go of his sword.  His hand was frozen to the sword.
      Psalm 19:14 “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight”
   5. Perfect meditations. Song 4:3  She has the mind of Christ and her meditation are holy without mixture of lies or bad doctrine.  Her mind and the Word of God written on her heart by God (Ezekiel 36:26) are one.  Her mind one with the mind of God.  Moral beauty consists in the souls consent to Being. “Your temples are like a slice of a pomegranate behind your veil.” Could be the color reddish or orange.  Or the sweet taste of both.  But I believe Symmetry, proportion and harmony for their proper purpose is the idea being conveyed. If you looked at two halves of a Pomegranate you would see symmetry, proportion and a harmony between the two.  Side by side they perfectly agree.  They perfectly agree for the purpose of displaying beauty.  Something delightfully sweet to behold by him.  This is part of her being altogether beautiful Song 4:7.   Psalm 19:14  “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight”  The Psalmists words and meditations must agree with Scripture.  As her temples where perfectly matched, symmetrical in proportions like two halves of a pomegranate. God looks into the heart of the Young Man and see’s His Word in him.  The Young Woman has cleaned up her idea of God from false God’s.  The commands of God are on her heart.  The devil can sift her like wheat and as the lies get filtered through her thoughts, no flaw enters her mind.  She has overcome the evil one.
   6. 1,000 shields.  “You have 1,000 shields of warriors” A thousand times.  You have been “taking up the shield of faith with which you were able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” Eph. 6:16  Each battle against the enemy when you “take up the shield of faith” and win is a shield.  This shield will reflect the lie which is Satan’s flaming arrow.  The more you battle the more shields you get when you win.  Don’t forget to give the Glory to your shield and not yourself because the Lord is our sun and shield.  Also, watch and pray so you don’t fall to the Tempter.  Ezekiel 27:11  “They hung their shields on your walls all around; they perfected your beauty.”
   1. Captivating fellowship.  She was a  “lily” Song 2:2.  Now she is browsing among the lilies.  She is browsing among other lilies.  She is browsing among other believers.   Her spiritual breasts are having fellowship with other believers.  Breasts are a sign of a woman’s maturity.  If they have them then we call them a young woman.  Last I checked we are in the young man/young woman part of the Song.  Here is the first of a few different praises  about her breasts. “how she has received nourishment from the W0rd of God and is now giving nourishment to spiritual children and other believers is so captivating, beautiful to see,  pleasant to watch happen, puts a smile on your face and joy in your heart to see.  Her soul was nourished and now she nourishes others.  How beautiful is that!?  As beautiful as watching “Twins fawns browsing among the lilies”  This compliment comes to the Young Woman. Can you imagine, she is a dark skinned once enemy of Israel and now she is talking about the LORD her righteousness to children and teaching God’s commands to babes. And the spiritual father Shepherd still nourishing her.  She is both getting nourishment and giving it because she is mature enough now to do so.  Oh, how beautiful is her fellowship due to her clean teeth and holy speech!  Seeing her receive nourishment and fellowship was like seeing one of the most beautiful scenes in nature.  Her fellowship captivates his eyes!!
   2. No flaw in you, righteous. Psalm 19:13 “Keep your servant also from willful sins;  may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless.” Warning, DO NOT believe yourself to have a blameless walk until you actually have one!  Yes your are forgiven and lovely and perfect in Christ’s righteousness applied to your account.  But the no flaw doesn’t mean that your are perfect, pure and will never sin again.  Solomon is complimenting her equal use of her talents.  She has been given 3 talents and she is using them for his glory.  To whom much has been given much will be required.  Equality or proportion in expectation of fruit.  The talents you have you must stay faithful to.  Now you will fall, but you get back up.  You do not willfully continue without regret in a habitual pattern of any sin, your doing something about your sin and moving forward because God’s seed remains in you.
   3. You make his heart beat faster by staying humble after longer praises and honor. 4:8-9 “Come down.. ”  “Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord..”  You made his heart beat faster by coming down and humbling yourself while viewing your newly inherited kingdom.  You might want to stay up there enjoying the view, but you have to come down and do some love work in the kingdom. “Knowledge puffs up”  Also, the sin of the devil.  He was exalted quickly.  So pride set in.  If you grow so fast and your assurance gets to high to quick, spiritual pride will come and you will fall.  “Come down” when He calls you.  (practice this, if you are a young man who has clean teeth and proper meditations.  Think of your inheritance then humble yourself) To humble yourself, Remember “Dark am I yet lovely” Song 1:5.   Think highly of Him not yourself Song 5:10-16, this will humble you. This is the beginning of the honeymoon.  He takes her to the peaks of the mountains and shows the recent slave girl the kingdom she has just inherited due to her union with the wisest king of Jerusalem. “Knowing the riches of your inheritance and your new elevated position in Christ” you manage to stay humble and not get spiritual proud by heeding his call to “Come down”from prideful thinking  of your spiritual attainments, power, righteousness, level of growth, joyful ecstasies or privileges as a child of God.  These are gifts of love.  You did nothing to earn them.  Be careful lest you fall.  Sanctification is not by your works, all is by grace through faith and that not of ourselves, nor are you better than anyone else.  She received  the kingdom by Solomon’s grace and truth.  He was full of grace and truth.  Not of any of the works of her hands but his.  Solomon worked for it all.  She had nothing but debt and needed redemption from slavery.  The work of her hands can only make a golden calf.  See also #10 below.
   4.  Song 4:11 “Your lips, my bride, drip honey; Honey and milk are under your tongue ( same concept of 4:3 holy speech) , And the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.”  Her practical robe of righteousness and the righteousness of her Lord applied to her account is liked to the fragrance of Lebanon.  Very pleasing to the senses.
   5. Your love is beautiful! 4:10 “How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride!”  In Verses 8-12 he calls her Bride 5x.  She has learned submission, she learned the commandments, she was fearless, she has proven herself in the wilderness as a child of God able to overcome the evil one all out of love to Him who redeemed her life from the pit. Her love to Him is beautiful to Him.  She used to hate Him and was on Satans side and now you are on the side of the God of Israel she loves Him, and that love is beautiful.  Morally excellent.  A Holy Love.    Qualified to be his bride.  He is yours and you are His.  Your love is beautiful.  What is beautiful about you?  “Your love” he says “is beautiful”  He uses the word beautiful to describe your love.  He is looking at your Love and it is beautiful.  God’s love in her in it’s fullness.  No flaw in her. Because her love, the flame of God in her is beautiful.  Here Solomon praises and adores what makes her so beautiful, her love, her love to God, her love to others.  Her love is beautiful!!
   6. No evil is getting into the fruitful garden. 4:12 
      Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control.  You living off principles now.  Isn’t this fun.  Remember all the rules you set for yourself and now you love.  Love God and love others therefore you garden is locked up and has all the finest spices.  All of her virtues are blossoming.  Similar to “no flaw in her”  and having “fragrant clothing”  righteous living.  Abiding in obedience to all His commands.  Your moving forward.  Part of abiding is growing if your not growing then your not connected to the vine. Mat. 7:17-18 So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.”  Your like a tree firmly planted, meditating on the word of God yielding all kinds of fruits in their season, their leaf doesn’t wither and they prosper in all they do.   Here you have prospering.  This is moving forward.  Truly she has moved forward in beauty.  Moral beauty.   Remember she couldn’t catch the foxes in her vineyard as a babe. Then as a child, the vineyard was in bloom but some foxes still need to be caught Song 1:5-6; 2:15 “Catch the foxes for us,The little foxes that are ruining the vineyards, While our vineyards are in blossom.” and now as a beautiful young woman she is able to produce all the finest spices in her garden.  No foxes here,  I would say she is maturing.  What’s next?  Spices on top of mountains?  You bet Song 8:14.  Lots of spices on top of different mountains In the Father stage.
   7. Song 4:16  She is wanting even more fruit and different fruit in her garden for her lover to enjoy.
   8. Song 5:1  He comes to enjoy the various precious, valuable and most delightful myrrh, honey, wine and milk.
   9. Song 5:1  “Eat oh friends, drink your fill of love”  Here you swim in an ocean of God’s Love. Many Christians love the Song because of all the spiritual high points.  They experience them then they fall into depression or melancholy not knowing what to do.  The Song teaches you how to balance your emotions.  So remember to humble yourself after you experience His love to the degree that you feel like your in an ocean of delight.  Its as if you can drink as much as your heart can handle all the while being fully satisfied.  Your drinking your fill and knowing there is still far more out there.  This is one of the crowning pleasures of a Young Man, God’s gift of a river of pleasures to temporarily enjoy to encourage, humble and teach us to love God and others.  “Eat oh friends.  Drink your fill of Love.”  You drank you fill and there still is an ocean of enjoyment left.  You can see this because in His Light you see Truth.  The truth is that there is an infinite ocean of God’s love waiting for you in heaven.  Here you get to taste a piece of it.  And when you do, you will wish you would have humbled yourself more so you could drink more!  You can glorify God and enjoy Him forever!!   Here there is more than enough kisses of love for you to enjoy with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Eph. 3:18-19 Infinite pleasures in all directions.  And he said drink your fill.  It’s a command at this point.  Drink your fill, God has opened the flood gates of His infinite Love and you barely have your mouth open.  If only I had humbled myself more, then I would have enjoyed Him more thus glorifying Him more. There will be more than enough here to satisfy even the most thirsty soul.  Now you need to learn that heaven is boundless if you understand how boundless it is when you stand in His Grace and Love!!  So God lets you experience His Love to the degree that when you view it, its like never-ending better and better in all directions.  Drink your fill.  How could he say this unless he knew that there was enough love here to be enjoyed by all forever.  Eat, friends.  Drink your fill of love.  Lesson to learn.  Do not put any bounds on your spiritual growth.  Do not put bounds on the amount of joy God can give you in Him.  Strive to be the happiest Christian alive.  Jesus came that we may have life abundantly.  Life being knowledge of Him and love to Him communicated to my soul.  Thus enjoying Him more and glorifying Him.  God wants your enjoyment of Him to grow, so one of the riches of His Love is that there is more than enough for everyone and you have to experience it at the level that you believe there is more than enough for everyone, so He lets you stand in Heaven as it were, experiencing His Love to you at the degree that you can clearly see that there is more than enough for everyone.  Here is “a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb”

Husbands can

1.  Find out where you are
2. Move forward so that you can lead by knowledge and experience
3. Learn all the phases
4. Teach your wife all the phases, start with babe no matter what.
5. It is your job to lead her to full maturity  Ephesians 5:25-33

1. Great books for this phase
   1. Temptation of Christ by Thomas Manton
   2. “The case and cure of a deserted soul” by Joseph Symonds get the book or listen on Sermon Audio.
   3. Precious remedies against Satan’s devices by Thomas Brooks
   4. Mortification of Sin by John Owen