Key Scriptures: Song of Solomon 8 (The New International Version)
6 Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame.
7 Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away. If one were to give all the wealth of his house for love, it would be utterly scorned.
1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. (NKJV)
Last week we ended the year 2007 with a Sunday message designed to point the way to a better, brighter and more blessed future as we prepare ourselves for the certainties of life. We saw in the scriptures how fear and selfish greed had been the downfall of so many bible characters that were given great opportunities to serve God.
Our conclusion was that in order to succeed we must rid ourselves of the selfish greed and the fear which motivates us to make irrational, self serving decisions. We ended last Sunday reading from 1 Samuel chapter 13, verse 13 and the first part of verse 14.
This morning I want to pick up where we left off, in the middle of verse 14, and tell the rest of the story. Allow me to catch us up …
1 Samuel 13 NKJV
13 And Samuel said to Saul, "You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which He commanded you. For now the LORD would have established your kingdom over
14 "But now your kingdom shall not continue. …
Verse 14 continued: … The LORD has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you."
Saul was after God’s help not God’s heart. God is seeking for people who will pursue His heart and not just His help!
For today’s purposes, let me say that there are three identifiable parts of man as well as three distinguishable parts of God. They can be defined as:
The Head
The Hands
The Heart
These correlate to: The Soul; The Body; and The Spirit
Many people would love to get into God’s head … to:
Know God’s thoughts
Have God’s knowledge
Just like Eve who desired to be wise and become like God, knowing the difference between good and evil.
Genesis 3 NKJV
5 "For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
The pursuit of knowledge for knowledge sake is vanity.
Many others seek after God’s hand
To benefit from His blessings
To control the hand of God, what He will and will not do
To determine the work of God, the scope and timing
To have God’s abilities, His power, might and demonstration
The seven sons of Sceva in Acts 19:13ff did not know Jesus but attempted to exercise the power of His name …
Simon the sorcerer of Acts 8 offered money in exchange for God’s power.
Acts 8 NKJV
18 And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money,
19 saying, "Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit."
God does not respond favorably to those who only seek knowledge or power but rather …
God favors those who pursue relationship …
Those after God’s heart …
Pursuing and investing in a relationship with God
A mutual love affair filled with passion, commitment and jealousy. (We are told jealousy is motivating – Romans 10:19 & 11:11)
Not the jealousy motivated by envy or fear, but by love
Those after God’s heart …
Desiring to be covered with His banner of love
To feel the life, the excitement, the inspiration of being in love with a God Who loved you first and loves you more.
An abandoned passion, yielded to matters of the heart, unmoved by what others may think
Luke 10:42 "But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her."
Like Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus
2 Samuel 6
22 "And I will be even more undignified than this, and will be humble in my own sight.
Like David dancing before the Lord
Like the woman with the alabaster box of oil
Luke 7
37 And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment,
38 And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.
44 And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.
45 Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet.
46 My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment.
47 Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.
God is Light, Life and Love and each facet of God demands expression however, none more than Love.
God’s expression of Love was the giving of His only Son as a sacrifice in exchange for a relationship with you.
God does not favorably respond to people who only want to know what He knows or be able to do what He can do, no, God is looking for people who want a relationship with Him. God is looking for people who want to know Him not just know about Him or know how to do what He does.
God is looking, seeking, for those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:23)
God is offering relationship. And along with relationship comes God’s wisdom and His power. When you have the heart of God, like any other person, you have all of Him.
The Apostle Paul put it this way …
Philippians 3 NKJV
7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.
Why? Why would he be willing to give up everything in life?
Philippians 3 NKJV
10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death
There is only one way to know Him.
John 3:7 “You must be born again.” … and …
As the prophet Hosea said in Hosea 6:3 … You will know if you follow on to know the Lord.
The most crushing words which will ever be spoken will ring through all eternity as a testimony that salvation is by grace and relationship and not by works when the souls of men are cast out of the presence of the Lord because … He never knew them … Matthew 7:23
God is longing for someone to understand how much He loves them and what price He paid for the privilege of loving them.
God wants to be loved back … He wants to hear it, feel it and see a demonstration of it.
This is why He is seeking for those who will worship Him, so He can hear it. Our praise is a sweet smelling sacrifice to Him. He inhabits the praises of His people.
He is a jealous God, He wants to feel pursued as the only God in your life.
Exodus 34:14 Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. (NIV)
He desires to see you live and demonstrate His love to others.
Even though God wants no other God competition, He deeply desires, even demands, that we love one another.
1 John 4 NKJV
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.
10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.
When the love of God is perfected in us, no fear or selfish greed will be able to tempt us or to motivate us to stray from that relationship.
That’s the first scripture we read together this morning, remember:
1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. (NKJV)
Ask yourself today: What are you after? God’s help or God’s heart?
Repent, return and rekindle the passion of your love for God. Only He can satisfy your soul.
Additional Scripture References:
Ephesians 3
16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
1 Peter 4:8 And above all things have fervent love for one another, for "love will cover a multitude of sins."
Proverbs 10:12 Hatred stirs up strife, But love covers all sins.
1 Corinthians 13:13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
1 Timothy 1:5 Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith,
1 John 3:17 But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
1 John 4:9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
Romans 8
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
