Call to Love

Introduction: Solomon provides a heart wrenching story of love unrequited that soon resolves to leave. This is a shocking warning about missing the opportunity to accept loves invitation and the miserable consequences that come thereafter.

Solomon’s Teachings:

Proverbs teaches us to avoid the foolishness of life.

Ecclesiastes teaches us about the frailties of life.

Song of Solomon teaches us about the feelings of love in life.

Song of Solomon shows us the:

Desire of love….

Delight of love….

Dedication of Love…

Note: We have all experienced rejection. Whether it was a note passed in school that asked, “Do you like me, check ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’” To a broken heart from a relationship, or a proposal for marriage that was rejected.

Lingering Rejection of Love (5:1-5)

The Request from the Lover (5:1-2) - “1 I have come to my garden-my sister, my bride. I gather my myrrh with my spices. I eat my honeycomb with my honey. I drink my wine with my milk. Eat, friends! Drink, be intoxicated with love! 2 I sleep, but my heart is awake. A sound! My love is knocking! Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my perfect one. For my head is drenched with dew, my hair with droplets of the night.

Illustration: The Parable of the Ten Virgins - Matthew 25:1-13

Philippians 2:5-8 (HCSB) - “5 Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus, 6 who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage. 7 Instead He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a slave, taking on the likeness of men. And when He had come as a man in His external form, 8 He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death-even to death on a cross.”

Psalm 24:7-10 (HCSB) - “7 Lift up your heads, you gates! Rise up, ancient doors! Then the King of glory will come in. 8 Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle. 9 Lift up your heads, you gates! Rise up, ancient doors! Then the King of glory will come in. 10 Who is He, this King of glory? The Lord of Hosts, He is the King of glory. Selah”

Revelation 3:19-20 (HCSB) - “19 As many as I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be committed and repent. 20 Listen! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and have dinner with him, and he with Me.”

Revelation 22:17 (HCSB) - “17 Both the Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" Anyone who hears should say, "Come!" And the one who is thirsty should come. Whoever desires should take the living water as a gift.”

The Response to the Lover (5:3-5) - 3 I have taken off my clothing. How can I put it back on? I have washed my feet. How can I get them dirty? 4 My love thrust his hand through the opening, and my feelings were stirred for him. 5 I rose to open for my love. My hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with flowing myrrh on the handles of the bolt.”

Rejected Love shown in Isaiah 53:3-4 (ESV) - “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.”

Matthew 25:10-13 (HCSB) - “10 “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. 11 “Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’ 12 “But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’ 13 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.”

Romans 1:28-32 (HCSB) - “28 And because they did not think it worthwhile to have God in their knowledge, God delivered them over to a worthless mind to do what is morally wrong. 29 They are filled with all unrighteousness, evil, greed, and wickedness. They are full of envy, murder, disputes, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, arrogant, proud, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, and unmerciful. 32 Although they know full well God's just sentence-that those who practice such things deserve to die-they not only do them, but even applaud others who practice them.”

Luke 12:35-40 (HCSB) - “35 "Be ready for service and have your lamps lit. 36 You must be like people waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet so that when he comes and knocks, they can open [the door] for him at once. 37 Those slaves the master will find alert when he comes will be blessed. I assure you: He will get ready, have them recline at the table, then come and serve them. 38 If he comes in the middle of the night, or even near dawn, and finds them alert, those slaves are blessed. 39 But know this: if the homeowner had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. 40 You also be ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect.”

Oh Why Not Tonight? - by Eliza homes Reed (1794-1867)

Verse 1

O do not let the word depart, And close thine eyes against the light;

Poor sinner, harden not your heart; Be saved, O tonight.

Refrain

Oh why not tonight?

Oh why not tonight?

Wilt thou be saved?

Then why not tonight?

Verse 2

Tomorrow’s sun may never rise, To bless thy long deluded sight;

This is the time, O then be wise, Be saved, O tonight

Verse 4

Our blessed Lord refused none, Who would to him their souls unite;

Believe, obey, the work is done; Be saved, O tonight.

Lasting Regret About Love (5:6-8)

Missed Opportunity of Love (5:6) - “6 I opened to my love, but my love had turned and gone away. I was crushed that he had left. I sought him, but did not find him. I called him, but he did not answer.”

Quote: “On the whole, God's love for us is a much safer subject to think about than our love for Him.”

Psalm 69:3 (HCSB) - “3 I am weary from my crying; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for my God.”

Isaiah 55:6-7 (HCSB) - “6 Seek the Lord while He may be found; call to Him while He is near. 7 Let the wicked one abandon his way, and the sinful one his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, so He may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will freely forgive.”

Message to Onlookers About Love (5:7-8) - “7 The guards who go about the city found me. They beat and wounded me; they took my cloak from me- the guardians of the walls. 8 Young women of Jerusalem, I charge you: if you find my love, tell him that I am lovesick.”

Note: Because she rejected true love, she was left vulnerable to the assaults and abuses of treacherous people. The same is true of those who reject Christ; they are left up to the wicked afflictions.

Acts 20:29-30 (HCSB) - “29 I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 And men from among yourselves will rise up with deviant doctrines to lure the disciples into following them.”

2 Corinthians 11:13-15 (HCSB) - “13 For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder! For Satan himself is disguised as an angel of light. 15 So it is no great thing if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their destiny will be according to their works.”

Listed Reasons for Love (5:9-16)

There is a Request to Know Why He Is So Wonderful (5:9) - “9 What makes the one you love better than another, most beautiful of women? What makes him better than another, that you would give us this charge?”

2 Corinthians 4:3-6 (HCSB) - “3 But if, in fact, our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 Regarding them: the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For we are not proclaiming ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves because of Jesus. 6 For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness"-He has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God's glory in the face of Jesus Christ.”

1 Peter 3:15 (HCSB) - “15 but set apart the Messiah as Lord in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.”

Psalm 8:1 (KJV) - “O Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! Who hast set thy glory above the heavens.”

There Are Reasons He is So Wonderful (5:10-16) - “10 My love is fit and strong, notable among ten thousand. 11 His head is purest gold. His hair is wavy and black as a raven. 12 His eyes are like doves beside streams of water, washed in milk and set like jewels. 13 His cheeks are like beds of spice, towers of perfume. His lips are lilies, dripping with flowing myrrh. 14 His arms are rods of gold set with topaz. His body is an ivory panel covered with sapphires. 15 His legs are alabaster pillars set on pedestals of pure gold. His presence is like Lebanon, as majestic as the cedars. 16 His mouth is sweetness. He is absolutely desirable. This is my love, and this is my friend, young women of Jerusalem.

Hebrews 7:26 (HCSB) - “26 For this is the kind of high priest we need: holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.”

Revelation 1:14 (HCSB) - “14 The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire.