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All right, we are in Song of Solomon, chapter 7, going verse by verse, we'll finish the chapter here today. So starting in verse number 1, the Bible reads, How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince's daughter. Now if you notice here, he says, O prince's daughter, and in the Bible, a prince is not necessarily the son of a king, but it's someone of prominence or importance. So throughout the Bible, when you look at someone who's a prince, you know, it could be someone who's royalty, but someone who's very powerful. So what that tells us is that the father of Solomon's wife was a very powerful or prominent person. Now of course, I believe that his wife that's being mentioned is Pharaoh's daughter. So it makes sense that Pharaoh's pretty powerful. He's pretty prominent. Okay, if you don't believe that, then you'd have to wonder who is this person. But the person he's married to, her father is actually a very powerful and prominent person the Bible shows us here. And he says here, How beautiful are thy feet with shoes. Now go to Isaiah 52 real quickly. Isaiah 52, Isaiah 52. And this is something I've covered recently, so I don't want to spend too much time on it. But the Bible says, what he says about his wife is, How beautiful are thy feet with shoes. Now when you think of your body, you wouldn't exactly consider your feet to be the most beautiful aspect of your body, right? I mean, that's not like I saw that person's feet, I knew that they were the one, right? But the Bible says, what he says about his wife is, How beautiful are thy feet. Now an interesting verse is in Isaiah 52 verse 7 where it says, Isaiah 52 verse 7, How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation, that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth. Now this is a verse that's talking about preaching the good tidings, the good news, preaching the gospel, right? It's talking about soul winning in the Old Testament, and it says, How beautiful upon the mountains, okay? And when you really think about that, if you're going soul winning in the mountains, I mean, that's going to take a lot of effort and work, right? I come from the mountain states of the United States. We're known as the West Virginia Mountaineers, because there's mountains everywhere. And literally when you go soul winning, sometimes it's like a five minute walk up a hill to get to somebody's house. I mean, it's not easy. And when you're going soul winning in that sort of area with rough terrain, it's going to kind of wear out your feet. It's going to, you know, damage them. Now, of course you're wearing shoes, but sometimes you can have the effects of blisters and things like that. But God says, I look at the feet of someone who's going soul winning, and I say, How beautiful are your feet, okay? Whether you're a man or a woman, the term beautiful is not necessarily referring just to a woman in the Bible. But God looks at her feet, and if you're a soul winner, regardless of how many blisters you might have or how tired and worn out they are, God says, I look at those feet, and I say, They are beautiful in my eyes. Now go back to Song of Solomon 7, Song of Solomon 7. Now of course you could apply that to soul winning in Song of Solomon 7, but that's not really the application I would make. But the idea is that when you're wearing shoes, you're wearing shoes when you're doing something, right? Anyone who's in their house, you don't go to sleep at night with your shoes on, right? I mean, when you're at your house and you're just relaxing or whatever, you're not wearing your shoes. Now if you're going to go outside to throw out the trash or whatever, you put on sandals or shoes or whatever, right? You want to protect your feet, right? But when you're just at your house and you're relaxing and you're just kind of, you know, just not doing so much, you don't wear shoes. And I believe the idea he's expressing is that his wife was a very hard worker, and he looked at his wife who was a hard worker, and he looked at her feet and found them very beautiful because she wasn't just sitting around doing nothing all the time, she was actually using them, right? She was actually working hard, and he valued that, okay? Song of Solomon 7, verse 1. How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince's daughter! The joints of thy thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a cunning workman. Thy navel is like a round goblet which wanteth not liquor, thy belly is like an heap of wheat set about with lilies. Now, your navel is referring to your belly button. And he says about her belly button, it's like a round goblet, but notice this, which wanteth not liquor, okay? Go to 1 Timothy 4, 1 Timothy chapter 4, 1 Timothy 4. You know what they'll say about people that drink alcohol is they'll get like a beer gut, right? Obviously, alcohol will have a lot of calories, and it tends to go straight to your stomach. And people that drink alcohol, it's obviously not the healthiest thing you can do to your body, right? It's not good for you, it's not healthy. And what he says about his wife's navel is it wanteth not liquor. And I think the idea is she's not consuming things into her body that would harm her physically. Now, one direct application you would think of like alcohol is a sinful thing the Bible teaches. And it's literally poison that you're introducing into your body. However, as he's describing his wife's navel, and you think of the belly, obviously there's other things that could put you out of shape. If you're eating very unhealthy, not taking care of your body. And what he's stating about his wife, if we were to see a picture of her, I would assume his wife is probably a pretty thin woman based on what he's describing, okay? He says about her navel, she wanteth not liquor, she was taking care of her body. Now, notice what it says in 1 Timothy 4, verse 7. But refuse profane and old wise fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. Verse 8. For bodily exercise profiteth little, but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. And the Bible says in verse 8 of this chapter, bodily exercise profiteth little. I'll be honest, this is probably a phrase that is mis-preached more than just about any phrase of the Bible. Because the verse doesn't end for bodily exercise profiteth period, next verse, at least not in the King James. I don't know about other versions, but in the King James, that's not the end of the verse. And when there's a colon after the word little, the Bible's gonna describe what it means. Because that's kind of a vague phrase, bodily exercise profiteth little. It doesn't really tell you what that means. But the rest of the verse does tell you what that means. Okay? Notice what it says. For bodily exercise profiteth little, so there's a comparison. Bodily exercise profits just a little bit, but godliness, so bodily exercise versus godliness, godliness is profitable unto all things. Little versus all things. What does all things mean? Providing promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. So godliness profits in all things, and the two things mentioned are this life and the life to come. Your life on earth and up in heaven. And bodily exercise, it doesn't say it profits not at all. It says it profits little. Out of two things, does bodily exercise profit you in heaven or on earth? On earth, obviously, right? So godliness profits in heaven and on earth. Bodily exercise profits where? Well, you don't get rewards in heaven for how much you bench press. Right? I mean, you don't get rewards in heaven for how much or how fast you can run a mile or if you can dunk a basketball or whatever. And so it doesn't profit you in heaven. But let's use common sense. Bodily exercise profits you in earth. That's what the Bible's stating. So it says it profits little, and truly it is little because the things of this life are temporal. They have no long-term benefit in terms of rewards in heaven. But we can't sit here and say that bodily exercise doesn't profit you at all. It does profit you in this life. Common sense would tell us that, and the Bible's teaching that as well. Now, here's the thing. Many hobbies that we have, they don't really profit you in heaven or on earth, right? I'm a person. I like to have hobbies. I have things that I like to do. And honestly, bodily exercise, it's not a spiritual thing, but honestly, if you're looking at hobbies, it's probably one of the best, because most hobbies probably don't profit you at all. But bodily exercise does profit you here on earth. Go to Song of Solomon 7, Song of Solomon 7, Song of Solomon 7. And so look, obviously, you know, we don't focus on bodily exercise as being like this super important thing compared to like reading the Bible. I mean, if this morning you spent time lifting weights, but you didn't read the Bible, you've got a problem in your life, right? You have the wrong balance, right? I mean, there shouldn't be a day that goes by where you don't read the Bible. But even if you're an avid person with working out, I love working out. It's always been one of my big hobbies. But there are definitely days I don't work out, because things are busy, you know, you have other stuff that's more important, obviously, than bodily exercise, right? A day should not go by where you don't read the Bible, but days are going to go by where you don't work out, you know, you don't get to do your hobbies or whatever. But we need to have a proper balance. Yes, it profits little, but that verse is actually teaching, it does profit you. And this has always kind of been a big pet peeve of mine, because at least in the US, you know, and maybe it's just West Virginia, because it's kind of known as the hillbilly state, right? But they kind of, Baptist pastors tend to make a couple different jokes. One joke you hear a lot of times is, well, you know, I don't know much, but I know the Bible, bless God. And they kind of make a joke about being dumb. That's not funny. Right? I mean, you shouldn't be dumb. You should be educated. And, you know, sometimes there's this mentality, well, you know, if you're not that smart, just go into the ministry, right? You don't have to be smart to go into the ministry. Well, how are you going to stand up and teach the Word of God if you don't know anything? How are you going to stand up and teach, because look, it's not like I just opened up Daniel 8 and I was like, oh, I totally understand this. This is easy. I'll just say whatever. No, it's called, I had to watch a lot of videos and read a lot of articles, like, what is going on in this chapter? Right? I mean, you have to be educated if you're going to teach the Word of God. The other joke they often make in churches, like pastors will say, well, you know what? We're Baptist. We don't really, you know, take care of this part of our body. We just care about the Bible. It's like, well, in the Bible, it actually tells you to take care of your body, especially in the Song of Solomon. Right? I mean, it tells you to take care of your body. And look, when you look at the Song of Solomon, these are, this is a husband and a wife before they have children. We need to understand the balance. Obviously, before you have children, it's a little bit easier to stay in pretty good shape. Right? I mean, you have a lot more free time. Once you have children, it's going to be a lot harder, both for the husband and the wife, probably more specifically with the wife, if she has a lot of kids and things like that. We have to understand the balance on things. But it is still something that we should strive to try to stay in decent shape. And look, I'll say this, that when I was in college, I would go to the gym for a couple hours every day to lift weights, to play basketball. And literally, as I played basketball every single night, you know, we would just go and just get this giant thing of pop or Coke, whatever you want to call it, soda, and just down it. Because it's like, well, we just burned like a thousand calories, so it doesn't really matter. I couldn't do that now. You say, why? I could work out for a couple hours a day at the gym. Right? I mean, I did in college, and I could just eat whatever, drink whatever, you know, I'm not going to gain weight, all be in shape because I'm always working out. But obviously, as you get older, you might not have as much time for that. And probably for most of us in 2022, we don't have jobs where we're actively working out like they did during the Bible days. In the Bible days, your jobs are actively working out, which is honestly a good thing because while you're working, you're getting exercise, there's probably no need to go home and do a workout. But for most of us, probably our jobs, we're not really moving that much, especially if you sit behind a computer or something like that. And so bodily exercise is actually a pretty good hobby to have if you're looking at hobbies in 2022. Now, here's the thing. If your schedule is really busy and you just don't have time for it, of course, godliness is more important. Make sure you read your Bible. Make sure you're in church. Make sure you're praying. Make sure you're doing the things that are of primary importance. And look, when you get married and have kids, more important than bodily exercise is spending time with your family, right? So some things might have to suffer or maybe you can't work out as much. But the Bible does teach specifically in this chapter that bodily exercise is actually a good thing. He says about her navel that it wanteth not liquor. And here's the thing. When it comes to eating or drinking things, that's not your exercise. Maybe you don't have time to exercise, however, we can all make choices on the things that we eat. And look, you can have different opinions on diet and things such as that, but there's certain foods that all of us know are unhealthy and all of us know are healthy. Certain things people have different opinions on and they could argue about carbs and stuff like that, but there are certain things, there's just no disputing it, right? Certain foods are just not good for you. And one simple thing we can do, even if we don't have time to work out, is just take care of the things that we're consuming in our life, okay? Song of Solomon 7, verse 3, Thy two breasts are like two young rose that are twins. Thy neck is as a tower of ivory. Thine eyes like the fish pools and heshban by the gate of Bathrabin. Thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon which looketh toward Damascus. Thine head upon thee is like caramel, and the hair of thine head like purple. The king is held in the galleries. Now verse 5 is a pretty interesting verse. That's actually our text verse of the week. It says the hair of thine head like purple. So what's the Bible teaching? Dye your hair. No, I'm just kidding. That's not what it's talking about, okay? Go to Song of Solomon 3. It said like purple. It didn't say your hair is purple. It said like purple. So the question is, well, what does the Bible mean like purple? Well, when we cross reference, I think it's pretty obvious what is being stated here. Song of Solomon 3, verse 9. King Solomon made himself a chariot of the wood of Lebanon. I believe this chariot is, as I talked about during this chapter, is specifically for the wedding that him and his bride probably rode off in the chariot afterwards. But regardless of what you think about this verse, it's a special chariot that the king is making. And notice what it says. He made the pillars thereof of silver. Most chariots probably don't have pillars of silver. That's pretty expensive, right? The bottom thereof of gold. Most people probably don't have chariots made of silver and gold, right? I mean, just think of cars in our modern day. You're not going to make them with all these expensive things. The job is just to create it so it can do its job, okay? But it mentions silver and gold, but then it says the covering of it of purple. Why would the Bible mention purple with silver and gold? Because you have to understand, in our modern day, you can wear any sort of clothing you want, any color that you want. It's not a big deal. It's not expensive to make clothes in 2022. However, in the Bible, the colors that are royalty are like purple and scarlet are colors of royalty. I mean, if you were to look maybe 100 years ago or 150 years ago, probably back then most people were wearing white and black and just more basic colors. And in our modern day, it's not like that. I mean, you opened up your dresser this morning, you had any manner of colors to choose from, right? And so you have to realize, in the Bible, purple is a color of royalty, so it's not a color that you would have unless you have money. Now, what he's stating about his wife's hair is it looks like she's a queen. It looks very nice, is what he's stating. And he's saying, you know, you look like the wife of the king, you know, your hair looks really nice. He's saying it in a symbolic way. So he says, the hair of thine head like purple. Now actually, turn to 1 Timothy 2, 1 Timothy chapter 2, 1 Timothy 2. And look, one thing that's difficult is when you preach sermons, it's also hard in your personal life. You want to strive for balance on the things that the Bible teaches, because you could look at something the Bible says and kind of go overboard, and you've got to realize your life needs to be kind of balanced. The Bible says a false balance is abomination to the Lord, and if you don't have a proper balance on things, you can go too far in one direction. Obviously, godliness is more important than exercise, and godliness is more important than your personal appearance. No question about that. That doesn't mean that bodily exercise or personal appearance mean nothing at all, though. Because what he says about his wife is she looks very nice. Now look, I believe that you should have spent time this morning reading your Bible. But here's the thing. If you have time to read your Bible and to make yourself look presentable, that's actually a good thing. Right? Because sometimes people can go overboard and they say, well, you know what? It's all about spiritual matters, so just let everything else in your life just go downhill because all that matters is you're reading the Bible. Is that really what the Bible teaches? The Bible teaches that we should be modest and not be concerned about the outward or the inward, not be concerned as much about the outward as the inward, but it doesn't teach that it's sinful to make yourself look nice. Right? Notice what it says in 1 Timothy 2, verse 9, 1 Timothy chapter 2, verse 9. It says, And like men are also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, referring to what they're wearing, wearing modest clothing, with same face it is in sobriety, not with broided hair or gold or pearls or costly array, but what's become with women professing godliness with good works. And what the Bible states is that a woman should not be that concerned with the outside as much as the inside. Right? Being a spiritual person. That doesn't say, though, that you have to try to look unattractive because you got to be modest. Right? If a woman is wearing very revealing clothing, like if it's very low or very tight, then you wouldn't call that modest. Right? It's drawing attention to herself. The way that most people dress in 2022, they're not modest as they walk into the stores. Right? The way that they're dressed. Okay? The Bible says you should strive to be modest, but it doesn't say why you shouldn't even look nice. Right? Make sure that you're not drawing attention for your looks, so just try to look as ugly as possible. That's not really what the Bible teaches. Okay? Go to 1 Peter 3, 1 Peter 3. And let me help you understand something from a guy's perspective. Okay? Women think women look more attractive when they're dressed like a lady. When they're dressed in a nice dress, when they're dressed like a lady, that is far more attractive than if a woman is dressing immodestly. Is that not true? I mean, when you think of women at our church, you know, I consider women at our church very beautiful. They're dressed like ladies. They go out preaching the gospel. It's just like, that is very attractive to guys when women dress like a lady. You want women to look like a lady. Men be like a man. Men be like ladies. That's a very attractive thing. Here's the thing about this though. Guys do not really lust after women that are dressed like ladies. They're more attractive when they dress like ladies. But guys are not going to be given to lust to a woman that's dressed like a lady. And look, this is not just from a Christian standpoint. I'm just saying from a worldly standpoint, this is the way men feel. Guys find ladies, women that dress like ladies more attractive, but they're not given to lust. Now if a woman's dressed immodestly, she will not be as attractive as if she's dressed like a lady. But being dressed in that way will actually cause guys to lust, even though she's not as attractive. And here's what I'm stating. You can look nice. You don't have to worry, I don't want guys to lust after me if I'm dressed nice. Guys don't lust after women that are dressed like ladies. They're far more attractive. They're far more beautiful. But guys are not given to lust to women that are dressed like ladies. So look, if you make sure you handle the spiritual things first, you can spend time in the mirror trying to look nice, look presentable, have a nice dress. You're not drawing attention to yourself because you look nice. The Bible's not stating you've got to be as ugly as possible so nobody even looks at you. That's not what the Bible's stating. The Bible's just stating the in word is more important than the out word. It says in 1 Peter 3 verse 1, 1 Peter 3 verse 1, Likewise ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, that if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives. While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. It's saying if you want to impact your husband, let's say your husband is not on fire for the things of God, it's like you can impact him not by the way you physically look, but basically through your attitude, the way you act will actually impact him in a good way. Who's adorning, let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair and of wearing of gold or of putting on of apparel. But let it be the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit which is in the sight of God of great price. And what the Bible's stating here is if a woman wants to basically have an impact on her husband and she can't get his attention, honestly far more important than looking good on the outside is your attitude, how you act. It's important to your husband if, you know, you act kind. I mean, you can be dressed as nice as possible and look as nice as possible, but if you're just rude with all your words, it's not going to cause them to want to be around you. And a bigger impact than how you look is the way you act. But that doesn't change the fact that you can act in a nice way and also try to look nice. It's not stating you have to look bad because it's all about the inward or, you know, the outward actually does matter also. Go to Exodus 28, Exodus 28, Exodus 28. Look, I do believe that women are generally more concerned with how they look than men, and I want you to realize, ladies, you know, it is okay to try to look nice. There's nothing sinful about that. Now, you need to make sure you're reading the Bible. You need to make sure you're living a godly life. Above your outward appearance is your spiritual side. But I'm not going to go overboard and just state, it doesn't matter what you do on the outside. It's just about, did you read the Bible today? No, I mean, actually, the Bible's stating, you know, you can have both. You can serve God, and you can try to look nice. Now, it's definitely true for ladies, but it's also true for guys because notice what the Bible says in Exodus 28, verse 2. And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty. Once again, beauty is a term that goes both for men and women in the Bible. And what the Bible's stating is, the actual clothing that was required for the Levitical priests is actually meant to make them look nice. Okay, go to verse 40. Verse 40. Verse 40. In Exodus 28, verse 40, and for Aaron's sons thou shalt make coats and thou shalt make for them girdles and bondage shalt thou make for them for glory and for beauty. And the Bible says, you know what, this clothing was not just for glory, but it was also for beauty as well. Okay, now go back to Song of Solomon 7. Song of Solomon 7. So whether you're a man or a woman, make sure you do the spiritual side first. But, you know, you should try to look nice, right? You know, and look, honestly, as guys, I don't think we really care about this as much, probably as ladies do. But it's like, and I'm terrible at tying ties. But, you know what, if you mess up your tie, try to fix it, right? Try to make it look as nice as possible. And the outside, you know, it does matter some. And you have to realize whether we're talking about bodily exercise or whether we're talking about clothing, your appearance, the first thing people see is how you look. Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. Now, you can say, well, you know, they shouldn't just look on the outward appearance. But that's what people do. That's what people see. You know, I'm not some sort of doctor. I don't see your heart, right? I see the outward appearance. That's all I see. Okay? And it's like, that's what people see. So look, you want to try to make the outside look as nice as possible in all ways. And, you know, that's what the Bible's teaching. Now, here's what the Bible says in Song of Solomon 7, verse 5. Thine head upon thee is like caramel, and the hair of thine head like purple. And notice this. The king is held in the galleries. The king is held in the galleries. What is the Bible stating? What Solomon's stating is that because his wife looks nice, the king is held up in high esteem in public places. Basically, because his wife looks so nice, it reflects very well upon him. I mean, doesn't it make sense if your boss basically has you on a big important business trip, you got a big meeting with a potential new client, he wants you to dress nice. Right? You know, I've been on business meetings before of my old jobs, and it's just like you make sure you're wearing something pretty nice. I go to business meetings wearing a suit and a tie. You say why? Because it was an important meeting. You're expected to look presentable. And, you know, just by common sense, you know that. You know, your boss doesn't have to tell you, hey, make sure you don't wear shorts and a T-shirt to this business meeting. Common sense tells you, hey, I better make sure I have my suit. And when I went on those trips, I would make sure, you know, I pack it in a way it's not going to get wrinkled. You want to look as nice as possible. You show up to a wedding. How do you show up wearing something nice? Right? You say why? Because it's a big event. You know, it's important to try to look nice. And here's what you need to realize. As a husband, the way you look, the way you take care of your body, it reflects upon your wife. I mean, if you show up to church as a guy and you just always look like a mess, it's going to cause people to have a negative reaction to your wife. Like, you know, why does your husband always do that? Right? And vice versa as well. If, as a woman, you just don't take care of your appearance at all, it reflects poorly upon the husband. Okay? Now, turn to Esther chapter one. Let me show you an example of this. Esther one. Esther one. Esther chapter one. So you say, oh, Brother Stuckey, I don't really care how I look at all. Okay, well, I understand that. But if you're married, you ought to care what people think about your spouse. And the reality is that if you look nice, it reflects well upon your spouse. That's just the way it is, right? And the Bible says in Esther one, verse 10, On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was married with wine, he commanded Mahuman, Bizthah, Harbonah, Bigthah, and Abakthah, Zathar, and Carcass, the seven chamberlains that served in the presence of Ahasuerus the king, to bring Vashti the queen before the king with the crown royal, to show the people and the princes her beauty, for she was fair to look on. Now, I don't believe that he should have done this. I mean, he's drinking alcohol. I believe he does something a bit foolish, but he's not having his wife parade around without any clothes. She's obviously gonna be wearing something that's pretty nice, but he wants people to see her beauty, like, because if people saw Ahasuerus' wife, they would say, man, Ahasuerus is a very lucky guy. She's a very beautiful woman. So he wanted his wife to come because it reflected good upon him if she would come and they saw how beautiful his wife was. As I said, I think it's a foolish thing he's doing in Esther 1, but that's the idea because he understood the concept, if people see, you know, my wife look really nice, it's gonna make me look better. That's just the way it works. Go to Song of Solomon 7. Song of Solomon 7. And the other thing you have to keep in mind is the Bible says that when you get married, obviously two become one, and the Bible says your body is not your own, right? So basically, you know, even if you might not care about your personal appearance or anything of taking care of yourself, you have to realize you're married to someone. And you know what? Obviously, you want your spouse to look nice. You want your spouse to take care of themselves. Well, then you kinda owe that to your spouse as well. I mean, if both husband and wife just say, ah, forget about it, we're just gonna, you know, not take care of ourselves at all, well, then you're both gonna be upset. But if you put in effort, your spouse will put in effort, you know, it's gonna work, you know, together. It's gonna have a direct correlation, okay? Song of Solomon seven, verse six. Song of Solomon seven, verse six. How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love for delights. This thy stature is like to a palm tree and thy breast to clusters of grapes. I said I will go up to the palm tree, I will take hold of the boughs thereof. Now, let me spend a couple minutes talking about this. And in the Bible, when the Bible speaks about nakedness, it describes the part of your body between your waist and your loins to the bottom of your thighs. Basically, your needier waist on both sides is what the Bible would define as nakedness, okay? This part of the body, neither for men or women, would be defined as nakedness. There's no explicit verse that would prove that that I'm aware of, okay? Now, here's the thing. In our modern day, when you think of families having kids most families have just a couple kids, right? Most families don't have a lot of kids. But in the past, if you went back 100 years or 200 years ago, people were having like eight kids. It's pretty common, right? You know, my sister has 10 kids and to people that's really shocking. But that wouldn't have been shocking 100 years ago because people had a lot of kids. In our modern, I mean, people would say, Brother Stuckey, you got three kids, you got a huge family. And it's like, in our modern day, maybe that's considered a huge family. It wouldn't have been in the past. But here's the thing. If people are having a lot of kids, one thing that would be very common is women breastfeeding, right? I mean, it's amazing how God created people because right when a baby's born you don't have to teach them how to eat. Isn't it amazing? They already know for people that have kids it's amazing how they just immediately understand, right? And you know, if people had a lot of children breastfeeding would be a very common thing that people would be doing. You know, you'd see women doing that all the time. Now, I do believe that should be done in modesty because I believe we should always be modest, right? As a guy, whenever I go swimming or I'm in water I wear a dark shirt. I don't go swimming shirtless. This is my personal stand. I would consider that immodest. I believe in being modest, you know? And so I don't believe in showing off this part of my body as a guy personally, okay? And of course the same would be true with ladies. So I believe that ladies should be modest as they breastfeed and that is a very possible thing to do but here's my point. If breastfeeding was a very common thing then people wouldn't have such a strange idea in our modern day of this part of the body. It's a very common thing that you would see all the time even if you don't directly see you obviously know what's happening. In our modern day though it's not like people have a lot of kids. So you don't really see people breastfeeding. And you know, breastfeeding is considered almost like a taboo thing. So even in public, you know, there's never really any women breastfeeding. Although, I mean, it's obviously very healthy and important for a baby that's born. That's the way that God designed it for people, okay? So this part of the body is not really considered nakedness according to the Bible. Now once again, I believe in modesty. I'm not saying I believe women should run around, you know, I don't believe guys should do that. Neither guys or ladies. But when the Bible's speaking about the word breast it shouldn't make you feel uncomfortable. It's a body part. He mentions the other body parts also. It's just kind of in our modern day it's become sort of like a taboo sort of thing, okay? But here's the thing. It mentions the breast in verse seven. And in verse eight it says I said I will go up to the palm tree. I will take hold of the bows thereof. Now, people misunderstand this verse. I think they just don't look up the definition of the word bow. Because when people read that they feel like the Bible's describing something intimate between the husband and the wife. Now, he compared his wife to a palm tree in verse seven. Now once again, be careful about, you know, the analogies you make to your spouses, okay? You're like a palm tree, you're like a goat, right? But he says his wife is like a palm tree, okay? Now, what is a bow? It's a branch. It's a branch of a tree. So here's the thing. If you compare a human to, let's say this is a tree, okay, the branches would represent what part of a human? Well, probably the arms, right? So if you, and I don't believe you have to get this literal, but if you're trying to get super literal, which I don't with this verse, it's just talking about the husband grabbing his wife's arms. It's not talking about something else, okay? Because a bow is actually a branch which would represent the arms of a human if you compare a human to a tree, okay? And so it says, I will take hold of the bows thereof. Now also thy breast shall be as clusters of the vine and the smell of thy nose like apples. Verse number nine. And the roof of thy mouth, like the best wine for my beloved, that goeth down sweetly, causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak. Now, he mentions his wife's mouth being very sweet, and I do believe there's an application of her just taking care of her breath, brushing her teeth, stuff like that. But also, throughout the Song of Solomon, it talks about the words being sweet, right? So he's expressing his wife had a very kind mouth in terms of the things that she said. And I definitely believe in verse nine, it's referencing to the words she says, because notice the end of the verse, causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak. It's like, what is the Bible saying, causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak? Now, my opinion on what this is referring to is because of how she acted and her attitude and the type of person it was, it caused the lips of those that are silent or asleep or not saying anything to speak. And one way you could apply this, and I don't believe this is the only way, just think of this, think of a lady that is very zealous with preaching the gospel and zealous to go soul-wanting. That motivates other people to also want to go soul-wanting. The lips of those that are asleep to speak, right? And the idea is that she's a godly person and it's motivating those that are basically not on fire to serve God to actually do something for God, right? Look, the Bible says nobody liveth to himself. No man liveth to himself. The life you live impacts other people, whether you realize it or not. So you might have this attitude, well, I just come to church and I'm just a member. I don't really impact anyone. That's not true. The life you live impacts other people. And look, if you're very zealous to preach the gospel and to serve God, it's gonna motivate other people. I believe that the words I say behind this pulpit, I believe they're important. I spend time on my sermons. If I thought it didn't matter, then I guess I wouldn't prepare. I'd just get up and say whatever, right? But the words that you actually say impacts other people. And because of his wife's attitude and the type of person she was, it caused the lips of those that were asleep to speak to actually get on fire for God and do something for God. And look, that should be an encouraging verse to all of us because I think some people have this idea, well, I'm not the pastor of the church. I don't preach the sermon, so I can't really impact anybody. That's not true. Every single person in this room, you can impact people in a positive or a negative way. So maybe some ladies are like, man, the Bible says you can't be a pastor. It's not fair, right? It's like, look, anybody in this room, whether you're a man or a woman, can impact other people. You can motivate other people. And here's the thing. It's not even a matter of being the godliest person. Someone who maybe is newer at serving God, they can actually motivate people that have been serving God a long time. I mean, whenever you have men's preaching nights and people get up to preach, honestly, here's the truth. The sermons that encourage people the most are the ones preached by people that you can tell are very, very uncomfortable preaching. Right, whenever I've seen at men's preaching nights, when you see somebody who's preaching for the first time, it really encourages you because you know that they stepped out of their basically comfort zone. And you're like, wow, that really impacts you because you think if they can step out of their comfort zone, I can also get out on the water a little bit and step out of my comfort zone in some areas as well. And when you see people that are serving God that are kind of newer at it, oftentimes it's very motivating, right? If we have a kid at our church that's preaching the gospel to people, that's gonna motivate all of us. If some seven-year-old or eight-year-old or nine-year-old is memorizing verses and learning the Bible and trying to preach the gospel, that would motivate me. I'd be like, man, look at this kid. Look at how motivated they are to do something for God. So look, you have to realize the way you live your life impacts people, whether you're preaching sermons or whether you're a member. You impact people by the way you lived your life. The indication from this book is Solomon's wife is a very godly person, okay? Verse number 10, I am my beloved's and his desire is toward me. Now, this kind of verse is mentioned many times in the Song of Solomon, where it's like I am my beloved's and my beloved's is mine, but this one's worded a little bit differently. I am my beloved's and his desire is toward me. Now, of course, part of the meaning would be I am my beloved's and you're like, he's not interested in anybody else, but only in me. The idea of not being interested romantically in anybody else. But it doesn't just say that because it says his desire is toward me. So the idea is, you know what? I belong to Solomon and he desires me. He doesn't desire sports above me. He doesn't desire games above me. He doesn't desire his personal things above me. He actually desires me. He wants to be around me. He loves me. He cares about me, right? And if we're being honest, when it comes to marriage, oftentimes you could say about someone, well, you know what? His desire is elsewhere, right? His interests are elsewhere. Look, if you never spend any time with your family, but you spend a lot of time on YouTube, listening to sermons even, which is a good thing, where's your desire? Well, it's not toward your family, right? I mean, what you spend your time doing will be a proof of what you're actually interested in. You do the things that you enjoy, right? I mean, if you have free time, the stuff that you partake in are the things you desire, the things that you care about. And when it comes to marriage, it's just like when you get married, your desire needs to be toward your spouse. You need to want to spend time with them. And look, I'm not saying it's wrong to have hobbies. I have hobbies. I like hobbies. But look, if your desire is toward something else above your spouse, you've got a wrong balance on things. Your desire ought to be toward your spouse. And what she says about her husband is, I belong to Solomon, and he desires me. He cares about me. He loves me. He wants to spend time with me. Song of Solomon 7, verse 11. Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field. Let us lodge in the villages. Let us get up early to the vineyards. Now, it's interesting where it says here in verse 12, let us get up early to the vineyards. The idea would be early in the morning, waking up early and going out and doing something. And you know what? The way I think of this verse, when it was 2014 and I visited the Philippines in Pampanga, I remember being very impressed because we went to Astro Park at maybe six in the morning. And I was shocked because it was filled full of people. I was thinking it's six in the morning during the week, like what are people doing here? And what they were doing is spending time as a family before they went to their jobs, just early in the morning, spending time with their family. And you know, other people were there working out or doing whatever, I saw families just spending time together. And basically instead of waiting till late at night, they were just doing it early in the morning. And it impressed me because honestly, you never see that in the US, where I'm from. You never see people early in the morning going out and doing something. And honestly, one of the big desires I had for even moving here was because of that. It wasn't just because I saw how zealous it was for soul winning. But I just thought to myself, you know what, that's the sort of husband and father I wanna be. Where basically I'm spending time with my family, putting that as a very important thing in my life. And that's something that I saw when I visited in 2014. That's what you're seeing Solomon and his wife doing. Let us get up early to the vineyards. You say, Brother Stuckey, I know I need to spend time with my spouse, but I get home from work and I'm so tired. And I just wanna rest and relax. Well, why not get up early and do something together? Instead of six at night, why not six in the morning? Right, and look, if you have no problem spending time with your spouse later at night, then I'm not saying you have to change that. But what I'm saying is, if you're having struggles with having the time and energy to spend time at night, why not just do it earlier? Why not just do it early in the morning and just say, hey, we're gonna spend time together? Now look, that could be something as simple as just stating we're both gonna read the Bible together at the kitchen table for 30 minutes before I head off to work. Something small like that. Doesn't have to be that complicated, but what it's stating is early in the morning, husband and wife are actually spending time together. Okay, now look, obviously when it comes to chapters like this and books like this, all this stuff is very easy to preach. It's always easy to preach. It's harder to actually apply this stuff because I get it. You're tired, you wanna rest, you wanna relax, and especially, you know what, Solomon and his wife, they haven't had kids yet. So it's like, let's see how accurate they are at doing all this once they have kids. It's harder. Everyone who has kids knows your schedule's different. You might plan early in the morning, but then you don't sleep because of one of the babies or whatever, right? I mean, that happens. But you don't wanna just get this mentality just because it's harder to do that you're just gonna give up and just say, well, it's just not worth it. We'll just wait 20 years from now once our kids are out of the home. It's like, I don't think that's a very smart idea. Let us get up early to the vineyards. Let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth. There will I give thee my loves. Verse 13, the mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, oh, my beloved. They literally had a vineyard that they actually worked on together. And what it said in verse 13 is at our gates, and the indication is that this is something that they jointly did actually together, okay? And one bit of wisdom that you can have is there's nothing wrong with having different hobbies from your spouse. Obviously, men and women are very different, so naturally, you probably gravitate towards different things. But kinda wisdom you could learn from this is having something that you share together, something that you, as husband and wife, do together. You're not sharing with other people, but just the two of you, you have this special hobby or bond, and you see that in the Song of Solomon. They have a vineyard, and they go out together at our gates. They're looking at the results of the work they're doing. It's something that they share together in common. And so, look, for those of you who are hearing these sermons, all this stuff on marriage, you say, Brother Stuckey, man, this is, all this stuff is tough. It's not easy. There's only one more chapter, okay? One more chapter will be done with the Song of Solomon, and we'll have a 20-part series. I hate the homos or whatever, I don't know, right? But I will say this. Chapter eight's my favorite chapter in Song of Solomon. I believe it's the best. It's very interesting. So don't just tune out Song of Solomon. One more chapter, but it's a great chapter. Let's close in a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and getting to see your word on this topic and this wisdom on marriage, and ask you to help us to apply this, including myself and my wife. Help us all to strive to have strong marriages and strong bonds and together jointly serve you, God. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Amen.