Song of Solomon 6:10–8:4: “The Importance of Intimacy”

Teachings
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    Let’s take our Bibles together and turn to Song of Solomon. We are continuing our verse-by-verse study of this book in our series. And we are nearing the end of this “greatest song in the history of songwriting,” written by a great songwriter, Solomon. 


    And speaking of great song writers, let me relay the following lyrics to you, and you try to guess the lyrics that follow. This song is about 50 years old.


    Your beauty is beyond compare

    With flaming locks of auburn hair

    With ivory skin and eyes of emerald green

    Your smile is like a breath of spring

    Your voice is soft like summer rain

    And I cannot compete with you… Jolene


    Now that song, unlike what we’re looking at this morning doesn’t celebrate the goodness of monogamy. It’s a lament! It bemoans sadly the lack of fidelity and commitment in a sexual relationship. It involves one woman begging another woman to stay away from her man.


    Now, interestingly there are other women involved in the Song of Solomon. There’s the Shulamite. There’s her husband. There’s Solomon as author and foil. And then there are the virgin daughters of Jerusalem. But they aren’t trying to steal her man. They aren’t really trying to do anything nefarious in the book. They are instead a kind of dialogue partner for the Shulamite. 


    But in our passage today, they do make their most invasive and divisive comment to the Shulamite. We will see that in the text just before the Shulamite’s husband makes an extensive statement about his wife’s beauty.


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    But let’s start in 6:10. And let’s start with the first scene. In the first scene of our passage, we observe…

        1. The Shulamite’s internal battle for identity (6:10–13)


    Here’s what I mean by that. Look with me at chapter 6. When we last looked at this chapter, the husband was admiring his wife from 6:4–9. And that ended with verse 9 when he said, 

    My dove, my perfect one, is the only one, the only one of her mother, pure to her who bore her. The young women saw her and called her blessed; the queens and concubines also, and they praised her.


    Now there’s some debate with what comes next. The ESV thinks that the man is still speaking in verse 10. That’s possible. I actually think the virgin daughters of Jerusalem are speaking in verse 10. They were invoked in verse 9 (“The young women saw her and called her blessed”), and now they start speaking. 


    Either way, the person being described is the Shulamite. And here’s what is said about her. 

        • 10 “Who is this who looks down like the dawn, beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun, awesome as an army with banners?”


    This is the Hebrew equivalent to Shakespeare’s,

    But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?

    It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.


    But this isn’t Juliet in verse 10. It’s the Shulamite. And she is beautiful. And she is sunshiny. And she is terrifying—she is “awesome as an army with banners.”


    If this is the chorus of the virgin daughters, then they are affirming what the man said already about the Shulamite—she is awesome and terrifying (Song 6:4). She is beautiful and lovely. She is a sight to behold!


    And the speaker shifts in verse 11. Now the Shulamite speaks. And she doesn’t say, “You’re right, I am beautiful. You’re right, I am awesome like an army with banners.” 


    And she doesn’t say, 

    O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?


    She says, 

        • 11 I went down to the nut orchard [or “the garden of the walnut tree”] to look at the blossoms of the valley,


    Here’s a picture of a walnut tree or the Latin Juglans regia. 


    Walnut Tree 

    Latin: Juglans regia

    Hebrew: אֱגוֹז (ʾĕgôz)


    This may indicate a single tree that is surrounded by a garden, or it may be a kind of orchard with various walnut trees inside it along with garden fruits and vegetables. Either way, there is a Garden of Eden allusion in this statement. Eve is going to find her Adam, so to speak, in the garden.  

        • 11 I went down to [the garden of the walnut tree] to look at the blossoms of the valley, to see whether the vines had budded, whether the pomegranates were in bloom.


    That right there is a cryptic reference to more than just her sexuality... that’s a reference to her fertility. She’s exploring the possibility for rekindling her love for her mate. But she’s also conscientious about the creation mandate. She wants to reproduce like the flowers and the plants of the field reproduce.


    Look at verse 12. 

        • 12 Before I was aware, my desire set me among the chariots of my kinsman, a prince.


    In other words, her prince comes calling. But this is not King Solomon. Heavens, no! This is her husband. And this is not the cold, dark, scary room that was locked to him previously in her dream. No, this is an open field, a garden of fertility. She’s desirous of him here. And he’s desirous of her.  


    And here’s where the battle of her mind gets interesting. Look at verse 13. Look at the statement of the chorus.

        • 13 Return, return, O Shulammite, return, return, that we may look upon you.


    In other words, “Don’t go, Shulamite friend. Stay with us. Be single again, if just for a day. Be like you were when we were all virgin daughters of Jerusalem.”


    It’s an interesting request. In fact, the words “return, return” are in the imperative mood in Hebrew. She’s been giving them oaths and demands the entire book. Now they give her a demand. “Stay with us! Be one of us! You seem unsure of yourself! Come back to the single life. It’s better here. You don’t have to be beholden to some foreign man who doesn’t understand you. Men are from Mars; Women are from Venus. Stay with us!” 


    And I think that the Shulamite is honestly conflicted. She’s had a wild back and forth with the daughters of Jerusalem for the last two chapters. She had a bad dream. She had miscommunication with her husband. She had these neurotic feelings of abandonment and misunderstanding. She had to remind herself why she loved her husband, her friend, her lover. 


    So if she’s on the fence, then the virgin daughters of Jerusalem make their feelings known: “Come back to us if this is too difficult for you. Maybe marriage isn’t for everybody.”


    Now, look who intervenes in the middle of verse 13. Throughout this entire book, the Shulamite has talked to the virgin daughters of Jerusalem. And they have talked with her. But they haven’t talked to the husband. And the husband hasn’t talked to them. He’s talked only to his wife, the Shulamite.  


    But here he speaks to them for the first time. And he says, 

        • Why should you look upon the Shulammite, as upon a dance before two armies?


    In other words, he stops them in their tracks. He responds on behalf of his wife. “Why should she go back to you? She doesn’t belong to you anymore! And why are you looking upon her and me as if we are two armies battling one another. We’re different, yeah. But we’re not enemies. We’re friends. And we’re lovers. And we belong to each other in holy matrimony.”


    In fact the word Shulamite is derived from the word for “peace.” There’s no city in Israel called “Shulam.” She’s not from Shulam. Her name is derived from the Hebrew שָׁלוֹם (šalom) for peace. Her name is probably also derived from Solomon. She is the embodiment of wisdom and peace that Solomon should have had. But he didn’t. Hence this is his mea culpa describing a better way. And he describes it through the medium of a woman, a Shulamite, who chooses a better way. 


    And so when the husband says, 

        • Why should you look upon the Shulammite,


    This is him essentially saying nicely to the virgin daughters of Jerusalem, “Beat it! She’s with me! Why should you look on her?” This is him saying to them, “I liked it, and I put a ring on it. Yeah, maybe we’ve got conflict. Yeah, maybe she’s awesome like an army. Yeah, she’s formidable and a little bit terrifying. But we are not at war with one another. We’re at peace. And we are one in marriage.”


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    And notice next what he says to his wife. He doesn’t say, “Come with me! You belong to me!” Neither does he give her a 1 Corinthians 7 argument about conjugal rights. Look what he says. Men in the room, take note. 


    And let me just remind you, she expressed her desire for intimacy already. She went down to the garden of the walnut tree to see if “the vines had budded” and “the pomegranates were in bloom.” That is about as suggestive a euphemism as Solomon can muster up. She’s desirous of her husband. 


    So he doesn’t need to come on too strong here. He just needs to add to her incentive. And here’s what he’s going to do. He’s going to espouse his commitment to her and his desire for intimacy. 


    Write this down as #2 in your notes. We saw previously the Shulamite’s internal battle for identity. How there is... 

        • 2) Desire for intimacy asserted (7:1–9a)


    And this is asserted by the husband, just so we’re clear. Look at 7:1. 

        • 1 How beautiful are your feet in sandals, O noble daughter!  


    Now let me point out a few things here. This poem is a conversation between a man and his wife. And their love for each other will be re-consummated in a few verses. But it’s not their honeymoon. Okay. 


    So what time of life is this describing right here? Well, I’ll say somewhere between their honeymoon and the grave! What follows here is a picture... this is an ideal of what sex in marriage should look like… between the honeymoon and the grave. Johnny Cash was wrong when he sang, “We got married in a fever, hotter than a pepper sprout. We’ve been talking bout Jackson ever since then the fire went out.” It doesn’t have to go out. It shouldn’t go out! Don’t let it go out! 


    And secondly, men, notice this. Notice the man is talking in verse 1. And he talks about his wife for six verses, and he doesn’t lay a hand on her. He doesn’t explicitly express his desire for sex until about verse 6. He just compliments his wife from her feet all the way to her head. Take a note, men in the room. You start with talk. 


    By the way, in terms of genre, this is what’s referred to in the ancient world as a wasf. It was an elaborate description of a woman from the top of her head down to her feet, which he’s done before in chapters 4 and 6. But now he reverses direction. Now he goes from her feet to the top of her head.


    And let’s see what he says,

        • 1 How beautiful are your feet in sandals, O noble daughter!


    “Even your feet are beautiful! You are royalty to me.”

        • Your rounded thighs are like jewels,  


    That’s not the kind of thing you say on a first date. You don’t comment on a woman’s thighs until you put a ring on that finger.  


    By the way, “roundness” was more of a virtue in Hebrew culture than it is in our American culture. I heard a pastor say once about this verse that most of us men should avoid the adjective “rounded” altogether when we’re talking about our wives. That’s wise advice. 


    Probably a better translation here is “curved.”  

    Your [curved] thighs are like jewels, the work of a master hand.


    Did you catch that reference to God right there? The master worker! Some people have assumed that Song of Solomon has no references to God in it. That’s not true as we’ll find out next week in chapter 8. 


    But even here in chapter 7, there’s an oblique reference to God. Who’s the “master” in verse 1? Who made the woman into a masterpiece? 


    Here’s a great thing to say to your wife, husbands. You can say, “God has made you beautiful. You are the work of a master hand.” And that’s true. She’s a masterpiece.


    People say all the time that man is God’s last and best creation. But technically, that’s not true. In Genesis 2, God made the woman after the man. So woman, not man, is God’s last and best creation. 


    Look at verse 2. 

        • 2 Your navel is a rounded bowl that never lacks mixed wine. Your belly is a heap of wheat, encircled with lilies. 


    Now let me help you with verse 2. Men, you can get in a lot of trouble with this verse if you recite it to your wife. The husband is speaking in metaphor here. A “heap of wheat” is a good thing. It intimates a good harvest. And what he’s saying to his wife is “Your character is pronounced, and you are a delight to me. My life has been inordinately blessed by you.” 


    There might be allusions to fertility here too, just like we saw earlier in the garden of the walnut tree. A heap of wheat and a bulging belly both indicate the same thing—fruitfulness. 


    Look at verse 3.

        • 3 Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle.


    In other words, “you are tender and gracious. And I will treat you graciously and tenderly.” These are not the words of a groper. These are the tender words of a lover.

        • 4 Your neck is like an ivory tower.


    There were no ivory towers in Israel. Ivory was too expensive to be used that way. So this fanciful description of his wife speaks of her exquisite beauty and her class and her dignity.  


    And also, an ivory towered neck speaks of the strength and the formidableness of her femininity. The neck protects the rest of the body. Nobody gets past the fort of her neck, visually or physically unless invited. The tower protects the kingdom, and only friends are allowed in.


    Look at the middle of verse 4. And by the way, the man describes five parts of her body below her neck (feet, thighs, navel, belly, breasts). And then he describes five parts of her body from her neck upward (neck, eyes, nose, head, and hair), adding up to a perfect ten. To him, she’s a perfect ten!

        • Your eyes are pools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bath-rabbim.


    Notice he’s worked himself right up her body from her feet all the way to her eyes now. And he says your eyes are pools in Heshbon by the gate of Bath-rabbim. The pools of Heshbon were a place of rest and relaxation in Israel. This man finds peace and rest and serenity in the eyes of his wife. 


    For me there is no more precious moment than to come home and to fix my gaze upon the eyes of my wife. My wife communicates kindness and tenderness and love simply with her eyes. 


    Now she can express anger with those eyes too! She is formidable. But more often than not her eyes are a place of peace. She’s my Shulamite. She’s my place of peace!


    Look at the end of verse 4. 

        • Your nose is like a tower of Lebanon, which looks toward Damascus.


    There’s that tower language again. Let me help you with this one too. 

    In Israel the tower of Lebanon was focused on Damascus because enemies would always invade from the north, from Damascus. They typically wouldn’t come from the west, because that was the direction of the sea (the Mediterranean Sea). They typically wouldn’t come from the south, because the desert is southward. They’d come from the north and from the east. They’d come by way of Damascus—the Arameans, the Assyrians, the Babylonians. 


    So what he’s saying here is, “You as a wife bring security into our marriage. You are a faithful bride. All the enemies are kept out. But I’m allowed in.”


    Have you told your wife something like that, men? Have you praised her and extolled her for her faithfulness to you? You should! You are a tower!


    Look at verse 5.

        • 5 Your head crowns you like Carmel, and your flowing locks are like purple;


    Here’s a picture of Mount Carmel in northern Israel. 


    Mount Carmel

    Hebrew: הַר הַכַּרְמֶל 


    Carmel is actually a mountain range just south of modern day Haifa. And you can see the purplish hue of the mountains at sunset in this picture. It’s a kind of Hebrew purple-mountain majesty! And the head of the woman is crowned like Carmel. Her dark hair has a purplish hue, possibly due to sunlight.


    And…

        • a king is held captive in the tresses [i.e., her long, unbound locks of hair].


    Please don’t read that as King Solomon. Yeah, maybe King Solomon would be held captive by her tresses. But she doesn’t belong to King Solomon. She belongs to her husband. And he is her one and only. He’s the king, and she’s the queen.  


    Look at verse 6.

        • 6 How beautiful and pleasant you are, O loved one, with all your delights!


    Remember what I said last week, men? Men are like microwaves; women are like crockpots. The best way to have a great 9:30pm at night is to start about 5:30pm. Help her with the dishes. Help her put the kids down. Send some signals her direction. And here’s some counsel from the Song of Solomon, you slowly work yourself up to intimacy with words of affirmation and words of admiration. 


    A lot of men will try to treat sex in marriage like masturbation. “Let me just try to instantaneously gratify myself.” It doesn’t work like that. And Hollywood has so perverted this ideal that many of the ideas of sex and marriage that are portrayed in movies are just as farfetched and fictional as the craziest science-fiction movies that come out. 

        

    In many ways it’s the simple difference between love and lust. Marriage is not an outlet for your lust. Instead here’s your ideal, Christian. Here’s what God has to say about this. In Song of Solomon, we have a man who is speaking tenderly to his wife. And he is anticipating the benefits of self-sacrificial sex inside of the marriage.


    Now after six verses of thoughtfully extolling his wife and her virtues, in verse 7, the man hints at his desire for sexual intimacy.

        • 7 Your stature is like a palm tree, and your breasts are like its clusters. 8 I say I will climb the palm tree and lay hold of its fruit. Oh may your breasts be like clusters of the vine, and the scent of your breath like apples,


    You might say, “That’s pretty racy, Pastor Tony.” You don’t even know how racy that is. That man is saying essentially, “I want to climb on top of and inseminate my wife.” There’s no allegorizing that away from its original context. Please don’t try to allegorize that. You’ll end up in a weird place.


    You know through this book I’ve talked about euphemism and how some of the particulars concerning sex are protected and guided by euphemistic language. But here’s a place where the euphemism is thinly veiled. 


    What’s he talking about in verses 7 and 8? What could he possibly mean by this? Okay, well, if I need to explain it to you, you probably aren’t ready to get married. 


    But I will say this—this is not presented negatively in the slightest. This is wholly positive and holy positive from start to finish. This is God-glorifying sex in the context of marriage. It’s not prude; it’s not crude. But this is in the Bible. And it’s a good thing. A man desirous of his wife and sexual intimacy that is exclusive between them is a good thing. This is commitment, and desire for intimacy,  asserted by the husband. 


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    Now watch what happens in verse 9. The wife is finally going to speak. The husband says in verse 8: 

        • your breath [is] like apples


    Then he says in verse 9, 

        • 9 and your mouth like the best wine.


    But then, she interrupts him in mid-sentence. Sometimes that happens in marriage. I don’t think this man minds being interrupted. 


    She says, 

        • It goes down smoothly for my beloved, gliding over lips and teeth.


    She describes herself like a smooth and crisp glass of wine to her husband. She’s described his lovemaking like wine before (1:2, 4; see also 4:10). Here she does it again. Probably she’s referring more specifically to his kisses at this point. She says, “I taste like wine to him.” 


    And then she says in verse 10. 

        • 10 I am my beloved’s, and his desire is for me.


    There’s that vow again! There’s that affirmation of exclusivity in the marriage relationship. And notice the particular way that she frames it here. “I am my beloved’s.” She’s said that before, and she says it here almost as a way of offering herself to him, because, in a sense, she belongs to him. She doesn’t see that as a negative thing. 


    And also, she says, “his desire is for me!” Is it a good thing for a husband to desire his wife? Does this wife see it as a good thing that her husband desires her? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. She enjoys her husband and she relishes in their intimacy. But she also enjoys her husband relishing in her. 


    Write this down as #3 in your notes. In this previous scene we saw the husband’s desire for intimacy asserted. Now we see the wife’s...

        • 3) Desire for intimacy reciprocated (7:9b–8:3) 


    Look at verse 11.

    11 Come, my beloved, let us go out into the fields and lodge in the villages;


    “Did you know it’s OK to spend the night in a hotel even after you’re married? It’s OK. Hotels aren’t just for your honeymoon.” You can get away. And not just to go to some function involving your kids. Get away and enjoy yourself. 

        • 12 let us go out early to the vineyards and see whether the vines have budded, whether the grape blossoms have opened and the pomegranates are in bloom. There I will give you my love.


    This wife says essentially, “Let’s go rediscover our love again. Let’s reenact our wedding night.” This woman is in no way falsely prudish or Victorian in the way that she interacts with her husband. She is passionate and she wants this man. She wants to delight herself with this man.


    Years ago, when the sun never set on the British Empire, they used to tell young brides on their wedding night in England, “just lie back and think of Mother England.” In other words, “Endure it... Endure sex for the empire... so that we can have more babies to populate the empire.”


    Now I’m all for fulfilling the creation mandate. But that is not a healthy approach to sexuality in marriage. And notice, that’s not this woman’s approach. She’s not just “enduring it” for the sake of the marriage. She’s engaged. She’s responsive. 


    Look at verse 13.  

        • 13 The mandrakes give forth fragrance,


    Mandrakes are vegetables with roots that are shaped like the body of a man. And mandrakes were thought to have aphrodisiacal powers in the Hebrew world. That’s why Rachel and Leah were fighting over mandrakes and the right to sleep with their husband in Genesis 30:14–16. That was a dysfunctional situation altogether. But that’s not the case in Song of Solomon 7. 

        • 13 The mandrakes give forth fragrance, and beside our doors are all choice fruits, new as well as old, which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.


    You might ask, “What does that mean? New as well as old?” It means exactly what you think it means. It means that this wife has ways in which she can please her man that only she knows. Sexual intimacy is an exclusive thing, right? There are old ways that she knows, that she has learned over time. But she’s got a few new tricks up her sleeve as well. She’s committed to being a creative, innovative, responsive lover to her husband. 


    Look at chapter 8, verse 1.

        • Oh that you were like a brother to me who nursed at my mother’s breasts! If I found you outside, I would kiss you, and none would despise me.


    Now let me just explain that last verse because that might sound to some of you like a creepy rendition of Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia. Why would she compare her husband to her brother and want to kiss him? 


    What she’s saying here is that she wishes she could display her affection for her husband in public, but she can’t. She can’t because in Jewish culture “public displays of affection” were frowned upon. Those were the actions of a prostitute not a married couple.


    Even today if you go to Israel, if you try to hold your wife’s hand in certain places, you’ve got to be careful, because one of the Hasidic Jews might come along and thump you on the head. You don’t do that in that culture. 


    But if a young woman kissed her brother, no big deal. You can be affectionate in that case. You can be flamboyant even in your display of affection. This woman wants to be affectionate like that with her husband in public. 


    Look at verse 2.

        • 2 I would lead you and bring you into the house of my mother— she who used to teach me. I would give you spiced wine to drink, the juice of my pomegranate.


    Wow! What does “juice of my pomegranate” mean? It means what you think it means. It means that she wants to enjoy the delight of sexual intimacy with her husband. As she should. As is her right as a wife. She’s not doing anything wrong or sinful, and neither is he. And let me just tell you that there is something so sweet and good about guilt-free, God-honoring sex in marriage. 


    I think a lot of people in our day try to assuage their guilt concerning sex by justifying their actions. Or they use angry defensiveness. Or they try to militantly suppress cultural mores. It doesn’t have to be that way. You don’t have to try to merge sex and guilt and the justifying of sin. That’s like a hamster on a wheel!


    There is guilt-free, God-honoring sex. But it is only found heterosexually... it is only found monogamously... it is only found covenantally in the context of marriage. 


    And by the way, I think there is the suggestion in verse 2 that the mother taught her daughter the birds and the bees. And that’s the way it should be. Parents should convey the truths about love, sex, and marriage to their children. Why do we think the government should do that? 


    Why do we think their elementary school teachers should do that? That’s preposterous! Nobody should teach children these things except their parents, with the possible exception of extended family (when that’s necessary) and the church family.


    And listen parents, use wisdom in how you do that. You do that in age-appropriate ways all throughout their childhood. The cloak of euphemism gets removed in time as they get older and you get more specific. Do your job, parents! Others can help. The church can help. But this is on you. 


    Look at verse 3.

        • 3 His left hand is under my head, and his right hand embraces me!


    That’s the position of passion right there. That’s the position of lovemaking. These two are now enjoying the beauty and the serenity of human sexuality as God intended it. 


    Miles Van Pelt gives the following summary of this book and he talks about this. He says, “The Song of Songs teaches us that the covenant of marriage, as created and instituted by God in Genesis chapter 2, was originally designed to be rock-solid in terms of commitment and white-hot in terms of intimacy, and that marriages that work to maintain rock-solid commitment and white-hot intimacy can better navigate the ravages of sin in a post-Genesis 3 world and so better endure hardship, resist temptation, and promote wholeness.”


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    That’s reinforced by verse 3. 

    3 His left hand is under my head, and his right hand embraces me!


    That’s the “white-hot” side of that equation. But look at verse 4. Here’s the “rock-solid” side of that equation. 

        • 4 I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases.


    Write this down as a final point.

        • 4) The Shulamite’s external plea for purity (8:4)


    This is the concluding refrain of this passage. This is the last thing she says after describing all this passionate desire for her husband and after enjoying the goodness of sex in the context of marriage. 

        • 4 I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases.


    Let me paraphrase it for you. Don’t have sex outside of marriage. Don’t awaken love until it’s the proper time. Because the way that God has created sex is beautiful in its proper place. The way that God has ordained sex is wonderful in its proper place. 


    The Shulamite is saying, “I have enjoyed the wonder of sexuality as God intended it and I want you to experience that too!” Sexual intimacy is a divine gift. It’s a good gift. It’s intended for pleasure. It’s the responsible thing in marriage. And it’s an exclusive thing between two people. So don’t misuse it. Make sure you enjoy it in its proper context.


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    And speaking of misuse, there is a place in the NT where the goodness of monogamous marriage was misused badly. There was a woman who Jesus encountered in John 4 who exchanged husbands again and again like air filters on an air conditioning system. She was married five times, and the man she was currently living with wasn’t even her husband. Scandalous! The fact that Jesus was even deigning to talk with her was scandalous. 


    And the truth of the matter was that she probably never read the Song of Solomon, because in her religious tradition, only the Pentateuch was considered Scripture. All the other books of the OT were part of the Jewish Canon, but not the Samaritan Canon. 


    And yet, despite her failures, and despite the weakness of her religious tradition, Jesus came to her, this Samaritan woman. He spoke with her. He challenged her. He convicted her. And he offered her grace. 


    It’s a really memorable moment in the Gospel of John, because she became one of the earliest believers in Jesus. And she became one of the first, if not the first, non-Jewish evangelist for Jesus. What a privilege! Once she got ahold of that living water and the grace that covers over sin, she couldn’t help but tell other people about it. 


    And that’s the thing that we’ve got to remember about sex and the gospel. God gives us the  paradigm... God gives us the playbook for God-honoring love, sex, and marriage. But a large majority of believers in the NT fall short of that standard. They fail. 


    It seems to me... let me just give you some quick math... it seems to me that at least 50% of believers have fallen short of God’s standard for sexual purity. And they are sinners. And the other 50%, who don’t fall into that sin, are usually guilty of pride. They Pharisaically look down on those who have sinned in that area. 


    And even if there is some pious soul out there who is guiltless in the area of sexual sin and is prideless in his or her interaction with those who have sinned sexually... I’ve met a few people like that... those people would be the first to tell you that they are not faultless before the holy God of the Universe. 


    And that’s why we need grace. And that’s why we need the cross. And that’s why we need a Savior to save us from our sin, sexual or otherwise. 


    And wouldn’t you know it, we have a Savior. The Samaritan woman at the well believed in him. And you can too. 


    Look, sexual intimacy is good. I hope I’ve made a strong case for that today. Guiltless, God-glorifying sex is fantastic. But God’s grace is better. Salvation from sin is better.  

Tony Caffey Senior Pastor

Tony Caffey

Lead Pastor

Messiah Bible Church

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Song of Solomon 5:2-6:9 examines marital conflict, deep desire, and true commitment.
By Kyle Mounts • October 19, 2026
Song of Solomon 5:2-6:9 examines marital conflict, deep desire, and true commitment. Learn how the Shulamite and her beloved resolve anxiety through romance.
Song of Solomon 3:6-5:1: Discover the beauty of exclusive, godly intimacy in marriage!
By Kyle Mounts • October 11, 2026
Song of Solomon 3:6-5:1: Why should we choose a shepherd’s covenant love over Solomon’s royal harem? Discover the beauty of exclusive, godly intimacy in marriage!
Song of Solomon 2:8-3:5: Explore the power of longing, desire, and delayed gratification.
By Kyle Mounts • October 5, 2026
Song of Solomon 2:8-3:5: Explore the power of longing, desire, and delayed gratification. Learn how waiting for the marital covenant strengthens true love!
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