“Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon.” Song of Solomon 1:7

Sheep are hungry!

And their welfare (more than that, their very lives) depend on the type of shepherd they have! (Great shepherds have healthy sheep, hirelings have scabby, half-starved flocks.)

And that’s the true-to-life analogy (word picture) Solomon (really the Holy Spirit) has drawn for us in today’s Bible Text.

Except here, Song of Solomon 1:7, the little lamb who can speak … is “in love” with his or her shepherd. “Thou whom my soul loveth.”

Oh, I need to mention that in the Context of our Verse … other pastures seem to be available! “Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?” But those feeding grounds are not sufficient for this little ewe, this little lamb!

He wants to eat in a specific pasture!

All of which is a parable!

THE LORD is our Shepherd! (Psalm 23)

And really, He feeds well! (“Green Pastures!”)

And all those of us who know Him, love Him … are consequently “hungry” for His Care, His Nourishment, His Protection!

Go over the words, the two questions of our Text again now. And turn them into a prayer. “Tell me, O Thou whom my soul loveth, where Thou feedest, where Thou makest Thy flock to rest at noon.”

Then put legs on your prayers … and go to Church Sunday! Go where your Good Shepherd Jesus (through His Word) and through the ministry of His undershepherd (your Pastor) will “feed” you well!

Do NOT attend the wrong flock!

That could be deadly.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another.” Hebrews 10:25

True at all times for the Christian, but especially … “and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” The last few words of Hebrews 10:25, the “day” of trouble, I suspect is meant here.

And America, God’s people in this land … “trouble” is on the way! “So much the more” … get in a good pasture and faithfully feed there!

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Let me try to answer this question. I ask it because of a Line of divinely inspired Scripture, in fact.

Romans 8:12 … “Therefore, brethren, WE ARE DEBTORS, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.”

I have no intention to discuss the negative answer Paul gives to the query. “Not to the flesh!”

But still … surely … by grammatical rules alone, our Verse adamantly declares (plainly) … “We are debtors!”

And without doubt everyone must agree that Romans 8 (the Chapter where our question of the day is found) is expressly written to Christians! “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are IN CHRIST JESUS, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” The chapter’s opening Salvo! Did you notice the Phrase “in Christ Jesus?”

Sort of like this: “Therefore if any man be IN CHRIST, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17

We Christians then are “debtors!”

Period.

But to Whom?

I say to God the Father! But NOT in the sense of repaying His Grace, His eternal salvation! You can’t do that when a Gift is involved! (If you try to earn it, no longer is it a gift, but a wage!)

But … follow me closely now … we do owe Him a debt of gratitude! Of honor and respect and adoration and love!

I say we are eternally indebted to the Lord Jesus Christ … “Who loved me and gave Himself for me” on Calvary! Here alluding to Galatians 2:20, its last Clause.

I certainly owe Him obedience! His Words, John 14:15 … “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”

And goodness … do I owe the Holy Spirit, God the Third Person we sometimes call Him. Oh, how He has changed me, conformed me, inhabited me, encouraged me, cautioned me, just the beginning of a long list. I owe Him my life of cooperation … being careful not to “grieve” Him or “quench” Him day by day. Here having Ephesians 4:30 and 1 Thessalonians 5:19 in mind.

In fact, I think I even owe my brothers and sisters in Christ something. Paul, tell us please. “Owe no man any thing, but to love one another.” Romans 13:8, King James Version.

God loves you. He has saved you. And placed us both in the same Family. Hence I am to sincerely love you. This obligatory love is a “proof” of one’s salvation, to be honest! “We KNOW that we have passed from death unto life, BECAUSE WE LOVE THE BRETHREN. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.” 1 John 3:14

When I say we are “free” in Christ, I am merely agreeing with the Bible. “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free.” Galatians 5:1

But along with that liberty (particularly from the burdensome Law of Moses) I do have some obligations. Some debts to fulfill!

To answer the question in today’s lesson title … YES!

Back to Romans 8:12 we go …“Therefore, brethren, we ARE debtors.”

Then let’s live like it!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Jesus on the Cross paid in full my sin debt! Now I owe my life, all of it, in service to Him … in sweet, willing gratitude!

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David, the “sweet Psalmist of Israel,” lamented at the death of his best friend Jonathan, “Thy love to me was wonderful.” (Here I have alluded to 2 Samuel 23:1 and quoted a Line from 2 Samuel 1:26.)

No, I do not believe that these two (David and Jonathan, King Saul’s son) were ever “lovers,” as some perverted commentaries teach! (Sometimes men “read into” a Text what already lies in their dark hearts. True, the next clause in 2 Samuel 1:26 says: “Thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.” But that does not imply anything contrary to God’s explicit Law!)

All that aside, this morning … I’d still like to concentrate on love. Love and its quality, its purity, its beauty. Love as a gift to us from Almighty God! I mean God showering HIS LOVE upon us!

No Bible believer can doubt such a fact. “For God SO LOVED the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

What love!

Jeremiah adds, directly quoting the Lord again: “Yea, I have loved thee with an EVERLASTING love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.” Jeremiah 31:3, an everlasting Love!\

And Paul the Apostle, under the direct Influence/Inspiration of God the Holy Spirit prays that we can fathom: “The breadth, and length, and depth, and height of the LOVE OF CHRIST, which passeth knowledge.” Ephesians 3:18-19, “passeth knowledge!”

On and on the Biblical descriptors go … focusing on the LOVE OF GOD! How blessed we are, Christian friends, to enjoy such secure Love!

But now I am wondering … how should that ineffable, divine Love somehow impact me?

I got the answer, straight from Scripture! “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. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, IF God so loved us, (THEN) we ought also to LOVE ONE ANOTHER.” 1 John 4:9-11

Are you today a living example (though granted, in miniature) of the Love of God? Radiating to those around you?

Are you truly loving those whom God has placed in you life?

Think about it …

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

One more thought, taken from the “High Priestly” Prayer of Jesus in John chapter 17 … “Father, that the LOVE wherewith thou hast loved ME may be IN them.” The Father’s Love “in” us? The very Love with which He loved/loves His Darling Son!

Truly unfathomable!

I close (the second time) with 1 John 3:1 … “Behold, what MANNER of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that WE should be called the sons of God.” Where that word “manner” can literally mean “from another country!”

Wow!

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A New Lesson will be written and posted Monday Morning, the Lord willing. But if you’d like, visit our “Standing with the Bagwells” Page here on the Website and see a few new pictures (made the past couple of days) while traveling between Revivals. (From Faith Bible Baptist Church in Century, Florida to Bell Baptist Church in Bell, Florida) Pray for these upcoming services, please …

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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It sounds like a paradox, doesn’t it?

If one is a true disciple, surely that’s a lifetime commitment.

In fact, I suspect it really is, the key word being “TRUE!”

But John 6:66 says of our dear Lord, Who deserved better … “From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.”

That particular day Jesus had delivered some HARD teaching, Words that required a discerning mind and heart. Like: “Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” John 6:54

Words like: “He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.” John 6:56-57

Wow!

Even some of Jesus’ true Disciples … “When they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?” John 6:60

There are some still on-the-surface disciples turning away from Jesus! When they encounter certain “hard things!”

Determine in your heart today, that by the Grace of God, you will NOT be one of the deserters!

Jesus even asked the Twelve that day: “Will ye also go away?” The verb “go away” used here is “hupago,” literally meaning “go under!”

Be like Peter, who this time sparkles with faith when he responds: “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.” John 6:67

Jesus puts it this way, revealing the divine expectation of genuine discipleship … “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” Revelation 2:10

It is serious business, serving the Lord. “And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:62, not going back, just “looking” back!

In Acts 20:24 a younger Paul determined to “finish his course with joy.” Decades later, he did … “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” 2 Timothy 4:7

Wow!

Listen to Jesus too, foremostly … “It is finished!” And He proclaimed that from the Cross of Calvary!

Will YOU be faithful?

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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