Sunday School Lesson

2. Song of Solomon 5:6-16
Looking Upward
Focusing on Heaven
August 30, 2020
First Baptist Church
Jackson, Mississippi 39216
USA

3. What’s the number one thing?
The Glory of God!
1 Corinthians 10:31 NKJV
31 Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you
do, do all to the glory of God.

4. References
•Jeremiah, David, Seeking Wisdom-Finding Gold
(Atlanta, GA, Walk Thru the Bible Ministries, 1994).
•Palmer, Edwin H., The NIV Study Bible (Grand Rapids,
Zondervan, 1985).
•MacArthur, John, The MacArthur Study Bible NKJV
(Nashville, Nelson Bibles, 1997).
•American Medical Assn., Managing Mental Health
During COVID-19, www.ama-assn.org.

5. Goals of Lesson
1. Impart practical tips for dealing with stress.
2. Study an Old Testament example of God’s promises
to a people enduring stress.
3. Recall Scriptures that reveal blessings from heaven
to help maintain a heavenward focus in life.

6. Introduction – A Stressful World
•All people are living under great stress because of the
COVID-19 pandemic.
•Families are facing critical decisions about return to
work, school and church.
•We will be listening to caustic political campaigns over
the next 3 months with a critical election.
•The future appears uncertain when you look at the
world today.

7. A Few Practical Coping Mechanisms
1. Feel free to feel your feelings.
2. Intentionally employ coping strategies.
3. Perform regular check-ins with yourself.
4. Take breaks from news and social media.
5. Be fortified by remembering the importance and
meaning of life as a Christian.

8. 1. Feel free to feel your feelings.
•Realize that your feelings are normal (fear, anger,
doubt, disappointed, etc.).
•Social isolation can play tricks with your emotions
•Be careful with big decisions – HALT (Hungry, Angry,
Lonely, Tired).
•Express your emotions- People learn about their own
attitudes in the same way that others learn them: by
hearing themselves talk!

9. 2. Intentionally employ coping strategies.
•“This is not your first rodeo” – think about ways you
have managed stress successfully in the past.
•Adequate rest, healthy diet, regular exercise.
•Safe social activities.
•Take on a home project.
•Reach out to others.

10. 3. Perform regular check-ins with yourself.
•Monitor yourself for unhealthy behaviors.
• People are turning to alcohol during COVID-19 isolation.
•Stay on a routine.
•There is no stigma for seeking professional help.

11. 4. Take breaks from news and social media.

12. 5. Be fortified by remembering the meaning of life as a
Christian.
•Keep a Christian worldview perspective of life.
•Memorize scriptures for use in those moments of
doubt and fear.
•“Count Your Blessings.”
•Remember: God keeps His promises and gives us
hope.
•Keep a heavenward focus!

13. An Old Testament Perspective for Stressful Living:
•The Prophet Jeremiah was God’s spokesperson during
the reigns of Judah’s final 5 kings (627-586 BC).
•Nebuchadnezzar’s army is outside the city walls of
Jerusalem with Zedekiah as final king.
•Part of Judah has already been taken as exiles to
Babylon (Israel was already exiled in Assyria).
•The borders are not secured, and the people are
oppressed by hostility, war and famine.

14. An Old Testament Perspective for Stressful Living:
•The people are seeking a political solution and leader
to bring peace and prosperity.
•Jeremiah has prophesied that Judah will be held in
captivity in Babylon for 70 years.
•God gives Jeremiah a prophecy of a regathering of the
people and restoration in the future, which is actually
a description of the future millennial reign of the
Messiah in Israel.

15. God promises “hope and a future” to Judah.
•Jeremiah 29:10-11 NIV
10 This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are
completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill
my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. 11
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord,
“plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to
give you hope and a future.
•God wanted them to focus on their future in Him and
not the surrounding circumstances.

16. God Promises a Righteous King.
• Jeremiah 23:5-6 NIV
5 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch,
a King who will reign wisely
and do what is just and right in the land.
6 In his days Judah will be saved
and Israel will live in safety.
This is the name by which he will be called:
The Lord Our Righteousness.”

17. Jesus is the Fulfillment as the Righteous King.
•The angel Gabriel speaks to Mary:
•Luke 1:31-33 NIV
31 You will be with child and give birth to a son, and
you are to give him the name Jesus. 32 He will be
great and will be called the Son of the Most High.
The Lord God will give him the throne of his father
David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob
forever; his kingdom will never end.”

18. God Promises a New Covenant.
• Jeremiah 31:31-32 NIV
31 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah.
32 It will not be like the covenant
I made with their forefathers
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
though I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord.

19. Jesus Christ is the Fulfillment of the New Covenant.
• Luke 22:20 NIV
20 In the same way, after the supper he took the cup,
saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is
poured out for you.”
• Hebrews 9:15 NIV
15 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant,
that those who are called may receive the promised eternal
inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them
free from the sins committed under the first covenant.

20. The Promise of the Holy Spirit:
•Jeremiah 31:33 NIV
33 “This is the covenant I will make with the house of
Israel
after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.”

21. God Sends the Holy Spirit.
• John 14:16-17a, 26-27 NIV
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another
Counselor to be with you forever— 17a the Spirit of truth.
26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will
send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind
you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with
you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world
gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be
afraid.

22. God Promised Forgiveness of Sins.
•Jeremiah 31:34 NIV
34 “For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.”

23. Forgiveness From God Comes Through Jesus.
•Romans 3:21-22a, 25a NIV
21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law,
has been made known, to which the Law and the
Prophets testify. 22a This righteousness from God
comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.
25a God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement,
through faith in his blood.

24. What was God saying to encourage Judah when
facing a difficult, life-altering situation?
•God has a future plan for His chosen people (Israel)
and for all who have trusted in His Son, Jesus Christ.
•God keeps His promises and wants us to focus on
those as we face difficulties in life.
•Deuteronomy 7:9 NIV
9 Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is
the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a
thousand generations of those who love him and keep
his commandments.

25. Heavenly blessings to help maintain a heavenward focus.
1. Wisdom.
2. Citizenship/Transformed Body.
3. Treasure & Rewards.
4. Rooms.
5. Faith & Love.
6. Peace with God.
7. Provisions.
8. Revelations.
9. Inheritance.
10. Plan.

26. Heavenly Blessings:
1. Wisdom from Heaven.
•James 3:17 NIV
17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of
all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive,
full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.
•James lists 7 characteristics of wisdom from heaven.
•The source of heavenly wisdom is God himself in His
Word, manifested through His Son, Jesus, and
available to us through the Holy Spirit.

27. Characteristics of Wisdom from Heaven:
1. pure – Based upon the attribute of God – holiness.
•When you have God’s wisdom, you have no ulterior
motives or secret desires.
•Psalm 19:8 NKJV
8 The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the
heart;
The commandment of the Lord is pure,
enlightening the eyes;

28. Characteristics of Wisdom from Heaven:
2. peace-loving – True peace is always an outgrowth of
purity; peace is a blessing conferred on us by God.
• Isaiah 26:3 NKJV
3 You will keep him in perfect peace,
Whose mind is stayed on You,
Because he trusts in You.
• Philippians 4:7 NKJV
7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all
understanding, will guard your hearts and minds
through Christ Jesus.

29. Characteristics of Wisdom from Heaven:
3. considerate – Gentleness, “sweet reasonableness.”
•2 Timothy 2:24 NIV
24 And the servant of the Lord must not quarrel;
instead, he must be kind to everyone,
•James 1:19-20 NIV
19 My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone
should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to
become angry, 20 for man’s anger does not bring
about the righteousness that God desires.

30. Characteristics of Wisdom from Heaven:
4. submissive – Willing to yield and willing to listen,
teachable, compliant.
•A military term which means to be willing to take
instructions from the Commander-in-Chief.

31. Characteristics of Wisdom from Heaven:
5. full of mercy and good fruit – Showing compassion,
patience and forgiveness combined with kind
deeds toward the undeserving.
•Mercy is compassion in action.
•Luke 6:36 NIV
36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
•Matthew 5:7 NIV
7 Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.

32. Characteristics of Wisdom from Heaven:
6. impartial – Without partiality.
•The Greek word occurs only here in the NT and
denotes a consistent, unwavering person who is
undivided in his commitment and conviction.
•It also denotes a person who does not make unfair
distinctions.
•James 2:9 NIV
9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are
convicted by the law as lawbreakers.

33. Characteristics of Wisdom from Heaven:
7. sincere – Without hypocrisy; free from pretense or
deceit, real.
•Romans 12:9 NIV
9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to
what is good.
•Romans 12:9 NKJV
9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil.
Cling to what is good.

34. Heavenly Blessings:
2. Citizenship in Heaven and Transformed Body.
•Philippians 3:20-21 NIV
20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly
await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21
who, by the power that enables him to bring
everything under his control, will transform our
lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious
body.

35. 2. Citizenship in Heaven – Recorded in the “book of
life.”
• Revelation 3:5 NIV
5 He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I
will never blot out his name from the book of life, but
will acknowledge his name before my Father and his
angels.
• Revelation 20:15 NIV
15 If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of
life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
• Revelation 21:15 NIV
27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, … but only those
whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

36. 2.A Transformed Body.
•1 Corinthians 15:51-53 NIV
51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep,
but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the
twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the
trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised
imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the
perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable,
and the mortal with immortality.

37. Heavenly Blessings:
3. Treasures and Rewards in Heaven.
• Matthew 6:20 NIV
20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where
moths and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not
break in and steal.
• 1 Timothy 6:18-19 NIV
18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds,
and to be generous and willing to share. 19 In this way
they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm
foundation for the coming age, so that they may take
hold of the life that is truly life.

38. Heavenly Blessings:
4. Rooms – a place for you.
•John 14:1-3 NIV
1 Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God;
trust also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many
rooms; if that were not so, I would have told you. I
am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I
go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and
take you to be with me that you also may be where
I am.

39. Heavenly Blessings:
5. The Blessings of Faith and Love.
•Colossians 1:3-5 NIV
3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have
heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love
you have for all the saints— 5 the faith and love that
spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven
and that you have already heard about in the word
of truth, the gospel

40. 5. Heavenly Blessing of Faith – Resting on Hope.
•Titus 1:2 NIV
2 a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of
eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised
before the beginning of time,

41. Heavenly Blessings:
6. The Blessing of Peace with God.
•Romans 5:1-2 NIV
1 Therefore, since we have been justified through
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access
by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And
we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

42. 6.Peace with God – Isaiah’s Experience.
•Isaiah 6:6-7 NIV
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live
coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs
from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and
said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is
taken away and your sin atoned for.”

43. Heavenly Blessings:
7. Provisions.
•Psalm 23:1-3 NKJV
1 The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
3 He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.

44. Heavenly Blessings:
7. Provisions.
• Matthew 6:25, 32-33 NIV
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life,
what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you
will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more
than clothes?”
32 “For the pagans run after all these things, and your
heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek
first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these
things will be given to you as well.”

45. Heavenly Blessings:
8. Revelations.
• Matthew 16:16-17 NIV
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of
the living God.”
17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for
this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in
heaven.”
• Ephesians 1:3 NIV
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with
every spiritual blessing in Christ.

46. Heavenly Blessings:
9. An Inheritance in Heaven.
•1 Peter 1:3-4 NIV
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth
into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that
can never perish, spoil or fade―kept in heaven for
you,

47. Heavenly Blessings:
10. The Blessing of a Heavenly Plan.
• Romans 8:28 NKJV
28 And we know that all things work together for good
to those who love God, to those who are the called
according to His purpose.
• The heavenly view of Romans 8:28 is Ephesians 1:11
• Ephesians 1:11 NIV
11 In him we were also chosen, having been predestined
according to the plan of him who works out everything
in conformity with the purpose of his will,

48. Closing Scriptures: Assurance in Romans 8.
•Romans 8:31b, 35 NIV
31b If God is for us, who can be against us?
35 Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Shall
trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or
nakedness or danger or sword?

49. Closing Scriptures: Assurance in Romans 8.
•Romans 8:37-39 NIV
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors
through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that
neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,
neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all
creation, will be able to separate us from the love of
God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

50. “The God Who Sees”
by Kathie Lee Gifford and Nicole C. Mullen
I will be a ring of fire around you;
And I will be the glory in your midst,
And the power of my presence
Will bring you to your knees.
And I will lift you up again;
For I’m the God who sees.
I’m the God who sees.

51. The Plan of Hope & Salvation
John 3:16-17 NKJV
16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only
begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not
perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His
Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the
world through Him might be saved.”
John 14:6 NKJV
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No
one comes to the Father except through Me.”

52. The Plan of Hope & Salvation
Romans 3:23 NKJV
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 6:23a NKJV
23a For the wages of sin is death,
• Death in this life (the first death) is 100%.
• Even Jesus, the only one who doesn’t deserve death, died in this
life to pay the penalty for our sin.
• The death referred to in Romans 6:23a is the “second death”
explained in Revelation 21:8.

53. The Plan of Hope & Salvation
Revelation 21:8 NKJV
8 “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually
immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the
lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
• Anyone who’s lifestyle is one or more of the sins listed in Revelation
21:8, will experience the “second death,” if they do not repent.
• To Repent means to turn around, to go in the opposite direction, to turn
away from sin and believe in Jesus.
Romans 5:8 NKJV
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were
still sinners, Christ died for us.

54. The Plan of Hope & Salvation
Romans 6:23b NKJV
23b but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our
Lord.
Revelation 21:7 NKJV
7 “He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will
be his God and he shall be My son.”
• Romans 10:9-10 explain to us how to be overcomers.

55. The Plan of Hope & Salvation
Romans 10:9-10 NKJV
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and
believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead,
you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto
righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation.
Romans 10:13 NKJV
13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

56. The Plan of Hope & Salvation
Do you have questions?
Would you like to know more?
Please, contact First Baptist Church Jackson at 601-949-1900
or http://firstbaptistjackson.org/contact/