 The title of our sermon this morning is Christ and His Bride, Christ and His Bride. You know, I'm very grateful for how the Lord has graciously chosen to reveal Himself to us in His Word. His Word is a revelation of Himself to man. We praise God for that revelation. What a glorious blessing that is apart from the revelation of God, we are hopeless. We are without God, without hope in this world. But God is graciously chosen. He didn't have to, but He chose to. He chose to reveal Himself to us in His Word. And we can learn so much from the way in which God illustrates profound truths about Himself in His Word. So many pictures that the Lord paints of Himself in revealing Himself to us in His Word. In John chapter 10, we've been working through the Gospel of John. The Lord says, I am the good shepherd and the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. What a wonderful picture, right? In John chapter 15, we'll get there soon. I am the vine. You are the branches and he who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit. Throughout the scripture, the Lord says, I am the potter. You are the clay. Christ is the head of the church. We are His body. Bible says that we are God's temple built with living stones. But one of the most helpful and insightful and profound pictures given to us in the Bible to describe the relationship between God and His people is that of the bridegroom and His bride. And that picture, that illustration is used throughout the Bible. And it's a picture that's loaded down with meaning and significance. And it's one that is particularly precious to His people that He is our bridegroom. We are His bride. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 4 describes that God shows us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. That having been foreloved by Him in Christ, God's people are predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. Then, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, He made us alive together with Christ and He saves us by His grace through faith. He, if you will, enters into covenant with us by the blood of His own Son, blood by which He justifies us and sanctifies us and glorifies us. Now, having entered into covenant with us by His blood, Christ has said through that sacrifice to have purchased His bride. And we see this in the illustration of the bridegroom and His bride throughout the New Testament. Turn with me to Matthew chapter 21. Matthew chapter 21. We're going to be all over the Bible this morning. I pray that'll be beneficial to you, but you'll have to work to keep up. Matthew chapter 21, I want to lay this truth down for you so we can have an understanding of this illustration. Matthew chapter 21, look beginning at verse 45. And a series of parables here in Matthew chapter 21 meant to rebuke the Jews in the rejection of their Messiah and to foreshadow what would be the inclusion of the Gentiles. Jesus tells the parable of the wedding feast. Look at verse 45. Now, when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking of them. They were right about that. But when they sought to lay hands on them, they were angry. They sought to lay hands on them, but they feared the multitudes because they took him for a profit. Look at chapter 22, verse 1. So Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables. And he said, verse 2, the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son. Do you see the picture? Verse 3, he sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding and they were not willing to come. A certain king who arranged a marriage for his son. Turn a few pages to the right and look at Matthew chapter 25. Matthew chapter 25. And in verse 1, the Lord tells another parable depicting a kingdom, right? Then the kingdom of heaven in verse 1 shall be likened to 10 virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. The five of them were wise and five of them were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them. But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, do you see? They all slumbered and slept. This is another parable illustrating the Lord Jesus Christ as the bridegroom. We live in a period of time now in our day where our bridegroom, the heavenly bridegroom is delayed. And Christ is referring to himself here as the bridegroom in Matthew chapter 25. Look down at verse 13. We see that affirmed for us in verse 13. Verse 13 says, watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the bridegroom, right? The Son of Man is coming. Look to the next book, Mark, Gospel of Mark, and look at Mark chapter two. Mark chapter two, the Lord Jesus Christ, the bridegroom of his bride, the church, his people. Mark chapter two and drop down to verse 18. In verse 18, the Bible reads, the disciples of John and the Pharisees and of the Pharisees were fasting. Then they came and said to him, why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast? And Jesus said to them, can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast, but the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days. Many pictures in the New Testament of the Lord Jesus Christ is the bridegroom and her bride, his bride, the church. If you remember from our study, flip over with me to the Gospel of John. In John chapter three, we have another example of this given, John chapter three. If you remember that study from John chapter three, John the Baptist's disciples came to him complaining that the people were forsaking John the Baptist and running off to follow Christ and be baptized by him. And look down at verse 28. In the context of this, John explains in verse 28, he says, I'm not the Christ, but I've been sent before him. Look at verse 29. He who has the bride, he who has the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom, that's John, right? He sees himself as the friend of the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. Therefore, this joy of mine is fulfilled. He, the bridegroom, must increase, but I, John, the friend of the bridegroom, must decrease in one of the most beautiful and expressive ways in which the Lord Jesus Christ describes himself, our special, intimate, and covenant relationship with him as his prized possession. One of the most beautiful and expressive ways in which he describes that relationship is by portraying himself as bridegroom to us. He is the bridegroom and we, the church, are his bride. Now, our bridegroom, at this point in time, as we sit here today, is delayed. He's delayed, but one day soon, can I get an amen? One day soon, he's coming back for his bride. The Bible reads, for the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with a voice of an archangel and with a trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Amen. And thus, we shall always be with the Lord. Revelation chapter 19, John describes the scene like this. Let us be glad and rejoice, John says, and give him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his wife has made herself ready. What a glorious day that's going to be, right? I was talking with a sister earlier in the week as we were talking, we're going back and forth about the Lord's return, and the people of God just look forward to the Lord's return to the coming of the bridegroom. Come Lord Jesus, come quickly. As we consider the progressive nature of God's revelation to us, God has revealed himself in his word, and he's done that in a progressive way over the course of the Bible from cover to cover. As we consider that progressive revelation, this illustration, this portrait of the bridegroom and the bride has its roots in the Old Testament. I want you to turn with me to Isaiah chapter 54, Isaiah chapter 54. And we're talking about the bridegroom and his bride. And we see the roots of this in the Old Testament. This illustration is portrait fulfilled in the church in the New Testament. It has its roots in the Old Testament, Isaiah chapter 54. As you get to Isaiah 54, I want you to consider the context for a moment as we set the stage for you, okay? In the first 39 chapters of the book of Isaiah, God is pronouncing judgment against sin. God is pronouncing judgment against sin. For Judah, that judgment's going to come at the hands of the Babylonians, all right? In the next 27 chapters of Isaiah, God is declaring hope for his people in light of that judgment. And God in great grace and mercy is comforting his people with hope. And one of the means by which he does that is through the prophecy of a coming servant of the Lord. And we've talked about these passages as we've been working through John. He's described for us this servant, described for us in what is called the four servant songs of Isaiah, one of which is Isaiah 53 right here before chapter 54. Look at Isaiah 53 and look down at verse six. And we see this servant of the Lord, this suffering servant prophesied in Isaiah. In verse six, all we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Now who's he talking about there? That's right, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's Christ. Look at 53 and drop down to verse 10. Look at verse 10. This suffering servant, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord says this of him, yet it pleased the Lord, verse 10, to bruise him. And he has put him to grief. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see the labor of his soul and be satisfied by his knowledge. My righteous servant shall justify many for he shall bear their iniquities. Praise God. Right. This is the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the suffering servant. This is the bridegroom. Look at verse 12. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great and he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he poured out his soul unto death and he was numbered with the transgressors and he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors. There's no mistaking in this suffering song, this servant song of Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 53 that he's talking about the Lord Jesus Christ in this beautiful chapter, this gospel chapter. Now drop down to chapter 54 and look at verse four. God is proclaiming peace to his people. That peace secured by his servant, a suffering servant, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. And look at verse four. Fear not. God says to his people, giving them hope, right? Comforting his people. Fear not. For you will not be ashamed. Be not confounded. For you will not be disgraced. You know, for a period of time they had been cast off because of their sin. They became subject to God's judgment, God's wrath, but God had promised them. He'd made a covenant promise, a covenant with them that he would not cast them off forever. Look at verse four, the end of verse four. Four, you will forget the shame of your youth and the reproach of your widowhood. You will remember no more. Why? Why? Verse five, because for your maker is your husband. Just love that picture in the Bible, right? Your maker is your husband. The Lord of hosts is his name. The Holy One of Israel is your redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called. For the Lord has called you like a wife, deserted and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth when she is cast off, says your God. For a brief moment, God says, I deserted you, but with great compassion, I will gather you. Now how is he going to do that? How does he gather them? He gathers them by the work of his servant. He does it by the work of his servant. Verse eight, in overflowing anger, for a moment, I hid my face from you. I hid my face from you in judgment, but with everlasting love, I will have compassion on you, says the Lord your redeemer. And then in the New Testament on the heels of this, right? In Isaiah, in the New Testament, the Lord Jesus Christ comes and proclaims himself to be the bridegroom. You look at it that way in the New Testament. It's another claim that the Lord Jesus Christ is making of his deity. The Lord Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. Now think about this for a moment. The Lord Jesus Christ steps out of glory. The Lord Jesus Christ, God incarnate takes on flesh. He makes himself of no reputation. He takes the form of a slave and he comes in the appearance, the likeness of a man being found in appearance as a man. He humbles himself and he becomes obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross in order to purchase his chaste and pure virgin bride, a raid for him in splendor. No, no. God incarnate takes on flesh, makes himself of no reputation, takes the form of a slave, comes in the likeness of man, being found in appearance as a man. He humbles himself to the point of death, being obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross, to purchase to himself a brazen whore. Now let that seek in for a moment. As we consider the grace and favor of God toward us, his bride, it's important to understand point one on your notes, the state or the condition in which he sought her, the state or condition in which he sought her as we more fully understand our wretched state, our depravity, our miserable condition. As we more fully understand that, we can more fully cultivate a heartfelt gratefulness for the undeserved love and grace shown to us by our betrothed. One author described the incarnation of Christ in this way. He said, one may think of a diver, one may think of a diver, first reducing himself to nakedness and then glancing in midair and then gone with a splash, vanished, rushing down through green and warm water into black and cold water, down through increasing pressure into the deathlike region of ooze and slime and old decay and then up again, right back to color and light. His lungs almost bursting till suddenly he breaks the surface again, holding in his hand the dripping precious thing that he went down to recover. He and it are both colored now that they have come up to the light down below where it laid colorless in the dark. He lost his color to Christ, our bridegroom Christ, our bridegroom plunged himself into cold dark, plunged himself into the deathlike region of ooze and slime and old decay to retrieve to himself a precious thing to him that had lost its color. It's important to understand that he didn't come for a chaste virgin. He didn't shed his blood in dowry for a beautiful blushing bride arrayed in white linen. When I heard Albert Martin preach this concept, he made the point that Christ came to redeem to himself a shameless, whoring slut. And he used those terms intentionally because that's the way that God describes the condition of that which Christ redeemed to himself. Turn with me to Ezekiel chapter 16. Ezekiel chapter 16. Understanding this cultivates within your heart, my heart, a gratefulness to God for all that he's done for us in Christ in purchasing us a shameless brazen whore. Ezekiel chapter 16 and look at verse one, what grace, what mercy, what immeasurable love, amen? In verse one, again the word of the Lord came to me, Ezekiel saying, verse two, son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations and say thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem, your birth and your nativity are from the land of Canaan. Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. In other words, you were a pagan. You were a pagan, the unwanted child of a pagan union. Verse four, as for your nativity on the day that you were born, your naval cord was not cut nor were you washed in water to cleanse you. You were not rubbed with salt nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. In other words, no one cared about you. No one loved you. You were left in your filth. You were an unwanted child. Verse five, no I pitied you to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you, but you were thrown out into the open field. You were discarded for dead. You were despised when you yourself were loathed on the day that you were born. That's the way that we're viewed before Christ. Do you see? Verse six, when I, God says, when I passed by you and saw you struggling in your own blood, I said to you in your blood, live. Yes, I said to you in your blood, live. Right? God alone came to her aid. There was no one else. He alone loved her. He alone pitied her. She would have surely died without him. Right? Verse seven, I made you, God says, I made you thrive like a plant in the field. You grew like a weed. Right? You matured. You grew. You became very beautiful. Verse seven, your breasts were formed. Your hair grew, but you were naked and bare. When I passed by you again, verse eight and looked upon you, indeed your time was the time of love, marriageable age. And so I spread my wing over you and covered your nakedness. And yes, I swore an oath to you. Think about this for a moment. God himself, looking with pity and mercy and grace on this unwanted child of a pagan, wallowing in her blood. And God swore an oath. Verse eight, he entered into a covenant with you. What does God say? You became mine. God says, you became mine. God betrothed her to himself and took her as his own. Verse nine, then I washed you in water. Yes, I thoroughly washed off your blood and I anointed you with oil. I clothed you in embroidered cloth and gave you sandals of badger skin. I clothed you with fine linen and covered you with silk. God arrayed her in splendor, right? Like a queen. God arrayed her in splendor. She became beautiful. She became beautiful. Verse 11, I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your wrists and a chain on your neck. I put a jewel in your nose and earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. And thus you were adorned with gold and silver. Your clothing was a fine linen and silk and embroidered cloth. You ate pastry, a fine flower and honey and oil. You were exceedingly beautiful and succeeded to royalty. Now, who did that? God did it. God did it. God arrayed her in splendor. God made her like a queen. Verse 14, your fame went out among the nations because of your beauty. For it was perfect. It was perfect through my splendor, God says, which I had bestowed on you. Now, if we apply this in context, Israel and specifically here, Jerusalem under David and under Solomon became a beautiful city, a beautiful city, a beautiful picture of God's covenant grace with his people, a famous city because of God's blessing, entirely because of God's blessing. Right? If you remember the story when the queen of Sheba came to see Solomon, it says there that the queen of Sheba gasped. She lost her breath at the splendor that she saw. This was a rags to riches story. Amen. Rags to riches. So what happened then to the queen in our story? What happened to the queen in our story? She forgot the one who made her beautiful. She forgot the one who made her beautiful and she trusted in her beauty. She took her eyes off the beautiful one, the one who made her beautiful and she put her eyes on her own beauty. Look at verse 15. But you, you trusted in your own beauty and you played the harlot. You played the harlot. The ESV says the whore. It's helpful, isn't it, to consider our state with appropriate language so that we can most appreciate and understand with gratefulness and love the sacrifice that Christ made for ungodly sinners. Right? The Lord does that here for our admonition. You trusted in your own beauty. You played the whore because of your fame. You poured out your whorrings on everyone passing by who would have it. She took pride in her beauty. She took pride in her beauty and prostituted herself to false gods. And this is what God thought of her betrayal. This rebellion, this idolatry, this sin is portrayed as harlotry. Verse 16. You played the harlot on them. Verse 17. You played the harlot with them. Verse 25. You offered yourself to everyone who passed by and you multiplied your acts of harlotry. Verse 26. You also committed harlotry with the Egyptians. You're very fleshly neighbors and increased your acts of harlotry to provoke me to anger. Verse 28. You also played the harlot with the Assyrians because you were insatiable. Indeed you played the harlot with them and still were not satisfied. Verse 30. How degenerate is your heart says the Lord God. Seeing you do all these things, the deeds of a brazen whore. Verse 31. You erected your shrine at the head of every road and built your high place in every street. Yet you were not like a harlot because you scorned payment. Now get the picture that God is painting here. Verse 32. You are an adulterous wife who takes strangers instead of her husband. Men make payment to all harlots, but you made your payments to all your lovers and you hired them to come to you from all around for your harlotry. You are the opposite of other women in your harlotry because no one solicited you to be a harlot in that you gave payment, but no payment was given to you. Therefore you're the opposite. You see how the Lord is painting the picture here. This is how God views sin. This is how God views sin. Sin is spiritual adultery of the worst sort. God told Hosea. In Hosea chapter one verse two, when the Lord began to speak by Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, to Hosea, right? Hosea, go take yourself a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry. For the land has committed great harlotry by departing from the Lord. It tells Hosea in a physical way, Hosea, go act out Israel's rejection of me and my love for Israel. Take for yourself, Hosea, a wife of harlotry. Hosea, Mary's Gomer. When we may say in your heart, you may say listening to this, well that was Old Testament Israel. That was Old Testament Israel. Now this concept is clearly brought forward in the New Testament. Turn with me to James chapter four. James chapter four. It's important that we understand our condition apart from Christ. It's important that you understand how offensive sin is to God. We must understand our depravity, our heart apart from him, how God views that, how it offends him, how serious sin is. Look at James chapter four. Look at verse one. Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? Listen, verse two, you lust and you do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and you do not receive because you ask a miss that you may spend it on your pleasures. What is God's verdict on these? Verse four, adulterers and adulteresses. Harlots, harlots. Do you not know verse four that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Now think through the implication here for a moment of verse four. It's not pagan idols here that they're committing spiritual adultery with. They're not whoring themselves out here in James chapter four to bail or to malik. Who are they committing adultery with here in James chapter four? The world. That's right, the world. They're committing adultery with the world, worldly desires, worldly lusts, worldly speech, worldly interests, worldly vices, worldly values, some worldly strumpet that has seduced you to prostitute yourself to another husband. Do you see? They're committing adultery here with the world. Verse five, or do you think that the scripture says in vain, the spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously, but he gives more grace. Therefore he says verse six, God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. Now this is the condition. Listen, this is the condition of every single person born in Adam and born apart from Christ, an adulterer and adulterous, a harlot, a whore. The Bible teaches, the Bible teaches that you and I, we were born in iniquity and we were conceived in sin. All of us have fallen in Adam. Adam fell because Adam sinned and every one of us born in Adam, every one of us a son or a daughter of Adam, every one of us have died in Adam because in Adam's sin, in Adam's fall, we sinned, we fell. Paul says in Romans chapter five, verse 12, therefore just as through one man sin entered the world and death through sin and thus death spread to all men because all sinned. You're a sinner. I'm a sinner. But listen, lest you gloss over that and you miss the significance of it. You're a sinner. I'm a sinner. You're a brazen whore and I'm a brazen whore apart from Christ. We have committed spiritual adultery against the one who made us. Our maker is our husband and we have sinned against him. We have offended him with our harlotries, offended him with our rebellion. Consider your condition. This is the condition. This is the state in which he seeks you. This is the condition in which he sought me. Yet while we were still ungodly, he died. Does God leave you without hope in that condition? Does he leave you struggling in your filth? No. He offers hope. He holds out hope. Look at James chapter four. Look at verse seven. He calls out to you in your condition, in your blood, in your filth. And he says, therefore live, he calls out to you live. Verse seven, therefore submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Verse eight, draw near to God. Listen to this, and he will draw near to you. You are like an unclean thing. You are like a leper, like a filthy harlot. And yet God, if you will draw near to him, the God of the universe who dwells in unapproachable light, who dwells in perfection, in holiness, that God will draw near to you if you'll but draw near to him. Cleanse your hands. Use sinners. Purify your hearts. You double-minded. Verse nine, listen, lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning. Let your joy be turned to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he will lift you up. In many years, I remember that had I heard a sermon like this or if anyone had read James chapter four to me or Ezekiel 16 for that matter, I would have been more offended by the use of the word whore in my presence than I would have been by the sin that I committed to be described as such. And yet God, despite that wickedness, right, that rebellion, that ungodly, brazen, prideful rejection of all that we are in our pride, we refuse to humble ourselves. And yet it's in that condition that he sought for himself a bride. Humble yourselves. Verse 10, he says, in the sight of the Lord and he'll lift you up. He'll lift you up. Now, what does it mean to humble yourself? You have to own up to what you are. Humble yourself. You own up to what you are. You know that you have nothing white to wear on your wedding day. And you are ashamed by that. If you own up to what you are, you have nothing white to wear and you are ashamed. You are grieved. You're not attractive. You're not a suitable match for the bridegroom. You have no business there. No business there. You have cheated. You've been unfaithful. You've cheated repeatedly and without remorse. You have treated the bridegroom with great contempt by prostituting yourself out to other lovers. A real and genuine consideration of what you are leads to mourning, weeping, leads to gloom. Now listen, a real and genuine consideration of your condition apart from Christ leads to mourning, weeping and gloom. It's the only thing that it can lead to, right? Unless you're prideful, unless you won't acknowledge it, humbling yourself means to turn from your whoring and turn to Christ. It means to turn from your rebellion, turn from putting yourself out to every guy that passes by and turn to Christ in faith. You do that, verse 10 says, and the bridegroom will lift you up to the nation of Israel through Hosea the Prophet. The Lord says in chapter 2 there, verse 19, he says, I will, you harlot, right, Israel, I will betroth you to me forever, God says. Yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice and in loving kindness and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness and you shall know the Lord. It's a promise from God Almighty, those that will turn from their harlotry to their husband, their maker, right? The grace, the mercy, the compassion, the love, the forgiveness, the pity, the patience, the covenant faithfulness of God. So consider the state in which the bridegroom sought his bride. It's not because of her, you see, it's not because of her that he takes her to be his bride, it's in spite of her that he takes her to be his bride. Now that fact is made all the more astounding, all the more staggering when we consider point two on your notes the cost at which he bought her, the cost at which he bought her. In Acts chapter 20, in verse 26, Paul meets with the elders from Ephesus in Miletus and he says this to them in verse 26. Paul says, therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men, for I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God, the bride of Christ, which he purchased with his own blood. Now consider this for a moment. As you consider your condition, the condition that you're in when the Lord Jesus Christ sought you. You consider your condition, then consider the dowry that Christ paid to redeem you. Immeasurable love, immeasurable grace. There is a fountain overflowing. If you will come to the Savior, the hymn, a beautiful hymn, the church's one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord. She is his new creation by water in the word. From heaven he came and sought her to be his holy bride with his own blood. He bought her and for her life he died. He chose the Lord Jesus Christ, chose of his own sovereign will to love that which is unlovely and to love her completely, to love her fully, unfettered. He gave his life to redeem her. Galatians chapter 2 verse 20 says, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and what gave himself for me. You are wallowing in your blood, wallowing in your filth and the Lord Jesus Christ comes along while you are yet a sinner at enmity with God and he gives himself for his bride. He gives himself for his people. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter 5. Let's look at this in Paul's letter to the Ephesians, the life which I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. In Ephesians chapter 5, look at verse 1. How then should we live? Verse 1 Paul says, Therefore, therefore the imitators of God as dear children and walk in love as Christ also has loved us and given himself for us in what way? As an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling aroma. That sacrifice acceptable to God. How did Christ specifically love us? He loved us supremely. He loved us supremely. He gave himself for us a willing voluntary sacrifice to God himself. He sacrificed himself on the cross for sinners for us sacrificial death. And don't lose the sight or the main point of Paul's statement in verse 1. That, that's sacrifice. That's how we are to love others. He says in verse 1, Therefore be imitators of God dear children. Now if you're in Ephesians 5, drop down to verse 25. Drop down to verse 25. Here Paul says, Husband, love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and what? Gave himself for her. He gave himself for her. So just as all of us are to be imitators of God as dear children and walk in love husbands, you are to be imitators of God and love your wife just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her. Make the connection, men, right? In the same way that Christ the Lamb gave himself for his wife, his bride, the church, you are to sacrifice for your wife and give yourself for her. Consider the cost at which he bought her. He gave himself for her. The verb there means that he gave himself over. He voluntarily willfully gave himself over, gave himself over to what? Gave himself over to death. Obedience to the point of death, even the death of the cross. He takes the initiative. He went to the cross and he voluntarily laid down his life. Now how should we respond to that? When you stop to consider the condition in which he sought you and then the cost at which he bought you, how should we respond? Why should we consider such a cost? Listen to this. If thou hadst bid thy thunder's roll and lightning's flashed to blast my soul, I still had stubborn been, but mercy has my heart subdued. A bleeding Savior I have viewed and now I hate my sin. When we consider these truths that the scriptures clearly teach, doesn't it? Shouldn't it have an impact on the way that we think about our sin and rebellion against God? If thou had bid thy thunder's roll and lightning's flashed to blast my soul, I still would have been stubborn, the hymn writer says, but mercy has my heart subdued. A bleeding Savior I have viewed and now I hate my sin. Spurgeon said this. Salvation by the death of Christ is the strongest conceivable promoter of all the things which are pure, honest, lovely, and of good report. It makes sin so loathsome that the saved one cannot take up even its name without dread. I will take away the name of Balaam out of thy mouth. God says, he looks upon it as we should regard a knife rusted with gore, wherewith some villain had killed our mother, our wife, or child. Could we play with it? Could we bear it about our persons or endure it in our sight? No, it's an accursed thing stained with the heart's blood of my beloved. I would feign, fling me into the bottomless abyss. Sin is that dagger which stabbed the Savior's heart. And henceforth it must be the abomination of every man who has been redeemed by the atoning sacrifice. It causes us, doesn't it, to consider the one to whom you are wed and consider his precious blood that was shed, the dowry he has paid. To redeem a bride unworthy of love, a ransom she was unworthy of, a harlot she has played. Bought at a price she's not her own. Her life, his glory, his will enthroned to magnify his praise. It's the undeserved grace, the unmerited favor of God. Makes you grateful for the bridegroom, doesn't it? Makes you grateful for the bridegroom. While he that began a good work and he was faithful to complete it, that work, the work of the bridegroom, doesn't end at our justification. Point three on your notes. Let's consider the work by which he wrought her, the work by which he wrought her. He wrought her like a lump of pure gold, refined by the fire. It's dross removed, purified. Look at Ephesians chapter five and drop down to verse 26. The work by which he wrought her to himself, Ephesians five, 26, is that he might sanctify her and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, verse 27, that he might present her to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. Having sought her in her desperate condition, having bought her and loved her with a sacrificial love, the Lord's sacrificial love then is the impetus by which he wrought to himself a bride, a raid in splendor. He doesn't leave her in her filth. Praise God, right? He doesn't leave you struggling in your blood. He washes you and cleanses you. The Lord's sacrificial love is the impetus by which he wrought to himself a bride, a raid in splendor. Now he explains that in Ephesians chapter five, verses 26 and 27 through three purpose statements that we see there in verse 26, first purpose statement, so that he might sanctify her and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word. The second purpose statement, so that he might present her to himself in verse 27, a glorious church. A third purpose statement is so that she should be holy and without blemish. Sounds a lot like Ezekiel 16, doesn't it? These pictures, these portrayals are connected. He washes her and cleanses her and sanctifies her and then arrays her in splendor. Let's look at them one at a time, okay? The first one, so that he might sanctify her and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word. Now this sanctification here, sanctify her in verse 26 is not the progressive work, it's the positional work. To sanctify something, we see here, to sanctify something is to set it aside, is to set it aside from common use to holy use. Having sought her, having bought her, the Lord then sets his bride apart, sets her apart from common use and sets her apart to be holy, sets her apart from sin and this world and he sets her apart to himself. Now Paul is specifically referring here in verse 26 to the church, right? If you look at verse 27, that affirms that for us that he might present to her, to himself, a glorious church. But this is also speaking of individual Christians. Look with me at 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Just keep a finger there in Ephesians chapter 5. We're going to come back to it. Look with me at 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Paul there, Ephesians 5, referring to the church, right? That he would sanctify her and cleanse her. But this is also described of individual Christians that make up the body of Christ, the church. If you look at 1 Corinthians chapter 6, drop down to verse 9. Do you not know that adulterers, adulteresses, harlots, do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Listen, do not be deceived. I don't know how many times, I've lost count, I think, a number of times that I've been in a conversation with someone, witnessing to them, sharing the gospel with them. And I come to a passage like this and I say, don't be deceived. Don't be deceived. People who practice these things will not inherit the kingdom of God. And they'll say, well, we're all sinners. We all sin, somehow expecting that to placate God's justice or placate God's wrath against sin. We're all going to make it in because we're all, we're graded on a curve somehow. No, listen, don't be deceived. Don't be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, none of those will inherit the kingdom of God. But listen, if you were once a harlot, if you were once whoring yourself to every passerby, and then the bridegroom sought you, look at verse 11, and such were some of you, but you were, and here's the connection, you were washed, you were set apart for holy use, you were sanctified, and you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our God. In either case, right, back in Ephesians five, he sanctifies and cleanses and washes and redeems his bride, the church, that church made up of individual believers whom he also washes and sanctifies and justifies in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of his God, of our God. Either way, in either case, this washing, this sanctification, right, this sanctification refers to setting apart you, setting apart his bride to an exclusive, dedicated, and if you will, monogamous relationship, faithful, set apart a relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ. You are, in essence, married. You're married, married to your bridegroom, you become the bride, you're married in holiness, an exclusive, dedicated, monogamous, faithful, set apart relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now there are two parts to the marriage covenant there. If you're set apart, you're sanctified, you're cleansed by the washing of water by the word, there's two parts to that marriage covenant. One is a separation from all that which is unclean, right, it's a separation from all that which is unclean. You are sanctified, you are sanctified, set apart from sin, set apart from the world, set apart from your sin, right, that's sanctification, that positional sanctification. The next part of this marriage covenant is that you are then consecrated. You are consecrated to the Lord Jesus Christ and his will, set apart from sin to him, right, set apart from the world to the Lord Jesus Christ, your bridegroom, set apart to his will for your life. The initial cleansing of verse 26, that word cleansing, it's an heiress participle. It describes an act that coincides with the making her holy. The two things are to be put together to be thought of as one action together. Christ died to set her apart by making her holy. Do you see? By cleansing her. There is a positional justification by which he forgives you of your sin. He declares you innocent, removes your guilt, but then he imputes the righteousness of Christ to you. He sets you apart. He makes you holy. And then he cleanses you in progressive sanctification. We'll talk about that. Christ died to set her apart, separate her from all that which is unclean, consecrating her to the Lord Jesus Christ and his will. How was that cleansing brought about? It says in verse 26, it was brought about with the washing of water by the word. But that's not referring to baptism there. The church, in that sense, isn't baptized, so to speak. It's not referring to baptism. If you remember in Ezekiel 16, he washed his bride, didn't he? He washed his bride. It was a pre-marital bath, so to speak. It says in verse nine, Ezekiel chapter 16, verse nine, then I washed you in water. Yes, I thoroughly washed off your blood and I anointed you with oil. All this seems to refer to her to connect to Titus chapter three. We're in Titus chapter three in verse three, Paul says this. For we ourselves were also once foolish. We were once disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in Madison envy, hateful and hating one another. That's the way we once were, right? But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us how? Through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior. That having been justified by his grace, we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Here in Titus three, it's the washing of regeneration, the renewing by the Holy Spirit, right? He washes us. He cleanses us, regenerates us, makes us alive in Christ, all that washing of water by the word. All this was done for the second purpose statement that we see in verse 27, back in Ephesians chapter five, verse 27, so that he might sanctify her and cleanse her with a washing of water by the word, second purpose statement, so that he might present her to himself a glorious church. Christ is the one who bought her. Christ is the one who cleanses her and consecrates her, sets her apart. Christ is the one who presents her to himself in splendor. Christ has done everything. Do you see? Everything, everything done by Christ. It's all of Christ. And this particular purpose statement has not been fulfilled quite yet, hasn't been done yet. He is making his bride ready even now, amen? But on that day, she's going to be seen, verse 27, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. Now, verse 27, as you consider verse 27, speaking of beauty, right? Beauty. What kind of beauty specifically? Think about that for a moment. It's beauty that is spiritual, holiness, the beauty of holiness, spiritual perfection, spiritual splendor. One author said this, the present church for the present on earth is often in rags and tatters, stained and ugly, despised and rejected. Don't you feel that sometimes? Often, right? But all this is accomplishing the purpose for which God saves us. In Ephesians, chapter one, in verse three, Paul says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be what? Holy and without blame before him in love. It's the purpose for which God, our God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, blessed us with those spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. As we await the coming of our bridegroom, all this that the bridegroom has done for his bride, all this that he has secured and purchased with his own blood. So we await his coming. There's a further work. If you're back in Ephesians five, there's a further work that's alluded to in verse 29. I want you to make that connection verse 29 where the Bible reads, for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes it and cherishes it just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones. The effect of having set us apart, right? The effect of having cleansed us and consecrated us to himself is that now, even now, if you are set apart and sanctified and consecrated, you're being prepared. You're being made ready. Even now in tattered rags and stained and ugly, despised and rejected even now you're putting off the tattered rags and putting on righteousness. We are a bride being made ready, one day presented to him as a glorious, a church, a raid in splendor. Now all this, point four on your notes, all this is accomplished through the word by which he taught her, the word by which he taught her. In Ephesians chapter five verse 26, Bible reads that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, the word by which he taught her. The word there, we make the connection in scripture, that word is the gospel. It's the gospel, the gospel. Romans chapter 10, being in verse six, Paul says this, but the righteousness of faith speaks in this way. Do not say in your heart who will ascend into heaven, that is to bring Christ down from above, or who will descend into the abyss, that is to bring Christ up from the dead. But what does it say? The word is near you in your mouth and in your heart. That is the word of faith, which we preach. That's the word of what? It's the gospel, right? It's the gospel. Verse nine, that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus Christ and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. So then verse 17, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word, right? The word of God. Peter says, all flesh is grass, all the glory of man as the flower of the grass, the grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the word of the Lord endures forever. Now this is the word, which by the gospel, Peter says, was preached to you. The word, all this accomplished through the gospel, the gospel, twice as Christians, right? You hear the gospel, you respond to the gospel, but now even set apart, sanctified, consecrated to him, we need to be reminded continuously of the gospel. The gospel needs to impact our daily thinking, our daily living. As you walk with Christ, you're walking in gospel truth. You're walking by faith in the Son of God who died and gave himself for you according to his gospel, which was preached to you. We have to live in light of the gospel, in the power of the gospel, all that accomplished through the gospel, the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which he died and purchased to himself his bride. It's an amazing salvation, isn't it? I think about the many ways in which God communicates this to us and how full and rich that truth becomes to us as we consider these illustrations and analogies and metaphors and pictures and paintings. It's just a glorious truth. All this for those that will turn from their sin and trust the bridegroom. All this will eventuate in a tremendous blessing, tremendous blessing. If you will turn from your sin and put your faith in Christ, there is glory and splendor in the bridegroom that awaits you, but if you reject him, your maker who is to be your husband, you reject him, you live in your adultery, you live in your harlotry, there will be eternal damnation, eternal torment. Think about all that Christ did in her condition, having sought her, the cost that he paid by which he bought her, all this accomplished through the word which he taught her, and then we see the height to which he brought her. Point five on your notes, the height to which he brought her. You consider the depth of her condition, right? It's almost unspeakable, isn't it? The degree of depravity, the filth, the depth at which he sought her to the height at which he brought her. It's a staggering contrast, a staggering contrast. Turn with me to Revelation chapter 19, Revelation chapter 19, from the gutter most to the utter most, right? Tremendous. The second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the bride will be united to her bridegroom. Revelation chapter 19 and drop down to verse six. John says, I heard as it were, the voice of a great multitude, the sound of many waters is the sound of mighty thundering saying, hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his wife has made herself ready. To her it was granted by God's grace, right? To her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints, not acts which they did in their own righteousness, acts in the power of God's spirit done in his righteousness and the righteousness of Christ. And he said to me in verse nine, right, blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, these are the true sayings of God. Flip the page and look at Revelation chapter 21. Revelation chapter 21 and look at verse one, the height to which he brought her, right? The staggering height to which he brought her. Verse one, John says, now I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also, there was no more sea than I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. This is called a metonym or a metonymy in literature. It's one thing, one part representing the whole. Here, the new Jerusalem descending out of heaven, representing the bride of Christ, all representing the bride. It's like I'm saying the White House, right? When you mean the government of our country. What is the White House doing today? I don't care. It's representing our country, right? This is the bride. The new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Verse three, I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people. God himself will be with them and be their God, right? That you can, considering the depth of our depravity and the depth of our sin that you can be in heaven with God. What an amazing thought, right? From the gutter most to the utter most. Verse four, God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death nor sorrow nor crying. There shall be no more pain for the former things have passed away. Then he who sat on the throne said, behold, I make all things new. And he said to me, right for these words are true and faithful. He said to me, it is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. Can you picture your wedding day? Amen? Picture your wedding day. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. That's an offer to you today if you're not in Christ. If you're not in Christ, that is an offer to you today. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts, but he who overcomes shall inherit all things and I will be his God and he shall be my son. But listen, listen, but the cowardly, the unbelieving, the 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. And one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talk with me saying, come, I will show you the bride, the lamb's wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain. He showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone. Israel in her best day was never arrayed like this, right? What glory. Clear is crystal. Verse 12, also she had a great and high wall with 12 gates and 12 angels at the gates and names are written on them, which are the names of the 12 tribes of the children of Israel, three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, three gates on the west. Mercy, right? Come quickly Lord Jesus. We will be arrayed with him in glory in splendor. It will be glorious. How are we to think about these things? What application should this have to your life? One is this, you are betrothed to him. If you are in Christ, if you've turned from your sin, put your faith in him, you are betrothed to him. Live like his bride. Make yourself ready in him and the strength of his spirit. Live for him. You are his bride set apart, cleansed, consecrated. Secondly, we're in a betrothal period. The marriage supper of the lamb is not here yet. So be watchful. Be watchful, the Bible says. You don't know the time or the hour at which the bridegroom will come. Have oil in your lamps. Be prepared, right? Watch, wait. Well, what is the bride's responsibility during this period? One is where to be as friends of the bridegroom to those who need him. Invite the bride to the marriage supper of the lamb. Revelation chapter 22 verse 17 says this, and the spirit and the bride say, come, let him who hears say, come, let him who thirsts, come, whoever desires that and take the water of life freely. You need to with the spirit say, come, come. Secondly, live holy lives before the world. Live holy lives before the world. You are the bride of Christ. You are the bride of the bridegroom. All of these truths that we find here, this picture a Lord says in Ephesians chapter five beginning in verse 30, all of these truths are to be displayed. Verse 30, he says, for we are members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones. For this reason, a man shall leave his father, right? For this reason, for this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. I want to be a part of that picture, young men, go take a wife. Go take a wife. I want to be a part of that picture, young ladies, take a husband. For this reason, for this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery, verse 32, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless, that each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself and that the wife see that she respects her husband. These truths are to be displayed in human marriage on the heels today of our marriage conference, which began yesterday. How are you to apply these truths? Live in your marriage like the bride of Christ that you claim to be. Live with your spouse, displaying the truths of the gospel, the depth to which he sought you, at which he bought you, the cost that was paid, the price that was paid, by which he bought you. Consider him, right? Consider him who knew no sin, having become sin for us. Consider him in your marriage, how you live with your spouse, display the gospel. All of us, brothers and sisters, are to follow him in faith by the power of his spirit, looking to him who gave himself and died for us. The bride's eyes, not on her garment, but on her dear bridegroom's face. I will not gaze at glory, but on my king of grace, not at the crown he giveth, but on his pierced hand. The land is all the glory of a manuel's land. Amen. Amen. Let's pray. Father in heaven, Lord, we thank you, the lengths to which you have gone to redeem your bride is glorious in our sight. It is tremendous, Lord. It is staggering and astounding, these profound, glorious, divine truths, the truths of our divine bridegroom. We praise you and we worship you. We thank you, Lord, by your blood. You purchased our redemption. Lord, you sanctified us and cleansed us and washed us, having granted to us regeneration by your spirit and even now preparing your bride for glory. We praise you and we worship you. We thank you. We look for with great anticipation and great hope that you're coming. We look forward with great anticipation and great hope at that glorious sight of your bride, a raid in splendor. We look forward, most of all, Lord, to our meeting you, being with you in heaven, worshiping and praising our bridegroom, the lamb who was slain from before the foundation of the world, the glory of heaven. We praise and worship you in this now. God, please help us, Lord. Help us to live like the bride. Help us, Lord, strengthen us by your spirit to live, to walk worthy of the calling with which you've called us. It is a glorious calling. All these things we pray in the blessed name of our great God and savior, our bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.