Glory & Privilege of the Church as the Bride #1

Introduction: Doctrine and Practice Interlock in Ephesians

0:00 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, August 27, 2000, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:11 Now let us turn together to Paul's letter to the Ephesian Church, and let me assure you, before I read a passage in your hearing, that I am not going to bring forward a warmed-over wedding message on husbands and wives. I am reading a passage that we have heard read several times this summer by me, by Pastor Lamar, and I don't know if Pastor Jeff read it at all in conducting a wedding here last week, but I am reading in your hearing Ephesians chapter 5, verses 22 to 33.

0:51 Wives, be in subjection to your own husbands as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife. As Christ also is the head of the church, himself the Savior of the body. But as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.

1:17 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for it or for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed. That he might cleanse her by the washing of water with the word. That he might present the church to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. Even so ought husbands also to love their own wives as their own bodies.

1:53 He that loves his own wife loves himself. For no man ever hated his own flesh, but nourished himself. And cherishes it, even as Christ also the church, because we are members of his body. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.

2:18 This mystery is great, but I speak in regard of Christ and of the church. Nevertheless, do each one of you severally love his own wife, even as himself, and let the wife see that she fear or reverence her husband.

2:41 Now, one of the most striking and obvious features of real biblical apostolic Christianity, as it is set forth in the pages of the New Testament, is the way in which doctrine and practice or truth and life relate to one another. When we pick up our Bibles, particularly the letters addressed to the various churches in the New Testament, we find that the doctrines of the Christian faith interlock with the practice of that faith, and that the practice demanded of Christians derives both its contours and its lifeblood from the distinctive doctrines of the Christian faith, even a quick and surface reading of the epistles of the New Testament will confront us again and again with this fact. Some of the most breathtakingly glorious doctrinal passages are set before us in the context of addressing the most nitty-gritty practical duties and responsibilities of the Christian faith. And some of the most...

4:03 These practical duties are the overflow of these breathtaking statements of its profound doctrines, so that doctrine and life constantly interlock. One spills over into the other, the other derives its shape, its contours, and its life and breath from its counterpart. And nowhere are these things more evident than in the passage, that I have read in your hearing. One servant of God has wisely written that the book of Ephesians is like a sermon on the greatest theme possible for a Christian sermon.

4:47 And what is it? It is a sermon on the eternal purpose of God, which He is fulfilling through His Son, Jesus Christ, and working out in and through the church. Now, please don't write that off as just a well-constructed sentence in an introduction. The letter that we know as the book of Ephesians is a marvelous sermon which sets before us the eternal purpose of God, which God is fulfilling through His Son, Jesus Christ, and working out in and through the church. And in the section read in your hearing, the apostle is setting before the Christians of that day and before us the alternate lifestyle of the people of God who comprise the church. He began in verse 17 of chapter 4 to say, This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you no longer walk as the Gentiles also walk. He is calling them to a radically different and distinct, alternate lifestyle.

6:06 And one of the areas in which he calls to that lifestyle is how the believer relates to structures of God-ordained authority. And so he begins with the marriage relationship. Then he moves on to the parent-child relationship, and then to the servant-master relationship. And in this particular section read in your hearing, we find this penetration, penetration of doctrine and life, of life and of doctrine.

The Church as the Substantial Reality, Marriage as the Picture

6:38 And in the light of the fact that we've had several weddings this summer, and I've gone back to this passage in order to prepare fresh or reworked homilies for each of those weddings addressing husbands and wives, and what I have called God's design or the design for a God-honoring marriage, I have been struck with the fact that in this passage, where the great burden is intensely practical, we have some of the richest statements on the relationship of Christ to his church to be found anywhere in Holy Scripture. And so this morning, and in terms of how far we get, may possibly spill over into the evening, I asked my fellow elders to pray for me, because if I pause to do what I want to do, I'm afraid I won't get through all I intended to get through. Then I have to break a promise that I would bring the second and final message of overview on 1 Peter. But I trust you will know that that promise was not of the nature of a vow, but it was a serious expression of intention. And now I'm stuck with these things that have been glorious to my own heart, and I trust will prove of benefit to you.

7:55 So we're going to come to this passage today, not to see what it says about the duty of husbands, to love their wives, or of wives to be in submission to their husbands, but we're coming to the passage to note what it says concerning the glory and the privilege of the church as the bride of Christ. The glory and the privilege of the church as the bride of Christ. Now someone may ask, but pastor is it right to do that? The burden of the passage is divine directives for husbands and wives, and the relationship of Christ to the church as his bride is simply brought in, in pursuit of that specific concern. Well, I answer yes, it is perfectly right to do this, because the Apostle himself was very, very conscious that as he moved from husbands, wives, church, and bride between wives and husbands, the church and Christ that he was, giving distinctive teaching concerning the church. Notice what he says in verse 32, having spoken of the mystery of the two, that is husband and wife becoming one flesh, he says this mystery is great,

9:17 but in regard of Christ and of the church. In other words, as the Apostle begins to work out these clear directives to husbands and wives, and is bringing in the great paradigm, and for that relationship, which is Christ in the church, his own mind and heart gets so caught up that he says, yes, this matter of marriage is a great mystery, but I am speaking of Christ and his church. He's very conscious that he is giving rich teaching on this very subject of the relationship of Christ to his church. And so with a good conscience, I do what I do this morning, and possibly this evening, because the Apostle, has as it were, set out the tracks for us. Now part of our problem when we come to a passage like this, is that we say, all right, the substantial central issue is husbands and wives. That's the concrete relationship. Now then, that draws some light from this relationship of Christ to the church, but the substantial entity is marriage, and the picture of marriage is Christ in the church.

10:35 But just the opposite is true. The substantial reality is Christ and the church, and the husband-wife relationship is but a picture of that reality. Now let me try to illustrate. Two years ago, before my wife underwent her first chemotherapy, knowing that she would lose her hair, we said it's time we get a portrait of us.

11:00 So we had a portrait, not a big fancy thing, a photograph, but by, a photographer in Caldwell. And then we went through the proofs, and we picked out the one that we thought was the best representation of us. And we had a number of copies made. They were made available to the church family, and people in various places have asked for them.

11:19 Now I have one of them sitting on a bookcase in my study. Now let me ask you, what is the substantial reality, that piece of paper with various colors imprinted on it, that follows the contours and shape of my, my face and my wife's face, and her nose and my nose? What is the substantial reality? This man and that woman, or that piece of paper sitting on the book stall?

11:48 You see my point? That's the picture. We are the reality. In this passage, the reality is Christ and his church.

12:00 And the marriage relationship is just a picture of that great reality. Paul says this mystery is great, the two, one flesh, but I speak of that which is even a greater, more lofty, more substantial reality, namely, the relationship of Christ and his church. For according to the scriptures, the unique and significant relationship of a man and a woman in marriage, does not go into the age to come. For in the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God.

12:43 But eternity will simply unfold the glory of being part of Christ's bride, and in union with him. So, I trust having persuaded your judgment, that it is right and proper for us to come to this passage, and seek to discover, for some perhaps the first time, some of it has been, new insight to my own heart, and refreshing to my own soul. Consider with me to the end, that we may have a greater comprehension of the glory, and privileges of the church as the bride of Christ. That as we stand on the threshold, that you know this, members and friends from our last congregational meeting, there are going to be 15 messages, deriving biblical principles out of our agreed standard of life, our church constitution, we'll be focusing on various elements of the life and ministry of the church. May God help us to approach those practical concerns, with something of the light of the glory, of what is in this passage, with respect to what the church is, and what the church experiences, as she is identified as Christ's bride. So we begin then, heading number one. Consider with me the church, as the object of Christ's special love,

The Church: Object of Christ's Special Love and Redemptive Sacrifice

14:10 and redemptive sacrifice. The church as the object of Christ's special love, and redemptive sacrifice. Paul begins in verse 25, to address husbands. Husbands love your wives, even as.

14:30 Now we could take the next words, right to the end of verse 27, pick them up, and set them down anywhere in scripture, and they would be true. They are statements of reality, which though they are introduced in the context, of addressing husbands and wives, are not dependent in any sense upon that context, for their true significance and meaning. They are facts that stand anywhere, in the spectrum of God's revelation of His heart, and of His saving work. Listen to them.

15:11 Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself up for it. That is a statement of the church, as the object of Christ's special love, and redemptive sacrifice. And at the heart of this, is the affirmation, Christ loved and gave. Now even in your English translation, you see that this is a loving and a giving, that had a specific manifestation.

15:46 It does not say, Christ is loving the church, and is giving Himself up for it. There is a sense in which that would be true, but that's not what the Spirit of God is saying, through the pen of the apostle. He is speaking of the church, as the object of Christ's special love, and redemptive sacrifices. And the tenses of these two verbs, He loved and He gave, they point to a loving and a giving, that had a specific and definitive expression, in space-time history.

16:27 Let's seek to unpack them. First, Christ loved the church. Christ loved the church. Christ with agapao.

16:38 Christ loved with agape. He did not love with eros or erao. The love of passion, either physical or non-physical, but often associated in the Greek speaking world, with physical passion. Christ loved us with a passion.

16:59 He loves His own with a passion. But eros, or the verb erao, is not used. Nor is phileo, from which we get Philadelphia, phile, phileo, that is fondness, the affection that exists in familial relationships, father and mother, brother and sister, siblings. Christ loves with that kind of love.

17:23 We are to love Him with that kind of love, according to 1 Corinthians 16, 22. And our Lord uses that in one of His questions to Peter. Do you love me? Do you phileo me?

17:35 As well as do you agapao or agape me? But we are told Christ loved. Christ with agape love. Christ loved with that intelligent love that is a commitment of will and of purpose to seek the good of its object at any cost and with no reference to the worthiness of its object.

18:03 Agapao is to love an object with no relationship to the worthiness or unworthiness of the object. And it is to love that object with a love of intelligence that sees the realities attached to that object and wills and purposes and seeks the good of that object even at great personal cost. Christ loved. There was an intense laser-like focus of His love in connection with something.

18:40 Christ loved. It points to an expression, to an aspect, to a manifestation of that love that can be identified. And what is it? Look at the text.

18:52 Christ loved. And impelled by that love gave Himself up for her. A feminine pronoun. A feminine pronoun because church, ecclesia, is a feminine noun.

19:07 And the church is a her. It is the bride. Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her. Now we ask the question, to what did He give Himself?

Christ's Sacrifice: An Offering and Sweet Savor to God

19:22 To whom did He give Himself? Well, the text is clear that He loved the church and gave Himself up for her. But to what did He give Himself up for her? That's the question.

19:40 And we don't need to look far for the answer. Just go right back to the first verses of Ephesians 5. Be therefore imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love even as Christ also and here is the same construction, same tenses of the verb, Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for you an offering and a sacrifice to God for an odor of a sweet smell. You see, Paul has already told these Ephesian saints when the letter would have been read, they would have heard these words before they heard the words of Ephesians 5, 25 and they would have known when he wrote, Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her. It was not some nebulous, undefined and undefinable selfless act of giving Himself up to something or other in some way or another. Who knows for what end? No, he had already said, Christ loved you, gave Himself up for you.

20:54 And this is for you linguists ep-exegetical. This now opens up what He means for giving up Himself. This is what He did, an offering and a sacrifice to God for an odor of a sweet smell. An offering and a sacrifice to God for an odor of a sweet smell.

21:21 Now, what in the world does that mean? When you turn to Exodus, we'll look at one passage. We could turn to many and we'll find a very clear answer from Scripture. Exodus chapter 29, for remember, biblical terms must be explained wherever possible with biblical roots to those terms.

21:41 And here is one of the main tap roots to that terminology. Exodus chapter 29, verse 15. Giving directions to the priest and their functions in God's tabernacle, we read, You shall take the one ram and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands upon the head of the ram. And you shall slay the ram and you shall take its blood and sprinkle it round about upon the altar.

22:05 And you shall cut the ram into its pieces, wash its inwards and its legs, and put them with its pieces and with its head. And you shall burn the whole ram upon the altar. It is a burnt offering unto Jehovah. It is a sweet savor, an offering made by fire unto Jehovah.

22:31 You see the parallel language? Christ loved us, gave himself for us as sacrifice unto God, an odor of a sweet smell. Now put yourself back in the situation at Exodus. You're watching this priest do what God told him to do.

22:48 And though it's caused a little bit of revulsion when you've seen it, he took the one ram, laid hands upon the head, cut its throat, gathered its blood in a basin. You say, gross! Yes, it is gross. God wants it to be gross.

23:07 Sin is gross. God's judgment is gross. It's gross! He catches the blood.

23:14 And then what does he do? He sprinkles the blood round about the altar. Then he cuts up the ram into pieces, takes its bowels, its innards, and he washes them and puts it all together. And then he puts the whole shooting match on an altar and burns it.

23:34 Not roast it. Burns it. Have you smelled burnt roast? You guys come home thinking your wife's having a nice meal.

23:42 You come in the front door and an acrid smell hits your nostrils and say, honey, what in the world's going on? She'd gone out and got delayed and forgot to put the timer on the oven and the roast is burned. Did you ever come in the house and say, oh, that smells wonderful, burning roast. What happens when you've left the pan on too long and something burns in it, a piece of meat?

24:05 You carry it outside and let it give off its smoke into the open air. It stinks. The tabernacle had the continual stench of burning flesh. And yet, it says when God smells it, what does he call it?

24:22 It is a sweet savor unto God. Are God's nostrils made of different stuff, different olfactory nerves? No, God has no body like we do. Why was it a sweet savor unto God?

24:39 Because it symbolized that God's wrath against the sins of those whose sins had been ceremonially, pictorially transferred to that wrath, that God's wrath, pictured as consuming fire, in consuming that sacrifice, that substitute, God was pleased. His wrath is appeased. He can now welcome the forgiven and the pardoned worshipper into his presence. And so the acrid smell and the curling smoke of burnt flesh is sweet to God's nostrils because God is enabled to be both just and the justifier of the one who trusts in the sacrifice of his appointment. And every single ram that was offered and every single ram whose flesh was burnt and all of the smoke that curled upward and the pungent, acrid smell, that God says is sweet to me, gather up the tens of thousands of the rams and all of the burnt sacrifices and they all terminate in Jesus. And when he gives himself up to the death of the cross he is God's ram and God's lamb

26:04 and there he is consumed in the fire of God's just anger. Against the sins of those for whom he dies. And when God looks upon his bloody, beaten, bruised, not forsaken son he says it smells sweet to my nostrils because my obedient servant has turned away the fury, the white hot fury of my fiery but just indignation. And I can now show mercy to the ill deserving and to the guilty. Christ loved the church and what did his love move him to do? To give himself up for her. Give himself up to what?

27:04 To being what Paul describes and an offering and a sacrifice unto God. An odor of a sweet smell. The language of Hebrews is for by one offering he hath perfected forever those who are sanctified who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot unto God. This tells us then that if he did this for the church which is his bride what was the condition of the church and the bride by nature?

27:43 Guilty. Polluted. Defiled. Condemned.

27:51 Deserving of the very fiery wrath that consumed the sacrifice. The heavenly bridegroom becomes the slain lamb. He becomes the consumed ram by his own voluntary self-surrender. He loved the church.

28:15 It wasn't lovely. It was stained. He loved the church not because it had no liabilities. It was laden down with the deserved wrath of the Almighty.

Personalizing Christ's Love and Sacrifice

28:29 But he loved the church and he gave himself for her. But since the church, his bride, is comprised of the sum total of all his chosen ones you know what every one of those members of his church can say? The language of Galatians chapter 2. Look at the parallel language.

28:54 The apostle can speak of being crucified with Christ yet no longer I that live but Christ lives in me. Galatians 2.20 In the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith. Now notice.

29:10 And what is the focus of that faith? The faith which is in the Son of God the one who came by way of Mary's womb that holy thing born of you shall be called Son of God. Son of God. Now notice.

29:25 Same basic construction. Instead of regular finite verbs you have participles but the same construction the same tense. The Son of God who loved me gave himself for me. You see what Paul has done?

29:44 Christ loved the church gave himself for her. And what is the church? Some nebulous, undefined club of humanity. No!

29:55 It's made up of individual sinners guilty defiled polluted hell deserving. And as surely as the love is personal deep distinguishing and particular he loved me. So the giving of himself as a sacrifice was personal distinguishing and particular he loved me and he gave himself for me. It is the truth that the church is the object of Christ's special love and redemptive sacrifice which is the foundation of the life and the well-being of the church and of all the individuals who comprise it. Dear brothers and sisters we must constantly see ourselves as a company of the loved and the purchased one. And learn to say as men and women of faith the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. And if you are a fellow member of that church by profession and by walk I must view you as one whom he loved and for whom he gave himself.

31:17 When we are a company that live in the soil and in the atmosphere of being a company of the loved and the ones for whom he gave himself the effects are nothing short of radical in every facet of life before God individually and our life together corporately. Jesus said in John 6.56 He who continually eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up to the last day. Jesus said the life of my people is the truth that I loved them and gave myself for them.

31:58 That's eating his flesh and drinking his blood. It's living as Paul said by faith in the Son of God. Not the Son of God who made the world though he did. Hebrews 1, Colossians 1.

32:10 Not the Son of God who and you can save a hundred things that are true of him but it's the Son of God who loved me. Loved me. Even me. Loved me.

32:20 In all my guiltiness. In all my defiled state. He loved me when there was nothing lovable and everything damned. He loved me.

32:32 And his love was not a temporary motion of his heart or an emotion of his being. He loved me with an intelligent, principled love that was willing to give itself up for me. He loved me. Gave himself for me.

32:56 And when we live in the faith of that reality then we will find with Paul 2 Corinthians 5.14 the love of Christ constrains me. Not restrains me. Constrains me.

33:08 It holds me in its grip wherever I turn. The love of Christ is there constraining me. Constraining me to think in every action. Will this please my heavenly bridegroom who loved me and gave himself for me?

33:26 Will this bring praise to him or shame to him? Christ's love for me is such what is there that I will not do for him or bear for him. Whatever I do I'm not asked to even give up myself for myself. That offering would not be an odor of a sweet smell.

33:49 It would be a stench in the nostrils of God. It would be a sinner dying for a sinner. But when the sinless one dies the just for the unjust. Dear people, we can't live in the faith of that and the consciousness of that and not be constrained by the love of Christ.

34:08 We who are in leadership we must view God's people in that light. Paul says to the elders of Ephesus in Acts 20.28 Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock of God in the which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the flock of God which he purchased with his own blood. Christ loved you.

34:32 Christ died for you. We must carefully watch for you and seek to bring you safely to your home. We must carefully watch for you and seek to bring you safely to your home. Living in the faith of this will affect what I do and don't do with my body.

The Impact of Christ's Purchase on the Believer's Body and Relationships

34:48 Remember 1 Corinthians 6. What? Know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which you have of God and you are not your own? You were bought with a price.

34:59 Glorify God therefore in your body. And that's all some of you need to break the back of your chronic problem with obesity and gluttony. Don't anyone say you're always preaching about it? I've deliberately for months and months not mentioned that sin.

35:18 But the Bible does and it puts gluttons and dunkers in the same category. What you need is a fresh baptism of realization. This body was purchased. My heavenly bridegroom didn't just purchase my soul.

35:35 He purchased me, all of me. Including this physical, psychical entity called me. He purchased me, all of me. Glorify God in that body.

35:47 Let that body reflect what Christ has done to liberate us from passions and appetites that lead to the abuse of that temple. Delivering from excesses of sensual indulgence, sexual purity. My dear friend, struggling with inordinate lust, pray that God will let every fiber of your soul absorb this truth He loved me. Gave himself for me.

36:18 Shall I give myself to that momentary erotic pleasure at the expense of incurring the frown of him who loved me and gave himself for me? As we relate to one another when Paul is dealing with the subject of Christian liberty both in Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 8 and you've got those people that say, Oh, we know we're free in Christ. Meats are meats and drinks are drinks and wine is wine and movies are movies and nothing's evil in itself and I can just do what I want in my Christian liberty. Paul said, wait a minute.

36:52 There's somebody else involved here. You've got brethren whose consciences are sensitive and they behold you a so-called mature Christian indulging in that which for them would be sin and they see your careless, shameless indulgence in your liberty and they are emboldened to do that which for them is sin. He said, when you sin against your brother you sin against Christ and you sin against the brother for whom Christ. When I look at you and I say the heavenly bridegroom thought so much of you that he loved you and he gave himself up for you will I not give up the pleasure of a liquid passing down my throat? Will I not give up what may be an innocent pleasure of seeing or doing this or that? God have mercy on you and me when something means more than the purchased property of Jesus Christ. God have mercy on us when we look at one another as the objects of his distinguishing love and his redemptive grace.

38:19 If he loved and gave himself up for you will I not give up some liberty for your sake that you might get to heaven with a good conscience that you might not be caused to stumble? Will I give up some time and some personal interest to seek to minister to your needs? You see the implications. You see why I say that when the church lives and breathes the reality of Christ's redemptive love and sacrifice it touches us at every point.

38:57 And I was struck afresh as I went back to that prayer at the end of chapter three. A prayer that has baffled me for years. Several years ago I took a whole month and did nothing but read this prayer through alone with God asking me to teach me what it meant. I took everything in my library that commented upon, not everything but many things saying, oh God teach me.

39:25 And I turned away at the end of a month saying I don't know any more now than I knew then. But look at the language. For this cause, verse 14 of chapter three, I bow my knees unto the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory that you may be strengthened with power through his spirit in the inward man that Christ may dwell in your heart through faith to the end that you being rooted and grounded in love He's moving from one to another. He wants Christ to dwell in the heart and that they be rooted and grounded in love and being rooted and grounded in love may be strong to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and the length and the height and the depth and to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge that you may be filled unto all the fullness of God. He's praying that they may know and that's the condition of being filled unto all the fullness of God. I don't understand it. But I stand off from it and say Oh God, whatever it means give me to taste more that I may know, experientially know the love of Christ that passes knowledge the love that was terminated upon me individually, personally, specifically

40:53 that moved him to give himself up for me. You'll never hear me say that Christ would have done that where I am. I am the only sinner whom he had chosen. That's pure speculation.

41:07 But I know among all those that are chosen who comprise this church he did it for me. He did it for me. He did it for me. You see why I say the great reality in this passage is not a husband's love for his wife and somehow that's a picture of Christ's love to the church.

The Church: Recipient of Christ's Purifying, Perfecting, and Nurturing Grace

41:28 No! The reality is Christ loving the church giving himself up for her. And now he says husbands you let your wife know and let everyone know who sees you relating to your wife that what you do as a husband is a little bit of paper on the bookshelf that at least has the outlines and the contours and the shape of the nose and the ears and the eyes of Jesus and his love and his giving of himself. Then we move secondly to note in this passage not only the fact that the church is the object of Christ's special love and redemptive sacrifice but note with me secondly that the church is the recipient of Christ's purifying perfecting and nurturing grace. And I've used those three words in order to capture what is in the text. The church is the recipient of Christ's purifying perfecting and nurturing grace. Look at the text again.

42:37 Husbands love your wives even as Christ also loved them. He loved the church and gave himself up for it. That, and you Greek students you have a henna clause of purpose. The little Greek word I with an H in front of it.

42:56 A henna, H-I-N-A. In order that. Why did he love and give himself up? In order that.

43:04 He might sanctify it having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word. Another clause of purpose. In order that. He might present the church to himself a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing.

43:21 But that it should be holy and without blemish. You see the church is not only the object of Christ's special love and redemptive sacrifice but according to this passage the church for which Christ died and for whom he gave himself is the recipient of Christ purifying perfecting and nurturing grace. According to this passage to what end or ends did Christ love and give? Well there are two parts to the answer.

43:57 Verses 26 and 27. One is the initial and the other is the ultimate end. Or if you prefer there is a proximate and a remote end. There is a now purpose and a then purpose.

44:11 There is a present and a present and there is a future. You choose whatever contrasting words you want and with which you feel most comfortable. I couldn't so I gave you all four. In order that there is a proximate a now manifestation of Christ's purifying grace.

44:29 There is a then a remote a consummate for you theological students an eschatological fulfillment of that purifying grace. Let's look at them. Look at the initial purifying words. Two key words.

44:43 Christ loved and gave in order that now look at the language he might sanctify her having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word. The two key words are sanctify and having cleansed. And there are sermons in Greek tenses. And though I do not load you down with Greek grammar in the preaching where necessary to represent the mind of Christ I must allude to it.

45:17 Not to parade my limited learning in Greek but to help you to grasp what God is saying. And the tenses point not to that ongoing work of sanctification and that progressive work of purifying that's another biblical doctrine but here the tenses point to an initial definitive sanctification an initial definition a definitive setting apart unto God when the guilty and defiled sinner is actually brought within the orbit of the work of Jesus Christ dying for him as it is applied by the Holy Spirit. And here the apostle uses these two words that he might sanctify it that is set it apart unto God having cleansed it by the washing of water with or by the word. Christ died that he might on behalf of all for whom he died in their space time history one by one have a people who are sanctified set apart from the original state of guilt and defilement and pollution having been cleansed with the washing of water with or by the word. Now the first word that's easy when it says that he might sanctify it and uses a tense that speaks

46:46 of a definitive crisis of sanctification that's what God does when the Holy Spirit regenerates us in the context of the preaching of the gospel faith and repentance are exercised in the heart the sinner is united to Christ and in virtue of that union he dies to sin he rises to newness of life he is a new creature in Christ not a perfect new creature but a new creature he is not old man and new man old man is dead and buried in Christ's tomb he's a new man raised to walk in newness of life that's being set apart unto God from the state of pollution but in so doing there is an actual cleansing and purifying there is a washing Titus speaks of the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit Jesus said being born of water and of the Spirit now when I would try to say to you now the next phrase is just as clear as the former when it says that he might cleanse it by the washing of water with the word it means this no question I can't do that there's a great debate and discussion among exegetes and Bible loving Christ loving believing men is he referring here to baptism is the washing the external pledge of God's internal cleansing

48:14 declared in baptism when as the believing sinner is plunged into the water and raised up out of the water there is a bath of the whole body symbolizing that being set apart unto God cleansed from initial defilement and pollution is he referring to baptism if so then it is baptism as the actual external indication of being set apart unto God and cleansed but it's the internal faith in the word of the gospel it is the washing of water in connection with crema cremati the spoken word so the emphasis then would be such as Romans chapter 10 if you will confess with thy mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in thy heart that God has raised him to the dead the mouth confession is made for with the heart man believes unto righteousness with the mouth confession is made unto salvation and I'm not ready to say well I'm certain it means this it can only mean this I will give you one quote from one commentator that I found very helpful two agencies are described as making the cleansing possible it is with the washing of water and it is by the word how does the washing of water help to effect this sanctification and the cleansing

49:42 of heart from sin the two are connected again in Titus 3 5 Calvin no doubt gives the true meaning when he says quote having mentioned the inward and hidden sanctification Paul now adds the outward symbol by which it is visibly confirmed as if he had said that a pledge of that sanctification is held out to us by baptism end quote any thought automatically conveying the inward grace is excluded by the addition of the words by the word it is probably the word of the gospel that is referred to rather than the word of confession of faith as others assert such is the means by which the sanctification becomes effective in men's lives and that only as it is believed Jesus said in John 15 3 17 17 sanctify them in the truth thy word is truth the apostle is using great economy of words and it may be that in every expression he has the analogy of marriage in mind here there may be notice not dogmatic there may be an implied reference to the ceremonial bath taken by a bride before marriage there is also a Jewish custom that may go back even to those days which at the giving when there was the commitment and pledge of betrothal

51:11 the bridegroom said behold you are sanctified to me you are set apart to me you are nobody else's anymore you are mine but whatever the precise nuance may be this much is clear that the Christ who loved this church and gave himself for his church secures to everyone who is a part of that church in their space time history and application of his grace in which they are sanctified definitively radically fundamentally set apart from sin and the world and the pursuit of self unto God and Christ and holiness and in that being set apart they are cleansed symbolically in baptism internally and truly by belief of the truth or it could be that the water is the symbol of the cleansing and belief of the truth is the instrument by which we lay hold of the word and promise of the cleansing and as far as I am concerned it doesn't make a big deal where we come down on it so please don't meet me at the door and challenge me to come up with a definitive position alright the important thing is this if you are one of those for whom Christ died and you say he loved me and gave himself Christ has manifested his gracious work

The Inseparability of Christ's Death and Its Application

52:40 in that initial purifying work of grace rooted in the love and giving of himself and it will infallibly manifest itself in everyone who is part of his bride in their own conversion well our time is gone and I want to get to the consummate perfecting work of grace and then the continuing nourishing and cherishing work of grace and I believe I have our answer to our prayers so now I've got to bring the message to a close just halfway through and let me just pick up one of the strands that I had that I wanted to press at the end and it will be a little ragged to press it here but I don't want us to leave not everyone will be back again tonight none of us has a telegram from heaven saying we'll live to breathe the night air neither you nor I nor anything other than what is in the text I trust you sit there and say yes that's not forcing any meaning on the words of the text letting scripture interpret scripture Christ does indeed have this distinguishing deep sacrificial love for his church that moves him to give himself up for her but he is not content simply to give himself up for her he wants her to be a pure bride without spot so what does he do

54:09 when he finds each one who's part of that bride in his or her space time native condition guilty defiled polluted what does he do he brings the word and truth of the gospel and by the holy spirit works effectually in their hearts so they see themselves as guilty and polluted and hell deserving and they see that in Christ there is a sufficient and a sincere offer of life and salvation and they are brought to embrace Christ in the truth and word of the gospel and they are sanctified set apart unto God having been washed and internally cleansed now this has a tremendous and very vital doctrinal implication and I want to focus on it briefly and what is the doctrinal implication it is this that the death of Christ is inseparable from the application of the benefits of that death now think for a minute the death of Christ is inseparable from the application of the benefits of that death Christ loved the church gave himself up for it in order that hopefully some would in some way or another

55:37 see that in his death is their only hope of salvation and hopefully he will have enough people to comprise his bride you see if you have a specific definite atonement with no specific certain application of its benefits you have detached what God has joined Christ loved his church gave himself up for her in order that Christ will have the purpose for which he died and that's to have a bride that divorces to be married to Christ in the pursuit of the very end for which he set his love upon her to present her to himself a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing and he implants in the heart of everyone who comprises his bride a passion to be what in grace he's going to make her you got that what's he going to make her jump ahead a little bit don't expound it but you see it that he might present her in the most glorious church no spot no moral imperfection no wrinkles no sags in the skin of universal holiness and conformity to Christ he died to have a bride and when she stands at the door to come down

57:07 she isn't spattered with mud and ketchup from her hamburger and fries on the way to the wedding ceremony she's going to be all glorious without a spot without a wrinkle she's going to be the grace of Christ yes but by that grace working in her a desire to be what Christ is going to make her so as you sit here this morning the question you need to ask is my heart set upon that which Christ will make me you see to say well I got in the door I'm fireproof I no longer fear hell and judgment Christ loved me died for me I'm home scot free universal careful spirit empowered Christ absorbed Christ dependent holiness that's if you want to go all the way that's if you want to be an upper level Christian I'm content to get in inside cabin down in the fourth row in the hold as long as I'm on the luxury line or going to heaven I don't care if I see the ocean those of you who get these ads you know they promise you such and such is that your attitude my Bible says everyone that has this hope in him continually purifies himself even as he is pure if you're a part of his bride

Invitation to the Heavenly Bridegroom

58:35 he's put in you a passionate yearning to be what the bride is going to be you aren't that yet but you ain't happy about it and you're not content with it is that true then you ask yourself and answer with judgment day honesty then I say to those of you who say I've never heard anything like this before I've never heard about Christ being anything other than he was for good and did good and they treated him badly and put him on a cross and I've heard people say he rose from the dead my friend he can't do any of this if he's still dead on the cross he presents the bride to himself because he's the living Lord who perfects her and you say well I don't know if he loved me and gave himself for me listen to me listen to me I'm asking did he love you distinctively personally individually you need to only know this much he's loved sinners is bad and is worse than you worse than you and he stands before you in the word and promise of the gospel and says I'm the heavenly bridegroom who has not yet completed my bride you want to be part of her come to me I am a willing I am an able savior the virtue of my death and the power of my sinner and sanctify him wash him cleanse him

60:02 make him acceptable in the sight of my father come to me Jesus you don't get hung up with the nature and extent of the atonement you get hung up with the reality that in all of your ugly spotted defilement Jesus comes to you and says I'm willing to be your heavenly bridegroom will you have me I want to use an extended illustration tonight I'd hope to get to it he says come to me come to me come to me yes but I'm filed yes he says I know that I died for the file but Lord you don't know there's internal filth yes I know all about it but I bid you come to me come to me come to me come to me I love to receive sinners come to me my friend go to Christ go to Christ that's how we had to come we didn't come having resolved whether or not we were distinctly individually particularly loved that issue was not relevant to us the issue is the savior comes to us in the gospel and invites us to himself and in him we have all the virtue of that which he has done and continues to do for sinners so the question is the question of intent right up here several times this summer I've looked at a young man and said

61:30 will you Aaron Jessica will you this man's ready to take you Jessica you want to be taken I do Christ stands before you as the heavenly bridegroom and as a minister of the gospel I say will you have Jesus to be your lawfully wedded husband he's ready to confer upon you all that his grace provides for sinners what a fool to go on filthy and defiled and unclean and guilty and hell deserving when the heavenly bridegroom says I'm ready to get married to you will you have me will you have me may God grant that you say yes Lord I will let's pray our father we confess that at times we speak of things of which we know so little and our consciences affirm that did we see but the edges of the love that our Lord Jesus has for sinners it would swallow us up render us paralyzed in mind and spirit but we pray

62:59 that you would bless our feeble efforts to set forth something of the glory and the wonder of his relationship to his church his bride oh God we pray for your praise and for your glory seal the word to every heart and may it bear abundant fruit to your praise and to our good we ask in Jesus name amen amen