Glory & Privilege of the Church as the Bride #2

Recap: The Church as Object of Christ's Love and Sacrifice

0:00 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday evening, August 27, 2000, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now those of you who were with us when we gathered to worship and to look into God's Word together this morning already know that our consideration of the Word of God tonight will be comprised of a continuation and a completion of the message which I was unable to complete this morning due to the constraints of time. And if any of you think that by now, after preaching for, well, 47, 48 years,

0:43 I ought to know how much material on paper will translate into how much utterance, you just don't understand preaching. I don't say that to fault you, but it's a fact. You just don't understand preaching. So you bear with me when I come to these times when I don't make a good assessment and feel it necessary to complete the morning message in the evening.

1:13 Well, for those who were here, you know that we were looking into Ephesians chapter 5 with respect to Christ's relationship to His Church as His Bride. And I began our study this morning, and I'm going to attempt, squeeze into 10 minutes, an hour's worth, of exposition. I began by highlighting the fact that in the New Testament, especially in the epistles we see the constant interrelatedness and inter penetration of doctrine and practice, of truth, and of life.

1:50 And because this is so, some of the most lofty doctrinal passages drop down upon us immediately on the heels of the most practical implications or giving birth to the most practical implications and some of the most mundane duties take us up into the stratosphere of some of the Bible's most lofty doctrines. And nowhere is this more true than in Ephesians 5, verses 22 to 33. What begins as a very practical word of directive concerning Christian husbands and wives and their mutual duties one to another

2:33 gives birth to one of the most glorious passages in all of Scripture concerning Christ's relationship to the church as His bride. And we must not think that marriage is the substantial matter and that the church somehow does. And that somehow draws some light and some analogies from that substantial relationship of a husband and wife. For just the opposite is true.

3:02 And Paul was conscious of this, for he says in verse 32 of Ephesians 5, this mystery is great, that is the mystery of the two becoming one flesh in marriage, but I speak in regard to Christ and of the church. And it is the relationship of Christ to His church that is the relationship of Christ to His church and it is the relationship of Christ to His church as His bride from which marriage is to take its shape and to derive its contours. That's the picture that is Christ and His church that is the reality, the living reality. And so in the light of the fact that I will be beginning a series of at least 15 messages

3:46 dealing with various aspects of church life, I felt it would be healthy to our souls, to get a fresh vision of the glory and the privileges of the church in her identity as the bride of Christ. Then we began to look at verses 25 to 27 in this passage. Husbands, love your wives even as, and here are the statements which stand on their own feet, they would be in place and they would be true no matter where they were found in Scripture, Christ loved the church. He loved the church and gave Himself up for it that He might sanctify it or better rendered her,

4:30 having cleansed 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. We began to look at this passage first of all under the heading the church, is the object of the special love and redemptive sacrifice of Christ. The church is the object of the special love and redemptive activity of Christ. The heart of the affirmation in this passage is Christ loved and gave.

5:13 It was the love of intelligence and commitment to will and to seek the good of its object at great personal cost. These words in the form in which they come in the original point not to Christ general and ongoing love, but to a specific definitive act of loving and of giving. And we find in chapter 5 verses 1 and 2 what that love and that giving were. The imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love and now the same construction, even as Christ loved and gave.

5:52 Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for you, an offering and a sacrifice to God for an odor of a sweet smell. Christ loved, demanded the sacrifice of Himself. And this being so, the bride was not lovely but guilty, polluted and wrath deserving. And Christ loved the church and gave Himself for the church, and then we noted that since the church is comprised of the whole totality of those whom He loved and for whom He gave Himself,

6:33 each of them can say with Paul in the language of Galatians 2 and verse 20, the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. And in the application, I sought to show in five or six ways from specific text, why the individual members of the church, the bride, must live in the consciousness of the fact that they are the objects of the special love and the redemptive sacrifice of Christ. Then having considered the assertion of 525b, that the church is the object of the special love and redemptive sacrifice of Christ,

The Church as Recipient of Christ's Purifying Grace

7:17 we began to take up the second heading, as we looked into verse 3, verse 26 and 27. And that is this, the church is the recipient of the purifying, perfecting and nurturing grace of Christ. Not only the object of His special love and of His sacrifice, but the church is the recipient of the purifying, perfecting and nurturing grace of Christ. What were the ends, for which Christ loved and gave Himself as a sacrifice?

7:57 The two purpose clauses here in these verses tell us. We learn first of all that there was the initial sanctifying and purifying grace that He would impart to each one who becomes a part of His church, His bride. Look at the language of the text. Christ loved, Christ gave in order that, He might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word.

8:26 That is a description of the initial sanctifying and purifying grace that Christ would infallibly impart to everyone who becomes a part of His church, His bride. The tenses of the Greek words again point to a sanctifying and a purifying that are not continuous, but are definitive. Not progressive, but they come on the threshold of one's being brought into union with Christ. They are set apart unto Christ.

9:00 They are purified by these means. The washing of water in connection with the word. And whatever place there may be for a reference to baptism, and we saw that we could not solve that debate, this much is clear. This cleansing occurs in conjunction with the Holy Spirit.

9:19 This cleansing occurs in conjunction with the Holy Spirit. This cleansing occurs in conjunction with the Holy Spirit. This cleansing occurs in conjunction with the Holy Spirit. This cleansing occurs in conjunction with the Holy Spirit.

9:20 This cleansing occurs in conjunction with the Holy Spirit. This cleansing occurs in conjunction with the Holy Spirit. This cleansing occurs in conjunction with the Holy Spirit. This cleansing occurs in conjunction with the Holy Spirit.

9:22 This cleansing occurs in conjunction with the Holy Spirit. This cleansing occurs in conjunction with the Holy Spirit. This cleansing occurs in conjunction with the Holy Spirit. This cleansing occurs in conjunction with the Holy Spirit.

9:24 This cleansing occurs in conjunction with the Holy Spirit. This cleansing occurs in conjunction with the Holy Spirit. This cleansing occurs in conjunction with the Holy Spirit. This cleansing occurs in conjunction with the Holy Spirit.

9:26 This cleansing occurs in conjunction with the Holy Spirit. This cleansing occurs in conjunction with the Holy Spirit. This cleansing occurs in conjunction with the Holy Spirit. This cleansing occurs in conjunction with the Holy Spirit.

9:28 This cleansing occurs in conjunction with the Holy Spirit. Now, sticking my head in my notes, which I am loath to do, everything in me says I shouldn't do that. I'm talking to people, not to my desk. But I've completed my review in ten minutes, and so now we come to further consider what does this passage teach us?

The Church as Recipient of Christ's Perfecting Grace

9:46 Not only about the church as the object of the special love and redemptive sacrifice of Christ, but the church as the recipient of the purifying, perfecting, and nurturing grace of Christ. Well, we've seen what it says about the church as recipient of the purifying grace of Christ. Now notice, under this second heading, the church as recipient of the perfecting, the consummate perfecting work of Christ.

10:21 Look at verse 27. He gave himself, he loved and gave himself, that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it, in order that...

10:33 Here is the second clause of purpose. To this end, that he might present the church to himself, better rendered, that he himself...

10:45 There is an additional pronoun. It's not necessary for the sense of the meaning, but for the underscoring that it is the heavenly bridegroom, that he himself 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. The Christ who loved the church while she was yet filthy, defiled, polluted, and guilty, who gave himself for her while she was defiled, polluted, and...

11:24 Who, when he brings each one into that church to be part of his bride, he sanctifies and purifies with the washing of water in connection with the spoken word, that Christ is determined to bring his work to its consummate perfection in all who are part of his church, his bride. He will not be satisfied. Until he himself presents to himself his church, a glorious church.

12:01 A more literal rendering of the original would say, present to himself, endoxa, present to himself in glory, the church, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. Well, let's unpack those words for a few moments. He died that he might present the church to himself, a glorious church, an endoxa church. The preposition end, in, doxa, glory.

12:39 That he might present to himself a church that is enveloped in glory. Glory. Glory is the outshining of the perfection that the church will know glory is the outshining of the perfection that the church will know that the Lord Jesus has brought her to her consummate perfection by his grace. That's the general term.

13:01 He will present it to himself enveloped in glory. Now, what does that mean specifically? Well, the apostle tells us negatively and positively. Negatively, that will mean a church enveloped in glory, that is, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing.

13:19 Not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. That's the negative. Not having.

13:27 Not having spot. No blemish. No mole will be found distracting our eyes from the symmetrical beauty of the bride. How often people will say, well, she would be a beautiful woman if...

13:46 And what follows the if is the blemish that is pronounced that mars the symmetry of that beauty. So that instead of being all beautiful, she is beautiful if she did not. If this were not. But the bride that Christ presents to himself will be enfolded in nothing but glory.

14:10 What does that mean? Without spot and without wrinkle. This is the term you would use to describe what happens when the flesh begins to hang behind the triceps. And crow's feet come in here.

14:28 And the wattle here begets a bit more pronounced. Wrinkles, folds in the skin. The mark of advancing age. And advancing age is nothing but a preview to the grave and to the words and the dissolution in the grave.

14:45 But now when he presents his bride to himself, she will be without any spot, no blemish, no wrinkles. And Paul says, anything but glory. Anything that fits in that category. There will be no moral blemish or defect of any kind whatsoever.

15:05 He himself will present to himself a church enveloped in glory. That is, not having spot or wrinkle or anything in that category of defect or of imperfection. Now positively dropping all figurative language. But look at the contrast.

15:27 Having no such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish. That it should be holy and without blemish. And here the holiness is not merely set apartness unto God. That is the sanctification that occurs on the threshold of Christian experience.

15:50 When there is that radical definitive break with the dominion and power and pollution of sin. But here is a holiness imparted. He himself shall present to himself a bride that will be holy and utterly without any moral blemish whatsoever. And it's interesting that this is precisely the couplet of words the apostle was guided to use way back in chapter 1.

16:19 When he writes in verse 3 of chapter 1. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ. Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world.

16:37 In order that we should be, and here's our two words. Holy and without blemish before him. And I take the position that the in love belongs with the next verse. In love having predestinated us.

16:55 Chose us. In order that we should be holy and without blemish before him. The eye of God himself will not be able to find anything that can be called a contradiction of holiness. Through and through the entirety of our redeemed being.

17:19 The eye of God will find nothing that is contrary to his own holiness. We shall be before. For him. Holy and utterly without blemish.

17:33 Then from the father's perspective. What he has predestined us to be. Romans 8.29.

17:40 Whom he the father foreknew. Then he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. That he might be the firstborn among many brethren. But from the standpoint of God the son.

17:54 And the imagery of the bride. He shall present. To himself. A bride.

18:00 That is utterly. Without. Spot. Wrinkle.

18:04 Any such thing. But in reality shall be holy. And without. Blemish.

18:11 Now note please. From the passage in Ephesians 5. How all of this is tied together. He loved the church.

18:20 Gave himself up for the church. In order that. He might impart. The initial work.

18:29 Of sanctifying and purifying. In order that. He might bring the church. His bride.

18:36 To the consummate. Perfection. Of his grace. And what he died to have.

18:43 He shall have.

18:47 God has promised to his son. That his death shall not be in vain. He shall see of the travail of his soul. And he shall.

18:57 Be satisfied. And when. When he voluntarily submitted himself. To everything bound up.

19:04 In the loving and giving of himself. A sacrifice for an odor of a sweet smell. In all the agony of Gethsemane. In all the travail of Golgotha.

19:16 And the darkness. And the forsakenness. And the shame. And the rejection.

19:22 His heart was set upon. His wedding day. When he might himself. Present to himself.

19:30 A bride. In whom. The eye of his father in his eye. Can find no moral stain or imperfection.

19:39 They will all. Be without blemish. And holy. Before him.

Illustration: The Prodigal Bride and the Wealthy Groom

19:46 Now in.

19:48 Struggling with trying to find some human illustration. And any. Analogy. Has a limp foot.

19:57 But. I've allowed my mind to do a little fantasizing. And I want. You to fantasize with me.

20:04 Imagine.

20:06 A relatively young woman. She was reared in a home with nothing but love. Principle biblical love. Kindness.

20:15 Consideration. Every effort to see her brought. To maturity. Loving God and his ways.

20:21 And serving the God who made her. But she's a female. Prodigal. She's thrown it all over.

20:28 She's abandoned herself. To sin. And as she abandoned. Herself to sin.

20:35 Throws over the traces of decency and morality and responsibility. She becomes the plaything of any man that wants her. She begins to seek instant gratification with her dope and her drugs. And she's got arms with needle tracks up and down.

20:55 Left and right arm. She's now a homeless street person. She's dressed in rags. She gives off a.

21:05 Impulsive odor. Her body is covered with sores. She's malnourished. The skin hangs on her bones.

21:14 With no subcutaneous fat. It's all been eaten up. And she cannot. Feed upon.

21:21 The absence of nourishing food. And so her body feeds upon itself. Her skin is wrinkled. Because of this condition.

21:30 She's an old woman. Before her time. One day a man passes by. Who's independently and truly wealthy.

21:39 I mean filthy rich. He has his own servants and handmaidens. His own private physician. His own private plastic surgeon.

21:50 Reconstructive surgeon. His own beautician. He has his own tailor. Seamstress.

21:56 Nutritionist. I mean this guy is filthy rich. He's got everything possible. To make life as easy and pleasurable as it can be.

22:05 And he passes by where. That woman has most recently parked. In some side street. In some large city.

22:12 In all of that condition that I've described. And he looks at her. And his heart is moved with compassion. And the compassion then turns.

22:23 Into agape love. And he sets his heart. Upon her. And there is born in his heart.

22:31 A will and a determination. To do for her. What she cannot do for herself. And in order to accomplish.

22:41 The purpose and will of his love. At great cost to himself. He knows it will be. He says to this woman.

22:50 If you will become. My wife. I will commit myself. To the meeting of all of your needs.

23:00 And then he tells her what he has. About his nutritionist. And about his seamstress. And his tailor.

23:05 And his private doctor. And all the rest. And says. If you will commit myself to me.

23:09 And say. And to all that is my disposal. With this end in view. That one year from now.

23:16 You will stand at the back of my church. And walk down the aisle. To be my bride. A monument.

23:26 Of what I will do. To make you glorious. On your wedding day. And she says.

23:33 You mean. All I have to do. Is commit myself. To be your bride.

23:37 And put myself. Into your hands. With your resources. And that's what you'll do.

23:42 For me. He says. Yes. I pledge.

23:45 All that I am. To do that. And to be that. To you.

23:50 And overwhelmed. With a sense of wonder. Why in the world. Would this man.

23:54 Who could have. Humanly speaking. Any woman he wanted. And have them line up.

23:58 By droves. Wanting to become. His wife. Why?

24:02 Why would he ever. Set his love. Upon me? She doesn't fool herself anymore.

24:08 When the wrinkles. First began to come. And the needle tracks. First began to show.

24:12 She tried to fool. Herself. Like some of you. Do with your sin.

24:16 Not as bad. As it appears. And she could fill in. Some of the cracks.

24:19 With pancake makeup. And she could rub away. With oil of a lay. Some of the beginnings.

24:24 Of the crow's feet. But the time has come. When she sees herself. She sees what she really is.

24:30 She's an absolute wreck. A disgusting wreck. Of humanity. Why would he set his love.

24:36 Upon me? Why would he commit himself. To do that for me? But she responds.

24:42 And says. I will. And the first thing he does. He takes her to his home.

24:46 And he assigns the task. Immediately. To his maid servants. Give her a bath.

24:51 And change her smell.

24:54 And so he sanctifies her. Unto himself. And he purifies her. And she now smells sweet.

25:03 And she has decent clothing. Put upon her. There's a radical. And an immediate transfer.

25:08 From being. A street person. A homeless wreck. There.

25:13 From the street. To someone who's in a context. Of dignity and care. There is a radical.

25:20 Definitive. Transformation. From this to that.

25:24 But she's a long way. From being the bride he envisioned. And so the nutritionist sits down with her. And the doctor examines her.

25:33 And then the tailor and the seamstress. Go to work on her. And they begin to administer. Medicines and foods.

25:41 To begin to give her some subcutaneous flesh. To fill out her face. Smooth out her wrinkles.

25:48 The ones that can't be smoothed. He hands her over to the plastic surgeon. And says you'll take good care of them.

25:56 And then she begins to eat. And be nourished. And the doctor administers medicine. And her open sores.

26:02 And all of the physical maladies begin to leave. One by one. And then the gear is up. And the wedding day comes.

26:09 And there she stands at the back of his church.

26:15 The only way you would know she was the same woman. That he found in the street. Is if you had taken her fingerprints. And you matched them.

26:23 From a wreck of humanity. Vile and polluted. With no morals. And now her health gone.

26:30 And her beauty gone. He set his love upon her. He took her to himself. And he himself now.

26:38 Presents to himself. A glorious bride. With no spots. No wrinkles.

26:46 Or any such thing. Now that's just a little human parable. Of what Paul says. Jesus does.

26:54 And the fundamental difference is. He doesn't die. And rise again from the dead. On her behalf.

27:02 All human illustrations break down. But do you catch something. Of the incongruity of the whole arrangement. Why would he set his love upon such a wreck.

27:13 He loved her. Because he loved her. Because he willed to love her. And there is no further explanation.

27:23 Christ loved the church. And if you think my illustration stretches it. I have not begun to be. As grossly disgusting.

27:33 And revolting. As God is. In Ezekiel chapter 16. Where he likens his relationship to Israel.

27:41 To one who goes to take a bride. And starts. With a baby thrown in a dumpster. Whose navel has not even been cut.

27:52 And not. And not washed from its birth blood. That's what God says we look like. In a dump.

28:02 With an uncut navel. And unwashed. That's what we look like. Now my imagery is soft.

28:12 Compared to God's. And in that Ezekiel passage. You have the picture of God. Nurturing that outcast.

28:21 Disgusting. Filthy. Outcast. To be his bride.

28:25 And that's something of a foreshadowing. Of Ephesians chapter 5. Christ loved the church. And gave himself up for it.

28:37 To do what? Merely to get her. Off the street. And a good bath.

28:43 And perfumed. And some deodorant. And her hair done. And then to leave her.

28:49 Radically changed from what she was. But still. Open sores upon her face. Ugly wrinkles placed.

28:57 Before her years. Because of her sin. No. He is committed.

29:01 Not merely. Not only. To sanctify her. To set her apart.

29:05 From a street life. To himself. And to wash her. He is committed.

29:10 To the wedding day. To present her. To himself. Glorious.

29:14 No spot. No wrinkle. Not any such thing. That's what Paul says.

29:18 Here. By the spirit of God. Christ loved the church. Ugly.

29:23 Defiled. Stinking. In rags. In the hands.

29:28 In the hands. In the hands. In the hands. In the hands.

29:32 In the hands. In the hands. In the hands. In the hands.

29:38 In the hands. In the hands of God. In the hands. In tatters.

29:44 Starving. Open wounds and sores. He loved the church. Gave himself for it.

29:48 That he might what. That he might impart. That initial. Sanctifying.

29:54 And. Purifying. Grace. But.

29:58 Secondly. That he might impart. That consummating. Perfecting.

30:03 Work. Of grace. But. then.

The Church as Recipient of Christ's Nurturing Grace

30:07 Here. In the pastor. We have a third dimension of the church being a recipient of Christ's grace, not only of his purifying and perfecting grace, but also of his nurturing grace. Look at verses 28 and 29. What happens between the initial sanctifying and purifying and the consummate perfecting of grace? What happens in between?

30:40 Well, we find out here in verses 28 and 29. Even so ought husbands to love their own wives as their own bodies. There's the practical directive. He that loves his own wife loves himself. Practical directive.

30:54 For no man ever hated his own flesh. But nourishes and cherishes it. Common observation. But now notice the rich theological, rich biblical reality.

31:05 Even as Christ also the church. Christ also what? The church. Christ also nourishes and cherishes it as his own body.

31:22 And both are present tense verbs. He is content. Continuously nourishing. And what does this word nourish mean?

31:31 Well, the only other place it's found in the New Testament is later on in chapter 6 and verse 4. And you fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but here we are, nurture them. Nourish them. Do all that is necessary to see them brought to full maturity, healthy, intelligent, useful, responsible citizens of two worlds.

31:55 Nurture. Nurture them. That's our word. And Christ is continually nurturing, nourishing.

32:04 He is bringing his bride to maturity. In the image of chapter 4, he's bringing his body to maturity. The body is growing up into Christ in all things. Whether image of bride or body, Christ is nourishing.

32:21 Continually nourishing. But not only nourishing. Look at the next verb. Cherishing.

32:26 Another present tense verb. Cherishing. It means to show affection. It's T-L-C.

32:34 Tender love and care. The other usage is 1 Thessalonians 2 and verse 7. Look at the setting of it. The same apostle uses this word when describing the nature and spirit of his own labors among the Thessalonians.

32:49 Verse 7 of chapter 2. We were gentle in the midst of you as when a nurse. Here's our word. A nurse cherishes her own children.

32:59 And I remember when preaching through Thessalonians, coming to the conviction that not many of the commentators share. That Paul is saying we were as gentle, we were as tender in the midst of you as a wet nurse when she's got the child of her own womb at her own breast. Here's a woman that loves children enough to give of herself and her nourishment to someone else's child. What is she like when she has the fruit of her own womb nestled against her own breast?

33:32 And Paul says, that's the way we were among you. Paul says in Ephesians, that's what Christ is continually doing with his bride. From the time he takes her off the street until the wedding day, he's continually nourishing and cherishing her. You see, there are sermons in tenses.

33:56 Nourishing, continuous. Cherishing, continuous. And if you ask, well, how does he nourish and how does he cherish? That's not explicitly explained right here in Ephesians 5.

34:09 But from the analogy of Scripture, we are given abundant answers to that question. Christ nourishes and cherishes his church, Paul has said in chapter 4, by giving to his church those with gifts to help and to nourish and to feed and to guide his church. 4.11 He gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints unto work of ministry, unto the building up of the body of Christ.

34:43 He nourishes his bride, the church, by continuously furnishing her with men as gifts to his church, that they might teach his word and shepherd his people, that they might come to maturity, and into their sphere of God-appointed usefulness. He does this as the body itself, the various members of the church who constitute the bride collectively, as they minister one to another. Verse 16 of chapter 4. From whom all the body fitly framed and knit together through that which every joint supplies, according to the working in due measure of each several parts,

35:27 makes the increase of the body unto the building up of itself in love. How does he nourish and cherish? Not only by furnishing his church with gifts to teach and to instruct and to shepherd, but by his life in the members of the body, ministering one to another in a whole multitude of ways as determined by the scriptures. He nourishes and cherishes by his constant, clearest, perfect intercession.

35:59 Hebrews 7.25. He is able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by him. Why?

36:06 Seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them. Paul asked the question, Who is he that condemneth? It is God that justifies. Who is going to lay a charge to God's elect?

36:18 It is Christ that died. Yea, rather, that is risen from the dead, who is also at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession. For us. And then he nourishes and cherishes by communicating his own life to us.

36:35 Here is the mystery of being a true Christian. I am so united to Christ that Christ can say in another image, John 15, I am the vine, you are branches. Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, so neither can you except you abide in me.

36:54 Without me you can do nothing. But with Paul we can say, I can do all things in him who strengthens me. Galatians 2.20, I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me.

37:08 And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live it in the flesh. As a thinking, rational, choosing being. But wonder of wonders, it's not the me that was there in the street. In my vileness and my pollution.

37:23 It is me united to Christ. In such a way that he dwells in my heart by faith. And the life that I now live is Christ living in me. Paul says the great mystery that he preaches among the Gentiles is Christ in you.

37:41 The hope of glory. He can say in Colossians 3, when Christ who is our life. Now that's a whole series of terms. How does Christ nourish and cherish us?

37:51 I've just thrown out a few teasers. But he goes on doing that. Because between the times. He finds us in our polluted, condemned, defiled state.

38:03 And presents us in perfection to himself. Here we must live out our days. With the remains of that in us which originally took us to the street. It's still in us.

38:18 Prone to wonder. Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Amen.

38:28 Do you know what that is? The proneness to wonder. Looking back. Marveling at what God did.

38:35 When he set his love upon us in Christ. And when that love that led him to give himself a sacrifice. Goes forth in the person and ministry of the spirit. To come to us in our street condition.

38:51 Though he has taken us. Put us in his household. And begun to perfect us. We need his constant nourishing.

38:59 Cherishing. Working work. Or those things yet within us. That have an affinity for the street life.

39:05 Would take us right back there. And send us to hell. We are not automatically kept. From conversion to glorification.

39:16 It is Christ nourishing and cherishing. That keeps us. As much as it was his loving. And his giving of himself.

39:25 That enabled us. To get in in the first place. And he nourishes. And he cherishes.

39:32 And he will continue. So that the apostle is unafraid to say. That we have in Christ completeness. You are complete in him.

39:44 As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord. So walk in him. Rooted and builded up in him. He nourishes and cherishes us.

39:55 By his own life. Imparted to us. By the Holy Spirit. Well that's my second head.

40:03 That I knew I couldn't complete this morning. That the grace. That moved him to love us. And to give himself for us.

40:13 Will not only bring us to that initial experience of his grace. By which we are sanctified. And purified. But there will be the consummate perfecting of his grace.

40:26 He will himself present us to himself. Without spot or wrinkle. And in between. There will be the continuing nourishing and cherishing grace of Christ.

Doctrinal Implication: Certainty of Particular Redemption

40:39 And when I came to this point in my preparation. The only words that came to my mind were the words of Paul. What then shall we say to these things? What then shall we say to these things?

40:51 Well I want to say several things. I said one of them this morning. I tacked on one application. I want to just mention it tonight.

40:58 In this passage there are many doctrinal realities. But I want to understand. Underscore again tonight. One vital doctrinal reality.

41:07 And it is this. The death of Christ is inseparable. From the application of its benefits. Towards those for whom he died.

41:20 Christ loved us. Gave himself for us. In order that hopefully. Some or a few or many.

41:29 Would be willing that he should sanctify. And claim. Cleanse and purify and present. No.

41:40 It is absolutely certain. That all whom he loved and for whom he died. Shall be sanctified. Purified with the washing of water.

41:50 In connection with the word. And he himself. Will present to himself. Every single one.

41:59 Without blemish. And without spot. Or any such thing. Someone may sit here and say.

42:08 Pastor that sounds like a particular redemption. That sounds like what I have heard people talk about. Limited atonement.

42:17 Oh you may call it what you want. I like to call it simple. Straightforward. Bible instruction.

42:25 Christ loved and gave in order that.

42:31 He loved he gave in order that. And the in order that's of Christ. Shall be realized. He himself shall present to himself.

42:47 That which he envisioned when he loved and gave himself. But then you say if that's so. And we can't come up to every single individual and say Christ loved you. Christ gave himself for you.

43:01 What gospel do we have? I tell you my friend we got a gospel that's far more glorious than saying. You know Christ loved you and died for you. But it's not certain whether or not whom he loved.

43:11 And what he meant when he died. Will really be accomplished. It's up to you. Well a person is thinking say well it's if it's up to me.

43:19 To get in and get the benefits. And it must be up to me whether or not those benefits. Will continue and come to their consummation. Know the gospel we preach is this.

43:30 And no tongue in cheek. I do not know if I can say to any one of you indiscriminate. Christ loved you and gave himself for you. I know that he loved his church.

43:41 That's what the text says. Gave himself. Gave himself for her. In order that he might sanctify having cleansed her.

43:49 With the washing of water by the word. That he himself might present her to himself a glorious church. No spot no wrinkle any such thing. But holy and without blemish.

44:00 But here is my gospel. That Christ who loved and gave. And is determined to sanctify and present to himself. And nourish and cherish in between.

44:13 That Christ in the word. Stands before you in the word and truth of the gospel. And says to you personally. Come to me.

44:24 And I will give you rest. Him that comes to me. I will in no wise cast out. Oh everyone who thirsts.

44:35 Come to the water. And he who hath no money. Come buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do you spend your money.

44:44 For that which is not bread. And your toil for that which satisfies not. Hearken unto me. You see the gospel is not coming to people and saying.

44:53 Christ died for you. Christ loved you. It is coming to men and saying. Christ in his love to sinners.

45:02 Stands before you in the gospel and says. I am the one who can take you from the street. I am the one who can cleanse you. Of your diseases.

45:14 I am the one who can take away your wrinkles. Rub away your blemishes. Put flesh on your bones. And make you beautiful in the eye of God.

45:24 Put yourself in my hands. And I will do that for you. You talk about a gospel worth preaching. One of the girls asked me last Sunday night.

45:35 We were sitting talking. They said something and I got thrilled. I said oh I got the goose bumps. They said pastor why do you always talk about getting the goose bumps.

45:41 Well because I get the goose bumps. And preaching a gospel like that is a wonderful thing. I can look out and I know the history of some of you. I don't know it fully as God knows.

45:52 But I know enough. To be able to say. No matter how deeply you have sunk into sin. No matter how much you have spurned previous overtures of grace.

46:04 Christ comes to you tonight. In the word and promise of the gospel. As though you were the only one in this building. And says look.

46:12 I will take you from the street. But you say. Oh I'm not that bad. Vile.

46:19 Polluted. Stinking. Obnoxious. My friend.

46:23 He has no wedding vows. For those who don't see themselves polluted and vile. For he said I came not to call the righteous. But sinners.

46:36 To repentance. See yourself as God sees you. Stop playing head games on yourself. Say God I am that.

46:45 Baby. Thrown into. A trash bin. Thrown into a dumpster.

46:49 There I am Lord. I know what I am. Lord Jesus. Do you mean it when you say.

46:53 Come to me. You will not cast me out. Prove him. Go to him.

46:57 Find him true. To his word. You see dear people. When you young people have yet to lock horns.

47:02 With someone who called you against evangelism. And no heart for sinners. But you know. You know.

47:06 You know. You know. You know. You know.

47:11 You know. You know. You know. You know.

47:15 You know. You know. You know. You know.

47:19 I am Needles to you. I am your asks and answers. You don't have a heart for sinners. Because you won't run around.

47:23 And tell every Tom, Dick and Harry. Christ died for you. And Christ will love you. Individually.

47:27 And particularly. When I find a verse. In my Bible. That tells me.

47:31 I can do that, I will do it. But I have many verses that say. That I can come to you individually. And particularly.

47:35 And specifically. And say. Christ invites you. Christ will welcome you.

47:39 Christ will comfort upon you. Everything he has promised. To confer. That's a vital doctrinal reality.

Practical Implication 1: Christ as Savior and Lord

47:49 Now, I want to underscore by way of application two crucial practical implications from this passage. And the first is this. Where Christ is husband and Savior, He is also head and Lord. Look back at the passage.

48:08 Verse 24 or verse 23. The husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head. The head of the church Himself, the Savior of the body, as the church is subject to Christ. Christ is head of the church, the Savior of the body, as the church is subject to Christ.

48:40 Now, friends, words could not be plainer. Where Christ is Savior, He is head. Where Christ is Savior, He is head. Where Christ is Lord, where the sinner believes, Jesus has a subject.

48:53 The only way the church is subject to Christ is when each one incorporated into the church, His bride, joyfully owns His lordship. And in casting their guilty, hell-deserving selves upon Him, they embrace Him from the heart as their sovereign and their Lord. Do you see? Do you see?

49:18 Do you see? Do you see? Do you see how stupid and unbiblical, and I'm ready to say, it is even heretical to say that people can consciously be trusting Christ as Savior while consciously deliberately refusing Him as Lord, not in a specific issue, here, there, that, or the other, but as the fundamental disposition of the heart.

49:44 It is a damnable heresy. Some things are erroneous. They are errors, and they are crippling and hindering, but they are not damnable. That is, heresies which, if believed, which, if regulating the life, will result in damnation.

50:04 And everyone who thinks that he can take to himself the privileges of Christ as Savior while not submitting to Him as Lord has believed a lie. Well, all we need to do is move on in the second place to this second practical implication where Christ is husband and Savior, He actually saves in the threefold way described in this passage.

Practical Implication 2: The Threefold Nature of Salvation

50:35 Where Christ is husband and Savior, He actually saves in the threefold way described in this passage. How does He save the body? How does He save? The bride.

50:51 He saves, according to the text, by sanctifying, cleansing it with the washing of water with the Word. He brings them into union with Himself, and there is a radical fundamental break with the dominion of sin, with the pollution of sin. They are set apart unto God, having been washed with water in connection with the Word. And then He continues to nourish them and to cherish them.

51:20 And then He will infallibly Himself present them to Himself as His bride, spotless, pure, enveloped in glory. Wherever Christ is husband and Savior, He actually saves in this threefold way described in this passage.

51:43 Do not say you are part of His bride if He has not sanctified and purified you. If you are deliberate, willful, subjective. The perfection to the dominion of sin has not been radically changed, dismantled, and become a fundamental commitment to the dominion of God and Christ and righteousness. You delude yourself that you are a Christian.

52:06 Do not entertain hopes that you will be presented to Him in the perfection of holiness if there is no evidence that He is presently nurturing and cherishing you unto a pattern of holiness. The perfection of holiness is the concept of holiness. The consummate work of the One who initiates and continues to make us holy. I love old Bishop Ryle's words.

52:31 Say not that thou art a child of God, and hast royal blood in thy veins, unless thou can show thy pedigree by daring to be holy. And I think he was quoting an old Puritan when he used that language. Are you sitting here tonight thinking you're a Christian because you've tipped your hat to Jesus? Are you sitting here somewhere along the way, and you and Jesus have been sort of remote buddies, but where you live, and where you think, and where you spend your money, and where you go, and what you watch, and who you develop friendships with, Christ has nothing to say about any of those things that comprise the pattern of your life?

53:12 No matter. What monument are you of Christ's determination to present to Himself a church that is glorious in holiness, and He doesn't begin it at the last day? He begins it when He takes you off the street, and gives you good plunge. Takes away the stench and the stink of living for yourself, and living by the standards of the world, and living by the impulses of your own depraved flesh.

53:39 And He puts within you a yearning to be part of the counterculture to the world, to bear the reproach of Christ, to be identified with Him in His shame and in His rejection. And to track down into every rat hole of the mind and heart. Your filthy thoughts, as much as you do by God's grace, keep yourself from filthy deeds. To track down into the dark sinkholes of the soul, the sins of jealousy and envy.

54:08 Not merely content to be kept free from the open sins of blasphemy and murder, and adultery and thievery. Where Christ is husband and Savior, He actually saves in this threefold way. And the real proof that He took me off the street. And He's going to present me at the back door.

54:29 Is that He's nourishing and cherishing me right now. And that nourishing and cherishing is known in the context and in the setting of an ongoing progressive struggle against remaining sin in the world. An ongoing life of communion with Christ. We cherish Him.

54:49 We long to be more like Him. We're at times utterly not only ashamed, but disgusted with ourselves. That we make such little progress. And that we would ever long to be back on the street even for an hour.

55:03 But we have to be honest and say, Lord, that's what's in me. Have mercy upon me. Well then, having made that one doctrinal observation, these two crucial practical implications. I want to close with one very immediate exhortation.

Exhortation: Anticipating a Series on Church Life

55:21 And that is this. As we approach this series, you who are members and friends know what I'm talking about. Our constitution requires. That every five years from the time the newly revised constitution was adopted in October of 1995.

55:36 That the elders secure that at least 15 consecutive Lord's Days be given in the adult class and in the morning preaching. To an opening up of the biblical truths that cluster around and grow out of and are at the foundation of our confession of faith. And are found in our constitution. And we receive your unanimous approval to invert that.

55:56 Pastor Lamar continues his studies. Right through the confession. And I will begin a series of at least 15 messages. God willing, next Lord's Day morning.

56:07 Dealing with church life. That's what our constitution is all about. How we've agreed to walk together by our present understanding of how the Bible says we ought to walk. Now let me ask you.

56:19 Are you looking forward to this?

56:22 Are you saying, oh boy. Let's get to the exciting stuff. Let's get into 2 Peter. Or let's get into the attributes of God.

56:31 Or let's go back to preaching through the Ten Commandments. Or let's go back to Old Testament characters. Those are the four or five things some of you have said you want me to preach now that we're done. 1 Peter.

56:41 Almost done.

56:44 Well dear friends, if we have this view of the church. We'll look forward to this series. Because it's not only the church in her eschatological, the final presentation. When we're at the back door and he himself shall take us to himself in his second coming.

57:03 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

57:04 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

57:04 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

57:04 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

57:05 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

57:05 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

57:06 Amen. Amen. But I want you to look at Ephesians 3 and verse 10 as we close. Paul has been speaking of this amazing thing that God has done in his church in this present gospel age.

57:18 Breaking down the middle wall of partition. Making of Jew and Gentile one new man in Christ. Another image of the church. The new humanity.

57:28 But now then notice what his great purpose is in all of this. His great purpose starts in verse 8 of chapter 3. unto me who am less than the least of all saints was this grace given to preach unto the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ and to make all men see what is the dispensation of the mystery which for ages has been hid in God who created all things to the intent that now that's the present to the intent that now not just at the consummation but now unto the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places might be made known through the church the manifold wisdom of God

58:12 according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord remember that summary statement I read to you this morning where one commentator said the letter to the Ephesians is a marvelous comprehensive sermon focusing on three things the eternal purpose of God and the eternal purpose of God which focuses in the Lord Jesus Christ and is worked out in and through the church God's purpose Jesus Christ the church what God has joined together let no man put asunder and we need to come afresh

58:54 as we seek to shore up our thinking about how we order our life together to the realization that this is not just a review of the corporate rules or the rules of God or the club rules so that we don't bump into one another and get in each other's way it's to the intent that now unto unseen spiritual beings something of the wisdom and the glory of God will be seen in the church and we will then be jealous as Paul was that men may know how they ought to behave themselves in the church of the living God the pillar and the ground of the truth let's pray

59:36 our Father how we thank you for the disclosure of your heart and your mind to us in the scriptures and we confess as we have sought this day to focus our minds upon the wonder and the magnitude of the love of Christ who so loved us that he was willing to give himself up a sacrifice and an offering unto you to be consumed by the righteous fury of your wrath that we might be his bride oh our God

60:20 we ask you to break down all of the barriers of reserve and unbelief in our hearts that we may respond to your love in love that we may have a new passion as the apostle prayed that we might know the love of Christ that passes knowledge that we might be filled unto all the fullness of yourself we pray for those who sit here who are still on the street oh God show them what a pathetic and pitiful state they are in and that more pathetic state to which it will lead and reveal your son standing before them

61:04 in all the glory of his saving power and grace asking will you have me oh spirit of God woo sinners to Jesus woo them to Jesus we pray that your spirit will seal to our hearts the things we have contemplated this day and may they bear fruit in each of our lives as the Lord Jesus continues not only to nourish and cherish us individually but collectively in our life together as a part of his church and of his bride and we pray in the words of John as we anticipate that great day

61:48 of consummation the marriage supper of the Lamb even so come Lord Jesus Amen