This hour is a continuation of our first hour, why Christ died, why Christ died part two. It's found in Ephesians chapter five again. In the first hour, we answered three of the reasons was number one, love, love he had for his father and love that the Lord has for his church. It was love. That's the reason Christ died. Second was to sanctify the church, and the third reason was to cleanse it, to cleanse it.

Now, we hope this hour to look at the fourth through seventh reason, that he might present it to himself, a glorious church, number four. that his elect would be without spot, number five, that his elect would be without wrinkle, number six, and that the elect would be made holy, number seven.

Some say Christ died to make a way, but Christ is the way. He didn't make a way, he is the way. Men have that backwards, they have it wrong altogether, really. Christ is the way, he is the truth, and he is the life. He didn't come just to make a way so anyone could make a decision, that's the lie. Christ died on purpose for a purpose, for a reason, and we're looking at seven of those reasons this morning.

Let's read our text together. It's the same as before Ephesians 5, 23 to 27. Wives submit yourself into your own husbands is under the Lord for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church and he is the savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands and everything. Husbands love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.

The fourth reason Christ died is found in verse 27, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, a glorious church. I looked up that word glorious, I wanted to know all the translations of the word. And one definition was gorgeous. I loved that. I loved that. A gorgeous church, a beautiful church. What do you mean? Well, we're born dead in trespasses and in sin. We're ugly, ugly creatures, vile, wretched creatures. And yet God has made us gorgeous in his sight. He has given us his glory.

Lord, we'll look at John 17 just a moment, but we're no longer ugly. We're no longer what we used to be. We're new creatures altogether. He sees us not as we were, but he sees us in Christ. We've been made beautiful in his sight. We're no longer In the ugly, wretched state of sin, no longer in darkness, but we're as radiant as He is. Think about that. Why? Because Christ lives in you. It's Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Anytime I mention it's something that we are or something that we do, it's a direct reflection of the Lord in us. It's not that we're doing anything, nor do we get glory for it. So if I'm shining forth a light, it's because God is shining forth that light through me. Uh, that's why the Lord said, let your light, he says, I am the light of the world. But when I go away, you're the light of the world talking to the disciples. He said, so let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father, which is in heaven.

So as the Lord's people, we're the light of the world, meaning that we just declare him. We just declare his truth. And the best thing about it that we love the most is that we get no glory in it, none whatsoever. We don't want anybody to look at us and see us and say, boy, his candle's really burning bright. No, no, that's silly. No, I want to tell you about Him. I want to talk about Him. See, He made us gorgeous all by Himself. We're no longer in darkness, but we're in light. He caused His light to shine into darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not, the scripture says, so that darkness had to flee. We don't have darkness in us anymore. We have light, His light. We've been glorified with the same glory that the Father gave to him. I wanna show you that in John chapter 17. Turn with me there. We're still looking at why Christ died.

That he might make us, that he might present unto himself a glorious church. John 17, look at verse one through five. These words speak Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, father, the hour has come glorify thy son that thy son also may glorify thee as thou has given him power over all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as thou has given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only one true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. I have glorified Thee on the earth. I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Thou me with Thine own self, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was."

Now look at verse 20. Neither pray I these alone, but for them also it should believe on me through their word. that they all may be one as thou father art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. In the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them. The glory that the father gave to the son the Lord Jesus Christ has given to his people, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them, thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me.

This is why Christ died. This is why Christ died, that we would obtain the same glory that the Father gave to the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Have we obtained it already? If we're in Christ, we have. Paul said, and I said this the first hour, the sufferings of this present life are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. It's in you right now. Scripture says that Christ is so are we in this world in this world right now the word glorify brethren I look up you know you all I've been pastor here for a little bit and you know how many times I use words and like my intention is to never say, hey, look at this really big word that I got to figure out and try to impress people. I don't do that. Thankfully, this isn't a big word, but I just wanted to get that out of the way because my intention is what the word means and the definition.

So the word glorify is the Hebrew word kabad. What that means is heavy or weighty. heavy or weighty. Now you think about us, we're empty, we're void. We are born that way. We don't have any weightiness to us. If you remember Belshazzar, whenever he was king over in Babylon, he said, bring the cups, bring the goblets, Uh, from the temple that we took from Jerusalem, we're going to drink wine and worship these false gods. And there was a hand that wrote on the wall that said, you've been weighed in the ballots and you've been found wanting. It's a type of judgment, the balance is. So when the balance is even, it's good, it's true, it's just balance. But whenever you and I are weighed, there's no way that we can even move the scale of God because of our sin in ourself. And yet God, by glorifying his people, presenting a glorious church unto himself, he's made us weighty. He's made us what we had to be in order to please him. We're no longer empty vessels, but we're vessels of honor that's filled with him. Scripture says, my cup runneth over. So he has glorified his people.

Somebody said, well, why are we not glorified? Why can't I see that? Well, we haven't got to experience it yet. When Christ ascended back into glory, he presented the bride then. I mean, this is a done deal. We're seated in him in the heavenlies right now. right now. You talk about secure, we sing a song, more secure is no one ever than the loved ones of the saber. Why? Because as he said right here, I in thee, they in me, that we all may be one. That's not a metaphor. That's literal. That is literal.

This is why it's so wonderful to think, why did Christ die? To present a glorious church, a beautiful, a gorgeous church to himself, one that is weighty, one that has worth. He took something that was worthless and useless. That's what we are by nature. And he made us his priceless treasure, his priceless treasure. Can you think about getting a piece of garbage and making that your treasure or making a wretch your treasure? No. Well, that's what he did. And he cleaned us up, put a ring on our finger. He said, I passed by the time of your nativity. He said, you were covered and polluted in your own blood. He said, you were naked and you had no one to swaddle you, no one to clean you. And he said, I spread my skirt over you. It was a time of love. I've redeemed you, you're mine. He cleaned us up, he washed us, as we heard the first hour, cleansed us from every stain. Oh brethren, he's presented us to himself. And I like that. Everything he requires, he has to provide. And he provided everything in the Lord Jesus Christ. And Lord Jesus Christ presented his bride to himself. being washed, being cleansed, being glorified with the same glory that the Father has, the same glory that the Son has.

How can this be? Well, he took our sin unto himself. He was made a curse for his people. Scripture says, for curse is everyone that hangs upon a tree. And the most wonderful part is, is that him taking the curse gave us the blessing, gave us the blessing that we might receive his glory, that we might receive, we might be glorified. When God sees the bride of Christ, he sees his son in full splendor, in full splendor.

Look at verse 30. Back to our text, I'm sorry. Look at verse 30. For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. When Adam had the rib taken out by the Lord when he was in a deep sleep to make Eve his bride, Adam said, her name shall be called Eve. She was taken from man, so she's going to be woman. And he said, because she's bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.

We're talking about a glorious union with the Lord. When we're married upon the face of the earth and we enter into a covenant of marriage, these twain shall be one flesh, what the scripture tells us. Actually, I think it's right here in this this chapter. Well, I can't. Yeah. Verse the verse 31 for this calls shall man leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife and they too shall be one flesh.

That's not a metaphor. That's how God sees it. You and I, whenever he sees us, his people, his chosen people that he died for, He sees the Lord Jesus Christ. He sees the perfect union. He's our covenant head now. He doesn't see our sin. He doesn't see our vileness. He doesn't see our wretchedness. He sees the same glory. He sees the same glory.

This is all because of the substitution of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are now bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh in the sight of God. I meant that in a spiritual way, not physically. You understand what I'm saying? Physically, we're still wretched creatures, but spiritually, the new man that he created on the inside, one that lives by faith, one that looks to him, old things are passed away, behold, all things become new, that one, perfect union with God.

Now, the fifth reason Christ died, that was the fourth reason, was to present unto himself a glorious church. The fifth reason Christ died is in verse 27, that he might present to himself a glorious church not having spot, spotless. Spotless, spot means sustained or a defect. We're born defective under a curse inherited by our father Adam. That's the original sin. That's the original sin that God has you and I charged with. Our original sin isn't when we're born, first time we tell a lie. The original sin's all the way back in the garden. That's because he was our head, because he was our covenant head at the time, we all died in Adam. By one man's disobedience, all were made sinners. But he didn't stop there, thankfully. He said, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

Every human ever born is born under the law, born cursed, born in sin, shaped into iniquity, spotted up, with no hope of changing it in and of themselves, no hope of getting right. I have this somewhere else to say, so I may end up saying it twice, but, well, I guess I better not, because I think that's actually a point. Well, I'm going to say it anyways. So have you ever heard the term straighten up? You better straighten up. You better straighten up. We can't. We can't spiritually. We're dead. Do we see what I'm saying? My father would look at me and he says, you better straighten up or I'll straighten you up. I knew what that meant. The Lord's going to have to straighten me up because I can't. You can't either. If I want to be spotless in his sight, he's going to have to be the one that makes me spotless. He's going to have to do it. Brethren, that's why Christ died. That's why Christ died, that he might present to himself a glorious church not having spot, spotless.

You and I are covered in spots when we're born. The sin that we are, the thing about sin is that we don't really understand how bad we really are because we're so engorged in it. It's so much of us, we can't see it. A lot of people say, well, sin is what you do. No, sin is what you are, that's the problem. Lord, if I'm gonna be spotless, I can't fix it. You're going to have to fix it. Here's the good news. That's why Christ died for his people. That's why he did to take away every single spot. Being a sinner doesn't mean we commit sin every once in a while. My great-grandmother on her deathbed said that she hadn't sinned in three months. That's sad, because sin is what we are. It's not what we do. She had a learned, had a moral reformation, I suppose, and got where she didn't do the things that she once did. Paul said, oh, wretched man that I am. And he was an apostle right then. He had already written some of the books of the Bible. Do we understand? O wretched man that I am. Can you relate to that? O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? Not O wretched man that I was. He also said in me that is to say in my flesh dwelleth no good thing.

What is our hope? That the Lord would cleanse the spot. Take away the spots. My sins are more than I can count, Lord. You're gonna have to take them away. Even my accidental sins, my subconscious sin, Lord, you're gonna have to cleanse the spot. I can't. That's why Christ died. That's why Christ died.

Understand, God is holy, and he is just. He will not acquit the guilty. He's sovereign, and his holiness demands justice. We have no ability to please him, nothing to offer. Somebody told me, you've heard this too, I've said this before, the Lord wants your heart. No, he doesn't. The heart's deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. He don't want your heart. Actually, you know what he said? If he requires my heart, he's going to give me a heart that he's satisfied with. And he said, I'm going to take out that heart of stone and I'm going to give you a heart of flesh, one that looks to him, one that believes and lives by faith. That's the heart that he gives to us.

The glorious news of God's gospel is that he promised to provide everything he requires. He requires, if you're going to be spot-free, you know those, I don't know if you've seen this before, but they have car washes that have spot-free rinses. And I've never had a spot-free rinse in my life. Even if you get that spot-free rinse, you leave, you still got spots on that thing. Why? I don't know. Not a spot, maybe a little less spots. No, when the blood. is when the Lord takes the blood and washes one of his children, one of his elect in it, they're spotless, absolutely spotless before his throne, before his law. Justice is satisfied by the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Here's the verse I was quoting a while ago, Ezekiel 36, 26. A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you. And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh. How can a wretched, vile creature of dust be made spotless? The Lord Jesus Christ is gonna have to do it. That's why he died. That's why he died.

Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leper his spots? Then may you also do good that are accust to do evil. Can a dog change its nature? Dog can't change its nature. Dog, what does the scripture say about dogs? They constantly return to their vomit. We know what that means, don't we? We know what that means. Just like you and I, we return to that sin over and over and over again. Our sin of unbelief is what so easily besets us. Constantly, constantly find ourself in unbelief, constantly find ourself doubting. And yet the Lord says, but I've cleansed every spot. They're gone. They're gone by his own blood.

The only hope that we have is verse 27. that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. This is all past tense. This has all been done. He gave himself as the ransom price that he might present his chosen elect bride as spotless unto himself. How can this be? Well, he took the spots away by washing his people in his own blood. I quoted this the first hour, but the scripture says, Isaiah 118, come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow, though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. How can you take red sin and red blood and make it white as snow? Well, how did God become a man? We're gonna start there. You can't answer the things of God. We just believe it by faith. We believe it by faith. Lord, if I'm going to be spotless, you're going to have to cleanse me in your own blood. And he did, spotless, white as snow. That's why Christ died.

The sixth reason that he died is found in verse 27 as well, that he might present it to himself a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle. Now this one kind of threw me off a little bit. I was trying to figure out what does he mean wrinkle? And I looked it up, and it means, and that's why I said this is gonna be a point in a minute, because this is the point. It actually means, to get a wrinkle out means to make straight. So the same word for wrinkles, crooked. Crooked. Listen to what the Lord said, Ecclesiastes 115. That which is crooked cannot be made straight, and that which is wanting cannot be numbered. That which is crooked cannot be made straight. The Lord said that. So what's our hope? If we are to not have wrinkle, if we are not to be crooked, and we are, we're crooked minded. We're born crooked minded. We can't think the way God thinks. We're born unable to think the way God thinks. So what's our hope? The Lord said, I'm gonna straighten you up. I said before, my father used to say, you better straighten up. I can't. I can't. I'm wrinkled. I'm crooked. The Lord said, I will. and you shall."

This is why Christ died. This is why Christ died. God has changed our mind. He has given His people repentance towards God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. We no longer think about Him the way that we used to think, and we no longer think about ourselves the way that we used to think. We see ourselves as sinners. We see Him as sovereign, holy, and just. We see Him as the successful Savior of His people, and we see ourselves as incapable and unable to do anything to please God. We're no longer crooked, brethren. We're no longer wrinkled. Because God has made us straight.

Now I've just read the verse that says that which is crooked cannot be made straight. But listen to what Isaiah 42, verse 16 says. I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not. That's us. And I will lead them in paths that they have not known. I will make darkness light before them and crooked things straight. I, the Lord, do these things. These things will I do unto them and not forsake them.

So he says, that which is crooked cannot be made straight. And yet he turns around and says, the Lord can do it. He's the only one that can do it. Isn't that glorious? And that's why Christ died. The only way we wouldn't be crooked anymore, the only way we wouldn't be wrinkled anymore is if the Lord Jesus Christ straightens us out, gives us a right mind before God.

The Lord don't look at the outward appearance, he looks at the heart. And so if I'm gonna be right before him, he's gonna have to give me everything he requires, and that's exactly what he did. The Lord, by his grace, has made that which is crooked to be straight. This is why Christ died.

Now I told you when I started this, I could have probably broken it down into seven messages probably, but this, we're at the last reason Christ died. And it's found in verse 27 as well. That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. If you remember the first hour, without blemish and cleansed, go hand in hand. So we use that first hour. So the last one is holy. That he might present her holy.

And of all the, all the glorious reasons Christ died, To be made holy is one of the most glorious thoughts because of what we are by our nature. And yet in the inward man, we are holy. We are holy right now in the inward man. Why? Because that inward man is born from above. It is Christ in you. It's born of the spirit of God. The wind bloweth where it lifteth, and thou canst tell whether it comes or whether it goeth. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit. So we're born from above, now bearing the holiness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Can you fathom that? Because I can't see it, and neither can you. Of course not, it has to be received by faith alone. Faith alone, that's the only way we can believe. We don't understand anything we believe. We just believe it because God said it and gave us faith to believe it, that's why. Brethren, Christ died that his elect would be made holy. John 1.4 says, Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. As he is, so are we in this world.

Holiness is something we don't understand. It's just believed by faith. The reason we don't understand it is because we see the flesh, which is the opposite of holiness. God is other than we are in every way. So therefore holiness is something we can't even fathom. We can see things that are sacred. We can see things in scripture that are sanctified, set apart. But holiness in itself, how do you describe that? How do you describe that? Other than it's just other than what we are. We're sinful, he's holy.

But because he took our place on the cross of Calvary, because he died for his people, because he put away their sin by the sacrifice of himself, they, his people, have been made holy in him and by him. By his blood, we are as he is. We're unique. Utterly unique. We're not like we used to be on the inside. The outside ain't changed a bit. The way we already established, we keep getting worse. But the inner man renewed day by day, scripture says. Though the outward man perisheth, the inner man is renewed day by day.

Think of holiness. I tried to come up with something, and I prayed about it, and I think this is a pretty good comparison, but think of holiness as pure light. Pure light, we've never seen pure light because we couldn't look upon it if we wanted to, blind us. But the pureness of it, you can't look upon pure light, you can't look upon God, for he is holy, he is pure.

Yet the gospel says that there is a place near me. Whenever Moses told the Lord, I beseech you, Lord, let me see your glory. The Lord said, Moses, you can't look upon me. Why? He's holy, he's holy. No man's looked upon my face and lived, but there is a place near unto me.

Where's that place? It's at his right hand. It's at his right hand. He said, and I will take you and put you upon a rock in the cleft of the rock. And I will cause my goodness to pass before you. And when he said, you can't see my face, but you can see my hundred parts. What is He showing him? He's showing him the finished work, what's already been accomplished, what's already been done by the Lord Jesus Christ.

That's the place where we can see God, and that's the only place that we can see God, is in the holiness of Jesus Christ, in that cleft of the rock, just like the children of Noah and him and his wife in the ark. They were safe in the ark from the wrath. If they went outside, they couldn't have went outside, the Lord shut the door, but if they did, there would have been destruction, they would have died.

You and I are safe, safe from the judgment and the wrath of God in the cleft of the rock, in the ark, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And because we are in him, the Lord sees his people as holy, just like him. And he says, I am well pleased with you. I am well pleased with you. Why? Because it's Christ in you, the hope of glory. We have a hiding place. You know, in this world, I know everybody in here at some point gets burnt out, dealing with things in life, going through the motions, whatever, get frustrated. We all have frustrations, different things. You have a hiding place. You have a place of refuge. The Lord Jesus Christ, who said, I'll never leave you and I'll never forsake you. This is why he died. This is why he died, brethren.

Number one, because he loves us, loves his people. loves the father. Number two, that he might sanctify, set apart his people. Number three, that he might cleanse it. He might cleanse it and that it would be without blemish. Number four is he would present it to himself a glorious church. Number five is that his elect would be without spot. Number six is that they would be without wrinkle. Number seven is that they would be holy. They would be made holy.

Thank God he's made Christ into us all of our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption right now. And thank God he's allowed us and caused us and made us see why Christ died. We don't have to guess. We don't have to wonder. We know why he died. And was he successful in everything that he was coming to do? Absolutely. He's God. He cannot fail. He successfully redeemed his people, and all seven of those have been accomplished right now. It is finished. This is why Christ died.

Let's pray. Father, we are thankful for your word. We ask that you would take it and bless it to our understanding for your glory. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.

We'll ask the parents if they'll go get their children from nursery.