Morning. We've got another good day. This
is a good day. Scripture says this is the day
Lord made. He's made it just exactly the
way he's been pleased to make it. And for that, we're very
thankful. Would you take your Bibles Turn
with me to the book of Revelation chapter 19. Let's have a word of prayer. Our Father, we thank You for
another day to be able to assemble ourselves together in Your presence
because we are convinced that the Lord Jesus Christ is here.
Lord, we believe we've met in your name. We believe that you've
given us a heart to want to hear from you. So we ask you this
morning, would you speak through your word and that we might be
able to hear and follow after you in these things we ask for
Christ's sake. Amen. I'd like to speak this morning
on the subject of preparing yourself to meet God. Preparing yourself to meet God. The saints cried, whenever she spoke of God's salvation. The reason that she said, Hallelujah,
praise the Lord, is because God is merciful. She cried Hallelujah a second
time in verse 3 of this chapter when the Lord judged the great
whore and did cast out all the host
of unbelievers. The reason she cried hallelujah
is because God is just. Then she cried hallelujah the
third time because God has a right, that's what it says in verse
6, God has a right to do what he does. If God shows mercy,
he has a right to do that. He said, I will show mercy. I
will have mercy and compassion on whomsoever I will. If God casts out a rebel and
leaves that rebel to himself, God has a right to do that. Shall he that has made man do
whatsoever he has pleased with that man? Have I not the right,
he said, to do what I will with my own? Yes, he does. The redeemed that cry hallelujah
rejoice in the Lord. Now, the redeemed, regenerated
saint rejoiced Always, he always is rejoicing. And the reason
that he rejoices in the Lord is because he trusts Him. He
trusts Him. A man loves his wife, he rejoices
in her because he trusts her. She loves him, he loves her.
A wife that loves her husband,
Rest in her husband. She rejoices in him because she
trusts him. We rejoice in the Lord. We cry hallelujah, praise the
Lord, because we trust Him. You trust those that are over
in whatever capacity, as a pastor, as a governor, as a president,
You rejoice if you trust Him. You don't trust Him. Just a cloud just kind of hangs
over because you don't know what He'll do. But if you trust the
One that's over you, the saints of God trust God. They rejoice
in Him. They know He's going to do me
good. He's not going to leave me. He's not going to forsake
me. He's going to do whatever He's pleased to do, and it's
going to be for His glory, and it's going to be for my good.
Trust Him. Now, in verse 7 of this chapter,
we see the reason, the reason that the saints praised the Lord. We see they said, hallelujah,
hallelujah. They praise Him, and here's the
reason. It says, Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to
Him. Why? For the marriage of the
Lamb is come, and His wife had made herself ready, and to her
was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean
and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. She's going to say, hallelujah,
because first of all, she's glad. That is to say, she's happy,
but glad means more in this scripture right here, more than just being
happy. It means to give a joyful greeting. Give a joyful greeting. I want
you to turn to 1 Thessalonians 4. Give a joyful greeting. 1 Thessalonians, chapter 4, verse
13. Now, the Scripture is set forth
here. What's going to happen when the
Lord returns for His people? 1 Thessalonians 4, 13. But I would not have you to be
ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye
sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe
that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep
in Jesus will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you
by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain
unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, and
with the voice of the archangel, with the trump of God. And the
dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with
the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another
with these words." Paul said in verse 17, Then we which are
alive and remain shall be caught up, seized with force." Caught
up. What is it going to take for
us to be caught up? God is going to have to catch
us. God is going to have to seize us. God is going to have to bring
us. We will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air. That is to say, to have a friendly
encounter, to meet the Lord. Some are going to stand before
God and they're not going to have a friendly encounter. Some
are going to stand before God without a substitute. Some are
going to stand before God in themselves with no answer. We looked last week. All of us
are going to give an account. Every man is going to have to
give account of himself. But for those that God has everlastingly
loved, chosen in Christ the bride, they are going to have a friendly
encounter. They are going to be caught up together to meet
the Lord, to meet Him. We believe that the Lord Jesus
Christ, who has everlastingly loved us, will absolutely show
us that in that day. And we'll be glad when a believer
dies. They don't cease to be. We sleep in Christ. That's true. This body that was sown in corruption,
there's a body that's in the ground. For a believer, it's
in the ground. But that soul, What happened
to it? Paul said, 1 Corinthians 5, 8,
absent from the body, present with the Lord. What's going to
happen when those that sleep in Christ, that body that is
sown in the ground, what's going to happen? Those that are with
Him right now, there is no doubt that God's elect, God's regenerated
saints that died in Christ, and this physically died in Christ,
what happened? They're with the Lord. They're
with Him. And all that sleep in Him are
going to return with Him for their bodies. When He returns,
their bodies that were sown in that corruption are going to
rise in incorruption. It's a great mystery. I understand
that. But this is so. We believe this. When He comes in power and glory,
all of the saints that are physically alive are going to meet those
that have been raised, and we're going to meet them in the air.
Meet the Lord in a friendly encounter. So first of all, let's be glad. Let's look back in Revelation
19. Let us be glad, be happy. There's going to be a friendly
encounter whenever He returns. And secondly, rejoice. Leap for
joy. That's what it means. Acts 14.10
said, Lord, raised by the power of one of the apostles, He said
with a loud voice, Stand upon Thy feet. And He leaped and He
walked. Leap for joy. thankful. There's a reaction. And give
honor to Him. Be glad and rejoice and give
honor to Him. Think and be of the opinion that
His dignity is worthy to be praised. Let me ask you something this
morning. Is He worthy to be praised today? Sure He is. We're going through life right
now. This life is just a vapor. And
we know that. We know ourselves, sir. We know
we're going down. We know that sin is, the presence
of sin is taking its toll on our bodies. We know that. But
we're not without hope. We're not without comfort. We're
glad. There is going to be a happy
reunion physically one day, but right now we are glad. We have a reason to be glad.
Three reasons for us to be glad. Three reasons for us to rejoice
and to give honor to Him. Here is the first one. In verse
7, let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to Him, colon,
far. Here's the reason that we're
glad. Number one, the marriage of the Lamb has come. You know, some speak of this
marriage. One of these days, they say,
in the great by and by, we're going to be married to the Lord. One of these days, there's going
to be a great marriage. Let me tell you something. This
marriage already is. This marriage is not going to
take place. The marriage has already been.
Turn to Isaiah 54. This marriage has always been. Isaiah 54, verse 4 and 5. says this, fear not, Isaiah 54,
4 and 5, for thou shalt not be ashamed, neither be thou confounded,
for thou shalt not be put to shame, for thou shalt forget
the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of
thy widowhood any more, for thy maker is thine husband. The Lord of hosts is his name,
and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole
earth, shall he be called. Now, here's the bottom line.
Whether we understand it, whether we don't, we don't understand
all things, but we do understand. Thy maker is thy husband. How
long has he been the maker? He's always been the maker. How
long has he been our husband? He's always been our husband.
We go back to this great truth. God is omnipotent. God is omniscient. God is omnipresent. God is immutable. God never changes. He has never
become our husband. He's always been our husband.
Whatever He is now, He's always been. I don't change. So we've
always been married to the Lord Jesus Christ. The bride, the
chosen of the Lord, the elect, the remnant according to grace. Every mercy and blessing from
Almighty God flows from this truth. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the husband of His people. He said, I have loved you with
an everlasting love. We read in Ephesians 5, husbands
love your wife as Christ loved the church. How long has he loved his bride? He's always loved her. If he's
always loved the bride, how long has she been the bride? She's
always been the bride. Always been his church. From
all eternity we've been his wife. This is why he loved us. Because
we're always his. This is why He assumed our nature.
His bride, chosen in Him, His bride everlastingly loved, His
bride fell in Adam. But He did not cease to love
her. She was always His. When she fell, she fell in Adam. But she never fell from Christ.
She never fell from His love. He came into this world and assumed
her nature. And He paid what she owed. She rebelled against God's laws. And He came as her federal head
and represented her. And God accepted what He did
and charged it to her. He loved her. He would not let her perish.
He said, I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. When
did that start? It never started. It's always
been like that. She fell. But I tell you this,
He redeemed her. He bought her. Be glad and rejoice. Everything that God has purposed
and ordained from all eternity concerning the bride. And the
bridegroom is now in that scripture back in Revelation 19. He says, Now the marriage of
the Lamb is come. It doesn't mean it's come into
being. It means now it is openly displayed. The world doesn't see that. I
tell you this, the world of false religion doesn't see this now.
She doesn't understand, doesn't perceive it. I mean, the world
doesn't understand, doesn't perceive this thing of the Lord Jesus
Christ and His elect chosen bride, that He everlastingly loved her,
that He died for her, that He lived for her, died for her,
rose for her, intercedes for her. They don't understand that
now. But one of these days, they're going to see it. One of these
days, it's going to be openly displayed. It's not openly displayed
to the world. Now, to you that believe it is.
You understand. You know. But in this world,
they don't see it. They look at all of their self-righteous
acts and this, that, and the other. But I'm telling you, one
of these days, it's going to be openly perceived by everybody. Rejoice. Be glad and rejoice
and give honor to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come.
That's the first reason. It's going to be openly displayed.
Here's the second reason. His wife hath made herself ready."
His wife hath made herself ready. I looked at that passage of Scripture,
and I thought on it, prayed about it, asked. You know, the Lord says you don't
have because you don't ask. And take me at my word here. You're looking at a very ignorant
person. And I recognize it. And there's many times that I've
had to just say, Lord, I don't know what this means. I have
no idea. Would you help me? Would you
please? I'm just bearing my heart to
you. There have been times I said, Lord, I know you know. It's your
word. You wrote it. You spoke it. It's Your Word. Lord, would You
help me?" She hath made herself ready. I looked up that word,
made, and here's what it means, prepared. She's prepared herself. She hath prepared herself. You
know, when I looked it up, the word, it still didn't get me. She prepared herself? Obviously, I know this, there's
a great preparation for the bride. She made herself ready. But this great preparation, and I'm going to tell you what
I think, I'll tell you what I think it means. I'll tell you what
I think the Lord has taught me on this passage of Scripture. I think this is right, what I'm
about to tell you. But I will tell you this, when
it says right here, his wife has made herself ready, you can
write this down. There was something she did.
There is something that she did. Because it doesn't say Scripture
is not just flippant. Some great preparation that she
did. But I know this, what she did,
what she needed, She could not supply for herself. I know that. To make herself ready, all obstacles
had to be removed. All of her sin had to be paid
for. And the way to God had to be
one of holiness. I know that. Turn over to Isaiah
62. Isaiah, Isaiah 62. Now listen, you know this is
so what we're looking at right here. We might try to skirt around
the issue and say, well, it doesn't say that. Let's see what the
Scripture does say. The Scripture says, Freddie,
she made herself ready. I know that. Isaiah 62, verse
10, go through, go through the gates Prepare ye the way of the
people. Cast up the highway. Gather out the stones. Lift up
a standard for the people. Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed
unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold,
thy salvation cometh. Behold, his reward is with him,
and his work before him. And they shall call them the
holy people, the redeemed of the Lord. And thou shalt be called
sought out A city not forsaken. What did I just read? What I'm
saying is what she needed, she could not supply for herself.
Someone else had to do it for her. Something had to be done. The way had to be prepared. So
for the Lord to say to her in that day, well done. For the Lord to say, well done. The Lord Jesus Christ must undertake
for her. He must do something for her
that she couldn't do. I know that. He had to live for
her, redeem her, search her out, call her. But that Scripture says right
there, His wife hath made herself ready. What has she done to make herself
ready? That's the question. What has
she done? Here it is. She believed God. She believed Him. The Scripture says, turn over
to Romans 4. I'm going to show you something.
Romans 4. Romans 4, verses 1 to 3. What shall we say then that Abraham,
our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if
Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but
not before God. But what saith the Scripture?
Believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness."
Abraham believed God. Turn to Matthew 9. Matthew 9,
verse 20. Matthew 9, 20. Matthew 9, 20. Behold, a woman
which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years came behind
him and touched the hem of his garment. For she said within
herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. But
Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter,
be of good comfort. Thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole
from that hour." Now, listen. I know this for a fact. I know
that John 3.18 says, He that believeth on him is not condemned. But he that believeth not is
condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name
of the only begotten Son of God. Matthew 11.6 says, But without
faith it is impossible to please. Him is in italics. It is insinuated. For he that cometh to God must
believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek him." Some would say, but I thought
that I couldn't do anything. I thought that I couldn't do
anything. Listen to me. In yourself, you can't. You can't. All men have not faith. Faith
is not found in a dead unregenerate sinner. Faith is not there. It is not there. No man seeks
after God. No man knows God. No man hopes
in God. Dead in trespasses and sin, he
is dead. He is dead. He is dead. Faith
is not there. Well, I thought I couldn't do
anything. Preacher, in yourself you can't. But the Scripture
never says that all men are going to leave
this world doing nothing. The Scripture does not say that
all men are going to leave this world doing nothing. Listen to
what Scripture does say. I am divine. Ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I
in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit." The Scripture does not say you
can do nothing. The Scripture says, for without
me you can do nothing. Matthew 19, 26, "...with men
this is impossible, with God all things are possible." So listen to me. I want you to
understand that whenever we talk about men being able to do nothing,
you can do nothing of yourself. You can do nothing. But by the
grace of God, men believe. Why? Because God gives them a
heart to believe, gives them faith to believe. They do believe. That woman that came to the Lord
and touched the hem of His garment, where did she get that faith?
God gave it to her. You that believe, where did you
get your faith? God gave it to you. Did you drum
it up of yourself? No. No, you did not. Because without Him, you can't
do anything. Men are trying to cater to men's
deadness, saying, if you'll only believe. Well, if you could believe,
you could save yourself. But does that mean that men do
nothing? Oh, that doesn't mean that at all. I'm going to tell
you something. For a believer, God gives them
something that is truly theirs. It's theirs. Thy faith. Where'd she get it? He gave it
to her. And it was hers. It was the gift of God. Without
faith, you can't believe. Without faith, you can't please
God. But when God gives a man faith, that's God's faith given
to that man, and that's that man's faith. Your faith has made
you whole. And a believer lays no claim
to it of himself. I know, Paul said, I am what
I am by the grace of God. But I'll tell you what, this
bride did something by the grace of God that she knows in herself
she could not do. She believed Him. She believed
God. She believed Him. The Scripture
says, let's be glad and rejoice and give honor to Him, for the
marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself
ready." What did she do? She believed Him. She believed
Him. She didn't lay claim to it. She
didn't brag in it. She didn't boast in it. She didn't claim it as her own
product. She knew that it was His. She
knew that it was His. She knew that He gave it to her.
And he looked at her and said, Your faith, Your faith. That's grace. Here's the third reason that
we rejoice, be glad. Verse 8, To her it was granted
that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white,
for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. Well, I'll tell you. Yeah, the Scripture says, these
are not my words, the Scripture says that his wife made herself
ready. The Scripture says that. I didn't
make that up. God declared it. God declared
that. And this is what the Scripture
says to her. And this is what she believed.
This is what she believed. that it was granted. The Lord gave her what she must have
to stand before Him. Righteousness. She's surrounded with His righteousness
that He earned as her representative. She believed that. This righteousness that is pure
and transparent, there is no hidden areas of falsehood. This
righteousness bears up under the scrutiny of God's judgment.
This is the righteousness of the saints. She made herself
ready. She equipped herself with the only thing that she
could. She believed God clothed her. That's what she believed.
God demanded that she believe Him. And He gave her what she needed. He gave her faith to believe
that He clothed her. And He gave her a new heart.
And with that new heart, there was the possession of faith.
Faith was given. When God gave her life, He gave
her faith. And that was hers. That was His
gift to her. And she believed Him. And God
said, you prepared yourself. This is what I demanded. And
what He gave her, she did. She actually did. You know, we talk about believers. Somehow the world interprets
what we believe, that we're some kind of robots that are insensitive,
that we don't know anything of ourselves. We're just kind of
acting through the motions, you know. We're just kind of, you
know, like a robot in a computer. There's no life in it, no action
in it. It's just a robot. No, we're
not robots. We're living souls. that fell
in Adam and was stripped of life, stripped of faith, stripped of
everything, stripped. And God made us new. And He gave
us absolutely what He demanded, life to believe Him. And we know
where it came from. And we're not sitting here this
morning Saying, well, I don't know what's going on. Yeah, we
know what's going on. God's given us a new heart. God's given us
a new spirit. God's given us new life. And
we're really doing something right now that we have nothing
to boast in. We're really doing something
today. What are we doing? We're worshiping
God. Why? Because we believe Him.
I believe it. I believe this. I believe He
chose me. I believe that Christ came into
this world as my representative. I believe, brother Scott, I believe
He lived for me. I believe He did. I believe He
died for me. I believe that God put away my
guilt. I believe when He came out of
that grave, Jeff, I believe that God Almighty showed. Here's the
reason right here. that I justified them before
the foundation of the world, because there's the evidence
of it, that God had seen before the foundation of all creation. He was slain. I believe that. God has given me something. God
gave me something. And it wasn't a frivolous gift.
It was the gift of faith. I had to have that. Dan, I had
to have that. And he gave that to me. And what
he gave to me, he honored it. And this is what he said about
it. You made yourself ready. Well done. But Lord, I don't
have anything to boast in. I know that. You don't have anything
to boast in. And it's yours. Thank you. Be glad and rejoice. because
the marriage of the bride has come. And she made herself ready. And it was granted unto her that
she should be arrayed in His righteousness. I pray the Lord
bless this to our hearts today. And for Christ's sake, Amen.