Brethren, let's turn in our Bibles
to Deuteronomy chapter 7. Deuteronomy 7. Our subject tonight goes along
with our series of messages on marriage
that I'm trying to preach. The subject is the believer's
constraint to choose a spouse. The believer's constraint to
choose a spouse. Now in this passage, God is giving
His covenant word to the nation Israel. And that word was a covenant
word, a covenant of works. They were under a covenant of
works. Now, without the Spirit of God working in their hearts,
without the Spirit subduing their flesh and strengthening them
in faith, without that, they did what they did from a legal
motive, from a legal constraint, trying to work to obtain God's
favor. And they thought themselves smarter
than God. They really did. They thought
they were smarter than God so that they disobeyed what God
said here in this passage. And God brought to pass everything
that He said He would bring to pass. Whatever believer now that's
regenerated, that's been called by God to faith in Christ, by
God's grace, you have the Spirit of God working in the heart,
in a new heart. So you have a new motive, you
have a new constraint. The Spirit of God is constraining,
He is subduing the flesh while at the same time He is constraining
us in the inward man. And we have one constraint, we
have one motive. Scripture says we are constrained
by the love of Christ. Christ's love for us constrains
us, moves us to do what we do. Now, every true regenerated believer
is married to Christ. Every regenerated believer is
the bride of Christ. Now, I know the Scripture says
the church is the bride of Christ, but I want this to be personal
to you and I who believe. And we collectively, as His elect,
make up the Church of Christ, the Bride of Christ. But I want
you to think, you that have been born of God, called to Christ,
think of yourself as the Bride of Christ. And so as the Bride
of Christ, with Christ as our Husband, we are in subjection
to Him in everything. Subjection to Christ, our Husband,
in everything. Ephesians 5.23 says, Christ is
the head of the Church. And He is the Savior of the body.
Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ. And that verse ends
saying, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.
And the in everything could actually be put there with Christ. As
the church is subject to Christ in everything, so let the wives
be in subjection to their own husbands in everything. What
does that mean to be in subjection to Christ? What Christ loves,
we love. What Christ hates, we hate. Christ's
people are our people. Christ's enemies are our enemies.
Whatever Christ says we are to do, that's our desire. That's our inward heart's desire. The new heart's desire is to
do all things pleasing to our Redeemer. because His love constrains
us to be in subjection to Him in everything. Won't you be glad
one day when you don't have this sinful flesh and you'll be perfectly
conformed to Christ and can truly worship Him like you want to
worship Him now? But in that inward man, we do.
We want to serve and worship our Lord Jesus Christ. So, the
believer's constraint in everything is the love and grace of God
in Christ. The believer's constraint in
everything is his great love and his great grace toward us
in Christ. This is what constrains us. We
don't have to have a threat of terror, you know, to
cause us to obey. And we don't have to have some
kind of carrot dangled in front of us to make us obey. We want
to obey because Christ is our husband. Christ is the one we
want to serve and obey because of what He's done for us to redeem
us and make us righteous and holy and perfect before God.
Now in this text the Lord is talking about our dealings with
unbelievers, with idolatrous religion and with unbelieving
people. And he is particularly dealing
with marriage. Now, here is my point tonight. The point of the
passage is the believer's constraint in choosing a spouse is this
love of Christ our husband. This is our constraint. Now,
as we take this passage, we are going verse by verse. Now, you
who believe the Lord, I want you to hear this as Christ your
husband. speaking to you. This is Christ
your husband speaking to you. Now first of all, Christ our
husband says, make no alliance with the enemy. Make no alliance
with the enemy. He says in verse 1, Deuteronomy
7, verse 1, When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the
land, whither thou goest to possess it. Now we have to look at this
in the present tense. We've been delivered into a land
that we possess now. Christ has done a work that this
was picturing, and He's yet to do a work that this pictures.
But we do have something in possession right now that Christ has brought
us into. And when you go into the land
whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations
before thee, When the Lord brings you there, and He has cast out
many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Gergesites,
and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites,
and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou. Let's just take this right here.
First of all, the Lord thy God has shown His elect distinguishing
grace from above or greater than all
other people on this earth. He's done something for His people
He hasn't done for people on this earth. It says there, Christ
had cast out many nations before thee. Do you remember what Isaiah
43 tells us? You know, everything He did for
natural Israel is a picture of what God's doing for His elect,
His true spiritual Israel. And he said there, I'm the Lord
thy God, I'm the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. And since
thou was precious in my sight, thou has been honorable. Precious
in God's sight, by His grace. And he said, and I've loved thee,
and therefore will I give men for thee and people for thy life. Fear not, I am with thee. I will
bring thy seed from the east and gather thee from the west.
I will say to the north, give up. To the south, keep not back.
Bring my sons from far. He is speaking this to His bride,
to His church. He is saying, I have given men
and land and nations for you. I am going to bring all My people
from the north and south and east and west, and I am going
to bring them, even everyone that is called by My name, I
have created them for My glory. I have formed them, yea, I have
made them. So He says here, He says there, I am delivering you
from nations greater than you. And then Christ our Husband has
shown us favor over much people greater and mightier than we
are. He says there, these nations were greater and mightier than
Israel. And God has shown us favor and
done things for us over people that are much greater and mightier
than we are. That means He did it all. He's
put down our enemies that we couldn't put down. He's done
work for us that we couldn't do ourselves. And He's done this.
He's taken nobodies. He's taken foolish sinners like
you and me. Christ was walking along one
day and He said, Father, I'm thankful. I thank You, Father,
that You've hidden these things from the wise and prudent. You've
hidden these things from those that are greater and mightier.
And You've revealed them unto babe. For even so, Father, it
seemed good in Thy sight. All things are delivered unto
Me of My Father, He said. And no man knows the Father but
the Son, and He to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him. So Christ
has shown us grace. Us, nobody. He's shown us grace over a people that's far greater
and mightier than we are. That's what our husband's done
for us. And then our husband has taken away all our sins.
Can you read about those seven nations right there? You see
those seven nations as everything that the flesh, the sinful flesh
of God's elect, you see what it is and what it produces. Those
seven nations right there that God was defeating. He said, I'm
going to leave them there and I'm going to defeat them little
by little. And we have this in our flesh. He hasn't taken us
out of this flesh. We have this flesh. What do these
seven things picture? These seven nations, what do
they picture? God said, these six things does the Lord hate,
yea, seven are an abomination unto Him. This is what your flesh
is and my flesh is. This is all our flesh produces.
This is not just something we do, you know, we might do one
of these every now and then or the other one every now and then.
This is all our flesh is and all our flesh produces. A proud
look. Proud. Anybody leave the house
this evening without looking in the mirror? Proud look. Proud look. Worst of all, proud
of our doing. Proud of our self-righteousness. A proud look. A lying tongue. hands that shed innocent blood,
a heart that devises wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running
to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that
soweth discord among brethren. That's how the flesh is. Sin. Sin. If you look at those seven
nations and you see that God delivered Israel, delivered those
nations and scattered those nations and brought Israel into that
possession, and you see something of those seven things that God
hates, that all our flesh is, that God has delivered us from.
Christ has delivered His people from all our sins. And he continues
to subdue the flesh. Now this is what our husband
is saying. So he says now then, he says,
seeing the great distinguishing grace he's done, he says now,
here are some reasonable commands. These are reasonable. Look at,
here's the first one. He says, make no alliance with
unbelievers in idolatrous religion. Verse 2, when the Lord thy God
shall deliver them before thee, thou shalt smite them and utterly
destroy them. Thou shalt make no covenant with
them nor show mercy unto them. Look at verse 5. But thus shall
you deal with them, you shall destroy their altars, break down
their images, cut down their groves, and burn their graven
images with fire. Now is He telling us in the year
2017 we ought to go around burning down churches, buildings, and
breaking down every cross we see and every idolatrous image
we see? No. No. We are not to do these
things physically, we are not to smite and destroy wheel workers
physically with a physical death, but spiritually by declaring
the truth of Christ and Him crucified. Remember, Paul said, though we
walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. The weapons
of our warfare are not carnal. We have a weapon far more powerful
than any carnal weapon this world has. The weapons of our warfare
are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. God through this gospel cast
down imaginations. What do you mean He cast down
imaginations? This right here. Well, I thought
this is how God does it. Well, I thought God will take
that vain imagination and cast it down and bring it down. Casting down imaginations and
every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge
of God. And He'll bring into captivity
every thought to the obedience of Christ. He'll bring all your
thoughts and my thoughts through this gospel. He'll bring you
to the feet of Christ You trust Christ's obedience for all your
righteousness and all your sanctification, all your redemption, all your
wisdom. He'll bring you to trust Christ.
Now I'm telling you, that's a mighty weapon. that God can use to do
that. It's what we're doing right here
through the preaching of the Gospel, through sending out the
Gospel into the world. He's going to defeat His enemies
this way. He's calling out His elect this
way. He's bringing His bride into subjection to Him this way.
And by that, He's defeating His enemies and our enemies. And
then seeing that those seven nations typify the sins of our
flesh, Those seven nations typify the sins of our flesh. That means,
brethren, we must make no alliance with this sinful flesh either.
We must mortify, crucify the flesh with the lusts and the
deceit of it. Go to Colossians 3. I want to
show you this. How do you do that? How do you
mortify the deeds of the flesh? There is only one way. You always look to Christ. above. Keep your affection on Christ
above. God has to keep our affection
on Him above. But look at this. Paul says this
is to those that be risen with Christ. He says in verse 1, If
you be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above,
where Christ sits on the right hand of God. Set your affection
on things above, not on things on the earth, for you are dead.
And your life is hid with Christ in God. Now that's true of every
believer. You're dead. We died on Calvary's
cross when Christ laid down His life. We died and God says our
old man of sin is dead. But you are alive. Your life is hid with Christ
in God. And when Christ, our life, shall
appear, then shall you also appear with Him in glory. Now what's
this going to do about having our affections set on Christ,
and learning of Christ, and seeking Christ, and always looking to
Christ? What's that going to do to the flesh? Mortify therefore
your members which are upon the earth. You can't have your affection
set in two places at once. If our affection is set on Christ,
and you're feeding that inward man, that new man, that old man
of flesh, he's being treated like he's dead. He's not being
peppered and he's not being strengthened and he's not being catered to,
the new man is. And so the old man is mortified.
Mortify therefore your members which are upon error, fornication,
uncleanness, inordinate affection. That's loving anything or anybody
over Christ. Inordinate affection. Evil concupiscence,
covetousness which is idolatry. For which thing's sake the wrath
of God comes on the children of disobedience? in the which
you also walked sometime when you lived in them. When your
life was in this world and in this flesh, you lived in those
things, but not now. But now you also put off all
these, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication
out of your mouth, lie one to another, seeing that you have
You have put off the old man with his deeds and you have put
on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image
of him that created him. This new man was created by God
and he is constantly renewed in the image of God. And he says,
and in that new man there is neither Greek nor Jew. You might
have been the worst racist on the face of the planet. Everything
that you thought about was was about your race and why one race
is better than another race or one race owes another race something
because of what the other race did. In Christ there is neither
Jew nor Greek. We are not better because of
our race. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision. It is not
what we have done or what we haven't done. Barbarian, Scythian,
it's not educated or uneducated. Bond or free, it's not whether
you were free-born as the world calls free-born or born a man
in bondage. But Christ is all and in all. That's all. That's what he said. Christ is
all. In the heart of the believer, Christ is all. And He is in all. He is in all
His people. So put on therefore as the elect
of God, holy and beloved, vows of mercies, kindness, humbleness
of mind, meekness, longsuffering, forbearing one another, forgiving
one another. If any man have a quarrel against
any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do you. And above all
these things, put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness,
and let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which
also you are called in one body, and be ye thankful. Let the Word
of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing
one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, and singing
with grace in your hearts to the Lord in whatsoever you do,
in word or deed. Do all in the name of the Lord
Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him. So not only
are we to make no alliance with idolatrous religion and the enemies
of Christ, we are to make no alliance with this sinful flesh. We are not to make any allowances
for it. and condone anything the sinful
flesh, my own sinful flesh wants to do. I'm not to condone it. I'm not to make excuses for it
and justify it at all. I'm to mortify it and look to
Christ. And for that same reason now,
let's go back to our text. For the same reason as Christ
will have us not to make any covenant with unbelievers. Christ
our husband also commands his bride not to marry unbelievers. He says in verse 3, neither shalt
thou make marriages with them, thy daughter thou shalt not give
unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.
Now this is a gospel, this was given in the old covenant, but
this is a gospel command as well. We'll come to it in a few weeks
in 2 Corinthians. I referenced it Sunday when we
looked at Christ and the bride where He said, be not unequally
yoked together with unbelievers. And He's talking about all forms
of covenants, all forms of unions, not just marriage. any kind of
union with an unbeliever. We're not to be unequally yoked.
You know, a yoke is, you know, you have two animals that have
a yoke on them and they're pulling together in that yoke. And if
you have a believer and an unbeliever trying to pull together, they're
not pulling with the same strength or in the same direction or with
the same motive. They're just not together. You
ever seen two animals in a yoke that aren't pulling together?
They don't get anything done. They're working against each
other the whole time. And that's what God is saying
there. But right here He's talking about marriage. And I'm trying
to go through a series on some things about marriage. I thought
it was appropriate. We've looked at three marriages
now. Adam and Eve picturing Christ and His bride. We've looked at
those four parts to the wedding. We saw that Sunday. And so all
of that we focus strictly on Christ. Now we come into something
dealing with us. How do I choose a spouse? Well,
what does Christ our husband tell his believing child? You see, this is for a believer
because an unbeliever won't understand this. So how is it I'm to choose
a spouse? Well, now notice here first of
all, This will almost slip by you if you don't pay attention.
Note who he's talking to. He's talking here to believing
parents. That's who he's speaking to in
Deuteronomy 7. He's talking about us not giving
our sons and daughters to marry unbelievers. So it's the responsibility
of you and I as believing parents to not give our sons and our
daughters to unbelievers. Now, they may be young adults
so that you can't stop them from marrying. But it's our responsibility
and we must give them the Word of God and warn them of what
the Lord is saying here because they're walking contrary to the
Word of God. So we have to give them the Word
of God. And then if our son or daughter is an unbeliever, marrying
a believer, we do the unbeliever a great
harm. You do the unbeliever a great
harm. Whenever we make them think that we approve when they are
walking contrary to God's Word. That does an unbeliever great
harm. And to make them feel like they're one with God's people,
that's as bad as trying to constrain somebody into a false profession.
It's a sure way of hardening an unbeliever in their unbelief. It's to make them think that
they're doing what is approved when it's contrary to God's Word.
So that's a word for parents to speak to children about. But then look here, here's the
reason. Now don't forget this is Christ our husband speaking,
the one that we're constrained to obey. Listen to what he says
here. This is why that his believing
bride is not to marry an unbeliever, verse 4. Deuteronomy 7, verse
4, "...for they will turn away thy son or daughter from following
Me, that they may serve other gods." Christ our husband is
married to the believer. You may have a son or a daughter
who is a believer. Christ is married to them. Christ
is married to them. Christ is his or her husband. They're married to Christ. He
paid the dowry. Remember we saw that Sunday?
He paid the dowry for His bride with His precious blood. And
so, she's His. He's His. Whoever, it's a boy
or a girl, He bought them. And our husband is a jealous
husband. He's a jealous husband. You go
back to Deuteronomy 6 and look there. He says there, Verse 14, ìYou shall not go after
other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about
you. For the Lord thy God is a jealous God among you. Lest
the anger of the Lord thy God be kindled against thee and destroy
thee from off the face of the earth.î Heís a jealous God. The same reason that Heíll have
us crucify the sinful flesh, Heíll have His believing bride
not marrying an unbeliever. We wouldnít say, ìWell, itís
okay to indulge in the flesh. It's okay to make a covenant
with your flesh and sin. Not a believer would say that.
We would teach our children that. Well, that's the same reason
he says we shouldn't marry an unbeliever. It will cause us
to serve other gods rather than following him. You see, he's
jealous for his bride. He won't have his bride going
after another and being led away after another. Now, if we refuse
to obey Christ, look here, verse 4. He says, so will the anger
of the Lord be kindled against you and destroy thee suddenly.
Now, He did that to those who were under a covenant of works.
If you go and look at this verse and take a concordance and go
through and look and see in the Scriptures how Israel didn't
pay Him any attention. They were smarter than God, they
went on and You know, those Canaanite boys were handsome, and so they
gave their daughters away to them, and they married their
daughters and their sons. And there's a Scripture that
says, after a while, it says that the Hebrew children could
speak the language of those they married, but they couldn't speak
the Jews' language. They couldn't speak the Jews'
language. But the Lord won't destroy one that Christ justified
by His blood. He will not destroy somebody
He justified by His blood. He bought them. He's already
paid the debt. He's paid the wages of sin. He's paid it and they justified
it. He will not allow them to perish. But He said this in Zechariah
8.2. It says, Thus saith the Lord
of hosts, I was jealous for Zion with a great jealousy. Zion is
the church. It's bright. I was jealous for
Zion with a great jealousy. and I was jealous for her with
great fury." Now listen, he's jealous for his church with great
jealousy. That's zeal. When you love somebody,
you're jealous for them. And he loves the church with
great zeal. No greater love hath any man
than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. He
laid down his life for his bride. But he's jealous for his church
with great fury against the unbeliever, against those who would lead
her away from Christ. He is jealous with fury against
Him. But to the object of His love
for whom He is jealous, He says, fury is not in me. So He is not
going to destroy that one He laid down His life for. But God
the Father will chasten. He will chasten us. We chasten
our children. The Hebrew writer said, God is
holy and He chastens us for our profit. And it's so sad sometimes. If I thought it would do any
good and I thought that it wouldn't offend, sometimes I feel like
giving people references to folks that can tell you, don't go down
that path. Believers can tell you, I tried
it. Remember when the Lord arrested Paul on the road to Damascus
and He said, it's hard to kick against the pricks. You kick
against God all you want to, but you're just not going to
go anywhere with that. You know? Think about entering
into a relationship, into an institution that God ordained
to glorify Christ, and that's what it's for, and to enter into
it contrary to what Christ says. That doesn't make sense, does
it? And then expect His blessing
on it? Listen to this. Here are a few objections. I've
heard these. Now let me give these to you. We're fixing to
move on, but let me give you these objections. I've heard
these. But God might use the believer to teach the unbeliever
the truth. Well, they should get married
because God might use the believer to teach the unbeliever the truth. God says, now listen to this,
they will turn away thy son or thy daughter from following Me
that they may serve other gods. That's what God says will happen.
They'll turn them away. God never tells us to unite with
unbelievers. He never does that. He never
says do that and hopefully you'll sway them. He says come out from
among them. You want to make a statement?
You want to make a stand and show somebody that you stand
for Christ and that Christ is the most important thing for
you? He says don't join with them. Separate from them. and show this is what's important.
Alright, here's another objection. But they sit under the true gospel.
Listen to me. An unbeliever is an unbeliever. It doesn't matter if they're
sitting under free will, works, religion, or if they've been
sitting under the true gospel since the day they were born.
An unbeliever is an unbeliever. Look to Calvary's cross. There
were unbelievers who had had the oracles of God and been raised
under the oracles of God and taught by some of the most strict
people in the land. And they crucified Christ thinking
they were glorifying God. See, the natural heart is enmity
against God. It doesn't matter where it's
sitting, what religion it's under. An unbeliever is an unbeliever.
Well, how about this? But God is sovereign. He can
save them. Well, I know a few cases where
God actually did save an unbeliever. A believer married an unbeliever
and God saved the unbeliever. I know some cases where God did
that. But you find me one place in this book where we are supposed
to use the sovereignty of God to justify rebelling against
the clear word of God and I will kiss your foot. We are never
to do that. Yeah, God might save them. He
will overrule rebellion, but we never use the sovereignty
of God to justify going against the Word of God. Ever. Never. Well, preacher, that's legalism. We're free to do what we will.
And that's always the cry when God's Word goes against our fleshly
lust. Always. Always. If I'm a believer in love with
an unbeliever, what should I do? If I'm a believer and I'm in
love with an unbeliever, what should I do? Well, first of all,
don't do anything to make that unbeliever make a false profession. Don't do anything. Don't give
them an ultimatum. Don't say, now, if you don't
make a profession, I can't marry you. Don't do that. I can personally
point to three fellows that did that very thing just because
a girl made them feel like it was that or else. A man, for
a pretty girl, a man will jump through any kind of hoop you
put in front of him. Don't do that. Don't do that. And if they make a profession,
if they do make a profession, I said to you, don't do anything
to make them make a profession, just wait on the Lord. And if
they do make a profession, wait on the Lord. Make sure that they
are really in love with Christ and not just in love with you.
Why? Why wait on the Lord? Marriage
is the biggest, most lifelong thing we're ever going to do. It's lifelong. Before God, even
if we get a divorce, if it's for anything else besides fornication,
adultery, God says we're still married to that one. You get
married five more times if you want to. You're still married
to the first one. That's what God's Word says. God hates putting
away. This is a life long thing. And
we are going to stand before God. You are going to stand before
God in a few days and you are going to make a vow to God before
many witnesses that you are going to love that person for better
or for worse. No matter what. No matter what. So this is a huge, huge thing. What if they never believe on
Christ? What if they end up showing the
enmity that's in their heart? It's there. And if they don't
have the Spirit of God to constrain them, what if they end up showing
that, venting that? If you're in marriage, you're
in marriage. Too late then. Well, listen. you know, dating or something
like that, and they don't believe on Christ? Move on. Now, that might sound hard, but
listen, what's it coming down to? It's coming down to siding
with Christ against my wants, my desire, my fleshly feelings,
and siding with Christ and obeying Him. And that's what a believer
wants. A believer wants that. A believer
wants that. You know, when I was single,
when I was a single believer, I was truly content to remain
single if I didn't meet and God didn't send me a believing spouse.
I was content to remain single. I know everybody is not that
way. And I wouldn't have been that way if God hadn't given
me that contentment. But I really was content. Now,
don't misunderstand me here. Just because two people are believers,
that doesn't mean it's not going to be rough at times. That doesn't mean it's going
to be all smooth sailing. We're sinners living in a sinful world.
So, that's going to be the case. And I have seen believers divorce,
sadly. So, you know, that's not just
a magic potion just because they're two believers. But, I will say
this, if there's not a unified heart that the Spirit of God
has given. God says, how can light and darkness have fellowship? There won't be any. There won't
be any. But boy, where He has given that
unity of heart, where two people love each other, they really
love each other then. Because it's a godly thing. It's
a spiritual thing. It's something between to where
Christ is more important to them than their spouse is. And I'm
telling you, to the natural heart, that doesn't sound right. But
if you love Christ more than you love your spouse, and that
spouse loves Christ more than they love you, that's the key. That's the secret right there.
I don't pretend to be an expert on marriage. This year will be
20 years, but that's not very long, really. And I don't pretend
to be an expert on marriage, but I do know what God's Word
says. And that's all I want you to see. I want you to know that.
Now let me go here. I want to get to this last thing
real quickly. Now what is the constraint for
the believer to obey this Word of Grace? What's the constraint?
Look here, verse 6, Deuteronomy 7, 6. For, that means because. Now here, our Lord, when He tells
us to do something, it's reasonable. And He's going to tell us why
it's reasonable. Here's why it's reasonable. Here's the constraint.
Because thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God. That's
why it's reasonable. He set us apart. We've been set
apart by the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Our triune God
set us apart. He made us holy. He made us holy
by the righteousness of Christ which had been imputed to us
in justification. And He made us holy by the importation
of Christ's righteousness in sanctification when He created
a new man in righteousness and holiness. I'm not talking about
any righteousness and holiness that we made. I'm talking about
the righteousness and holiness Christ is. He made us holy. And then look at verse 6, For
the Lord thy God hath chosen thee. Oh, it is not that I did
choose thee, for Lord, that could not be. This heart would still
refuse thee, but thou hast chosen me. Thou hast from the sin that
stained me washed and cleansed and set me free and unto this
end ordained me that I ever live to thee. "'Twas Thy grace in
Christ that called me, taught my darkened heart and mind, else
the world had yet enthralled me to Thy heavenly glories blind. But now my heart owns none above
Thee, for Thy grace alone I thirst, knowing well that if I love Thee,
Thou, O Lord, didst love me first.'" He chose me. And look at this,
verse 6, "...for the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a
special people unto Himself above all people that are upon the
face of the earth." You see why Christ is saying, don't let my
bride go after another. I've chosen you to be special
unto Me, Christ said. How could I choose someone who's
ashamed of Christ, over Christ? when Christ has chosen me and
hasn't been ashamed of me, to lay down His life for me and
to confess me. How could I choose somebody who's
ashamed of Christ, over Christ, when Christ has chosen me? To
be special unto Him. You see? You're a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation of peculiar people. That means
a special people, special unto Him. Why? That you should show
forth the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into
His marvelous light. How am I going to do that? I'm
going to stand with Him. I'm going to honor Him. I'm going
to obey Him. I'm going to follow Him. That's how. Now look at
this. And Christ constrains me by His
grace. Now watch this. This is free,
covenant, sovereign, effectual grace. Watch this, verse 7. The
Lord didn't set His love upon you nor choose you because you
were more in number than any people, for you were the fewest
of all people. But because the Lord loved you. You know what that is? That's
free grace. It wasn't because of anything
in us. Because the Lord loved you. That's free grace. Look
at this. And because He would. Just stop right there. Because
He would. That's sovereign grace. Look
at this. Because He would keep the oath
which He had sworn unto your fathers. That's covenant grace.
He's going to keep His promise. And because he would do that,
he says, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand and
redeemed you out of the house of bondmen? And you could say
there, from the hand of Satan. That's effectual grace. He redeemed
you and brought you out. You see this? It's all about
grace. Scripture says, He saved us and called us with a holy
calling, not according to our works, but according to His own
purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ before the
world began. And look, this is all the motive I need to be in
subjection to Christ my husband. This is the believer's constraint
to choose a spouse. Right here. Now, that's it. All this grace, all this love,
this electing grace. He said, I've chosen you to be
special to me. Let's paint a picture, just real
quick. Imagine Christ is standing right
here. Like you're standing at an altar when you're married.
to be married, you know, at the front of the church. And Christ says to you, I've
chosen you, I've loved you because I would love you, I'm keeping
all My covenant promises for you, and you are My bride. And over here sits somebody that's
just ashamed of Him, and they won't confess Him, and they're
too full of pride and too full of whatever, they just won't.
And you walked away from Christ over that person. I love you,
but I'm one of those. This one here is so pretty. Or
they make so much money. Or whatever the reason is, I've
got to have them. I'm just so much in love. I've got to have
them. It makes it a little more real
to us if we picture Christ actually standing there and us doing that. That's what we're doing. Though
we can't see Him, faith sees Him and knows I cannot choose
another over Him. I have to wait on Him. Wait on
Him. So here's the final word. Now
listen to this, verse 9. Know therefore that the Lord
thy God, He is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and
mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments to
a thousand generations. He's faithful to those that He's
brought to trust Christ for all our salvation and be in subjection
to Him. He's faithful to us, isn't He
brethren? Brother Indrajeet, he's faithful, isn't he? He knows. He's faithful. And he is faithful to save his
bride from all her enemies. Look at verse 10. And he repays
them that hate him to their face to destroy them. He will not
be slack to him that hateth him. He will repay him to his faith.
And because of this covenant grace, verse 11 says, therefore
his people are going to obey him. Because this is the constraint. Now we don't need any more constraint
by this, do we? what Christ has done for us.
You know what I pray? I pray God makes the unbelieving to
believe Him. And I pray that God makes the
believing to be in subjection to Him. Choose Christ over everybody
else. Choose Christ over that one you
love. And honor Him above the one you
love. I'm not saying be mean to them.
I'm not saying anything like that. Love them but love Christ
first. And God says He'll honor them
that honor His Son. That's what He said. Wait on
the Lord. Just wait on the Lord. Why do
we always have to be in such a big hurry about everything?
We just wait on the Lord. I worked at Dell Computers one
time. You know, computers. Everything
is so fast. You know, it is supposed to be
so fast. You just get it at the punch of a button. And it seemed
like everything in that building from one end of it to the other
was on about a five second delay. Everything. And that just aggravates
you, you know. You just want it now, now, now.
Wait on the Lord. Just wait on the Lord. I pray
He will bless that. Amen. All right, Eric.