Good morning. Let's all stand
and begin our second service by singing 126 Rock of Ages.
126. Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let
me hide myself in thee. Let the water and the blood from
thy wounded side which flow be of sin the double cure. Save from wrath and make me pure,
Could my tears forever flow? Could my zeal no longer know? These four sin could not atone. Thou must save and thou alone. In my hand no price I bring. Simply to thy cross I cling. While I draw this fleeting breath,
when my eyes shall close in death, when I rise to worlds unknown,
and behold the yond I throne, rock of ages, cleft for me, let
me hide myself in thee. Thank you. Good morning, everybody. Turn
with me, Psalm 150. It's the last Psalm, Psalm 150. And while you guys are getting
there, I just want to thank everybody for their thoughts and prayers
and everything for over the last week. It meant a lot to me. It meant a lot to my mother.
And so anyway, thank you all so much. Psalm 150. Praise you, the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary. Praise him in the firmament of
his power. Praise him for his mighty acts. Praise him according to his excellent
greatness. Praise him with the sound of
the trumpet. Praise him with the psaltery and harp. Praise
him with the timbrel and dance. Praise him with the stringed
instruments and organs. Praise him upon the loud cymbals. Praise him upon the high sounding
cymbals. Let everything that hath breath
praise the Lord. Praise you, the Lord. Let's pray. Father, we come to you this morning
thankful for this chapter of scripture, Father, and we should
always praise you. And regardless of the outcome
of things that go, either the way we want them to go or the
way that we don't want them to go. Lord, we should always praise
you because it is your will that's being done. And Father, we ask
that you continue to watch over this congregation and Lord, get
everybody back here safely from wherever they're at. get everybody
back here healthy and back together as a group and a congregation.
Lord, we ask that you just continue to watch over all of us and care
for us. And Lord, whatever you do with us is right. And Lord,
we ask that you just let us realize that even if we don't particularly
like the outcome, sometimes we just ask, Lord, that we understand that it is your
will and it is correct. So Father, we ask that you again
watch over and care for us in Christ's name. So good to see you back, Scott.
I would have never thought that back this quickly. So it's good
to hear your voice up here. As you remain sitting, let's
sing Sweet Hour of Prayer, 361. 361. of prayer, sweet hour of prayer,
that calls me from a world of care, and bids me at my father's
throne make all my wants and wishes known. In seasons of distress and grief,
my soul has often found relief. And oft escaped a tempter's stare
by thy return, sweet hour of prayer. Sweet hour of prayer,
sweet hour of prayer, Thy wings shall my petition bear, To Him
whose truth and faithfulness Engage the waiting soul to bless,
And since he bids me seek his face, Believe his word and trust
his grace. Rest on Him, my every care, And
wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer. Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour
of prayer, May I thy consolation share, Till from Mount Pisgah's
lofty height I view my home and take my flight. This robe of flesh shall drop
and rise to seize the everlasting prize and shout while passing
through the air, farewell, farewell, sweet hour of prayer. Thank you. All right, brethren, let's go
to Genesis chapter 2. I want to look at verses 18 through
25 with you this morning. Here we're given a description
of the marriage of Adam and Eve. And so these verses teach us
about marriage. There's a lot of good things
to learn about marriage between a husband and his wife in these
verses. And these verses also declare
to us, they give us that view of Christ's marriage to his bride,
the church. And so every one of us has an
understanding in this, something to learn. First, of marriage
between a man and his wife, and between Christ and his bride. Now let's read verse 18 and it
says the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should
be alone. I will make him and help me for
him. Well, why is it not good for
man to be alone? Now, one of the things that Many
have pointed out in this, in preaching from this text or writing
on this text, is they take us back to the creation of man.
Let's see that in chapter 1, verse 26 and 27. And God said,
let us make man in our image. after our likeness, and let them
have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of
the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over
every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created
man in his own image, and the image of God created he him.
Male and female created he them. So the purpose in reminding us
of our God who created us, who formed us, is that we see that
we are created in the image of God. And we know that God, we
call him the God, the three in one. He's God three in one. He
is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And though I don't
understand God fully and perfectly, I do believe Him with all my
heart, and I see Him throughout the scriptures revealed as the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And so God is not alone. He is with Himself in three persons. He is one. And we also read in
the scriptures that God is love. God is love. 1st John 4a tells
us that God is love. The Father loves the Son and
He loves the Spirit. The Son loves the Spirit and
He loves the Father. And the Spirit loves the Father
and He loves the Son. God loves. God loves Himself
and God loves His people. And therefore, God didn't make
man to be alone. He didn't make man to be alone,
but rather to have a family, to have companionship, to have
fellowship with another, to love and to be loved, to touch and
to be touched, and to have that closeness and that friendship
with one's wife. But I realize it doesn't always
work out for a man. Not every man or woman is married,
but every one of us has family. We all have family, and we do
partake of and have that communion and that fellowship. We have
an understanding and appreciate friends and family in that regard,
but we do see a peculiar, a particular, blessing and communion in marriage,
represented and pictured in the marriage between a husband and
his wife, between a man and a woman. Now, another thing that we see
in going back to the Godhead and looking at the Godhead that
we understand from the scriptures is the equality, the equality
in the Godhead between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. They are equal and they are one. We know that, they're all God. We don't fully understand it,
but we know this is God. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Ghost. And God is teaching us in this
something about marriage. He's teaching us about marriage,
about the husband and his wife. In other words, there is an equality
between the husband and his wife. There's an equality. We'll see
that from the scripture, that there's an equality that the
Lord teaches us between the husband and the wife. However, in that,
in looking at our God and how he reveals himself to us and
manifests himself to us, we also see submission, don't we? We
see submission. in the work of the Son and the
work of the Holy Ghost. There's submission. And we, to
understand submission, when we just think about a wife submitting
to her husband, it's very easy for us to have a corrupt view,
a fallen view about what that submission is and to see it in
a demeaning manner. But all we need to do is look
to Christ. who submitted to the Father in
perfect righteousness, in perfect holiness, he submitted to the
Father. And so we see in submission there
is, in marriage, there is submission. And we need only look to Christ
to see the beauty that is declared in submission of a wife to her
husband as we look at Christ who submitted himself to the
will of the Father. He came and did all that the
Father sent him to do. He submitted himself. He tells
us, I didn't speak my own words. I didn't do my own things. I
came and spoke only those things which the Father sent me to say. And I did those works which the
Father sent me to do. And so we see that submission
accomplished in Christ and it's It helps us to see that
he submitted himself to the father in order to accomplish the redemption
of the church. And how often do we see that
picture between a husband and his wife, where the wife submits
to her husband in the sense that they're working together as one
for the good of the family. They do it because they love
their children, and they want the best for their children.
And so the wife submits to the husband in that sense because
it's for the good of her family and her children whom she loves. And so we see this. We see it
in Christ. Even though the Father and the
Son are equal, yet Christ submitted himself to the Father. We read
this in Philippians 2 verse 5-8. Let this mind be in you also
which was in Christ Jesus. Who being in the form of God
thought it not robbery to be equal with God. Why wasn't it
robbery? Because He is God. The Son is
God. but he submitted himself to the
Father. He made himself, verse 7, of no reputation, and took
upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness
of men. And being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. And so we see that perfect submission
in Christ, who submitted himself to the will of the father to
redeem the people. And we see that pictured in a
husband and wife where they together, they know what the goal is, the
good of the family, to have a family and have children and to have
a stable household for those children. And so they work together.
They work together, the wife submitting to the husband and
making sure that those kids know the will of the father. will
of their father and doing all things for the peace and the
good of their children. That's what's spoken of in the
scriptures of brethren submitting themselves one to another. They're
foregoing their own wants and what they maybe think is best
in order for the good of the body, in order for the body to
have peace and for the body to grow. and to be set and comforted
and grounded in the truth. And so there's submission there
throughout and none of us escapes it because we're all members
of Christ's body. We're his bride and we submit
to Christ. And so we see not only the submission
of Christ, the son to the father, but even the submission of the
Holy Ghost to the son. In John 14, 26, Christ said,
but the comforter and we think of mothers as comforters of their
children. And here the Holy Ghost, the
comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send
in my name, he shall teach you all things and bring all things
to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you. so that the Holy Ghost isn't
speaking of what he would say, he's making you to know, his
child, the child of God, to know what Christ has said and what
Christ has done for you. He's submitting to Christ in
that regard. And so, just as Christ was careful
to speak and to say only what the Father gave him to say, so
the Spirit testifies of the things that Christ says to us. It's
for good. They're united. They are one. They have one purpose. And so
that's why it's not hard. They have one purpose and they
want the same thing for the children. And so it's for the care and
the comfort of the church. And it's not ugly. It's not demeaning,
it's not cruel, it's not outdated, it's beautiful. Who of us would
charge Christ with folly for submitting to the Father? No,
we thank God. We thank Him for submitting to
the Father. We thank the Holy Spirit for bringing to our mind
and our attention and testifying again to us of Christ. And every
time He shows us Christ and brings us to see Christ, we're thankful
for it. We're glad and we rejoice in
him reminding us and teaching us and keeping us in that regard. Now, let's see this spoken of
from Ephesians chapter 5. Let's turn there, Ephesians chapter
5, and see these first verses with regards to submission. Verse 22. Wives, submit yourselves unto
your own husbands as unto the Lord. Why? For the care of the
children. 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 in everything. Now, leave a marker there, because
we'll come back to this chapter. Now, I want to go back to Genesis
chapter 2. So after God says in verse 18,
I will make him and help me for him. After he says that, then
we read verse 19 and 20, which says, and out of the ground,
the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every fowl of
the air and brought them unto God. to see what he would call
them. And whatsoever Adam called every
living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names
to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast
of the field. But for Adam there was not found
and help meet for him." Now I thought about that for a while. I wondered
why did God put those words in that order? Why didn't he put
verse 18 after verse 20? For Adam there was not found
and help me for him. And then verse 18. And the Lord
God said, it's not good for man to be alone. I'll make him and
help me. Why didn't he put it in that
order? Why did he insert in between the animals and bringing the
beasts and the fowl, the things that were made on day five and
day six rather and day five. Why did he bring those things
then to Adam? Well, it's because what we see
in that is God is teaching Adam. He's teaching Adam something
about companionship and fellowship. When God brought the beasts and
the fowls, he brought them as couples, as pairs, a man and
a woman, a male and a female. as couples, that's how God brought
the animals. It never says that God brought
each one to Adam to be named, it says God brought them unto
Adam, not just them the beasts and them the fowl, but each kind,
each beast, he brought them, as in plural, unto Adam to see
what he would call them. And that language is familiar
to us from Genesis chapter 1 when we are told that God made them
male and female created he them. We see that man is both male
and female and they are one. They are together. And so God
was bringing to Adam couples, paired off animals to see what
he would name them and Adam seeing this. He's seeing, all right,
well, every kind of beast and every fowl, there's a male and
there's a female. There's a male and there's a
female, each and every one, so that he became sensible of his
own need. He understood, I need a mate. Where is my mate? Where is my
helpmate? Where is my wife? And so God
was teaching Adam in that. He made Adam sensible of his
need. And Adam would be watching, for
Adam would know when God brought him his mate, he would know that
she was his mate. He would know, he would see it.
And then we understand that man didn't choose his mate, he resigned
it to the Lord to choose out for him a mate, to bring him
a wife, to provide for him and help me. And so it says in verse
21, and the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and
he slept, and he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh
thereof. You see, so God is preparing
the wife for Adam in the same way that God the Father chose
the Lord's people and gave them to Christ, put them in Christ. Just as the rib was in Adam,
so we are given of God the Father to the Son for his bride. We are put there before the foundation
of the world. Now these details about him sleeping
and God closing up the flesh thereof, they're relevant to
the gospel. We'll see that in a bit as we close this message. But I just wanted to say Adam
had never sinned. Adam had no sin and the Lord
delivered Adam. He spared Adam from pain and
suffering so that he put him basically into a coma. And he
put Adam into a coma. and he was asleep and that's
when he took it out and then he closed up that flesh. I don't
believe there was a scar. I don't think Adam had any scar.
He had no pain, no suffering from this operation of the Lord. It was perfect in every way.
And the rib, which in verse 22, which the Lord God had taken
from man, made he a woman and brought her unto the man. And
Adam said, this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because
she was taken out of man. Now God had to have explained,
either when he was putting him to sleep or when he woke up,
God had to have explained to him what he did in removing the
rib and making him a wife. Because Adam knew, this is from
my rib. She came from my side. And by doing that, by taking
the rib from the side of man, Adam would have thought on that.
Adam would have pondered, God My God took woman from my side,
from my side. And how would that have, how
would he have thought on that? Well, he would have reasoned
she's equal. She's like me. She's one with
me. She's equal to me in that she's
taken from my side. And there's been other men who
have reasoned on this as surely as Adam has reasoned on this.
And they brought out some good things. No, she wasn't taken
from Adam's head because she's not to rule over Adam. She has
no authority over Adam. She wasn't taken from Adam's
neck. You know, some people say the woman's the neck so she could
turn the head with her so ever she will and get him to focus
on what she wants him to focus on. No, she wasn't taken from
his neck. And she wasn't taken from his
foot either so that he's not to trample upon her or to treat
her wrongly. She's taken from his side and
they together are one, one flesh of one bone. She's taken from
his rib under his arm because he's to protect her and he's
to provide for her and to care for her, her needs. And she's
near to his heart, right? That's where the rib is. It's
right there by your heart because he's to love her and to cherish
her above all others. She's his wife and he's to love
her. and to lay down his life for
her, and to care for her, and to provide for her, and to hear
her needs, and to be sweet on her, and to think of her, and
to do those nice things, and not to harm her or be harsh to
her in any way. And so that's why she was taken
from the rib. And we should think on that and
remember that. She's my equal. Yes, we have
different roles. Yes, we do different things.
She's my wife and that's how we're to see her and to love
her in that regard. Now go back to Ephesians 5 verse
25. And you notice that the words
to the instructions to the men is much greater in length than
it is to the women, because we have a lot to hear and a lot
to think on in this regard. And he says, husbands, love your
wives, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church
and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse
it with the washing of water by the word. And so in that sense,
he's saying, you husbands, you're responsible for your wife hearing
the truth and for her to be set under the gospel, encourage her
in that. You want to encourage her in
that. You want her to hear this because that's what the Lord
has given to you, to encourage her and teach her out of the
word and to help her to sit and hear the gospel. why 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
right it's for it's it works to good it's and it's not to
be to be forced so that people hate it, but rather it's for
good. It should bring about good and be done in love. So ought
men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his
wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his
own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord
the church. For we are members of his body.
I'm going to talk about this in a bit. We're members of his
body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause, a man
will leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his
wife, and they too shall be one flesh. So Adam, when Adam said,
this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh, Adam understood
we are one. We're not to be separated. We
are one now. We are of the same body. We're
one bone, one flesh. We're together and are not to
be separated. So to help illustrate this, because
we read this and it's like, what does that mean, like no man ever
hated his own flesh? What he's saying is no one wants
to be without a finger, a toe, a hand, a foot, an arm, or a
leg. We take care for those things.
We don't want to be missing those things. And I was thinking of
this illustration. I believe I've given it before,
but not in this context, where I'm a gardener. Most of you know
I'm a gardener. And I was building garden boxes, raised beds one
year. And I like to use 2 by 10s for
the boards in either 10 foot long or 12 foot long sections.
And being 2 by 10, that means that they're pretty heavy. And
I'm whipping these things around, you know, cutting them and preparing
them one year. And I realized that because of
that, you can get a splinter pretty easily in your hand. And
so the next year when I was making them, I was in there getting
my carriage bolts for it, and I noticed the glove section.
I was like, ooh, wow, there's gloves here. And I looked, there's
cheap gloves, and mid-grade gloves, and there's high-end gloves.
And I got a couple of the slightly lowering gloves there, different
ones to try. And I found one, and I went home,
and I remembered my gloves. And I was building these boxes,
and I found that now I could handle these boards with less
care. I didn't have to be as careful
because I could just grip them things and move them around,
slide them around, and I didn't have to worry about any splinters
in my hand. Well, Peter tells us, you husbands
dwell with your wives according to knowledge. And in that illustration,
what we see here is that if you just grab your wife, like you
live with your wife and dwell with her in a manner in which
the way I would grab these boards. And if you're not careful, you're
going to get splinters in your hand. You're going to get splinters
in you. And sometimes those splinters
are hard to get out. Sometimes they get infected and
they fester and pus and become problems. And it's hard. They're
painful to get those things. And if you go to that step to
where you say, you know what, I don't like to feel splinters.
I'm going to put a glove on my hand. And then that way I'm protected
against the splinters. And you take care of yourself
so that you can just treat that board any old way that you will
without fear. pain or suffering at all, eventually
there's going to be trouble. And what I mean, what I actually
forgot was, when I was using those gloves, I found this is
great, these gloves. And I had my finger on the carriage
bolt with the drill, and I was drilling that bolt in, and it
got snared on some of the slag of the bolt there. And it started
pulling my finger in and twisting it up. into the wood there. Thankfully it wasn't like a circular
saw, but it was a cordless battery drill. And so I just stopped
it, backed it out, and got my finger out, and the glove was
all ripped up, but my finger was saved. I almost lost my finger. And the point is, is that if
you don't want to get splinters, don't treat your Wives like their
dirt or mistreat them. Handle them with care, with love,
with patience, with kindness. And be sweet and gentle to them
and cherish them and love them. And if you take steps to guard
yourself and harden yourself against what she's saying so
that you don't get splinters and have to hear it or feel it,
there's going to come a day where that finger is going to get taken
off. Your bone is going to get broken and separated. And I know
from talking to people that have lost bones and legs and stuff,
it's painful. Not just physically painful,
it bothers them. You've lost something of yourself. You don't want to give up your
hand or arm easily. Like nobody wants to do that.
That's how you are with your wife. She's bone of your bone. She's flesh of your flesh. You're
one now. You cherish that and honor that
and love her. and hear what she's saying and
handle her with care because you're one. And it's for the
good. It's for the good of you. It's
for the good of her. It's for the good of your children. And
so there's something sweet in that. I hope that it helps you
understand just why he says, you're bone of my bone and flesh
of my flesh. Because like a finger or a hand, I don't want to lose
a hand. I don't want to lose my wife. That's how one you are. That's what it means. You're
one now together. And he says in Ephesians 5 verse
32, this is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ
and the church. The blessing is there is that
Christ will never leave you. He'll never forsake you. He won't
just say, eh, I don't need that. I got another one. I got somebody
else I'll put in there. He'll never leave you. He's one
with you. You're his forever. Nevertheless,
let every one of you in particular so love his wife, even as himself.
And the wife see that she reverence her husband. So from this union,
we're to also understand that the husband is to leave his father
and mother. Not to disown them, but you're
now one with your wife and to cleave unto your wife and they
too shall be one flesh. In other words, for parents,
once your children marry, let them be a couple. Don't get mixed
up and control their decisions and influence those things to
how you want them to be. Yes, you can be a sounding board.
Yes, you can hear them. bounce ideas and you can give
advice, but they always know it's your decision, it's your
choice, like you're the one that's going to have to live with it
and yeah we don't want to see them hurt but sometimes they
got to do that and that's how they grow because the same way
we learned from making bad decisions, you learn from it, well that's
how they'll learn as well. And so we encourage them, cleave
to your wife, take care of one another, provide for one another,
and let her know that she can depend upon you, that you're
there, that you hear what she's saying and that she can depend
upon you. And the parents, they respect
that. because that's securing and building that bond of marriage
and love. And then it says in verse 25,
back in Genesis 2 25, and they were both naked, the man and
his wife, and were not ashamed because they had nothing to be
ashamed of. They had no sin. They did nothing wrong. And that's,
that's what it pictures. They did nothing wrong. Now,
To close this, let me highlight six things from this passage
regarding marriage and the gospel. First of all, husbands and wives,
we're to practice to be faithful to what the Lord tells us. Don't
worry about what they're doing. You focus on what the Lord calls
you to do. And there's a blessing in that.
For your husbands, you wives that submit to your husbands,
they'll learn. They'll be reminded, Lord, this
is how I'm to be to you, submitting myself to you, to hearing your
word and to doing what you ask me to do and say in your word.
And we'll be blessed to see that. And for the husbands, you that
are faithful to love your wives, your wives will see the love
that her Lord has for her in that faithfulness and that love
that you show them they'll be reminded this is how my God loves
me and cares for me and even when maybe I've done something
to upset him yet he loves me. Yet he loves me. And it's good
for us to see and to know the Lord loves his child, loves his
bride. And he's faithful to his bride,
to keep his bride. And so we're blessed in that.
And Peter even talks about that with the wife, who's faithful
to her husband, that unbelieving husband, to see that she's faithful. She submits. And it is good to
me and it testifies of the goodness of our God, the God who we worship
and serve and know and love and talk about to them. They see
a testament of that and know that it's true. Now, as Paul said, this is a
great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. It's for
our good. Second, we see how that Adam
is a figure of Christ. When we read this, we're seeing
a figure of Christ. That's actually what he's called
in scripture. He's a figure of him. Now there's
the first Adam, which is the one we're looking at here, and
then in the scriptures it talks of the last Adam. Now I've used
the term second Adam, but really last Adam, just as it says in
the scriptures, is perfect, because I don't want to give the, if
I say second Adam, I don't want to give the impression that there's
a third Adam and a fourth or a fifth. No, there's just the
first, and the last. That's whom God deals with, the
first Adam and the last. And so when you read of Adam,
you see a picture of Christ. Sometimes it's a similarity,
and other times it's a contrast between what the first Adam did
and what the second Adam does. And so that brings us to the
third thing. Adam brought his wife into sin, into death, into
ruin. Adam plunged her and his posterity
into ruin. But the last Adam, the last Adam
redeems his bride, restores that which was lost in the first Adam. He's provided everything back
and made everything new again in and by his faithfulness and
his love to his bride. And so it's written, the first
man, Adam, was made a living soul and he lost it all. And
he couldn't give life to himself or to his wife, but the last
Adam was made a quickening spirit. Thanks be to God who provided
his son who gives life to his people and restores that which
was lost. And then fourth, the redemption
and the birth of the church is pictured here in the sleep of
Adam. When Eve was taken from Adam's
rib, from his side, his sleep was peaceful. He went out gently
and slept soundly through it all, and the Lord put him back
together, put back his flesh without so much as a scar. And
Adam was fine in receiving his bride, but when we look at Christ,
we see he suffered. to bring forth his bride. He gave up his life. He shed
his blood. He died an agonizing death on
that cursed tree in the place of his people. It wasn't peaceful
and quiet and gentle for him. He suffered and died for his
people. It was a violent, bloody death. And he yet bears the scars of
what he had to obtain his bride. He yet bears those scars in his
body for you, whom he loves and laid down his life for. In John
20, we know of Thomas, John 20, 25, where Thomas said, well,
except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails and put
my finger into the print of the nails and thrust my hand into
his side, I will not believe. It reminds me of sometimes how
we just get carried away talking nonsense when we say things that
we shouldn't say. And it sounds like Thomas was
pretty huffy about that and kind of boastful. But then Christ
enters the room and doesn't rebuke him, but says to Thomas, reach
hither thy finger and behold my hands. And reach hither thy
hand and thrust it into my side and be not faithless, but believing. meaning he still has those scars. He yet bears those marks of his
love for his people. And that wound in the side was
from that piercing of the spear. And it says that blood and water
flowed. And that blood pictures that by his blood we are justified,
made righteous by God. And that water which flowed means
that he is all our sanctification. He's provided everything for
his bride. And then fifth, after that death,
God brought the bride to Adam. He brought his wife to him. And
so it is that in our day, in the appointed hour, in that appointed
hour of his grace, he comes and calls every one of his chosen
people in Christ and reveals Christ to them, effectually calling
them out of death, raising them from the dead and bringing them
forth into the body, out from the body of Christ, into the
body of Christ to be joined to him in faith and in love and
in hope. It's irresistible what he does. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causest to approach unto thee, that he, like a wife
dwelling in the house of her husband, that he may dwell in
thy courts. We shall be satisfied with the
goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple. And he tells
us in Psalm 110, verse three, thy people shall be willing.
He comes in that appointed hour. We come and hear the gospel,
and in that appointed hour, he reveals, manifests his power
in us through faith, which looks to Christ our husband, our all. In the beauties of holiness,
from the womb of the morning, thou hast the due of thy youth. He is our resurrection, our all. And so we come to him, submissive
to him, adoring him, looking to Him, looking for Him to comfort
us, and to hold us, to keep us, and to provide for us. And we
see the love of Christ who forsook everything. He, though He was
rich, yet He became poor for your sakes. He gave all that
glory that He had up with the Father, now He has it again.
but to obtain our riches to deliver us from poverty and death and
ruin and to deliver us back to the Father to dwell with Him
forever and ever. So we cleave to Him and He cleaves
to us and we'll never be separated again. Now sixth, we're not ashamed. Just as Adam and Eve were both
naked and the man and his wife were not ashamed, so Christ is
not ashamed to call you brethren. Christ comes triumphantly into
the throne room of his Father, saying, Behold, I and the children
whom thou hast given me, every one whom you gave me, I've saved
them, I've brought them back, and here they all are. He's not
ashamed. And we, brethren, who believe
in Christ, you shall never be ashamed. If you show up in your
own righteousness, in your own rags of righteousness, you shall
be ashamed, because all your nakedness will be exposed. but
he that comes in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, having
no other righteousness, no other robe, because Christ's robe is
sufficient, they shall not be ashamed. Because you're not naked,
you're clothed, you're perfectly clothed and righteous. Our sins
are forgiven by him, we are just before God, and we are assured
of him, and not ashamed. Now I'll close with Revelation
three, verse five and six. where we see this wedding garment.
Christ says, he that overcometh, right? And we overcome through
the faith which he's given to us. He works that life in us.
The same shall be clothed in white raiment. And I will not
blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess
his name before my father and before his angels. He that hath
an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. So we're not ashamed to stand
before the Father in Christ's righteousness, and he's not ashamed
to call you his bride, his brethren. And so I thank the Lord for that,
just to see that marriage, and it's an encouragement to us to
love one another and to rejoice in that marriage that we have
and in family and and to have that communion and fellowship
that our God gives us. So I pray the Lord bless that
to your hearts. Let's close in prayer. Now, gracious
Lord, we thank you, Father, for your grace. We thank you, Lord,
how that you teach us. Lord, there's so much that we
don't understand, but we thank you for opening your word to
us, for showing us these details that are so easily glanced over
and dismissed or not seen. But we see how that you teach
us, as you taught Adam, how you show us our need, how you make
us sensible of our need of Christ, that we need His righteousness,
His salvation, that He is our husband and the only one fit
to provide everything that we need, Lord, help us to submit
to him, to look to our Lord for everything, to trust you in all
things, even when it's hard to see what we would see or think
that we should see things differently. Lord, we know that you are faithful
to your word, you're faithful to your work, you are faithful
to your sheep, to feed them, to teach them, to keep them,
to draw them out of darkness and to bring them into light.
Lord, we do pray that you would Indeed, bless us. Bless us this
day. Cheer our hearts. Comfort us
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Grow us in the grace and the
knowledge of Him, Lord. Teach us as you say in your Word.
And Lord, we are thankful for Brother Scott, for you restoring
him so quickly to us. And he could stand up here and
read the Word Lord, we're so thankful for that. We ask that
you would continue to bless him, strengthen him, keep him going
strongly, and Lord, just bless him and bless us, this congregation,
bring those brethren that are away back together again safely.
Restore our health and gather us together in Christ. It's in
his name we pray and give thanks, amen. Okay, before we hand out anything,
first I'm gonna be reading from Luke, and I just wanna say this. I'll come back to this section,
but I just wanna read after they took the bread and the wine.
It says, Christ says this, now just notice, these are the people
that were taking the bread and the wine. But behold, the hand
of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table. And truly the
son of man goeth, as it was determined, but woe unto that man by whom
he is betrayed. And then they began to inquire
among themselves which of them it was that should do this thing.
And at the same time, there was also a strife among them which
of them should be accounted the greatest. And he said unto them,
The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and they
that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors.
But ye shall not be so. But he that is greatest among
you, let him be as the younger. And he that is chief, as he that
doth serve. For weather is greater, he that
sitteth at meat, or he that serveth. And is not he that sitteth at
meat? But I am among you as he that
serveth. Ye are they which have continued
with me in my temptations. And I appoint unto you a kingdom,
as my father hath appointed unto me. that ye may eat and drink
at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the 12
tribes of Israel. And the Lord said, Simon, Simon,
behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you
as wheat, but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not. And when thou art converted,
strengthen thy brethren. Now I read that to just show
how messed up we are. You see the variety. You had
Judas that was there. He's lost, but according to the
will of God. But all the others, they're arguing
over who should be the greatest. Christ speaks of the temptation
of Simon, who would be sifted by Satan. And you see the weakness
and just the strength is not in us. And when the scriptures
speak of examining yourself, All that he requires is that
you see your need of him, that he is your righteousness. It's
not because we've straightened out everything and got our lives
all in order and perfected ourselves so that now we can come to the
table. But this bread and wine is for all who love him, who
have no righteousness of their own, who have nothing to boast
in, and aren't looking at everyone else, but, no, Lord, I'm messed
up, I'm the sinner, I'm ruined, but you came faithfully, in love
and mercy, and laid down your life for me. Thank you, Lord. And that's how we come to the
table. That's why we eat the bread,
remembering the body of Christ, which was broken for us, and
drink the wine, which is the pictures His shed blood for us
to wash away our sins. Remember Him. Think on Him. And
if you love Him, partake. Partake. Because if you look
at yourself, you're never going to be ready. But as it says here,
Christ said, I have prayed for thee. That's our fitness to come
to the table. Because Christ has prayed for
His child. and you love him because of his
power, his love, his prayer. So be encouraged with that. So
brother, let's hand out the bread and the wine and then I'll just
read another little section from this Luke 22 is where I am. If
you would pray too, just pray. Our Heavenly and Merciful Father,
we thank you for allowing us once again to hear this glorious
gospel declared to us. And Father, remember us as we
go into the unknown future. We thank Lord also of the many
blessings which you continue to give unto us. And Father,
bless this ordinance of the Lord's table. Lord, that we may do this
in remembrance of you, that you have saved sinners that cannot
save themselves. We thank you, Lord, for all that
you have done for us. For Jesus' sake alone, amen.
Amen. Amen. These are the older bread, so
they're not tasty. Reminds me of the bitterness
that our Savior likely felt. I'll read it, and then I'll sit
down, and then we'll take the bread and the wine together. Okay, I'm gonna read from Luke
22, verse 14, up to where I picked up before, so we'll pick up,
we'll end at verse 20. And when the hour was come, he
sat down and the twelve apostles with him. And he said unto them
with desire, I have desire to eat this Passover with you before
I suffer. And I say unto you, I will not
any more eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of
God. And he took the cup and gave
thanks and said, take this and divide it among yourselves. For
I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until
the kingdom of God shall come. And he took bread, and gave thanks,
and break it, and gave unto them, saying, this is my body, which
is given for you, this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also
the cup after the supper, saying, this cup is the New Testament
in my blood, which is shed for you." I'm going to sit down. Let's all stand and sing a closing
hymn. The Lily of the Valley, 447.
447. I've found a friend in Jesus,
He's everything to me, He's the fairest of ten thousand to my
soul. The lily of the valley, in Him
alone I see, All I need to cleanse and make me fully whole. In sorrow
he's my comfort, in trouble he's my stay. He tells me every care
on him to roll. He's the lily of the valley,
the bright and morning star. He's the fairest of ten thousand
to my soul. He all my griefs has taken and
all my sorrows borne. In temptation he's my strong
and mighty town. I have all for him forsaken and
all my idols torn. From my heart and now he keeps
me by his power. Though all the world forsake
me and tempt me sore, through Jesus I shall safely reach the
goal. He's the lily of the valley,
the bright and morning star. He's the fairest of ten thousand
to my soul. He will never, never leave me,
nor yet forsake me here, while I live by faith and do His blessed
will. A wall of fire about me I've
nothing now to fear, was His manner in my hungry soul shall
fill. Then sweeping up to glory I'll
see His blessed face Where rivers of delight shall ever roll He's
the lily of the valley, the bright and morning star He's the fairest
of ten thousand to my soul