God will take care of you. Lean weary one upon his breath. God will take care of you. God will take care of you. Through every day or all the
way. He will take care of you. God will take care of you. OK, go back with me to Matthew. Twenty. Five. Matthew 25, let's reverse one
again. Matthew 25, the Lord Jesus Christ is speaking
and says, Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten
virgins which took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. The bridegroom. The bridegroom is the subject
and title of this message, though this is a parable of ten virgins. The principal character is the
bridegroom. Our Lord said the kingdom of
heaven, that is, eternal life, salvation, eternity, is all about
the bridegroom. It's all about him. And it's about this marriage
of the bridegroom and his bride. It's all about a marriage. Jesus
Christ is this bridegroom. And he's spoken of throughout
the scriptures as such, as a bridegroom. Church is called his bride. Believers,
saints, believers are called the bride, the wife of Christ. Several scriptures speak of Christ
as the bridegroom. and the church his bride, and
marriage being a type of that, a picture of the union of Christ
and his people. God Almighty is the one who instituted
or ordained marriage. He's the one. Adam and Eve, the
first man and woman, the first couple, were married. There was
no preacher in attendance. The Lord himself. Yes, there
was too. There was. The Lord himself is
the one that performed the marriage. Paul, the Lord had him write
of this. He says, and he is writing of
what our Lord said in Genesis 2 about the man and woman. For
this cause shall a man leave his father and mother. and shall
be joined unto his wife, and these two shall be one flesh."
This is a great mystery, Paul writes, but I speak concerning
Christ and his church. See, this is the whole story
of salvation. This started back in Genesis
2, a man and a woman, and then there were many human
beings from then on, and married. They were married. But it started
way back then, and Paul said this is a mystery, but I speak,
and we'll let you in on the mystery, he said. This is about Christ
and his church. Christ, who the Son of God left
his father to cling unto his bride. The church. Now this whole book is about
this marriage. This marriage. of the bridegroom
with his bride. Christ is the bridegroom. As
said, marriage was ordained of God and is a picture of salvation
in Christ, the groom, God's people, Christ's people, the bride. Now,
marriage has become perverted today. And I'm not just talking
about this question of whether or not marriage is between a
man or a woman that. That doesn't really even bear. Speaking of that doesn't. That's not the perversion I'm
talking about the fact that the thing of marriage itself has
become perverted and a farce, a mockery of people today. Make
a mockery of this thing. And it's all a result of man's
religion, religion is what makes things perverted. You know that
when men leave the word of God. And pervert yet the truth, you
see, the truth tells us the truth is true about everything. And
when men begin to leave the truth of who God is, what man is and
what women are, and so on and so forth, marriage is and so
on, what salvation is, it all begins to degenerate into whatever
men want to make it. Right? Anything goes. Anybody. It's all up to opinions. So. I think marriage today is
indicative or it It proves what I just said, how perverted religion
is. It's an indication of the religion
that man has. Marriage today, the principal
figure or person in the thing of marriage is the bride. Isn't
that right? You know it's so. You go to all
kinds of weddings. I perform them. If you think you want to, so
will. Never mind. The principal figure in marriage
today, you know it so, is the bride. And glorifying her is what they
do. And she could have been married a hundred times, but she's still
wearing white as an emblem of her purity, her pride. Now, anyway,
here she comes down the aisle. Like I said, this is a picture
of a religion who makes more of the bride than the groom,
who makes more of man than Christ, who glorifies man. But here she
comes down the aisle, and everybody is so enamored with and admires
the beauty of this woman, while over to the side stands this
witless, half-brain fellow called the groom. You know it's so.
He's standing over there, he's real nervous and agitated, and
he's standing over the side, he's hoping that this beautiful
woman, this glorious woman, who everybody so admired will have
him. He's waiting over the side to
see if this woman that he wants so badly will have him. Isn't that the religion today?
They've got Jesus Christ, the altogether lovely groom, the
glorious Son of the Most High God, outside everybody's door. Knocking, he's standing in the
rain just hoping that they'll let him in. While man's will
and man's decision and all that is so glorified and so honored
and Christ is over to the side and he's just, you know, he's
just waiting in the wing. Isn't that so? Today, the beauty and the value
and the worth and will of man is greatly admired, while a some
Jesus nervously waits to see if the one he loves so much will
have him. And if they do, if they say,
if they say, I will and I do and make a decision, then everybody
really makes over on them. Now, let me tell you what marriage
is all about. Let me tell you now what this
story is all about. Let me tell you what salvation
is all about. Kingdom of heaven. OK, let me tell you who this
is all about. Let me tell you what I'm all
about, what you are all about, what this this morning is all
about. We're not here to make over man.
We're not here to honor and glorify and exalt man in any way, shape,
form, or fashion. We're here to exalt the bridegroom. And marriages in the past were
far different than they are now. Marriages in the past, true marriage,
everything centered around the groom. God created Adam, OK,
in the garden. God Almighty created Adam. I
wrote that down. Go with me to Genesis 2. I thought
I did. Genesis chapter 2. Go back there
and let's see how this whole thing started. Let's see why
Eve was created. OK, let's see why. Eve. As you know is a picture of the
church, the bride. That's what Paul told it. Marriage
is in the past now. Everything centered around the
groom. The groom was the principal one. He was the one it was all
about. The marriage was ordained for
the groom's sake. Our Lord gave that parable back
in chapter 22 of Matthew. We just looked at that a few
weeks ago, didn't we? About the king who had a son.
And he made a marriage. Why? For his son. For the glory, for the honor
of his son. Everything in the days of old,
the groom was the principal one. He was the one admired. He was
the one desired. The groom was the one attended
to. The groom was the one that everyone served. The groom did
not wait on the bride. The bride waited on the groom. That's the whole story of the
virgins, isn't it? Who's doing the waiting? Not the groom. Not the groom. Who does the waiting
in salvation? Not Christ. Wait. Wait. The marriages of old, true marriage,
was all about the bridegroom. It all depended on his will.
There would be no marriage if he did not say so. The bride was his choice. And we'll see in a moment more
clearly. Someone else was involved. It was his choice, not the bride.
And that is our subject, and that is our Christ. That is our
Christ. The marriage of this glorious
bridegroom named the Lord Jesus Christ Genesis chapter two. Now
years ago marriages and you young people better be glad that they're
still not this way but marriages of old were. Arranged by the
parents. Some are still done that way
you know I arranged. My daughters, they don't think
so, but we did. I ain't lying. Marvin and Linda, and we saw
this thing happen. We arranged it. Ordered, you
know, put things to where they, you know, they just thought they
chose one another. Marriages of old all were purpose
that is marriages of great people king. Marriages were purposed
by and arranged by the father of the ground. And while these two persons the
father's son and then someone else's daughter were but children. while they were young that the
father would purpose for his son to marry such and such one.
And there's nothing that could be done about it. They would
purpose it, they would betroth, which means order it, purpose
it. but trial of their child to someone
else's child and when that was said according to the power and
the authority of that particular thing if he said it is done. If it's a great thing. It's an alterable. It's a decree
he said for and it's going to happen but what if she's not
willing what she gets about. She's going to marry that son. Yes, she is. And you and I, we
talk about this all the time. Aren't you glad what the world
hates? The sovereign, predestinating
power, will and will of God Almighty, what the world hates? I am so
thankful for, so thankful. Had the Lord left me to myself,
I would not have chosen the altogether lovely Son of God. Would you? No one would. And had he not done it sovereignly,
he wouldn't have chose me. Because all of Christ's brides
are ugly. Christ doesn't marry beautiful.
He marries ugly. Ugly ducklings. None of them
have, when I'm getting way ahead of myself. Genesis chapter 2,
here's what it says in verse 18. Lord, God said it's not good
that the man should be alone. I will make him and help me for
him. For him. I know, I know the modern
world doesn't like this, but this is God's word. God's people
like this, number one, because this is a picture of Christ.
This is a clear declaration of who Christ is and what salvation
is all about, isn't it? God who purposed this thing.
God, whose eternal son was with him in the beginning, and God
Almighty created all things, all people, for his Son's glory. By him, to him, through him,
and for him are all things, especially this thing of salvation, especially
these people, this bride, this wife, this church, created for
Christ. God didn't need them. Christ
didn't need somebody to make him happy. That's where the type
stops, right? But for the glory and honor of
his son, God Almighty ordained this thing of marriage. It says
there, so I'll make him and help me for him. Now look at verse
22 and 23. And all of this is a picture
of Christ, verse twenty one, the Lord caused a deep sleep
to fall on upon Adam and he slept. That's a picture of Christ crucified
in. Through Christ's death, you know,
when they when he died, when he gave his gave up the ghost,
the scripture says that the the centurion came by with a spear
and pierced his side and what came out. Blood and water. What comes out when a woman gives
birth? Well, Christ, all of God's people
come from Christ, from his wounded side, from Christ's crucifixion. And Adam here, it says, the Lord
took one of his ribs, the very essence of him as he is. If this isn't a new creation,
you tell me what. If this isn't a new birth, you
tell me what this is. Is she just in principle like Adam?
Is she just in theory like Adam? Is she just in doctrine like
Adam? She is Adam. Right? Took a rib out of his side. closed up the flesh and sped
there up. And verses 22 and 23, And the
rib 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 bone, flesh of my flesh. And this is what she's going
to be called. She's going to bear his name, man's name, woman. Because she was taken because
she was taken out of man. Our Lord through the Apostle
Paul said the woman, man is not of the woman, not really, but
the woman of the man. Didn't he say that? So that's why she was created
and that's why God Almighty saves people. That's who saves them. Christ saves them. That's how
they're saved. That's who they're taken from,
whose side, whose person, whose work, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And what a picture of salvation that is there. Purposed by God
before the world began, like this thing, the Eve. God Almighty
chose the bride for His Son, for the bridegroom. Yes, He did. Now, God didn't look down through,
like these idiotic preachers say, look down through this telescope
of time to see who would believe. There's a good one. There's a
good candidate. There's none good. No, not one. No good candidates. Our goodness does not make us
a candidate for salvation. There is none that doeth good.
No, not one. There's none righteous. No, not one. As I said, all of God's chosen
people are from a fallen race. And the son would come to marry
such a woman. I love the story of Hosea. Sister
Nancy was here. That's one of her favorite stories.
The story of Hosea and Gomer. Have you ever read it? Sure you
have. You've heard it preached, you've read it, most of you.
Hosea, the Lord told Hosea, He said, you go marry a fallen woman,
a harlot. You go down there, a picture
of Christ. He said, you go down there and you're going to marry
not a beautiful woman, not a desirable woman, not a woman who's looking
for you, but a harlot. And I'll tell you where you'll
find her, the Lord told her. She's on the auction block. She is
so used up, and so forlorn, and so wasted away, and now so ugly,
that she's been sold to the highest bidder. And she won't bring much. And you're going to go down there
and you're going to redeem her with a price. What's it going
to take? It took a large price. Nobody wants her. But Hosea gave
everything. A picture of pride. And then
this thing of marriage is that God Almighty purposed that she's
to be brought to the Son for His service, for His glory, for
His namesake. Now, as I said earlier, this
marriage that God Almighty purposed for His Son was not by constraint. This was no shotgun wedding. Some of you older folks. There
be careful what I say. Maybe, maybe the bride's parents
held a shotgun to your head. Charles Ross maybe said, you
will take my daughter, won't you? Or maybe they bribed you,
maybe she, maybe Barbara had a large dowry, huh? I don't think
so, but maybe that's, you know, the dowry, the bride's dowry.
You ever heard of that? Huh? Yeah, that's old times. Not too old, but somewhat. Where
a man, he really didn't want to marry this woman, but she
had a big dowry. The father of the bride said,
hey, I've got lots of money. I'll make you rich, son, if you
marry my daughter. Well, OK. Because of the dowry. What are
you laughing at, Henry? Is that the case with you? Well, this was so, a dowry. This
thing, God, the salvation of God's people, was not because
we had anything to offer, that we could do anything for the
altogether lovely Son of God. He wasn't forced to do this,
wasn't by constraint, wasn't because we had something to offer
Him, but rather, now every married, everyone whom the Lord Jesus
Christ married is poor in abject poverty. They're not beautiful,
they're ugly. In sin, Christ said, I didn't
come to call the righteous, those that think they're beautiful,
to God. He said, I've come to call them that think they're
ugly before God. Like Daniel said, when he finally
saw the Lord, when Daniel saw the Lord, as Isaiah saw last
Sunday, Daniel, who was the most beautiful man on earth, one of
the most godly men on earth at that time, huh? Daniel has never
been, you know, the scriptures does not give any real faults
of Daniel, does not show any faults. But Daniel, when he saw
the altogether lovely Son of God, he wrote one like unto the
Son of Man, the Son of God, he said, my comeliness melted into
corruption. Like Isaiah said, I'm undone. When he took one look at the
Son of God, he said, I'm a sinner. through and through. God doesn't
need me. I have nothing to give to Him.
I have nothing to offer Him. I can't contribute to Him. I
can't do anything for Him. I can't make Him rich. I can't.
He doesn't need me. And even after they're saved,
He doesn't need them. Scripture says that. After we've
done all that's required of us, we're still what? What does the
Scripture say? We're still unprofitable servants. Job said that in the oldest book
in the Bible. Job said, if you've done anything
for the Lord, if you've been righteous, you don't add anything
to him. Or if you've sinned against him, you don't take anything
away from him. He's the Lord. He doesn't need anybody or anything.
That's why his name is Lord, Jehovah. Doesn't need you. Doesn't need me. That's not what this is about.
What's it about? We need him. So, everybody doesn't need this
sovereign Lord. Our Lord said that the well don't
need a physician. The well, they have a few little
symptoms here and there, you know, somebody that doesn't have
a deadly disease that's cancer, whatever they don't need. They
don't need a great physician. They just need some, you know,
little medicine, little deal with a few symptoms they might
have here and there. But now somebody's got a deadly disease,
an incurable disease. They need a physician. And only those who know that
they've got this incurable disease called sin, this leprosy, need
Christ. He said the righteous they don't
need me. I've got one. The religious the righteous the
good people you know the moral and upstanding that those that
you know think that God is going to greatly gain by them. They
don't need Christ. They just need a fire escape
named Jesus. They just need somebody to pick
them up when they fall every now and then. They don't need
somebody to carry them all the way. But boy, now the fallen,
like Mephibosheth, the lame on their legs that can't walk, the
deaf, the dumb, the blind, they need a great physician. The helpless,
the hopeless, the doomed need a sovereign God. need someone to give them a hand. Salvation is a handout. He gives
it to whomsoever He will. And I've got news for you. He
gives it to everybody that begs. This thing of salvation is not
doing God a favor. It's God Almighty favoring us. We have no large dowry. We don't
have anything. We don't have anything. And nor do God's people marry
him for his riches. Would you listen to me? There's
a whole lot of people who will take Jesus if he'll just get
me out of this mess I'm in. If you'll just heal my body,
I'll believe you from here on out. If you'll just get me out of
this financial crisis, I'll believe on you from here on out, and
I'll be at the bout. That's not why God's people marry him either.
That's not why they say I do. They marry for love. All marriages between the Son
of God and his bride are for love. He marries them for love,
and they marry him for love. Well, he makes them rich, all
right. But maybe not now. Oh, yeah, yeah, no, hold on.
Yeah, they do. They're they're rich, but in a way that the world
doesn't understand. Well, this marriage, there is
a proposal. There was a purpose, there was
a decree, there was a betrothal. But there is a proposal. Every one of you in here made
a proposal to your wife. If there's a good illustration
and who did the proposal. I hope your husband. Generally
speaking reform and make proposals but not hold on. It's not to
get out on a knee you know that sort of thing it's not. The Lord
doesn't do that. But there is a proposal there
is a a a wooing. Although this thing was planned
and purposed and arranged, the decree is set forth by the Father. It's unalterable. She is coming. Our Lord said that, didn't He,
in John 6. Don't you love this? Oh, that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. Don't you like that? Don't you
love it? Knowing that if I'm one of His
elect, if I'm one of His sheep, I'm coming. If I'm one of his
children, one day I'm going to be presented faultless. Because
he's able to keep us from falling. He's the only one. I'm not able
to keep myself. I'm like a sheep that's gone
astray. But he's the great shepherd. He never lost sheep. And here's
the great bridegroom. And I was telling one of the,
we were looking at scripture not long ago, one of the brethren
He said, over in Isaiah, he said, where is the bill of your divorce?
He said, I'll never divorce you. He said, your mother and father
may leave you, not me. What about divorce? Well, you
may try, but you can't. I've got to sign the paper. And
they've been signed, sealed, and you will be delivered. It's unalterable. She is coming.
She is to be married to this king. What time did I start?
I didn't look at the world. But in olden day, even
in olden days, it was preferable that she be willing. It was preferable
that she be willing. And so she be wooed. And this
is salvation. Someone said that salvation,
listen to this, and I like this definition. It's a good definition.
Salvation is against our will with our full consent. Now, those
of you who have experienced it know what that means. In other
words, if God left us to our hellbound, hell-bent, selfish,
sin-loving, God-hating will, depraved will, we will not come
unto him that we might have life. We will not believe on him. We
will not say, I do. We will not. We will say, I do
not. I will not. I will not. If left
to ourselves, if left to our Adamic, that is, natural will, if left to our Father, Satan,
of whom some If not adopted by, if not given new birth by the
Spirit of God Himself, we will not come to Christ. We will see
in Him no beauty that we should desire. We will not come. But now, here's what Psalm 110
verse 3 says. Here's what God says. Thy people,
speaking of Christ, thy people, This is the heathen that he's
given him for his inheritance. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power, meaning you're going to make them willing.
It is you that works in them both to will and to do of their
good pleasure. You're going to effectively,
this is what we call irresistible grace. All right, we've got this
tulip, you know, this acrostic tulip. And the fourth of the
five is irresistible grace. By that, we mean that the Spirit
of God works upon every single one of God's elect, every single
person whom Christ has determined to marry, whom God gave to him
in this covenant, this agreement before the world began. Every
single person, through the preaching of the gospel, what I'm doing
right now, every single one, the Holy Spirit of God says,
you will take this Christ to be your Christ, won't you? Everyone,
I will. Those who formerly would not
are made willing. Those who have left to themselves
would not are made willing through the preaching of the gospel,
the power of God. He makes us willing. He makes,
what he does too, is he makes Christ irresistible to you. You see in him the altogether
lovely son of God. You see in him your all and in
all. You see in him your wisdom, your
righteousness, your holiness, your redemption. You see in him
your keeper, your lover, your husband, your friend, your brother,
your all, your salvation, your mercy, your grace, everything
in him. Everything. Your father, your mother, your
brother, your husband, you see in him and he makes you willing. And he does this through what
I'm doing right now, preaching the gospel. It's a mystery. And folks, it's not it's not
here either. True marriage, you know, it's
just You know, there are those who are married in theory. There are those who are married
on paper, but they're not married. They're not in love with one
another. Keeping up a pretense, but this
true marriage is a love. It's a love, a love of the groom
for his bride and the bride for her groom, and that will keep
them together. Now, there are many love stories
in Scripture. Many stories of a bride and bridegroom and his
bride. Many stories. See, I almost said
it. Here, let me give you another little instruction about this
thing of marriage and how things have degraded. In the modern
world, who do they mention first? The woman. Look at it, especially women's
magazines. They talk about Susan and her husband. That's typical. That's indicative. When you think of any of these
men in here, when you think of any of these marriages in here,
how do you how do you refer to them? Henry and Roberta. Stan and Sherry. And when you
think of one, you think of the other, though. But who's first? Who's first? Dan and Jill. And
you have to have been together so long as that one name in whose
name does a woman take. Who takes whose name what they
do in the day. See it's all the time and it's
a picture of religion. In the old in the scripture in
the Old Testament days of old there are many I'm going to end
this with a beautiful illustration. Our Lord preached this way in
parables and stories that say a picture is worth a thousand
words. Well, there are many love stories in the Scripture, Isaac
and Rebekah. I was just reading that again
in Genesis 24. Do you want to hear that again? A beautiful love story where
Abraham sent his servant. The Fetch-A-Bride for Isaac.
Oh, I love that story. Don't you? And when she came,
well, that's another story. And then there's Solomon and
the Shulamite Maiden. And the Song of Solomon. Beautiful
story. But my favorite, maybe, is about a man named Boaz. You see, the translators got
it all wrong. They wrote this book or they
translated the book and they put the title of it, Ruth. It's
not about Ruth. I mean, it is and it isn't. She's
not the principal figure there. Who is? Moaz. The whole story is about this
great man, the kinsman redeemer, who is the Lord Jesus Christ
himself. And this wooing. And every one
of these stories in Scripture are of a poor, lowly woman who
sought. Bought. And brought. To a mighty man. And especially this story of. Boaz and Ruth Ruth was a poor
widow. She she was a beggar. She'd reached
the point of being an absolute beggar. She'd lost everything,
lost her husband, lost all her worldly goods. God in His mercy,
though, brought her back to the only place where there was any
bread, which is a beautiful picture of how God brings His poor and
needy people to the house of bread. You hear the gospel. was wanted by no one. Ruth was
needed by no one is unknown to everyone. And it says one day. Her hat was. She just so happened to light
on that is to she went out begging her mother Naomi told her to
go out and beg. Go out and glean go out and pick
up some crumbs. off the ground. And so she went,
and she happened one day, just so happened, to go to a field,
a farm that belonged to a man named Boaz. There were many fields
in Israel at that time. But do you know there was only
one man Who had the power who had the
ability who had the authority who had the will and the way. To redeem Ruth. To get her out
of her poverty. And marry her. And it was Boaz. She just happened to land on
that field. Well, she's gleaning in that
field. She's just a beggar. She doesn't
have a clue who Boaz is. She doesn't know whose field
she is in. But somebody takes note of her.
Moab. He sees her long before she saw
him. And then one day, one glorious
morning, as she's begging in the field, up comes riding, riding
up on a great white horse. It's this mighty man, this glorious
man, this beautiful man named Moab. And he looks upon her with favor,
and he gives orders concerning her. He tells all his servants
what to do concerning this one. He set his affection on this
one. There were lots of gleaners out there that day. There were
lots of poor widows. There were lots of beggars in that field
that day. But he set his purpose upon that one. He set his love
upon that one. He chose her. She didn't choose
him. She doesn't even know who he
is. But he chose her, and he set his love and affection on
her, and he gave all of his servants charge concerning her. He said,
You can't have her. That one's mine. And he said,
Let fall to her handfuls, not crumbs, handfuls on purpose. Dump sack loads of wheat for
her. Don't leave her a beggar. Fill
her up. She's mine. Until the day I bring
her home. I've got something to do concerning
her. No, she doesn't know me. I know
her. That's all that matters. She
doesn't want me. I've chosen her. And she's not
calling on me, but I'm going to call her. And one day, the
servant said, Ruth, The master of the house has told you to
come up to the house and sit at the table. You're not talking about me,
are you? She knew what she was. You're not talking about me.
Yeah, yeah, he called you by name. He knows. How does he know
me? He knows all things. He knows
who's in his field. He lets them in. So she came up to the house.
And what did he do? Don't you love that, Deborah?
What happened there? They're sitting at the table.
Boaz comes by. She's sitting at the table with
the rest of the beggars. And he reaches her some cornbread.
Kind of brushes up against her, you know. Here, have a little
more. She gets a whiff of him. And he touched her. She looked up at him. She's dressed
in rags. She's poor. There's nothing desirable about
her. But he's altogether desirable to her. She's falling in love with him.
She's falling in love with him. And then, that night, she says,
I've got to have him. I don't know if he'll have me. But I got to have him. She doesn't
realize he's he's he's ordered his whole thing. The reason she
was in his field. The reason she got those handfuls.
The reason he went up and gave her a little cornbread. He's
wooing her. He's making himself lovely to
her. Known to her. Needed by her.
That's what the gospel does. It just simply sets forth the
Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit makes him desirable to
you. This Christ whom we preach, this high and mighty, high and
lofty Holy Lord, this one, this sovereign one, that's how you
see him first. You see him high and lifted up like Ruth saw Boaz
come riding up. You'll see him not needing you,
but rather you needing him desperately. You'll see him as the suffering
Lord over all, your Lord, who might have you and might not
have you. That's how you'll see. And then you'll go to his feet.
That night, like Ruth did, she went to his feet. She said, I'm
going to just kick me out. And she went to his feet that
night, and she laid that at his feet and said, would you please
cover me up? Would you have me? And that story goes on, doesn't
it? But he wooed her, you see. He
saw her. He loved her. He sought her.
He bought her. He brought her. And the end of that story, she's
mighty good. Mighty good. He married her. He didn't marry her for money,
did he? He married her for love. Did she marry him for his money?
Oh, no. She first fell in love with him.
Saw his beauty, saw his glory. And she married him. Boy, he
made her unspeakably rich. And the whole purpose, you know,
of that story, you know, Why that marriage took place, why
that exact marriage took place, was because of Jesus Christ. You see, everything is. Because
Ruth, you see, was the great-grandmother of Jesse, the father of David,
of whom Christ would come. This marriage had to take place. God ordered it. for the glory
of his son. That's what it's all about. So
this is about the bridegroom. This is about our Boaz. This
is about our Christ. Theirs may be waiting on us,
but we're going to wait on the Lord. And it's all about the bridegroom's
glory. Well, we're going to sing in
closing. A hymn we sing often, number 509. 509. Dave, you'll come up. Sing the first and last verses,
and you know why we're singing this, don't you, Sherry? The
last verse of number 509 says, The bride eyes not her garment,
but her dear bridegroom's face. Okay, let's stand and sing first
and last verse. The sands of time are sinking,
the dawn of heaven breaks. The summer's worn out tight,
for deep bears we've mown away. Dark, dark hath been the midnight,
but day spring is at hand, and glory, glory dwelleth in Emmanuel. Last verse. The bride has not
her garment, but her dear bridegroom's face. Thank you.