shirt. Friends don't let friends go
around with bad breath. You know why I like Clay so much? He's preaching. Let me tell you
like this. I hadn't been saved very long
in a pre-war baptism. The man asked me to go here and
preach. And I did. And I learned a lot from that. And I was sitting on the front
row talking with him. We were just talking. Just normal
talking. And he got in the pulpit. And
as soon as he opened up his Bible, I thought, who is this guy? I'm
just sitting here talking to this man. And then he got up
and his voice completely changed. And I kept thinking, what's this
about? I like Clay. I like his preaching. Not lonely. And he opens up the
Scriptures and gives you the true sense of the Word. But it's
just like sitting and listening to him talking. That's what preaching
is about. Isn't that what it's about? I'm
one of the world's worst sometimes to get going, but that's the
way we need to be preached to, right there. Right there. No one ever changed that. In Ephesians chapter 5, Brother
Todd Nyberg, I saw him last weekend, and he said one fellow had on
his nose a weak point. A weak point, talk louder. In Ephesians chapter five, and
I want to read just a few verses to you. Look in verse twenty-three. Verse twenty-two. Let's begin
in verse twenty-two. Why submit yourselves unto your
own husbands as unto the Lord? For the husband is the head of
the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is
the Savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject
unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even
as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for that he
might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by
the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church,
not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should
be holy and without blemish." The devil is very busy in our
day, has been for quite some time now, seeking to undermine
and destroy the foundation First of all, of divine creation, I
have some sympathy in my heart for our young people that's attending
our high schools and our universities and being taught continually
of this theory of evolution. And I'll say this without fear
of being contradicted from the scriptures, that in six days,
The Lord God made the heavens, he made the earth, he made the
sea, and all that in it is. I don't know a thing about science.
I'll be honest with you. I've tried to study it. I don't
know very much about science. I do know something about the
scriptures. I can read the scriptures. And evolution has to do with
two things. First of all, it has to do with
the power of God. to create without delay. He has power to speak and bring
everything into existence. He don't have to set something
in order and let it evolve and evolve and evolve. He has the
power to say, let there be, and immediately there is. I know there has been some evolution.
I know there's been a process. We've got all kinds of different
breeds of dogs. You see that out in public, people
kissing them. My brother, I saw a little dog
the other day at my brother's house. It was licking its body.
My brother picked it up and was licking his mouth. The ugly little
dogs. We've got all kinds of dogs.
But you know something? They're still dogs. We've got
all different kinds of breeds of cows and horses, but they're
still cows and they're still horses. And if you follow them
back all the way to when the Lord spake and said, let there
be a horse, there's never been a cow evolved into a horse. You know what? I don't know what
Adam looked like. I don't know what Eve looked
like. But they were human beings. And some of us, you go to different
regions in the world, and we look different. I have no idea what color I am.
I look like an Alpalooza horse. I'm not white. She said to our dear brother
David, and he's black. I'm a man. He's a man. We're humanity. And where did
we come from? We didn't swing by our tails
in trees. God made us. He made us. You know what? He can make things
immediately. And this thing has got into the
church. My neighbor is a professing Christian. And he believes that all of this
evolved over a period of either thousands of years, but probably
millions of years. In six days, I created the heavens
and the earth. And he said, well, that could
be thousands of years, or millions of days and years. But the very
reason he said, I created the heavens in six days, he was instituting
the Sabbath day. Six days I created, I rested
the seventh day, therefore you rest the seventh day. The Lord doesn't deceive us with
these things. Somebody didn't stand up and
say, now is that a thousand year days or is that a million year
days? No. Look here in chapter 4 of
this book of Ephesians. Look at this. This is why this
means something. God is the creator. He's the
creator. He can speak and things can come
into being that never existed before. He has that power. You and I create nothing. He
does. And look what he says here in
chapter 4, look in verse 22, "...put off concerning the former
conversation, the old man which is corrupt according to deceitful
lusts," verse 24, "...and that ye put on the new man which after
God is created in righteousness and true holiness." Do you have
something here that evolved? Do you have a new creature? He
came into being suddenly. The Creator brought Him into
being. The hour is coming in which the
dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they live. This is new life. It's a new
creation. And God did it, and He did it
suddenly, because He's the Creator. And there's coming a day when
the Scripture says something else is going to suddenly happen.
The Lord is descending from heaven with a shout, and in the twinkling
of an eye, these foul bodies are going to be changed and fashioned
like unto his glorious body. There's no evolution. The eternal
Creator does what he pleases, and when he speaks, he creates. And this business, this business
of evolution, I'll tell you the motive behind it. It gets us
on a slippery slope of saying God cannot create suddenly. But I'll tell you the main thing
creation does. You know what it does? It strikes at the very
heart of the death of Jesus Christ. Because God created all things
by Christ Jesus. was not anything made that was
made. In heaven, in earth, in the sea,
in all the places, Jesus of Nazareth made it all. And to say it started from some
little cell and exploded and all that evolved, that's denying
the deity of the Son of God. And that's what the devil is
striking at today, evolution. I don't have to know anything
about science. And you don't either. But the second thing
that he's striking out, the very foundation of marriage, when
God made Adam, he saw that it wasn't good for
Adam to be alone. And what did he do? Put him to
sleep. I'm going to make him a help fit for him. And he brought
out that rib, and out of that rib he created a help fit for
Adam. And he brought that person to
Adam, and Adam looked at that person and said, this is now
bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh, and she was called
Woman. You know what gay marriage does.
You know what homosexuality is. It's abomination in the eyes
of God, and it's unchecked lust. That's all it is. And Satan is
seeking the best he can in our day to undermine marriage between
a woman and a man. And you know why he's doing that?
Because of what marriage symbolizes. Look what the apostle said about
it here, back in my text. Look at this. He said here in
verse 30, look at this, in verse 31, look in verse 30, "...where
members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause
shall a man leave his father and mother, and be joined unto
his wife, and they too shall be one flesh." This is a great
mystery. Marriage is a mystery. The union
between a husband and a wife is a mystery. But I speak concerning
Christ and His church. Everywhere in the scriptures,
the church is called a woman. She's called the Lamb's wife. It's His bride. Nowhere is the
church referred to as a man. I have espoused you to one husband. That is Christ. And you and I,
brothers and sisters, will never understand, we will never appreciate
and honor marriage as we should until we realize it, what marriage
symbolizes. The Lord didn't make Adam and
Eve, and bring Eve to Adam, and then say, I think I'll have Christ
in my church to represent that. No. He had this in mind all along. You're Adam. Adam was Christ,
you see, and Eve was the church. That's what the Lord meant, that
to represent. That's why a lot of people can't
understand marriage. They can't have it. They never
will understand. Look here in chapter 4, and look
here in verse 22. Wives, submit yourselves unto
your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the
head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church. Therefore,
as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be unto
their own husbands. You dear sisters here this morning, Sometimes it's difficult to submit
to your husband. And I'll be honest with you.
You know husbands, and I know husbands, and we all know husbands. That's nothing but jerks. They
just have their wives around to serve them. Get me this and
get me that. Do this and do that. There have
been dear sisters in Christ who have lived with sorry husbands. and honored them and respected
them until they died. And there's no way they would
have divorced that husband. And you know why? Because of
what their marriage symbolizes. You dear sisters here this morning
that love the Lord Jesus Christ, what would you think? How would
you feel? If you saw the church rise up
in rebellion and complete disregard for the Lord Jesus Christ, how
would that make you feel? You'd be horrified just to think
of it, wouldn't you? You'd be heartbroken. Then let
that be an example to you in honoring your husband, just as the church must never
rise up to dishonor Christ and rebel against Him. Dear sister,
honor your husband. Put up with him if you have to.
And you husbands, look here what he said. Verse 25. Husbands, love your wives as
Christ loved the church. You know one thing I like about
the Christian life? And one fellow told me, you should
quit saying Christian, living in Christian life, because everybody's
abused that word. I'm going to keep using the word
Christian. I remember when Jimmy Carter
was running for president, he was using the word Barnigan,
Barnigan. Everybody quit saying, we've
got to quit using that word. No, let's just define these words.
A Christian, when I say Christian and the Christian living, I mean
the man who is in Christ. That's what I mean by Christian.
And you know one of the things I love about being a Christian? And one of the most encouraging
things about being a Christian? God never expects us to be a
Christian until He makes us one. Did you know that? The verse
that I just read to you there about we're created in righteousness
and true holiness? Why does He create us? We can't
be a Christian until He creates us and makes us a Christian.
We don't reform the world, do we? We're not out to reform Babylon. She is beyond reformation. All
these instructions are to Christians. And one of the most discouraging
things is for you and I to think that the Lord expects us to live
the Christian life in our own strength. That's the most discouraging
thing. Look here at 3 or 4 verses. Look here in chapter 3. Look
in chapter 3. Look in verse 16. That he would
grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened
with might by his Spirit in the inner man. And look in verse
20, "...unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above
all that we ask, or that we can think according to the power
that worketh in us." Paul made a wonderful statement,
a marvelous statement, here in the fifth chapter. And look at
this. Look at this. God doesn't expect anything.
to do anything apart from Him doing it first in them. Paul
made this wonderful statement. This is one of the most amazing
statements that I think I've ever read in the whole Bible
concerning why believers do good things. And look at it here in
the fifth chapter of Ephesians, and look in verse 8. You were
sometimes darkness, but now are you children of light in the
Lord. Walk, walk, walk as children
of light. Now look in verse 9. For the
fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and
truth. It was said of Barnabas, he was
a good man. Remember that? and we're told to live righteous
lives as Christians in this world, to be good and to do good things.
You know, everything that a Christian does, all the goodness, you visited
me when I was sick, you fed me, you gave me a place to sleep.
Why did they do that? That was the fruit of the Spirit. That's all that is. They're just
working out what He has already worked in. The God of peace that
brought again the Lord Jesus from the dead worked in you,
making you perfect in every good work to do His will. He's working in you. You never
did a good thing in your life until He first works it in you.
Why is that important? You wives need to know that when
you submit to your husband, because he's working in you to do it.
He doesn't say, Husband, love your wives, and then don't give
you grace to do it. He gives grace to do it. Husbands,
love your wives. It's hard to love my wife. Old Scott Richard used to say,
You meet a woman, and she looks so good, and you married her.
Does she still look good? Good enough to eat? A couple
of years, you wish you had ate her. That's what y'all used to
say. You know something, brothers
and sisters, it's not hard to love. We should never say it's
hard to love. You know why we should never
say that? Because love is the fruit of the Spirit. Sometimes it becomes difficult
to be patient with our wives. Peter said, don't dare be bitter
against them. They're the weaker vessel. They
err just like the rest of us do. You know why we get impatient
with them? We don't love them as Christ
loved. You know what the Bible says
about love? Love suffers long. Love is kind. Love bears all
things and endears all things. Love never fails. Husbands, love your wives as
Christ loved the church. And I tell you, if we'll let
love go before everything else, we'll be more patient with our
wives. We'll be more kind. We'll be more gentle with our
lives. If we'll love them as Christ loved the church. Do you think it's hard for Christ
to love the church? We get to thinking that. Do we
not think that sometimes? Oh Lord, how could you love me?
It's so difficult. And we go about with this abominable thought,
I've got to do something to cause Him to love me. He loves us freely,
without any cause, without looking for a cause in us. I will love
them freely. Love your wives that way. Love
your wives that way. Our love for our wives has never
required us to give what Christ's love required of Him. What do
we give our wives? A little of our time. our attention. Sometimes, if they're fortunate,
they'll sympathize and err for a few minutes. What did the Lord
Jesus Christ give for us? He gave Himself. He gave Himself. Our wives have given us great
cause to love them. Haven't they not? And they're
so pretty. Isn't your wife pretty? Yours
is. Yours is pretty to me. And I'm still in love with Sandy
Park. You know what gets me sometimes? You see these fellas. You see
these old men. Their bellies look like they
need to start pushing them around in the wheelbarrow. And they
say this, my wife just don't look like she used to. Our wives, we love them. We love them. And when we grow
old, and all these spots and wrinkles, they're still attractive
to us. They've given us much more cause
to love them. Then we have Christ to love us.
What were we when He loved us? Even when you were dead in trespasses
and sin, laying in our iniquity, in our vileness, I passed by
you and saw you in your blood. And it was a time of love. Love
your wives that way. Love your wives that way. Don't
look for a cause in them to love. Love them freely, even as Christ
loved the church. Paul does an amazing thing in
these verses. He's here talking about the home,
the wife loving her husband, the husband loving the wife.
And he does the most marvelous thing. And he does this all the
time. He cannot stay away from Jesus Christ the Lord. He's talking
about the husband and wife and suddenly he reveals to us in
these three verses the most marvelous thing. He reveals to us the redeeming
purpose of the Lord Jesus Christ. He just leaves the husband and
wife and he goes to Christ. Look at this. Look at what he
does here. In verse 25. Husbands, love your wives even
as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. He begins with love. Everything the Lord Jesus Christ
does for his church, and ever will do for his church, he does
so because he loved her. You trace it back to that everlasting
love. And you know something? I was
reading John Gill the other day, and I think probably I agree
with him. He says there is a common love of God over all of his creatures. You ask me to explain all that,
and I can't. But you know, there's an everlasting love. There's
this covenant love that Jesus Christ has for his church. that he don't have for anybody
else. He's got a love for his church
that made him choose her, made him come to this world and bear
her sins and her load, call her to himself, and will glorify
her someday. That's a love that he has for
nobody but his church. A peculiar everlasting love. I gave the church the other night
an illustration of love, because the world is so warped up on
the love of Christ. I had a lady tell me, she said,
you know, I believe God loves everybody the same. No, God doesn't
love everybody the same. He doesn't. What does the love of Christ
have to do with your salvation? Everything. I was giving the
church this illustration the other night. Here's what the
church thinks about the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's
a man that pulls up in his driveway, and he sees his house is on fire. His three sons and his three
daughters are in there. And he sees them. They're going
to burn out? What does he do? Without any hesitation or regard
for his own safety and his own life, he belts through those
doors. He begins to scream for his children. He looks in every kitchen, he
looks in every bedroom and every closet until he rounds them all
up and he takes them back and sets them out in the street in
a place of safety. And if he doesn't do that, he
don't love his kids. Would you or anybody else stand
in the street and for his own safety watch the house burn down
around your children? No, because you love them. And
the world looks upon that and they say, oh, that's love. And
yet they turn right around and they say, the Lord Jesus Christ
loves everybody. And here His people are. They're
in the burning house and they're ready to perish. But He's standing
out in the street and He's wringing His hands and He's hoping they'll
find the way out of the house. But He really can't violate their
free will. Oh, yes, He loves them. Isn't that what the world thinks
about Jesus Christ? You know how we know he loves
his people? He gave himself for them. Even as Christ loved the
church and gave himself for them. He's not going to stay in heaven
while his people perish. He's not going to do it. He came. And he bore her sins and her
sorrows and made them his very own. Why? Because he loved them. He loved them. Paul never could get over that.
He said, Christ loved me and gave himself for me. Greater love has no man than
this. A man lay down his life. He loved
us and worshipped us from our sins. Love. Love. There'll be
nobody in hell whom Jesus Christ loved. Huh? No. No. You wouldn't let your
loved ones perish, would you? He won't let his either. He gave
himself. All of himself. He could have
gave heaven. He could have give the angels.
But he didn't. He gave himself. Without any
hesitation, without any regard, he gave himself. In verse 26, we see the purpose
of him giving himself. You know what the Apostle Paul
does here. He tells us the very purpose in the death of the Son
of God. Look what he says in verse 26.
He gave himself for it in order that he might sanctify and cleanse
it with the washing of water by the Word. Why did he die? He had a purpose behind it. in
order to sanctify and cleanse her with a washing of water by
the word, not to give her a chance. The death of Christ will redeem
all for whom he died. Somebody asked Charles Spurgeon,
what did Christ intend by his death? Spurgeon said, what are
you doing? Just wait and see what he's doing.
And everything he intended by his death he will accomplish.
And he says here he intended to sanctify and cleanse his people. This word sanctify, it means to concentrate, to appropriate,
to a sacred use, to set apart, to dedicate, to devote to God. Under the ceremonial law, they
made all these vessels and they sanctified them. Aaron's clothes and his priestly
clothes, they made all of those things and they sanctified them.
They set them apart to be used in the worship and service of
God. That's what sanctification means,
to be set apart for God's uses and for God's glory. That's why
the Lord killed Belshazzar for drinking out of those vessels. Those are sanctified. Those are
sanctified. You know the best illustration
of sanctification that I could give anybody. What does it mean
for the Lord to sanctify me? You know how you can know Christ
died for you. He sanctifies you. And the best illustration I could
give you of sanctification is found in Isaiah chapter 6. And
you remember it very well. In the year that King Uzziah
died, I saw the Lord. and lifted up, and his train
filled the temple. And there was those holy seraphims
crying, saying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. And I said,
Woe is me, for I am undone. My eyes have seen the King, the
Lord of hosts. You say, Bruce, why is that a
good illustration? How many people you know do that? He was separated. Nobody else
was saying, I've seen Him. Nobody else was saying, oh unto
me. Everybody else was bragging about
their own goodness. But here was a man that God had
sanctified. Boy, he's seen the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Holy Spirit opened his mind,
his heart, his mouth. Let me give you another illustration.
There was a publican who went up to the temple to pray. And
he wouldn't even lift his eyes up towards heaven. And he slowed
on his chest and said, God, be merciful. Be propitious to me,
a sinner. That's what it means to be sanctified.
Let me give you another. There was old Joe that said,
I've heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see
you. And I repent in dust and ashes."
Brothers and sisters, you will know if Christ has died for you
as He sanctified you, as He separated you, as He showed you His self. If
He has, you'll spend the rest of your life worshiping and serving and looking
and being amazed at the Lord of glory. that he might sanctify. And look at this, cleanse it,
purge it. That's what that word cleanse
means, to purge. When by himself he purged our
sins. My son's a pipe welder. He welds
a lot with a processed food, stainless pipes. And he says
when he's finished with his weld, They've got this special cleaning
agent. It's a special gas. They run
through those lines and it purges. It cleanses those lines so they
can run food through them. What was the purpose of Christ's
dying? That He might cleanse us. That He might purge us from
all iniquity. And Paul made a statement here
that's so difficult sometimes to understand. He said in verse
26 that he might sanctify and cleanse it with a washing, this
is the way he's going to cleanse it, with a washing of water by
the Word. Have you ever read that and wondered
what in the world does that mean? Even some of our dear forefathers
said that was water baptism. And some of them say, you know,
it's not literal water, but it's what water represents. But I
think it means this. It has nothing to do with water.
It's the scriptural way of speaking when he talks about our cleansing. You remember Ezekiel chapter
36 where the Lord said, I will sprinkle clean water upon them. If that's baptism, then the poor
cow will ask me, I'll start sprinkling, aren't you? That has nothing
to do with water. It's telling us that there is
a cleaning agent. We know what we use water for
because we use water to cleanse with, to bathe with. So the Lord
consciences on our level to tell us there is something that will
wash us. But it reaches the conscience.
Just like soap and water will wash your hands from its filth. There is something that will
wash the conscience. It purges the conscience. And
what is it? Well, listen to this. Having
an eye preached over the house of God, let us draw near with
a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled
from that evil conscience. What is it that can reach the
conscience and wash it from its guilt? Blood. Listen to Hebrews
9. The blood of Christ, if the blood
of bulls and goats sanctified to the purifying of the flesh,
how much more shall the blood of Christ purge your conscience? What's he saying here? He's saying
Christ died for us, that He might set us apart for His worship,
for His service, that He might cleanse us And he does it by
this cleansing agent. What is it? It's blood. It's
blood. And he makes this next statement.
By the Word. By the Word. It's always by the
Word. You know, in regeneration, there's
two things that take place. There's a washing in regeneration. That's why they call it the washing
of regeneration. And there's the giving of life.
When the Lord regenerates us, he gives us life, and he washes
us. And it's by the Word. Never apart from the Word. You
are clean through the Word. You know how I love the way the
Lord Jesus said that. And this is what He meant. I
don't know what else He would mean. You are clean because I
said you're clean. I said you're clean, and therefore
you're clean through My Word. If He says you're clean, you're
clean. If He says I've accepted you,
you're accepted. If He says I've saved you, He
saved you. Is that enough? Is His Word enough? It's enough. He said, if we confess
our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and
to cleanse us. Is that enough for you? You have
to say, Bruce, I just didn't feel anything. I don't feel it.
I don't feel anything. Feelings come. Fillings go, but
fillings are deceitful. The only man in the Old Testament
that ever trusted his fillings was when Isaac felt that Jacob's
arms and said, here he's all right. You sure feel like he's
all right. Brothers and sisters, he cleanses
us through his word. Because he said it. That's why
we can set out and eat any kind of meat. any food we want to
eat, because it's sanctified by the Word of God. What does that mean, the Word
says it's clean? Eat it, and we thank Him for it. Somebody
said, I'd rather be in the Word as to be in heaven. Heaven and
earth shall pass away, but thy Word shall not pass away. By the word, by the word. Old
John Jesper, David is an old black slave. He had to get permission
from his white owner to go preach. He's a better preacher than any
of them. He always was rejoicing in the Lord. Everywhere he went,
oh, he was so full of assurance. Oh, I'll be glad when I can go
to be with the Lord. Looking forward to that day.
What a day that will be. And some fellow asked him one
day, he said, Dear Brother Jasper, what if you get up to heaven
and the Lord don't open the door for you? He said, well, he said,
if the Lord don't open the door and let me into heaven, I'll
be lost. No doubt about that. I'll suffer for eternity. I'm
a great loser. He said, the Lord will lose more
than I do. If after I believed His Word
and rested my salvation on what He said, and if I get up there
and He turns me away, I'll lose my soul, but He'll lose His honor. That'll never happen. You are
clean through the Word. Boy, you're clean if you're clean
through the Word. That's his purpose. That's his
purpose. He didn't die in vain. He died for a purpose. That he
might sanctify and cleanse the church through the washing of
water. He has this cleaning agent by
his word. But he didn't stop there. One
more thing and I'll close. in order to present it to himself. A glorious church. I want to read you a scripture.
Look over in Revelation chapter 21. I think Brother Donnie did this
one time. Somebody did this. Somebody brought the bride down
front and her waiting on the husband. We've got everything
backwards, don't we? We get the man down here, and
he's waiting on his wife to come down, his fiancée. Somebody had
the wife down here, and she was waiting for her husband to walk
down behind her. The bride is waiting for her
husband, and what's going to happen when he comes? He is going to present her to
himself. You and I are passive in this,
brothers and sisters. We're passive. We're laying in
the dust. We've gone back to the dust.
Or here we're sitting like we are this morning, worshiping. And suddenly, with us doing nothing,
without lifting a finger, Jesus Christ will present us to Himself. Do you know what we'll look like?
Glow. Glow. Ain't that what you said,
Clay? It has something to do with glowing. The Lord Jesus
said, You'll shine. She will shine. She'll shine
as the sun in the kingdom of my Father. There's going to be
this glory put upon the church. You can't see it now. Now is
the time of temptation. Now is the time to suffer. Now
is the time to live in humility and humiliation even. Brothers
and sisters, this is not the consummation. His purpose is being accomplished,
and it's ripening fast. And the end of it's going to
be, He's going to present her to Himself. Glorious, glorious. The suffering of this present
time is not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be
revealed in us. Not just to us, but in us. And look here at it. John gives
a hint of it in Revelation chapter 22, or chapter 21. And he says
in verse 1 and 2, I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The first
heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no
more sea. And look what he says down here
in verse 9. And there came unto me one of the seven angels, which
had the seven vows, full of the seven last plagues, and talked
with me, saying, Come hither, and I will show you the Lamb's
wife, the one he loved and died for and redeemed. And he carried
me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain." What a way
to describe heaven. And He showed me that great city, holy Jerusalem,
descended out of heaven from God. Look at this. Having the
glory of God. I can't explain that. I can't
explain God. But I know what the church is
going to look like when He presents her to Himself. Glorious. It's glorious. That's worth waiting and being
patient for, isn't it? That's worth suffering some in
this present life. Waiting. But he didn't stop there. The glorious church, not only
glorious within, but glorious within and glorious without.
And he says you're not having A wrinkle or any such thing,
spots and wrinkles, comes with age, doesn't it? I've not always looked like this.
And it's going to get worse. Spots and wrinkles. Not up there. Because there will be no aging
up there. Eternally new. Eternally young. are any such
thing. No spots or wrinkles are any
such thing. Sorrows? No such thing. Pain? No such thing. Crime? No such thing. Death? No such thing. Loneliness? No such thing. Pouring over our
bibles, trying to see His face? No such thing. Praying, laboring
in prayer? No such thing. No such thing. Oh, what a day that will be. What a day that will be. Fade, fade each earthly joy. We're looking for a city whose
builder and maker is God. Oh, what liberty to be made holy. To be made holy. And to Him that's
able to keep you from falling, to present you Faultless. Faultless. Faultless. We've done a thing for what we
weep and heartbroken because of the faults in it. Faults. Faults. Faults. He'll present
us to Himself. Faultless. Faultless. And you know what we'll trace
it to? Redeeming love. Redeeming love. I'm there because
Christ loved me and he gave himself for me in the days of his flesh. Husbands, love your wives that
way. And you wives, submit yourselves
unto your husbands as the church submits herself unto Christ.
Shut the divorce courts down. Make the attorneys go and get
another job fit to have. There's no reason, it's never
called for, for a Christian man and a Christian woman to divorce
one another. Christ will never divorce His
church, and the church will never divorce Him. Neither do you. Don't do that. Don't do that. It's been good. It's been good. Thank you. I love you. God bless
you. I love you. Thank you for your patience.
It's getting hot when you sit here. Listen. God bless you. Lord bless you. Thank you, dear
ladies and men, for fixing this good food. Thank you all for
helping. Lord bless you.