The Relationship of Marriage. This sermon was originally preached sometime in the mid to late 1800s by Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

Our text for tonight comes from the book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah chapter 3, verse 14. Return, faithless people, declares the Lord, for I am your husband. These are delicate words, a good medicine for a troubled conscience. Such remarkable comfort is intended to encourage the soul and put the brightest hope on all of its prospects. The person to whom it is addressed has an eminently happy position.

My dear believers in Christ, tonight Satan will be very busy with you. He will say to you, What right do you have to believe that God is married to you? He will remind you of your imperfections and of the coldness of your love, and perhaps of the backsliding state of your heart. He will say, why, with all this about you, can you be presumptuous enough to claim union with the Son of God? Can you venture to hope that there will be any marriage between you and the Holy One? He will speak to you as though he were an advocate for holiness, that it is not possible that someone like you could really be a partaker of so choice and special a privilege as being married to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let this suffice for an answer to all such suggestions. The text is found addressed not to Christians in a flourishing state of heart, not to believers on the Mount of Transfiguration with Christ, not to a spouse that is completely pure and lovely and sitting under the banner of love, feasting with her Lord, but it is addressed to those who are called faithless people. God speaks to His Church in her lowest and most wretched condition. and though he does not fail to rebuke her sin, to express grief over it, and to make her grieve over it too, yet still in such a condition he says to her, I am your husband.

Oh, it is pure grace, pure grace that Jesus should be married to any of us, but it is grace at its highest pitch. It is the ocean of grace at its flood tide that he should speak in this way to faithless people. That he should speak words of love to any of the fallen race of Adam is very strange and wonderful. But that he should select those who have behaved treacherously to him, who have turned their backs to him and not their faces, who have been unfaithful to him, although nevertheless his own, and says to them, I am your husband. This is loving kindness beyond anything we could want or imagine.

Listen, heaven above, and admire earth below. Let every understanding heart break forth into singing. Yes, let every humble mind bless and praise the condescension of the Most High. Cheer up, you poor weak hearts. Here is a sweet encouragement for some of you who are depressed, discontent, and all alone, to draw living waters out of this well. Don't let the noise of the enemy keep you back from this refreshing well. Don't be afraid lest you should be cursed while you are anticipating the blessing. If you trust only in Jesus, if you long for the once humbled, now exalted Lord, come with holy boldness to the text. In whatever comfort there is here, receive it and rejoice in it.

To this end, let us carefully consider the relationship which is here spoken of. and diligently question how much we are actually acquainted with it.

First, in considering the relationship which is here spoken of, you will observe that the relationship of marriage, though very much like family, is not one of birth. The relationship of marriage, though very much like family, is not one of birth. Marriage is not a relationship by blood or by common ancestor. Marriage is not a relationship by blood or by a common ancestor. It is contracted between two persons who may, during the early part of their lives, have been entire strangers to one another. They may scarcely have looked at each other in the face, except during the few months that preceded their wedding. The families may have had no previous acquaintance. They may have lived on the opposite sides of the earth. One may have been rich and in possession of vast domains, and the other may have been poor, barely able to make ends meet.

Genealogies don't regulate it. Differences don't hinder it. The connection is not of natural birth, but a voluntary contract or covenant. such as the relationship which exists between the believer and his God. Whatever relation there was originally between God and man, it was stamped out and extinguished by the fall. We were aliens, strangers, and foreigners, far off from God because of our wicked works. We therefore had no relation to the Most High. We were banished from His presence as traitors to His throne, as condemned criminals who had revolted against His power. There could be no communion between our souls and God. He is light and we are darkness. He is holiness and we are sin. He is heaven and we are far more analogous to hell. In Him there is consummate greatness. and we are puny insignificance. He fills the entire universe with his strength, and as for us, we are the creatures of the day, who know nothing and are easily crushed like the moth.

The gulf between God and a sinner is something terrible to contemplate. There is a vast difference between God and the creature, even when the creature is pure. But between God and the fallen creature, oh, who is he that can measure the infinite distance? There was only one way of ever bridging so terrible a chasm, and that only by the person and passion of the Lord Jesus Christ. How could we have ever perceived the infinite design, unless it had been revealed to us as an accomplished fact, by which he has reconciled us and brought us into communion with himself, that we should be married to him.

Now, my dear Christian, just contemplate what you were, and the degraded family to which you belonged, that you may magnify the riches of his grace, who chose you for his wife, even while you were still a wicked sinner. and has so obligated himself with all the pledges of a husband that he said, I am your husband. What were you? It is an evil catalog of wicked sinners, which the apostle gives in the first epistle to the Corinthians. I refrain from reciting the filthy vices at the end of which he says, but you were washed, you were sanctified. In those crimes he enumerates, many of us had a share. No, all of us. What was our father? What was our aim? What was our practice? What were our desires? What were our tendencies? They were earthly, downward, and hellward. We were at a distance from God, and we loved that distance.

But the Lord Jesus took our nature upon himself. Upon him God laid the iniquity of all his people. And why did he do this? Not merely to save us from the wrath to come, but that we, being lifted up out of our degradation by virtue of his atonement, and being sanctified and made right by the power of the Spirit, should have a relationship, a relationship established between us and God, which was not formed by nature, but which was achieved and consummated by astounding grace. Let us give thanks to the Lord this night as we remember the pit from which we were pulled up from and call to mind the fact, the fact that now we are united to him in ties of blood and bonds of love. The union of marriage is the result of choice. The union of marriage is the result of choice. Any exceptions to this rule that might be pleaded are invalid. Because they arise from folly and transgression, there ought to be no exception. It is scarcely a true marriage at all where there has not been a choice on each side. But certainly, if the Lord our God is married to us, and we are married to God, the choice is mutual. The first choice is with God. That choice was made, we believe, before the creation of the universe. God never began to love his people. It was impossible for the spiritual mind to entertain so unworthy a thought. He saw them in the telescope of his decrees. He saw them in the future with his eye of foresight, in the mass of humanity, completely fallen and doomed. But yet he looked at them and pitied and loved them, elected them and set them apart. They will be mine, says the Lord. At this point, we are all in agreement. And we ought to all be in agreement on the second point, namely that we also have chosen our God. Brothers and sisters, no one is saved against their will. Let me say that again. No one is saved against their will. If anyone could say that they were saved against their will, it would be proof, proof that they were not saved at all. For reluctance or indifference reveals hostility in the heart. If the will is still set against God, then it is proof that the whole person is still hostile against the Lord. Now, in our natural state, we did not choose God. In our natural state, we kicked against His law and turned away from His authority. But is it not written, My people will be willing in the day of my power." Don't you understand how, without any violation of your free will, God has used divine arguments and motives so as to influence your understanding? Through our understanding, our will is convinced, and our souls are suddenly drawn without hesitation. It is then that we throw down the weapons of our rebellion. and humble ourselves at the footstool of the Most High, and we freely choose that which we once wickedly abhorred. Don't you, Christian, at this very hour choose Christ with all your heart to be your Lord and Savior? If it could be put to you over again to make a choice whether you would love the world or love Christ, wouldn't you say, Oh, my beloved is better to me than ten thousand worlds. He captures all my love, captivates all my passion. I freely and completely give myself up to him. He bought me with a great price. He won me with his great love. He captivated me with his indescribable charms. So I completely give myself up to him. This is a mutual choice. Oh, I wish that some of our friends would refrain from making such a strong stand against the doctrine of God choosing us. If they will only read the scriptures with an unbiased mind, I am quite sure they will find it there. It always seems so incomprehensible to me that those who so boldly claim free will for man should not also allow some free will to God. I suppose no one would like to be married to someone whom they had not chosen. And why shouldn't Jesus Christ have the right, the right to choose his own bride? Why shouldn't he put his love where he wants? and have the right to exercise, according to his own sovereign mind, that bestowment of his heart and hand which no one could by any means deserve. Know this for sure, that Jesus will have his own choice, whether we doubt the doctrine or not. For he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy, and he will have compassion on whom he will have compassion. I wish that those friends who believe this truth would receive the other, which is just as much true. We do choose Christ in return, and that without any violation of our free will. Some people cannot see two truths at the same time. They cannot understand that God has made all truth to be double. Truth is many-sided. While divine predestination is true, Human responsibility is also true. While it is true that Christ chooses us, it is also true that the unregenerate mind will not choose him. Jesus said, you refuse to come to me to have life. This is the sin and the condemnation of man that light has come into the world. But men love darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Settle it, however, in your minds that when God says, I am your husband, it implies that there is a blessed choice on both sides, and thus it is a true marriage. Our third reflection is that marriage is cemented by mutual love. Marriage is cemented by mutual love. Where there is a lack of this mutual affection, it does not deserve the name of marriage. The pain and anguish of such a relationship would be a heavy load for either heart to bear. But where there is a true and genuine love, it is the sweetest and happiest mode of living. It is one of the blessings of paradise, which has been preserved for us after the fall. Without love, wedded life would be like experiencing some of the very pains of hell on earth. In the solemn contract which has brought our souls this night to God, the marriage is sustained, cemented, strengthened, and made enjoyable by mutual love. Need I talk to you of the love of God? It is a theme we are scarcely competent to talk of. You need to sit down and weep about it for the very joy of it, joy which fills the heart and makes the eyes overflow, but almost change the tongue for it is a deep, profound, and inexpressible joy. He loved me and gave himself for me. How great is the love the Father has lavished on us. as the Father has loved me, so I have loved you." Oh, the love of God! It would surpass the powers of an angel to declare it. Surely it will be the blessed employment of eternity's long ages for us to comprehend the love of God. And perhaps, when billions of years have rolled over our happy souls, We will still be as much struck with wonder with it as we were at first. The marvel does not diminish as we examine it. Familiarity cannot make it common. The nearer we approach God's love, the deeper will be our wonder, amazement and awe. It will be as great a surprise that God would love such cold, such faithless, such unworthy creatures as ourselves at the end of 10,000 years as it was at first, perhaps even more so. The more thoroughly we come to know ourselves, the more fully we will understand the goodness and holiness of the Lord. Thus will our wonder grow and expand. Even in heaven, we will be lost in surprise and admiration at the love of God towards us. The rapture of that love will augment the reverence that we feel. But dear brothers and sisters, I trust we will also love Him in return.

Do you ever feel one soft affection rising after another as you ponder the Christ of When you sometimes listen to a sermon in which the Savior's dear love to you is described, don't you suddenly feel that a tear wets your cheek? Doesn't your heart swell sometimes, as if it were unable to hold your emotions? Isn't there an inexpressible and glorious joy that comes over you? Can't you say, Jesus, I love your charming name. It is music to my ear. Happily would I sound it out loud, that heaven and earth should hear. I hope you don't need to sing tonight. It is a point I long to know. But I trust that in the solemn silence of your souls, you can say, you know that I love you. Be grieved that the question should be asked, but still be ready to answer with Peter. Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you. Now, it is impossible for you to love God without the strong, conclusive evidence that God loves you. I once knew a good woman who was the subject of many doubts. And when I got to the bottom of her doubt, it was this. She knew she loved Christ, but she was afraid he did not love her. Oh, I said to her, that is a doubt that will never trouble me. Never, by any possibility, because I am sure of this, that the heart is so naturally corrupt that love to God could never get there without God first putting it there. My friends, you may rest quite certain that if you love God, it is a fruit and not a root. It is the fruit of God's love to you and did not get there by the force of any goodness in you. You may conclude with absolute certainty that God loves you if you love God. There was never any difficulty on his part. It was always on your part. And now that the difficulty is gone, gone from you, there is no more difficulty left. Oh, let our hearts rejoice and be filled with great delight because the Savior has loved us and given himself for us. So let us realize the truth of the text, I am your husband. My fourth observation is that this marriage necessitates certain mutual responsibilities. This marriage necessitates certain mutual responsibilities. I cannot say duties, for the word seems out of place on either side. How can I speak of the great God making pledges of faithfulness? And yet, with reverence, let me say it just that way, for in any vocabulary I can hardly find words to declare it. When God becomes a husband, he undertakes to do a husband's part. When he says, your creator is your husband, you may rest assured that he does not take up the relationship without assuming, well, I must say it. without assuming all the responsibilities which belong to a husband. God's part is to nourish, to cherish, to shield, to protect, and to bless those with whom He condescends, in infinite mercy, to enter into the union of marriage. When the Lord Jesus Christ became the husband of His Church, He felt that He had an obligation and commitment to us. And inasmuch as there were debts incurred, he paid them." Jesus never shrunk back from doing any of those loving works which belonged to the husband of his chosen spouse. He exalted the word husband and made it to be more full of meaning than it ever had been before, so that the apostle could see it glittering in a new light and could say, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. Oh, yes, dear friends, there is a responsibility arising out of this relationship, and Jesus Christ has not turned away from it. You know he hasn't. And now, what about our side? The wife has to reverence her husband and to be subject to him in all things. That is precisely our position towards him who has married us. Let his will be our will. Let his wish be our law. Let us never need to be flogged into service, but let us say, it is love that makes our willing feet move in swift obedience. O Christian, If the master condescends to say, I am your husband, you will never need to ask, what is my duty? But you will say, what can I do for him? The loving wife does not say, what is my duty? And stand coldly questioning how far she should go, how little she may do. But all that she can do for him who is her husband, she will do. and everything that she can think of, everything she can devote herself to, in striving to please Him in all things, she will most certainly do and perform. And you and I will do the same if we have realized our union with Christ. Oh beloved, don't grow sentimental and waste your energies in foolish dreams as some have done. Consider the wife. Where the family is large, the work is heavy and the responsibility great. I must remind you, as time permits, of the words of King Lemuel in the oracle his mother taught him. Bear with me at least while I caution you to listen to a mother's wisdom to her son. That the heart of your husband may safely trust in you. Be careful to provide food for your family. Grab the spindle with your fingers. Don't stop being diligent. Don't eat the bread of idleness. Open your arms to the poor and extend your hands to the needy. Speak with wisdom and be sure that faithful instruction is on your tongue. And dear friends, also be sure that you yourself, in regard to all the duties of your situation, are fulfilling your obligation to your Lord. Jesus has shown us how much he loved us by his matchless deeds on our behalf. Therefore, let us impress our song of love to him on the hearts of some tender young child who is committed to our care. Oh, that the life I now live in the flesh, by faith in the Son of God, might become a poem and a great response to him that loved me. and gave himself for me." I hope we now understand that when God says, I am your husband, it requires mutual responsibilities. Fifthly, it also involves mutual intimacy. It also involves mutual intimacy. How will we call that a marriage where the husband and wife are still two persons, maintaining individuality as if it were a conscientious condition of the contract? That is utterly foreign to the divine idea of marriage. In a true marriage, the husband and wife become one. Therefore their joys and their cares, their hopes and their labors, their sorrows and their pleasures rise and blend together in one stream." Brothers and sisters, the Lord our God has said that He confides in those who fear Him. He makes His covenant known to them. Then Judas, not Judas Iscariot, Judas said, But Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world? This is an example of the intimate and private relationship, because there is a union between Christ and His people, which there is not between Christ and the world. How joyful do the words sound! They have a melodious ring to them. Listen, I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends. For everything that I've learned from my father, I have made known to you. Christ keeps nothing back from you, nothing back from you, his spouse." Remember another word of Christ. If it were not so, I would have told you. Oh, how delightful. Jesus says, I go to prepare a place for you. He tells us that he is going to prepare a place for us. And then he says, if it were not so, I would have told you. I keep no secrets back from you. You are close to me, my flesh and my bones. I left my father's house in glory that I might become one with you and show myself to you. and I keep nothing back from you, but reveal my very heart and my very soul to you." Now, Christian, think of this. Your relationship to Christ is that of a spouse, and you must pour out your very heart to Christ. Don't go and pour out your heart to your neighbors, nor to your friends, for somehow or other the most sympathizing heart cannot understand or share all of our heartaches. There are sorrows which the stranger cannot help us with, but there never was a heartache or a pain which Christ could not help us to overcome. Make a confidant of the Lord Jesus. Tell Him everything. You are married to Him, Play the part of a wife who keeps no secrets back, no trials back, no joys back. Tell everything to him. I was in a house yesterday where there was a little child, and it was said to me, he is such a funny child. I asked, in what way? And the mother said, well, if he falls down and hurts himself in the kitchen, he will always run upstairs crying and tell somebody. And then he comes down and says, I told somebody. And if he is upstairs, he goes downstairs and tell somebody. And when he comes back, it is always, I told somebody. And he doesn't cry anymore. Ah, well, I thought, we must tell somebody. It is human nature to want to have sympathy. But if we would always go to Jesus and tell him everything and leave it there, we would often dismiss the burden and be refreshed with a grateful song. Let us do so and go with all our joys and all our troubles to Jesus, who says to us, I am your husband. I know the devil will say, Why, you must not tell the Lord your present trouble. It is too little, and besides, you know you did wrong and brought it upon yourself. Well, let me ask you, wouldn't you tell your husband? Wouldn't you? And will you not tell your Lord? You couldn't tell a master or a stranger, but you can tell a husband. Feel free to call Christ my husband. and put that confidence in him which a wife is expected to place in a husband who dearly loves her." We must now move on to our next point. This marriage implies fellowship in all its relations. This marriage implies fellowship in all its relations. Whatever a husband possesses becomes his wife's. She cannot be poor if he is rich. and what little she has, whatever it may be, belongs to him. If she is in debt, her debts become his. When Jesus Christ called out his people, he gave them all he had. There is nothing which Christ has which he has not given to us. It is noteworthy that he has given his church his own name. Where, you say, where does it say that? Well, there are two passages in the book of Jeremiah that most remarkably illustrate this. Chapter 23 verse 6 and chapter 33 verse 16. In the one it says, this is the name by which he will be called. And in the other it says, listen, this is the name by which she will be called. In both, the name is identical. The Lord, our righteousness. What? She will be called? Yes, as though he said, she will take my name, and with the name, of course, the entire open acknowledgment of his interest in her and her interest in him. As such, she is a partaker of all his glory. If he is a king, she is a queen. If he is in heaven, then so are we. For God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms. If he is heavenly, she also will bear the image of the heavenly. If he is immortal, so will she be. And if he is at the right hand of the Father, so will she be also highly exalted with him. Now it is saying but very little when I add that therefore whatever we have belongs to him. Oh, it is so little, so very little, and one wishes it were more. I have sometimes thought to myself, oh, that Christ were not so glorious as he is. It was a half-wicked wish, but I meant it in the right way, that I might help to glorify him. Oh, that he was still poor, that one might invite him to a feast. Oh, that he was still in this world, that one could break the alabaster jar of expensive perfume and pour it on his head. But you are so great, most blessed master, that we can do nothing to increase your greatness. You are so elevated that we cannot exalt you. You are so happy that we cannot bless you. Yet what am I saying? It is all a mistake. He is still here. He calls every one of his people members of his body. And if you wish to enrich him, help the poor. If you want to feed him, feed the hungry. Those that clothe the naked put clothing on the Lord himself. Jesus said, Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me. A seventh observation, and then I will refrain from dwelling any longer on this point. The very crown of marriage is mutual delight and contentment. The very crown of marriage is mutual delight and contentment. The wife of a Persian nobleman, having gone to a feast which was given by King Darius, was asked by her husband whether she thought Darius was the finest man in the world. No, she said, she did not think so. She never saw anyone in the world who was comparable to her husband. And doubtless that is just the opinion which a husband forms of his wife and a wife of her husband where the marriage is as it should be. Now certainly Christ has a very high opinion of us. I remember meditating on a passage in the Song of Solomon looking at it and wondering how could it be true, believing it and yet not being able to comprehend it, where Christ says, All beautiful you are, my darling, there is no flaw in you. Oh, what eyes he must have! We say that love is blind, but that cannot be true in the case of Christ, for he sees all things. Why, this is how it is. He sees himself in us. He does not see us as we are, but in his infinite grace he sees us as we are to become. And we sing, not as she stood in Adam's fall, when sin and ruin covered all, but as she'll stand another day, brighter than sun's brightest ray. The sculptor says he can see a bust in the block of marble, and that all he has to do is to chip away the extra marble and let the bust appear. In the same way, Christ can see a perfect being in every one of us if we are his people, and what he does with us each day is to continue to remove our many imperfections, making us to become more like him. He can see us as we will one day be before the throne of God in heaven, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. His delights are with men and women who belong to Him. He loves to hear our praise and to listen to our prayers. The songs of His people are His sweet perfume, and communion with His people is like beds of spices and beds of lilies. And as for us who are His people, I am sure we can say that there is no delight which can equal communion with Christ. We have tried other delights, shame on us. We have tried some of them, but after having done so, we find that there is nothing like our Lord, nothing like our Lord, meaningless, meaningless, says the teacher, utterly meaningless. When it comes to Christ, we find nothing meaningless there but can say, where can such sweetness be as I have tasted in your love, as I have found in thee? The Christian's heart is like Noah's dove. It flies over the wide waist and cannot rest its foot until it comes back to Christ. He is the true Noah who puts out his hand and takes in a weary, trembling dove and gives it rest. There is no peace in the whole world except with Christ. There is no such thing as pleasure here. My Jesus is my all. As he shines or disappears, my pleasures rise or fall. Well, beloved, we have so far only skimmed the surface of this delightful word. I am your husband, but we must move on to our next point. Our next point tonight is this. How much do you and I truly understand this? How much do you and I truly understand this relationship of marriage to Christ? I'm afraid some of you think that I'm half crazy tonight. You're saying to yourself, well, I don't comprehend this. What is this man talking about? God married to us? Christ married to us? I don't understand it. God have mercy on you, my poor listener, and bring you to know it. But let me tell you, if you could come to understand it, then you would discover a secret here that would make you a thousand times more happy than all the joys of the world could ever make you. You remind me of the chicken in the fable who found a diamond on the dunghill. And as he turned it over, he said, I would rather have found a grain of barley. He acted according to His nature, and so it is with you. This precious pearl of union with God will seem to be nothing to you. A little worldly pleasure will be more to your liking. One could weep to think there should be such ignorance of true joy and true delight. O blind eyes that cannot see beauty in the Savior! O stone-cold hearts that can see no loveliness in Him! Jesus, they are obsessed, they are insane, who cannot love you? O dear Lord, it is a strange foolishness of men and women to think that they can do without you, that they can see any light apart from you, you the bright sun of righteousness, or anything like your beauty in all the gardens of the world apart from you, you the rose of Sharon, you the lily of the valley, O that they knew you, Do I address anyone here tonight who, while they pretend to be religious people, have no real allegiance to the Lord? There are many like that, and we occasionally meet with them here. They cannot satisfy their conscience without some show of religion, so they join with us as listeners and spectators in the solemn assembly. But they never unite with the Church because they have not dedicated their hearts to Christ. Ask them the reason, and their answer sounds pure, and yet in truth it is anything but innocent. You tell us that you are afraid to become a true Christian because you would not walk consistently. Wouldn't it be more truthful to admit that your relationship with the world, your love of money, your ordinary pastimes, and your occasional partying, harmless as you try to persuade yourselves they are now, if viewed in the light of marriage to Christ would be accounted as shameful?

So far as the principles of Christianity are concerned, you endorse them with your private creed, and you are Protestant enough to prefer the most evangelical doctrines. But your reluctance to make a true commitment to Christ is a clear index to a most fatal flaw in your character.

You might admit that God is supreme, but not the exclusive Lord of your heart. You would give the Lord's altar more honor than any other altar, but still you would not remove the high places which desecrate the land. Your opinion is that there is no God in all the earth but the God of Israel, yet your practice is to bow down to the God of this world. You wish to have all the promises of God bestowed on you, but you decidedly object to make any vows to him.

It is to people like you that these delicate appeals are most distasteful. Return, faithless people, for I am your husband. Nothing in your experience responds to this. You stand aloof as if you were offended.

I must warn you. I must warn you, therefore, that God can be your God only in these bonds of covenant union.

But Christian, now I speak to you. Surely you know something about this, that God is married to you. If you do, can't you say with me, yes, and he has been a very faithful husband to me? Now, there are none of you who can object to that. Thus far, he has been very faithful to you.

And what have you been to him? how kind and tender he has been, how faithful, how generous, how sympathizing. In your every affliction he has been afflicted, and the angel of his presence has saved you. Just when you had reached your limits of endurance, he has come to your aid. He has carried you through every difficulty, even until now.

Oh, you can speak well of him, can't you? And as for his love, dear Christian, as for his love, what do you think of that? Is it not heaven on earth to you? Don't you think it to be heaven above to see his face, to taste his love? Well then, speak well of Christ. Speak well of Christ. Make this world hear his praise. Ring that silver bell in the deaf ears of this generation. Make them know that your Beloved is the fairest of the fair, and compel them to ask, How is your Beloved better than others, most beautiful of women?

Again, for those of you who do not know Him, I would like to ask you this question, and you need to answer it. Do you want to be married to Christ? Do you wish to have Him? Oh, then there will be no difficulties in the way of the match. If your heart goes after Christ, he will have you. If when you get home tonight and kneel down next to your bed, you say to him, dear Savior, here's my heart. Take it, wash it, save me. He will hear you. Whoever you may be, he will not refuse you.

Oh, he seeks you, he seeks you. And when you seek Him, that is a sure sign that He has found you. Though you may not have found Him, yet He has already found you. The wedding ring is ready. Faith is the golden ring, which is a token of the marriage bond. Trust the Savior. Trust Him. Give up trusting in your good works. Give up depending on your merits. Take His works, His merits, and rest alone in him.

For today, he says to you, I will make you my wife forever, showing you righteousness and justice, love and compassion. I will be faithful to you, and you will acknowledge me as Lord. Oh, may the Lord Jesus do that to every one of you, and may Christ's name be glorified forever. Amen.