Brother Dan Morgan told me before
the service, he has separated out all of the special music
from the conference, and I asked him if he could put it on a CD
for me to have. Maybe if you ask him, he'd do
that for you too, anybody who would like to have a copy of
that. No pressure, Dan. Our first speaker this morning,
Pastor Darwin Pruitt of the Grace Baptist Church. of Louisville. I can't get used to Taylor, Arkansas. They moved, we got a new building
moved from Taylor to Louisville, Arkansas. Brother Darwin hasn't
preached here before and I thought it was high time we remedied
that. I have a word to you children and young people. I remember
being your age at conferences and thinking How can that preacher
keep preaching so long? How does after all the meetings
you're saying, I want you to listen to me now. You listen
carefully to brother Darwin when he preaches. I'll give him one
of the greatest compliments you can give any God servant. You
will understand him. I promise you, you will. You
will understand him. In spite of yourself, you might remember
something. that he tells you, he is very gifted at just preaching
the gospel so plainly and simply so we can understand it. So you
listen. See, maybe you don't remember something, all right?
Brother Darwin, you come preach to us. Everybody knows I wore a coat,
so it's kind of cool. It's hot in Arkansas. I
just cannot wear a suit. Excuse me, I can remember the
old days going down to Pine Bluff, Dr. Johnson's church down there
at EW. It would be 108, 110, and the
humidity hovered around 100 percent, and we were suffocating. And it's just exactly like that
where I live. Well, I invite you this morning
to turn with me to Revelation chapter 19. While you're turning to the text,
I want to express my gratitude to the church and your pastor
for having me here and for your hospitality. I may be a stranger
to you, but I'm no stranger to Ashland. I was born in Ashland, King's Daughters Hospital, December
the 10th, 1949. And I grew up down here in Flatwoods,
Kentucky. We knew all the back ways around
Ashland, through Ashland. I was bringing Larry home last
night and I thought, oh, I hope I remember that this is the right
road. And I believe in my heart I was
born again in Ashland. I attended 13th Street Baptist
Church. lived in the parking lot. There
was one house left on the block. Henry called me and said, you
need to sell your house and move up here. I said, okay. So we did. I thank God I did. And I want to thank God for his
glorious and effectual grace who called me into the faith
of his elect. If you're here this morning and
you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you need to think about
how privileged you are. What a privilege! Blessing after blessing, revelation after revelation. What is mine? I was thinking
about this at 2.30 in the morning. What a smile that thief on the
cross must have had! This day, thou shalt
be with the impaired. And I want to thank all of you
for all your prayers for Kathy and I. I promise if she could, she'd
be here. I'm sorry, I've got to read you
this morning. About the message this morning, I heard this question
brought up yesterday. How do you go about trying to
settle on what you're going to preach at a Bible conference. Back when my wife and I were
in our 20s, we hosted a Bible conference, several of them. And we had people like Henry
and Scott and different ones coming down. My wife would just
work herself into a frenzy about what to fix. these men that we honored so
much. She'd just work herself into a frenzy, and usually she'd
find some new and special dish to prepare, and it'd wind up
in disaster. And one day she was fretting
around, and I said, baby, why don't you just fix what you like? I've been eating this now for
a while, and I like it, and I think they will if you just fix what
you like. So how do I settle on what I'm going to preach?
I preach what I like. And Christ is the only thing
I like. Now in Revelation 18 and 19,
he's dealing with the judgment of the great whore of false religion. And all the world that has wandered
after her whose names were not written in the book of life before
the foundation of the world. And this judgment, I don't know
how truly and heartily that we perceive the word of God when
he's talking about judgment, but it ought to make the hair
on your back stand up when he talks about it. And all the elect were gathered
there with him, and they were watching. And they saw her smoke rising
up, and all they could say was Amen. You know why they could say Amen? Because when God revealed to
them what they were, they took side with Him against And they stayed on his side all
that time, and they're still on his side. And they look, though it appears to be an undefeatable
foe, yet the Lord shall prevail over her, and all the world and
the nation He's going to provide it. And they were all swallowed up
with her deceit, all of them, except those for whom he made
provisions. And those whom he ordained means and the providence that he arranged,
and all things working together for their good. And as they see the glorious victory
of their great Redeemer and King, they all cry out together and
they say, Hallelujah! What are they going to say hallelujah
back? what men despise. That's right. For the Lord God Omnipotent rules. Hallelujah. I tell you, I'm glad he does. They look back and they say,
we did not fully comprehend his power and grace. We saw a touch of it, sometimes
more than others, but we didn't fully comprehend His power and
grace. But now we see it, and we see
it with holy eyes, and we see it with clear eyes and unobstructed
vision, and we all say, Amen. Amen. Now, in light of these things,
let's read this blessed text, Revelation 19, beginning with
verse 6. Here they are now, they're gathered
with their Redeemer. They're standing there and they're
seeing the aftereffects of judgment. Her smoke rose up forever. When
I taught this to our Sunday school class, I said, I don't know if
that literal smoke is going to rise up forever and God's Redeemer
will see it to remind them. I just don't know. I just don't
know what He's going to say. But here they are, and they're
gathered together, and here's what they say. Let's be glad. Huh? Ain't you glad? Oh, I could be down the road
here somewhere. I was at one time. Swallowed
up in religion, swallowed up in their lies and deceit. I could
be down there, but the Lord made provision for me, and He called
me out of that mess. And now here you are. You're
gathered with Him. That's what He's showing John.
Here you are. You're gathered with Him. And here's what you're
going to say. Oh, let's be glad. Let's rejoice. I see believers walking around
like this all the time. Why? Why? Let's rejoice. Let's rejoice. I was talking to our church,
well in fact I was preaching to them that Sunday morning and
I was warning them, I told them, I said, one of these days you're
going to go in to that doctor and that doctor is going to come
out and he's going to be doing this. Tuesday, that's what the doctor
did for me. We rejoice. We rejoice. Why do you rejoice? Because I
know what this text is teaching. That's why. We say amen. And now in the light
of all these things, they said, let us be glad and rejoice and
let's give honor to him. We wouldn't be here if it wasn't
for him. You just have to keep on keepin'
on. No, you can't do that. You have to be kept by the power
of God through faith. That's how it is. We're preserved
in him. Isn't that what you say? You can hear them preserved.
Oh, let's give honor to him for the
marriage of the Lamb His wife had made herself rich, and to her was granted that she
should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white. This fine linen
is the righteousness of the saints. We ain't talking about self-righteousness.
We're talking about the righteousness of Christ. And then this messenger of God
told John, right. Oh, I'm glad he did. We would
know anything except God chose messengers and said, right. Huh? I tell you, if you ever
discover that, you'll discover that little verse over there
in Romans chapter three, verse four. Let God be true and every
man a liar. Let God be true. He said right. Once you go right, blessed are
they which are called unto the marriage supper of the And while this all-filled servant
began to write, the messenger of God said, these are the true
things of God. This is how it is. It ain't like
you thought it was. It's like this. It's like this. Now, in order
for you to benefit from these inspired verses, I'm hoping and
praying that the Holy Ghost will help me paint a picture for you
in words about what's taking place here in our text. Now these things were very familiar
to John, but you have to remember the day in which John lived.
He understood these things. When our Lord talked to those
old fishermen there in the boat, we don't have any concept of
that. We go out and get in the back row and look down there at the
GPS and all that stuff. They didn't have any of that.
They went out and got in these boats, and they had nets, and
that's how you talked to them, in terms that they could understand.
Familiar terms. But an ancient Jewish wedding
actually consisted of five parts. Five parts. These would be the,
I guess, the points in my message this morning, these five parts.
First of all, their weddings were arranged. They were arranged. Old saints knew something of
God's character and will and purpose and ways, and they tried
to incorporate what they knew in their daily life. We ought
to, too. Abraham selected a bride under
God's counsel for Isaac. He got his servant, and he said,
now here's what I want you to do. I want you to go down there,
such and such a country, such and such a city, such and such
a family. I want you to get this bride. Here's what she's going
to do, and here's what she's going to say. He went down there,
and that's what she did, and that's what she said, and he
brought her back. Her back to us. Weddings were arranged. The Lord assisted old Abraham
to do all these things, and those now standing by the grace of
God next to their Redeemer were chosen of God before the foundation
of the world. This thing was already arranged. Well, I'm glad he did, because
he never picked me as doctor. Doctor. I don't know whoever knows why. He didn't just choose us, but
he made provision for us. He made provision for us. When Abraham sent his servant,
he had provision on that. Everything that it took. to fetch
that bride back to Him was given to her. Has not God chosen a bride
for His Son and made her calling and election sure in an everlasting
covenant of grace? Has He not ordained the means
and arranged His providence and ordered His servants to bring
it to pass? I tell you, if He didn't, I'm
wasting my time up here this morning. These ancient Jewish weddings
were arranged. Now the bride's not even aware
of it yet. I wasn't. Do you know anything about it?
I know a thing about it. She's not aware of anything.
She didn't have any part in it. Her only part in it was to be
an object of God's grace. Old hymn writer, old hymn we
used to sing in Armenian religion, but I like this sentence out
of it anyway. He loved me ere I knew him. Huh? Before I knew anything, but he
loved me. All my love is due him. The Bible says this, whom he
did foreknow, he also did predestinate. to be conformed to the image
of His Son. And I've heard that butchered
until I can't hardly stand it anymore. What He's talking about
here is He predestinated you to be one with His Son. He's going to bring you and His
Son together, and you're going to be husband and wife, and you're
going to be one. You're going to be one. And whom He did predestinate
Then he also called. Whom he called he justified,
and whom he justified he glorified. It's already been arranged. Why are you preaching? I'm looking
for the bride. Looking for the bride. So the first part of this old
Jewish wedding was the arrangement. The next part was the espousal. In the betrothal or espousal,
all of the terms of the marriage were read aloud. Everything brought
out into open. The kinsman redeemer came to
the gate of the city. He said, if anybody can redeem
her, now's the time. If anybody's got any objections,
now's the time. All the terms of the marriage
were read aloud and they were agreed to. They said okay. Okay. All of the promises were given
and both the groom and his beloved bride were publicly declared
as man and wife, even though they were just a spouse. The marriage had not been consummated,
yet they were legally man and wife. Did I make good on that? Matthew chapter 1 verse 18. The Holy Ghost tells us about
the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. I want you to watch this. was espoused to Joseph before their marriage was consummated,
before they came together. She was found of child with the
Holy Ghost. And then in verse 20 he tells
us he was not willing to put away what? Did that say his wife? He was
his wife. He was his wife. All right, now listen to 2 Corinthians
11 verse 2. Paul said, I'm jealous over you.
Your pastor can say that about some of you. I'm jealous over
you. I'm jealous with a godly jealousy
for I have espoused you for eternity. to one husband that I might present
you as a chaste virgin to Christ." And when a man hears the gospel
and submits himself to Christ and bows to it and publicly confesses
him, he's been espoused to Christ and they are considered one. Paul said in Romans 7, 4, we
are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that we should
be married to another, even to him who was raised from
the dead. So first of all, we got this
arrangement. God has arranged these things.
And then there's this spousal. The bride's let in on it. And then the third part of this
wedding was called the interval, or the space of time between
the betrothal and the marriage supper. And during this interval,
some things were done. First of all, the bride's love
and devotion would be proved. She's not I don't want you to misunderstand
me here, because this is in no way talking about that woman
becoming worthy of him. But his love for her and her
affection for him is going to be tried before this world. And some things were done. I
mean, she'd have to deal with her old suitors. She had to face certain circumstances
and yet live as a faithful bride who loves her husband and takes
care not to dishonor him in any way. Another reason for the interval
was the dowry. The dowry, if I understand it
right, was paid to the father of the bride as a pledge or guarantee
for her provision. What a dowry he gave us. Husbands, love your wives as
Christ loved the church. Gave a little bit of himself
and gave himself. And the Bible said those who
have heard the word of truth, the gospel of their salvation,
these predestinated ones, according to him who worketh all things
after the counsel of his own will, those who have heard the
word of truth, the gospel of their salvation, are sealed with
the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest. It's the earnest. Well, when the Holy Spirit comes,
what does he do? He tells you about the dowry.
That's what he does. During this interval, there might
have been somebody came down and said, oh, let me tell you,
let me tell you what's being prepared for your father. Huh? I wish I had time to get into
that. I'll let you do that. The Holy Spirit shows us the
accomplished redemption of Christ and His righteousness, and leaves
us secure in Him. And then the fourth part of these
old weddings was the procession. On a certain day, the groom would
come and he'd gather together all of his friends. And he'd
go to the bride's house, he'd come right down to the bride's
house and he'd call her out to come with him. This is the gist of that parable
of the virgins, the foolish virgins, and you remember that over Matthew
25. At midnight the cry came, The
bridegroom cometh. What's he coming for? He's coming
for the bride. He's coming with his friends,
and along that road as he walked, here they come, out of this house
and out of that house. Behold, the bridegroom cometh. Go out and meet him. And while
those foolish virgins went back to fetch oil for their lamps,
they that were ready went with him to the marriage, and the
Lord shut the door. Are you with me so far? Now imagine if you can, the groom
coming with this great entourage and calling her out, and here
she comes in her wedding dress. where he granted unto her to
be arrayed in fine linen, the righteousness of the saints,
clean and white. And imagine, if you can, this
young woman coming out to meet him, beautiful, smiling ear to
ear. And then both she and the groom
and all the guests go publicly to the groom's father's house. Listen to these words in John
14. You'll never read these things
again the same. You'll draw this picture up,
or I hope you will, and think about it. Here stands the Lord, and He
said, Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in my Father. Believe
in me, too. If it were in my father's house
or many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you,
I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself. That's
what's taking place. Where I am, there you may be. John said, and his wife made
herself ready. I've heard men use this verse
and talk about a reformation of life and talk about self-righteous
obedience to the law and the keeping of ceremonies and the
Christian Sabbath day and who knows what else. And all those
who talk about such things are ignorant of the Son of God, of
the purpose of God, and they're ignorant especially about the
Bible. His bride is pictured as a penniless
pauper in the Book of Ruth. She didn't have a nickel to her
name. Her husband was dead, and here
she was. Her whole destiny lay in the
person of her kinsman-redeemer. In Ezekiel 16, she's pictured
as a Gentile idolater. hanging out, mow about, cast
out, unswaddled, unwashed, unwanted. In Hosea, she's described as
a whore, that's what he called her. One whose whole life was
nothing but whoredoms, one lover right after the other. At the well of Samaria, she's
pictured as a woman having three husbands, and the one that she
had now wasn't her husband. She followed Eberth, Tom, Dick,
and Hicks. In Romans chapter 5, she's described
as a sinner in whom God will commend his love. In Revelation 3, 17, she's described
as rich, miserable, poor, blind, naked. So if you've got this
vision of this proud woman coming out of her house to meet your
groom, you've got the wrong picture. She couldn't believe her own
eyes. He sent down his servants And his servants came in, and
his maidservants, and they washed this woman head to toe. She's just not that proud specimen
that false prophets make her out to be. She was at one time
ignorant, dirty, coming from a fallen family. She lived in
a land of poverty, no bread. Her hair was stringy and sticky,
and her dress all ragged and torn. She's barefoot, uneducated. Oh, what a mess she was and what
a mess she was in. She was wanted by the law, condemned
by the judge, and a child of wrath even as others. But God made a ring for her. And he came down and made an
espousal. Means were devised to recover
her. Things had been put into place
to make this fallen daughter of Adam a proper bride. A great dowry had been given
to her father to secure her future and to honor him for the bride. And to her it was granted that
she should be arrayed. These maidservants come in and
they said, let's see what we can do with that. And they took
the finest oils and shampoos and cleaned this woman's hair
until it was barren. And they said, he sent you some
wedding dress. Oh, what do you say? What do
you say? She couldn't believe her eyes
when she looked in the mirror. You know what the mirror is,
don't you? Right. You can't believe your eyes,
can you? She looked at that dress and
looked at herself. She barely could speak. He sent some tutors down to teach
her how to talk. And there he comes. And he said,
come on. She was arrayed in fine linen,
clean and white. What did the bride's dress consist
of? The righteousness of the saints. Paul said, for we ourselves also. We were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers of lust
and pleasure, living in malice, and then be hateful and hating
one another. But after that the kindness and
love of God our Savior toward man appeared. Has it appeared
to you yet? For it did to me. Not by works of righteousness
which we've done, but according to his mercy he saved us by the
washing of regeneration. They just washed away those old
filthy ideas and concepts from your mind. Renewing of the Holy Ghost. And
then Paul makes a long list of ungodly acts and character, and
he said, and such were some yet. But you're washed. You're sanctified. You're justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I just cannot picture this
young lady coming out in some arrogant vain show of pride and
self-righteousness. What I see is this young woman
with the deepest of humility and gratitude and just almost
unbelief about what's taking place. And she comes out and takes him
by the hand. Huh? When he does, the procession
heads for the father's house. Here they go. Thousands upon
thousands. Here they go. They're going to
the father's house. All of a sudden, a sweep The father has prepared a feast. Now we're back to where we started.
The marriage supper. Blessed are those who call to
the marriage supper. Almost intoxicating. Usher them to the table. I can
just imagine, I've watched several movies, some of them military
and some of them just historical movies, but back in the day,
they had this big table, must have been 40 feet long, you know,
and everybody gathered around the table and all the food was
cooked. And everybody sits down and a
toast is made. and those servants are standing
behind them and they step up and all of them at the same time
pull off those covers. You know what's on that table?
Lamb. There's lamb on the platter,
there's lamb on the side, there's lamb for dessert, and some way
or another they even fix the lamb in the wine. I brought a message one time,
there's a spirit in the wine. Talk about that wine. Oh my soul, it's all land. I'm
going to tell you something. If you can't eat it here, you
won't need it there. You won't want it there. If you
don't like it here, you won't like it there. And if you don't
sit at his table here, Can you hear me? You're not going to
sit at his table there. May the Lord give us an appetite
for that supper. Thank you.