This blessed, blessed, wonderful
book, The Word of God, unlike any other book you can
open, can only be understood by the illumination of God himself. You can't understand it by diligent
research and study. You can't understand it by carefully
parsing the sentences and looking up the meaning of the words.
You can only understand it by the revelation of God Himself.
As God Himself causes you to experience what is written in
the Word and as God Himself explains the Word. Let me give you a couple
of examples of things that I find astounding. Lord God said, I
am the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. You can read and
study those words in every way possible and never come to understand
what God was saying until the Lord Jesus came and said, this
is talking about the resurrection. This is talking about He's not
the God of the dead, but of the living. And when Adam in the
garden had Eve presented to him, he looked at Eve and called her
woman because she was taken from his side. And he said, for this
cause shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall be joined
unto his wife. Now there's just a little bit
of a problem with that. Adam didn't have a father and
mother to leave. What could possibly be the meaning
of those words? The only way you can understand
those words is to open your Bibles to Ephesians chapter five, as
we will do this evening, and see what God the Holy Ghost tells
us is meant by Adam's statement. He was speaking prophetically
of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, that he, living in our
flesh, devoted to us, being united to us, might die in our stead
and bring us to God in perfect reconciliation. Wonder of wonders. Let's read Ephesians 5, beginning
at verse 25. And I don't have any hope of
expounding the text or my subject. I'm just going to talk to you
a little bit about what's written here. Husbands, love your wives,
even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it,
that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water
by the word. 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. So ought men
to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his
wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his
own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord
the church. For we are members of his body,
of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and
they too shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery. but
I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless, let
every one of you in particular so love his wife, even as himself,
and the wife see that she reverence her husband. What subject could
be more precious to our souls than the marriage union of Christ
and his church? We cannot sufficiently give thanks
to God for this portion of Holy Scripture that sheds light upon
and gives understanding to that which was written in the second
chapter of the book of Genesis. Were it not for that which God
the Holy Ghost here tells us, no man would ever have imagined
that the institution of marriage in the garden was a shadow and
picture of the everlasting union of Christ and his church. God
brought Adam and Eve together. God made Eve for Adam and brought
them together to give us a picture. A picture we can look at and
we can experience in a natural relationship, a husband and his
wife being joined together. A picture of the blessed union
that exists from everlasting between Christ and his church. When the Lord God said, it is
not good that man should be alone. I will make and help meet for
him. And then caused a deep, deep sleep to fall upon Adam
and formed Eve from one of Adam's ribs. He gave us a picture of
our savior and his church, of our union with our redeemer.
picture of our Savior's love for us, a picture of his utter
devotion to us, and a picture of our union with him, bone of
his bone and flesh of his flesh. What a picture it is. When Adam
saw his wife Eve in all the perfection of the beauty in which the Lord
God created her and brought her to him, He looked at that woman
and said, she is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. And here God the Holy Ghost tells
us the reason he did that was because God's elect are one with
Christ. When Adam called his divinely
created bride woman, because she was taken out of man, Adam,
the first man, had his eye fixed upon Christ the last man, the
last Adam, who would come into this world to save his church
taken out of his side. When Adam said, therefore shall
a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto
his wife and they shall be one flesh, he spoke prophetically,
he spoke prophetically of the incarnation of our blessed Savior
by which he made himself bone of our bone and flesh of our
flesh. He became one of us. that he might by his obedience
unto death and by the gift of his spirit make us one with him,
putting his nature in us. As our Lord Jesus took our nature
into union with us and became one with us, he did this prophetically
back in the garden and he comes to do so that he might put his
nature in us, making us one with him. Now that's more than any
human being on this earth can possibly comprehend, but that's
the revelation given in Holy Scripture. Pastor, are you saying
that Adam knew what he was saying back in the garden? Well, I wouldn't
say that dogmatically, but I'm pretty sure he did. I'm pretty
sure he did. I don't think those men spoke
words of inspiration without knowing what they spoke. I know
that men like Caiaphas the high priest spoke prophetically, ignorantly,
but prophetically being moved by God the Holy Ghost. But nowhere
in scripture is an indication of a man who believed God speaking
prophetically and yet speaking ignorantly. Adam spoke prophetically
of the Lord Jesus Christ, his incarnation and his obedience
as our substitute on our behalf. Because the Lord God Almighty
was determined that we might dwell in him. and he in us by
him giving us his spirit. As it was not fit for Adam to
be alone, so the all wise, ever gracious Lord God said it was
not fit for his son to be alone. Therefore he chose and gave his
dear son a bride, a help meet for him. How on this earth does God Almighty
find in you and me a help meet for His Son? A help that is just
exactly what is needed for His Son. A help that is meet for
His Son's achievement. A help that is meet for His Son's
work. God gave me a helpmeet many,
many years ago. We've been married now for 48
years. Did I get it right? 48 years. And she's been a helpmeet for
me. One of the old ladies in the church at Lookout, I say
old, she was old back when I first went to Lookout. I was 21 and
she was 60. But she said a wife is a husband's
third hand. a help meet for him. That's a
pretty good description. How on earth did God Almighty
find in you and me a help meet for his son? For the everlasting
glory that God would heap upon his son as the God-man, our mediator,
nothing was more suitable than that he should be married to
us and we to him. The Son of God could never have
the glory of a mediator substitute without redeeming a bride unto
himself such as we are. Taking us into union with himself
and making us as himself. How wonderfully and vividly this
portrays the fact that Christ loved the church. Now that's
the title of my message tonight. Christ Loved the Church. We know that Adam spoke prophetically
of our Lord Jesus, as I said a few moments ago, because Adam
had no father to leave. The Lord Jesus Christ, God's
son, came down here from heaven, utterly devoted to our souls. Utterly devoted in love to us. Love that was consummated when
he cried, it is finished. having sacrificed himself as
our substitute and redeemed us to God. Obviously, the marriage
union of Christ and his church took place before the worlds
were framed by the word of God. When Christ was brought forth
and set up as the head and husband of his church, we were brought
forth and set up as one with him, as a bride with him, a spouse
to him. There could have been no head
without a body. There could have been no husband
without a wife. Christ and his church as husband
and wife, as bridegroom and bride are from everlasting married
and from everlasting one. So much so that we read in Proverbs
chapter eight that his delights were with us from everlasting. From everlasting, he looked upon
us with delights, with complacency, with satisfaction. I well remember
the day Shelby and I were married. Traditional, very much traditional
wedding, church building made about like this, much larger.
It's packed full of folks. I guess it's five, 600 people
at the wedding. And I was a little late coming
out. Her pastor was telling me a joke
and we were all late coming out. But we came out and then they
played the wedding march. That place got real quiet and
I turned around and looked and there she came. And I can't tell
you how I looked on that bride. That feeds to nothing in comparison
with how Christ the Lord looked upon us, his bride, from eternity
with delight. His delights were with us from
everlasting. He said, I will betroth thee
unto me forever. Yea, I will betroth thee unto
me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in
mercies. I will betroth you to me in a
way that is right, righteous. I will do it by the satisfying
of divine justice. I will do it because of the abounding
loving kindness I have for you, and because of the mercies I
intend to heap upon you. For thy maker is thy husband,
the Lord of hosts is his name, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One
of Israel, the God of the whole earth shall he be called. When
the Lord God chose his elect, church in Christ. Before the
foundation of the world, He chose her to be holy and without blame
before Him in love as the Spirit of God tells us in Ephesians
chapter 1 and verse 4. When we were presented to Christ
as His bride, the church, We were presented to him just as
Eve was presented to Adam in the perfection of the beauty,
his beauty, which he had put upon us, holy and without blame
before him in love. So that from everlasting, the
king's daughter is all glorious within, dressed in clothing wrought
of gold. Yes, we fell. Though we fell
into poverty and wretchedness and sin, when Christ married
his church, she was holy and without blame before him. And
now being washed in his blood, washed from our sins in his blood,
born of his spirit, every saved sinner, every believer, every
member of his church, right now, I'm not talking about
tomorrow, I'm talking about right now, is holy and without blame
before him in love. And such the Spirit of God tells
us in our text, we shall be when the Lord Jesus comes to present
his church to himself at the last day, a glorious church,
not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should
be holy and without blemish. who can imagine the glories of
that day. When the Lord Jesus brings his
church home to heaven and presents us to himself being fully prepared,
perfectly fitted in body, in soul, and in spirit for the everlasting
enjoyment of God our Savior in his glory. We can't even think about such
things, let alone explain them. In that day, we shall be perfectly
fitted for the enjoyment of God our Savior in his glory, in body,
in soul, and in spirit, holy and without blame before him
in love. In the perfection of his beauty,
We shall enter in with him into the marriage supper of the Lamb
and be forever with the Lord. All because Christ loved the
church and gave himself for it. Now in this text of scripture,
the Apostle Paul is giving instruction. He's giving instruction about
various duties and responsibilities. He's giving instruction about
how women are to reverence and obey their husbands. and how
men are to love their wives even as Christ loved the church and
gave Himself for it. And then just having mentioned
the Savior's love for His church, the Apostle seems to be irresistibly
compelled to turn aside from speaking about the duties and
responsibilities of a man to declaring the glories of the
Redeemer in the love of Christ for his church. And uses that
to be his whole argument as to why a man ought to love his wife
and give his life for her. I'm gonna follow Paul's example.
I wanna talk to you about the Savior's love, Oh, may God cause
that to motivate you and me in all things to comply with his
will at all times. The love of Christ, what a theme
that is for our hearts, for our meditation, for preaching, for
our worship. We're told that it is love that
passes knowledge, and certainly it passes my ability to describe
it. The heart can feel this love,
but no tongue can ever describe it. The hymn writer put it this
way, the love of Jesus, what it is, none but his loved ones
know. And yet this theme, this simple,
simple, wondrous theme is so profound that it baffles understanding. The love of Christ is the most
amazing thing in the world. The love of Christ for us. The
most amazing thing in this world. When I read that he pitied us,
I can understand that. When I read that he has mercy
on us, I can comprehend that. But when I read that the Lord
Jesus, God's darling son, actually loves us, that's a subject beyond
comprehension. The infinite, eternal, incomprehensible
God loves poor, sinful, finite creatures. Miracle of miracles. The Son of God loved me and gave
himself for me. Under the inspiration of the
Spirit of God, Paul here makes a comparison that we would never
dream of making. We would never dare to make had
not God the Spirit made it for us. He compares the love of Christ
for his church to the love of the husband for his wife. This
is a great mystery, he says. But I speak concerning Christ
and the church. It's a mystery the way of a man
with a maid. It's a mystery having a man and
woman are joined together. It's a mystery having a man devotes
his life to a woman and a woman to a man. But this is a mystery
too deep for our brains to dive into. Its depths overcome human
reason. This is a subject too sacred
to think of or speak of without utter reverence. God, give us
grace to do that. As we meditate upon the love
of Christ for us, Christ loved the church. Let us meditate on
that love with awe, with reverence, with humility, and with thanksgiving. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
heavenly bridegroom. our husband, and as such, he
is utterly devoted to us. Now let me show you three things
in this portion of Scripture, and I'll be very brief, but I
pray that God will cause these three things to make the love
of Christ burn in our hearts and inflame in our hearts love
for our Savior. Number one, let's think a little
bit about our Savior's love. The Lord Jesus Christ loved the
church. Love must have an object. And
the love of Christ has an object. But what an object it is. Christ
loved the church. What's he talking about when
he speaks of the church? There's a lot of confusion among
folks concerning the use of this word church. We use it as we
ought not use it. I'm guilty. I plead guilty. I
often refer to this building as a church. I'll say to Shelby,
I'm going over to the church, and as soon as I say it, I bite my
tongue. He's not talking about a building. This is not a building.
Only papist and other idolaters think of a brick of wood and
mortar and stone as being a church. This is just a place where God's
people conveniently and comfortably meet. This is not the church. They ought to call it the church
house, but it's not the church. It's not it. The church is not
a physical building. There are most people in various
religions, most every denomination imagines that their church is
the only true church. But in the New Testament, the
word is used in four distinct ways. Let me give them to you.
First, it is applied to the whole body of God's elect. In Hebrews
chapter 12, it speaks of the General Assembly and Church of
the Firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. That's referring
to the whole body of God's elect. It speaks of the church universal,
of the saints of God in heaven and the saints of God in the
earth. And then second, The word refers to all baptized believers
in one specific place. That is, all who confess the
Lord Jesus Christ being baptized in His name, brought together
as a local assembly. We read in Scripture about the
church at Jerusalem. This book was addressed to the
church at Ephesus. We read of the church at Corinth.
We read of the church at Antioch. Those local bodies of believers
assembled together in Christ's name, men and women, like this
congregation in Danville, baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus,
joined together as one body, assembled, called out by God's
grace, gathered together by God's Spirit, worshiping the Redeemer.
This is the church. Sometimes the word is used to
speak just of a small number of believers. I just had some
correspondence two or three times the last couple of days with
Brother Peter Minnie. He's in Montana right now. He's working
on trying to get the things permanently arranged for him to move from
England to Montana, get his visa and all those things in order.
But he's there right now. And when he's in the States,
I asked him when he first started going over to Great Falls, to
go up to Wasilla as often as they could and preach to those
folks. That's just a little group of people. Most folks wouldn't
call them a church, but the Scriptures do. The Scriptures refer to a
fellow named Priscilla and his wife Aquila and the church in
their house. The church in their house where
two or three are gathered together in my name, our Savior said,
there am I in the midst of them. And two or three gathered together
to worship our God and Savior is the church. Just as much a
local church as this church, whether they have a building
or don't, whether they have a regularly established pastor or don't,
where two or three are gathered together in my name, this is
a church. And fourthly, the term church
is even applied to the whole body of baptized believers who
profess faith in the Lord Jesus Christ throughout the world.
The whole body of those who profess faith, both true believers and
unbelievers. The good and the bad, the tares
and the wheat, the sheep and the goats are described as the
kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God. Our Lord has set some
in the church, first apostles, second prophets, and third teachers. These are set in the church throughout
the world. Now, before I go any further,
let me briefly tell you what Paul does not mean by this word
church. He's not talking, as I said a
little bit ago, about a material building. And he's not talking
about a religious denomination. I'm talking about the Baptist
Church, or the Mormon Church, or the Presbyterian Church, or
the Catholic Church. In this verse of Scripture, Paul
is not even talking about all professed Christians, but rather,
he's talking about God's church universally. Not any specific
local church, but God's church universally. Here, the Apostle
Paul clearly is talking about the whole body of God's elect. Every sinner who believes on
the Son of God, every chosen, redeemed, called, sanctified
sinner, they all together make up God's church. Some are saved
and some are yet to be saved. Some are on earth, some are in
heaven. Some lived many many years ago
like Adam and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Moses and Joshua
and Elijah and Elisha and so on Some lived in the days of
the Apostles while our Lord walked on this earth many have gone
to glory already Some live today scattered in all parts of the
world and some shall yet be born into this world But it refers
to the whole body of God's elect the whole company of the redeemed
Now remember, remember, between the brightest saint in heaven
and the blackest sinner in hell, there's no difference except
that which Christ has made because he loved the church and gave
himself for it. You see, you and I were by nature
children of wrath just like everybody else. What's more, we were all
defiled by our own transgressions. Some perhaps went this way, some
that, but all corrupt, all polluted. When you read the black catalog
of human sin in first Corinthians chapter six, understand such
were some of you. Whatever you talk about, there
it is. Whatever you talk about corruption,
vileness, wickedness, ungodliness, it's sitting before me here in
this small assembly tonight and standing before you in this pulpit. We wondered each a different
way, but all the downward road. Why on this earth did the Lord
God Almighty take such things as we are? and present us to his Son, chosen
objects of his mercy, his love and his grace as his church. There's just one reason. Even
so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. We had no
dowry to bring our Savior, There was no beauty in us to attract
his favor. We were impure, we were corrupt,
we were polluted in our blood, and yet he loved us and gave
himself for us. Look at the Church of Christ,
even as you see her visibly in this world. I'm talking now about
true believers, even in her regenerate state. She speaks the truth when
she says, I am black as the tents of Keter. And every member of this church
acknowledges that. I am black as the tents of Keter. So often she's unbelieving and
murmuring against God. So often she's torn with strife
and schisms and divisions. So not God's true church, yes,
God's true church. So often she's marred with envyings
and backbiting and suspicions and bitternesses. Oh, how she's
marred with pride and self-righteousness and self-confidence. And yet, for all this it is written,
Christ loved the church. Lindsay, if Christ so loved the
church as we are right now, wonder why we have so much trouble doing
so. He loved the church. With all
her specks and spots and wrinkles and infirmities, he loved the
church and gave himself for it. Christ loved the church particularly. No, he didn't love the world.
He loved the church and gave himself for his church. He didn't
give himself for the world. The folks talk about there's
a sense in which Christ loves everybody. That's kind of like
saying there's a sense in which every man loves every woman as
he loves his wife. I wouldn't suggest you tell her
that. That's no love at all. That's no love at all. Christ
loved his church particularly. He loved her and only her. He gave himself for her and only
for her. He loved the world of his elect
with love surpassing thought, nor will his mercy air neglect
the soul so dearly bought. Here Paul compares this to the
love of a man for his wife. So Christ loved his church and
says, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. He loved
us from everlasting, from eternity. There never was a time when his
heart was not set upon us. There never was a time when he
didn't accept us. There never was a time when he
didn't delight in us. There never was a time when he
didn't behold us holy and without blame before him in love. He
loved us everlastingly and loves us unselfishly, selflessly, giving
himself for us. giving himself for us. God, our Savior, gave himself
in all the totality of his holy infinite being for us. He gave himself for us. I can't
explain this, but I know it to be the truth of God's word. Christ
loves his church with a love of complete complacency, satisfaction,
and delight all the time. All the time. No matter what
her immediate experience is, no matter what her sins are,
no matter what her evils are, he doesn't love us because of
something we are, but he loves us because of who he is. He loves his church with complacency,
with satisfaction, with delight. He says, thou shalt be called
Hephzibah. My delight is in her. Look abroad
upon God's creation. Would any of you ever choose
a beast such as you are to be the object of your love? But
the Savior chose such things as we are as the objects of his
love, and loves us with intense sympathy, being touched with
that which touches us, moved by that which moves us. He is
that one who has a feeling for us because he's one with us.
And the love of Christ for his church is a love of sweet communion. He delights to commune with her. I was sitting at the house Saturday
studying, working, and Shelby had been working. We'd been busy
for a long time, several days. Had hardly had time to do more
than have coffee and a meal together. And she said, I'd like to sit
on your lap for a little while. I said, well, come sit down.
Come sit down. How come? Because you just delight
in one another. Just delight in one another,
that's all. Oh, my soul. The Son of God delights
in communion with me. And sweetly forces it. Because my heart's so cold and
indifferent. Did he not, I would forever shut
him out. The Lord Jesus Christ loves his
church constantly. Enduring us and enduring all
things in us with an enduring love. Having loved his old which
were in the world, he loved them to the end. His love for us never grows cold, never is indifferent, never is
turned aside. but is constant and enduring. He loves us now like he loved
us before the world began. He loves us now like he loved
us when he laid down his life in our stead. There is a blessed
everlasting union of love between Christ and his church. For this
call shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined
to his wife, and they too shall be one flesh. This is a great
mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Union
is the essence of the marriage bond. Since we are one with Christ,
we must be with him forever, one with him. Are we one with
him? boldly say, Who shall separate
us from the love of Christ? The Lord God of Israel hateth
putting away. Now secondly, just briefly, look at our Savior's sacrifice.
Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it. Since the church
was not fit for Christ by nature, she must be made fit for him.
He who is pure cannot have communion with that which is impure. And
so the Lord Jesus gave himself to make his church pure before
him, pure with him, pure in him. He gave himself to us in a covenant
of love before the world was. He gave himself to us in his
incarnation, came here as a man to give obedience under the law
of God, bringing an everlasting righteousness for us. And he
gave himself for us on Calvary's cursed tree, when he who knew
no sin was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. And then in the time of love,
at the appointed time of God, in the fullness of time, He comes
and spreads His skirt over us and says, live. And the object
of His love is made to live by His grace, to live with Him in
union with Him, in holiness with Him. being made partakers of
the divine nature with him, really and truly one with him. As much
partakers of his nature as he is partaker of our nature, bone
of his bone, and flesh of his flesh, heart of his heart, and
spirit of his spirit. Now, what was our Savior's purpose
in all this? That he might sanctify and cleanse
it with the washing of water by the word. The Lord Jesus gave
himself for the church that he might present it to himself holy,
unblameable, and unreprovable. not having spot or wrinkle or
any such thing. No spot of sin, no wrinkle of
infirmity, no blemish of any kind, no result of sin of any
kind, but holy and without blame before Him. And that which He
purposed he will accomplish. That for which he gave himself
must be done. And when he comes at last in
his glory, He will present us to himself a spotless church,
holy, unblameable, without any wrinkle of sin, or spot of sin,
or wrinkle of infirmity, without any of the filth of the consequence
of sin upon us, perfectly holy, one with himself. You remember
the story given us in the prophecy of Hosea, about Hosea and Gomer? Hosea was commanded of God to
go down to the red light district and love a whore and marry her. God commanded him to. God commanded
him to. And so he went and married Gomer. And they had three children and
then Gomer She was Hosea's wife, but she was still a whore. And
she went back to her lovers. And Hosea said, I found her,
and I provided for her. I took care of her. She didn't
know it, but I took care of her. He said, I'm gonna allure her
to me in loving kindness, in righteousness, in judgment, and
in truth. I'm gonna make her faithful to
me. And when Gomer had wasted her life, Hosea went down to
the auction block and there she was. And he said, I bought her
to me for an omer of barley and a half omer of barley. Our savior
bought us with the silver of his sweat and the gold of his
blood. And he went over and took Gomer off the auction box and
took her hand under his arm and walked home with her. I've often
thought I'd like to have been in the prophet's chambers that
night. I can almost hear Gomer say,
he brought me to the banqueting house and his banner over me
was love. Stay me with flagons of wine,
comfort me with apples, for I'm sick of love. His left hand is
under my head and his right hand doth embrace me. And he speaks
to her, Gomer, and says, behold, thou art all fair, my love. Behold, thou art all fair. Thy lips are like a thread of
scarlet. Thy speech is cuddly. Thou art all fair, my love. There is no spot in thee. Thou hast ravished my heart. So real is our union with the
Son of God. that those words from our Savior
are given in Holy Scripture addressed by Him. to our souls, holy and
without blame before Him, because we are one with Him, in Him,
redeemed by Him, Christ in me, and me in Christ. Oh, what a union. All because
Christ loved me. and gave himself for me. Oh,
Spirit of God, graciously force me day by day and hour by hour
to love him and give myself to him. Amen.