Well, if God will let me preach
that like he let him sing it, we're going to have a good day. I hope the Lord will graciously
give me your hearts undivided attention for just a few minutes. There is a day appointed by God.
when Jesus Christ, the Son of God, shall come again in power
and in great glory. No man knows the day. No man
knows the hour. Those who speculate about it
only reveal their ignorance. But it has been unalterably fixed
by God's eternal decree, and at the appointed time, Christ
shall appear. He's coming. He's coming. and in precisely the hour God
has ordained, he shall appear. Now, I'm not a prophet, and I
do not pretend to understand the mysteries of the prophetic
scriptures, but there are some things about that great and glorious
day that I do know. There are some things that are
matters of the plainest, most obvious revelation in the word
of God. At that time, appointed by God
from eternity, the Lord Jesus Christ, that very one who was
crucified in our stead, that very one whose body the disciples
saw after the resurrection, that very same Christ who ascended
up into heaven, shall come again in his body with power and great
glory. With Job I say I know that my
Redeemer lives. And I know that with my eyes,
I shall see God. I'm going to see him. Though
the skin worms destroy this body of flesh, though this body returns
to the dust and returns to the ashes, in the last day, my Redeemer
shall stand upon this earth. And with these eyes, I shall
see him for myself and not another. and you will see him too. Behold,
he cometh, and every eye shall see him. Those that love him,
and they also which pierce him. Those who trust him, and they
also who despise him. Those who look for him, and they
also who mock his company. Every eye shall see him. In that
great day, These things will take place. Now you can mark
it down. There will be a great general resurrection of all who
have ever lived upon the earth. Every son of Adam, including
Adam and Eve themselves, shall be raised from the dead. Everybody. Everybody is going
to live forever, either in heaven or in hell. That no such thing
as annihilation, you will wish one day it were true, but there's
no such thing. That no such thing as a cessation
of life after death. But death only ceases life upon
this earth. Death only brings to an end temporal
life. Death only brings to an end our
existence here at the present time. But death in reality is
that which brings us face to face with God, and it will bring
us either into eternal life or into that horrible thing the
Scriptures call the second death. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, the
hour is coming when all that are in the grave shall hear the
voice of the Son of Man, and they that hear shall live. The dead shall come out of the
grave. And those who come out of the grave shall be called
before God for judgment according to that which he has done, righteousness
or wickedness. I don't know exactly how things
are going to take place. It may take a little while. It
may be done in the twinkling of an eye. But I know these things
will happen. When Christ Jesus comes in his
glory, the sleeping saints, all the host of God's church,
in all the ages gone by, going back to the time of the apostles
and the times of the prophets, and on back to the times of the
patriarchs, and on back to the times of Noah, and of Enoch,
and of righteous Abel, and of Adam, all the saints of God shall
be raised up, every one of them, all at one time. I can't fathom that. I can't
even imagine it. But by the power of his word,
everyone whom he loved, every soul whom he redeemed, even their
dust shall arise from the grave. And immediately, those who live
until he comes will be translated and meet the Lord in the air.
These bodies are going to be changed. And immediately after
that, the dead, the dead rebel, the dead unbeliever, the dead
God-hater, the dead mocker, the dead one who despised the gospel
of his grace, you who believe not, shall be raised up. Yes,
even the wicked, even the wicked. These bodies have been the houses
of sin, these bodies must meet God in judgment. These bodies,
the houses of a polluted soul, these bodies shall be the house
of that soul for eternity. The dead shall rise. And then
there will be a thorough, complete destruction of all earthly, material,
temporal Turn over to Psalm 50. Let me show you this. Psalm 50,
verse 3. Listen to these words. Our God
shall come, and when He comes, He shall not keep silence. You're
going to know He's here. A fire shall devour before Him,
and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. In the book
of Micah, the prophecy of Micah chapter 1, they have a similar
statement. Micah chapter 1 verse 3, Behold
the Lord cometh forth out of his place and will come down
and tread upon the high places of the earth and the mountains
shall be molten under him." That is, the earth is going to melt
beneath his feet. The mountains shall be molten
under him. The valleys shall be cleft as wax before the fire,
and as the waters that are poured out are poured down a steep place. What's he saying? All these things
shall be dissolved. Look around you. Look around
you. Oh God help you look around you
upon this earth. What's important to you? What
do you value? What do you set your heart upon?
What do you labor after? What do you seek? What do you
covet? What do you desire? All of it
shall be dissolved. All of it. All material things
shall be destroyed. This present heavens and this
present earth, the heavens shall depart from above you and be
rolled up as a scroll and the earth shall be folded up like
a worn out vesture and burned in the fierceness of God's anger.
This present heavens and this present earth, defiled with sin,
defiled by rebellion against God, shall be destroyed by the
Creator and all things created new. All material things here, that beautiful house, this building
here, our homes, everything in this world can
be destroyed. What fools we must be to set
our hearts upon things that are marked for destruction. What fools. Who in his right
mind would go down and buy a piece of condemned property and fix
it up, paint it up, and love it, and labor for it, and give
his life for it, knowing the property is marked for destruction
and shall surely be brought to nothing and be of no value? Who on earth would labor for
such a thing? Only an idiot. only an absolute fool. What does that say about men
and women of the earth who labor for earthly things? The fashion
of this world passes away. Quit workings are hard to get.
It's passing away. It's passing away. Don't set
your heart on these things. They're marks for destruction.
Not only are all material things to be destroyed, but all temporal
relationships shall be dissolved, all of them, all of them. There'll be no such thing in
eternity as husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, mothers
and fathers, sons and daughters, friends or family, no earthly
relationship, none. They're going to be dissolved.
They'll be dissolved for the redeemed in glory, for the redeemed
will all love one Savior, and they'll be one in Christ Jesus.
They'll be as the angels of God, neither marrying nor giving in
marriage, and they will have no regard or concern for those
who are damned. The earthly relationships that
we now And look upon it being so tender that we so much cherish
will soon be dissolved, forever dissolved. And they'll be dissolved
for the damned in hell. What shall that place be? Where father despises his son
and son his father. where father is unmoved by the
torments of his darling child and the child is unmoved by the
torments of her dear mother. Unmoved, unaffected, where all
earthly relationships perish. That silly little song they sing,
will the circle be unbroken? You can bet on it. You can bet
on it. It will be broken. It will be
broken, forever broken. In eternity, in eternity, hear
me, in eternity, the righteous in heaven will have no concern
about earthly relationships, and the damned in hell will despise
their damned kin. That's right. That's right. They will despise those who share
their own torments. They will despise those who are
damned with them under the wrath of God. And all earthly concerns
will disappear. That kind of makes things here
seem trivial, doesn't it? Kind of makes things here seem
valueless, fanatic. That's what the wise man discovered. Everything under the sun is vanity
and vexation of spirit. Everything. Everything. Every
material thing is vanity. Every temporal relationship,
Merrill, I'm talking about the best of them, is vanity. earthly
concern is vanity, vanity. Because you see, after these
things, there will be a great white throne judgment for the
execution of divine justice upon all men. Listen to this scripture
in Acts 17. You don't have to turn there. Acts 17 verse 31, God hath appointed
a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by
that man, Jesus Christ our Lord, whom he hath ordained, whereof
he hath given assurance unto all men, and that he raised him
from the dead. There's a day coming. It's set
marked by God when every person shall stand before Jesus Christ
our God in judgment. Every person. And in that day
the Lord Jesus Christ our God shall judge all men in accordance
with exact equity, exact righteousness, exact justice without any mercy. In that great and terrible day,
nothing will be decided or determined. I hear people say, I hope that
when the Lord compares the records and lays everything in the balances,
things will work out all right. Nothing will be laid in the balances.
No records will be compared. Nothing will be determined in
that day. It will not be a day of investigation to see who is
righteous and who is wicked, but it will be a day of execution. It will not be a day of trial,
but a day of execution. Righteousness and justice shall
be executed upon all men, as the hymn says, each one receiving
justly his due. Justly his due. In that day,
God will not be merciful. In that day, God will not be
gracious. In that day, God will not be
kind. In that day, He will be only
just and righteous. Only just. Every righteous one,
He will receive. He will declare blessed of God
and every sinner. He will forever die. Righteousness in accordance with
strict justice shall be rewarded with eternal life. Come you blessed
of my Father. That's the reward of righteousness.
The righteous soul shall live. We read it earlier. He that does
righteousness shall live. The reward of righteousness is
life. Everything about life, that's
the reward of righteousness. Sin shall be rewarded with eternal
death. The just, exact wages of sin
is death. And God's going to pay. He's
going to reckon up and pay to every man exactly that which
is justly his due. Now this is what I'm saying.
If you're a believer, if you're in Christ Jesus, God has imputed
Christ's righteousness to you. You have been made the righteousness
of God in him. And God shall in that day reward
you for the righteousness which Christ your substitute has done
for you. and he will receive you into
heaven as the reward of Christ's obedience which he has imputed
to you. In exactly the same way as God
rewarded Christ for our sins when our sins were imputed to
him, he shall reward us with Christ's righteousness because
his righteousness has been imputed to us. If you're a believer,
you'll enter into glory perfectly right. because Christ has put
away your sin and Christ has established righteousness for
you. He's done all that God in this law requires. There's no
debt to be paid, no righteousness to be required, but that which
Christ Jesus is to us. If you die without faith, if you meet God in judgment without
Christ, without a substitute, without atonement, without satisfaction,
without righteousness. If you meet God in judgment,
in your natural, eluded, sinful self, you will be damned forever. And that is right. It's just right. That's the way
it ought to be. That's the way it ought to be. If there's a God in heaven, that's
the way it ought to be. If there's justice in the universe,
that's the way it ought to be. And that's the way it shall be. That's the way it shall be. After these things, after the resurrection of the
dead and the destruction of the world and the judgment, eternity
will commence. And I want you to turn to Revelation
19. Eternity will commence with the
glorious everlasting marriage supper of the Lamb. I've been preaching on this marriage
supper for the last several weeks on Sunday evenings. But as I
began to prepare for the message this morning, this text came
to me and I plan to preach from it this morning and then from
another part of it tonight. The marriage supper of the Lamb
is here proclaimed, verse 7, Revelation 19, 7. Let us be glad
and rejoice. and give honor to him, for the
marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself
ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in
fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness
of the saints. Now I hope to meet you there. What glory, what bliss awaits
God's elect. Eternal glory is described under
the symbol of a great wedding feast, prepared by God for His
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and not only for His Son, but for
His beloved, chosen, redeemed, and called bride, the church,
which is made up of sinners, saved by the grace of God through
faith in Christ, their substitute. I want to call your attention
to verse 9 this morning. And He said unto me, Right. Blessed are they which are called
unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. Here's my subject. Blessed are the called. Are you? Are you called of God? Have you been called to the marriage
supper of the Lamb? In our text, the Holy Spirit
declares that all who are called unto the marriage supper of the
Lamb are blessed of God, eternally blessed. Who are these called
ones? Who are these men and women called
and blessed of God as the result of their calling? Are you who
hear my voice among them? Well, in one sense, all of you
Sitting here this morning, all of you who now hear me preaching
the message of God's grace, all of you in one sense of the word
are called, but you're not all blessed. There is a general call,
a call that goes forth by the preaching of the gospel, and
it's a call that goes out to all who hear the gospel. God
sends his servants into the world to call sinners to Christ and
to this blessed eternal marriage feast. He says to his servants,
go ye into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid
to the marriage. Wherever you find a man, bid
him to the marriage. Call him. In the highways, in
the hedges, the halt, the lane, the main, call him. Bid him to
the marriage. And that's what I'm doing today.
In the name of God, as God's ambassador, with God's power
and authority, with the power and authority of the throne of
God in heaven. I stand before you to bid you,
every one of you, to call you, every one of you, to Jesus Christ
in faith. I call you now to faith in Christ. I call you now to trust the Son
of God. God has commanded me to tell
you these things. Behold, I have prepared my dinner. My oxen and my fatlings are killed. There's nothing for you to do,
nothing for you to bring, no word for you to give, no atonement
for you to make, no work for you to do, no justice for you
to satisfy. All things are ready. Come to
the marriage. Come to the marriage. Come empty-handed. Come naked. Come helpless. Come right now to Jesus Christ
and have life everlasting. If you will now, but come to
Christ, if you will right now, right where you sit, even as
I preach to you, if you will now trust the Lord Jesus Christ,
God will save you by his almighty grace. He will save you through
the merits of his son and receive you into his heavenly kingdom.
It is written in the word, whosoever will, let him come and take of
the water of life freely. That includes anybody in all
the world who will but come. The scripture declares, whosoever
believeth on him shall not perish but have eternal life. Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord, the crucified, risen, exalted
Son of God, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved. The call of the bridegroom At
word, behold, the bridegroom cometh is a call that goes out
to the wise and to the foolish alike. If you don't come, the fault
and the responsibility and the guilt is altogether your own. Every one of you here, every
last one of you, from the oldest to the youngest, If you do not
come to Jesus Christ, the fault is your own. It is not because
you have not been invited and urged to come to Christ. It is
not because you have not been allowed to hear the gospel of
God's free grace. It is not because God has not
been gracious and willing to receive you. By the Spirit of
God, right now, I urge you, I urge you with every fiber of my soul,
I urge you to come to Christ. Come to it. Some of you are sitting here
and all you've ever heard about coming to Christ, you have the
notion that coming to Christ is something you do at the end
of the service. You know, you come down to the front of the
church. Or you come to an altar, or you come to a mourner's bench,
or you come to a priest and you say your confession, or you come
to the sacrament table and eat the bread and the wine they call
the Lord's body and His blood. You come by doing something. I'm saying to you right where
you are right now, come to Christ and don't move. Don't move. Come to Him. Come to Him. Come
to Him in your heart right where you are. Come to Him right where
you are, trusting Him. That's the only way you come
to Christ. If you try to get to Him by moving your feet, you'll
never get to Him. You got to get to Him by your
heart, by your heart. Come to Christ. You sinners seek
His grace whose wrath you cannot bear. Fly to the shelter of His
cross and find salvation there. I say come, turn, run, flee to
Christ. Seek His grace, trust His blood,
trust His righteousness, trust His intercession, trust His grace,
trust His power, and do it right where you are, right now. Trust
the Son of God and He'll save you. He'll save you right now.
If you heed His call, you're blessed of God, eternally blessed,
forever blessed, blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ
Jesus. If you heed this call, then the
text speaks of you. When it says, blessed are they
which are called, but I warn you, and this is so much the burden of preaching the gospel, If you despise this call, now
listen to me. Men and women, young people,
listen to me. I've been preaching to you to the best of the ability God has
given me. I've been preaching to you the
gospel of God's free grace for better than eight years now. Some of you have heard that message
preached three times a week for eight
years. If you do not obey this gospel
call, if you despise the gospel of
the grace of our God, if you despise the Lord Jesus Christ,
If you despise His blood, His righteousness, and His grace, you will be cursed of God by
the sermon that you now hear from my lips. This message And that horrible
day will be a millstone about your neck to drag you in the
deepest regions of the bottomless pit. It will be a worm in your
conscience to plague your heart forever and a fire in your soul to torment
you in hell forever. The Lord God says, turn you,
my reproof. I've called. I've called. And
I'm willing to pour out my spirit on you. That's what he says.
You read it for yourself. Proverbs 1. I'm willing to pour
out my spirit on you. I'm willing to be a God to you.
Turn now! Turn! I've called. But you would
not. You despise my reproof. You hearken
not to my word. Therefore you shall eat of the
fruit of your own ways." If you trifle with God, trifle with the gospel of his
grace, you're a fool. You're a fool. God's Word is not to be taken
lightly. God's Word is not to be despised. And God will not deal lightly
with those who deal lightly with His Son. God will not be merciful
to those who despise His mercy. All of you are called. Being
called, all of you are responsible to obey the gospel. but not all
of you are blessed. So it's obvious that our text
is speaking of another call, something other than this general
call that I issue now in preaching the gospel. The text does not
say, blessed are they which are called by the preaching of the
gospel unto the marriage supper, though they refuse to come. The
text is saying, blessed are they which are called, effectually
called, personally called, irresistibly called by the almighty grace
of God the Holy Spirit and compelled to come to the marriage feast. Our text is talking about the
effectual, irresistible call of the Holy Spirit. John says, Blessed are they which
are called, because those who are called by the Spirit of God
do most certainly come. This call always results in everlasting
salvation. Now, let me try to help you in
understanding this, and I hope help you to hear the Savior's
voice, that He may speak to you effectually this hour. by the
power of his grace. I want to answer two questions
very briefly. Number one, who are these blessed
ones? They are those who are the called.
They're called by the outward preaching of the gospel, but
that gospel has come not in word only, but in power and in much
assurance and in the demonstration of the Holy Ghost. They're called
by the special inward effectual call of God, the Holy Spirit. Turn over to Psalm 65. Psalm
65 in verse 4. I'll show you two scriptures
in this regard. Psalm 65 in verse 4. Here's a prophecy concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. And the psalmist says concerning
Him, Blessed, blessed, blessed is the man whom thou choosest. This is God's election, God's
eternal purpose of grace. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and callsest, that's the call, and callsest to approach
unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts. We shall be satisfied,
that is, those who are chosen and those who are called, we
shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy
temple. But when does this take place?
Look in Psalm 110. Psalm 110 in verse 3. Another prophecy of the Lord
Jesus Christ, our exalted Savior. Psalm 110 in verse 3. When does
this call come? When is it that God the Holy
Spirit comes by irresistible grace and causes the chosen sinner
to come to Christ? Thy people shall be willing,
not may be, shall be, Thy people shall be willing in the day,
the appointed, ordained day of thy power. In the day when you
exercise the power of your saving grace, your people, the people
you have chosen, the people you have redeemed, shall be willing
to come to thee in the beauties of holiness, in the beauties
of your holiness. From the womb of the morning,
thou hast the dew of thy youth. Frequently, in the scriptures,
God's elect are referred to as the called. Their calling is
just another word for their salvation, because the calling always results
in salvation. Paul said to the Corinthians,
you see, you're calling, brethren. The apostle says, we know that
all things work together for good to them who are the called. Calling, then, is simply another
word for election, grace, and salvation. Therefore, it is written,
Blessed are they which are called, these who are thee called unto
the marriage supper of the Lamb. They are blessed of God. You
are blessed of God if you are called like the Lord called Matthew. The Lord said, Matthew, follow
me. And Matthew followed him. Now,
if you're called like that, you're blessed. You're blessed of God
if you're called like the Lord called Zacchaeus. I heard some
babbler the other day preaching on Zacchaeus. Oh, I won't say who he was. They
might call him his pastor. And they deserve one or nothing.
Last Sunday night over the radio station where I heard him preach
about Zacchaeus. But the point of Zacchaeus is
this. If you're blessed of God by the
calling like God gave Zacchaeus, you're blessed indeed. Our Lord
came to Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus didn't come to him.
He came to Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus did not come to where
Jesus was. Jesus came to where Zacchaeus
was. That's the way it always happens. That's always the way
it happens. And when he came to the place
where Zacchaeus was up there among little fellas, all of us
are little fellas. Zacchaeus took his place among
them. He said, Zacchaeus, come down. Well, I don't know whether I
will or not. I might. Give me a little while
to think about this. Oh, Zacchaeus, pretty please
come down and let me have my way with you. Well, since you
put it like that, I might do that. Oh, who? No, no. The Lord said, Zacchaeus,
come down. And Zacchaeus came down. Now,
if you're called like that, you're blessed of God. If you're called
of God, like Lazarus was called from the tomb, you're blessed.
Our Lord came to the tomb of Lazarus. Lazarus did not come
to him. He came to Lazarus. And he said,
Lazarus, come forth. Well, let's wait and see if Lazarus
will make his decision for Jesus. Lazarus, exercise your free will. Lazarus, decide for me. This is the hour of decision. Decide for me. There's no limit to man's credulity
when it comes to matters of religion. He's absolutely incredible in
his folly. Our Lord came to a dead man and
that dead man could not do one thing. Now that's just what you
can do. That's just what you can do for
Jesus. Nothing. Well, a dead man can
stink. You'd do a pretty good job of
that, but that's about it. A dead man can rot. You're pretty
good at that. But do something for Christ a
dead man cannot. Lazarus was already stinking. He had been dead for four days.
And the Lord Jesus did not call in a general way, hoping maybe
somebody inside that tomb would hear his voice and let him have
his way with him. But the Lord came to a specific
man's tomb and called a specific man by name at a specific hour. And he said, Lazarus, come forth. And Lazarus came. Lazarus was
blessed of God. He was blessed of God. Blessed
are they who are called. Do you see what I'm saying? These
are the blessed ones. Those who are called are blessed
of God when they are so called that they willingly obey the
Lord Jesus Christ. Do you obey the call? Have you
come to Christ? Do you now trust Christ? If so,
then you're among the blessed ones. If you now come to Him
with willing heart, if you now trust Him with willing heart,
if you now call upon Him with willing heart, if you now bow
to Him with willing heart, you're blessed of God. He's called you. He's called you. Our Lord Jesus
Christ has but one issue with men. And
I have but one issue with men. And the issue is this. Will you
or will you not trust the Son of God? That's all. Will you or will you not trust
the Son of God? I heard a fellow preaching this
morning on his way to church. fellow who ought to know better.
I don't expect much better from many people, but this fellow
ought to have known better. And he was talking about, you
know, doing good things, setting things in order. That's
all right. It's all right to set things
in order. It's not all right for preachers to preach about it. The issue between you and God
is not what you do. That's not it. You can quit drinking
and quit running around and quit cussing and quit stealing and
quit lying and quit cheating. You can quit all of it. You can
quit going to picture show and quit wearing long hair and quit
wearing short dresses or long dresses, whatever you're supposed
to be against, you know. You can quit wearing makeup.
You can stop looking pretty and start looking sad. You can do
everything. That's not the issue between
you and God. That's not it. The issue between you and God
is His Son. His Son. Will you or will you
not trust His Son? Will you or will you not bow
to His Son? Huh? Now get that issue settled
and everything else fall in place. Do you remember how Eliezer came
seeking a bride for his master's son? He came under the command
of Abraham And he said, Abraham sent him down to the place where
he's supposed to get the bride, and he told him what to do. And
Eliezer found Rebekah, and he told Rebekah all about Isaac.
Said he's got all my master's goods are in his hands. He has
all things in his hands. He's a rich man. You never met
a man like this man. And then he comes down to one
point. Wilt thou go with this man? Tell me. Tell me. I'll be on my way. I'd like to
take you with me. If you won't go, there's somebody
out here who's going to go. And I'm looking for them. And
I'm asking you this morning who hear my voice, will you or will
you not go with this man, the man of Calvary who sits upon
the throne of glory and has the power to save sinners? Will you
or will you not go with him? Tell me. Tell me. I want to know.
If you're not willing to go, somebody will. Somebody will.
And I'm looking for them. I'm looking for them. If you
willingly come to Christ, trust Christ, submit to Christ, call
upon Christ, then you're among those who are blessed, for you're
among those who are called. Those who are called to the marriage
supper and blessed of God are those who have been made to love
the bridegroom. Wouldn't be much of a blessing
to be called to the marriage if he didn't love the bridegroom,
would it? If any man love not the Lord
Jesus Christ, let him be damned. The Lord's coming. That's Paul's
language. God's people love him. Oh, we
don't love him like we want to. We don't love him like we should.
But the saints of God love the Son of God. We love him because
he first loved us. His love constrains our hearts
to love Him in return. We love Him. Do you love Christ? Does your heart leap at the mention
of His name? If you love Him, it's because
He loved you, and you'll be at the marriage supper among the
blessed. Every true believer truly loves Christ. The believer
prefers Christ to all others. The believer commits himself
to Christ. because he sees in Christ beauty
and glory and grace possessed by none other. He's all together. He's the fairest among 10,000. He's all together lovely. This is my beloved. This is my
friend. Let me tell you about him. Let
me tell you about him. He's God Almighty. He's a perfect
man. Therefore, he's an able substitute.
This man, Jesus Christ, is that one who has given himself for
his church. He's given himself. That is,
he came into this world and gave himself to live in righteousness
and gave himself to die as a substituted. Gives himself in power and grace
to all his people. He gives himself. He gives pardon,
peace, and eternal life. This one, the Lord Jesus Christ,
is that one The only one who is perfect, perfect God and perfect
man. There's no flaw in him, but only
perfection and beauty. And every experience I've had
with him, and there are many here who can join the testimony. Some of you could probably talk
about this a whole lot better than I can. But I've been wed to him now
for better than 20 years, better
than 21 years. And we've had a lot of experiences
together. And every experience I've had of his love, everything
I have been made to know of him causes me to love him more, everything. Now there's no other lover like
that. There just isn't. My wife says to me, I love everything
about you. And she's being nice. And she
loves me. But she overlooks a lot. There's
nothing to overlook in Christ. Everything about him, everything
he does, everything he says, everything he is, causes his
people to love him. He's altogether lovely, Joey. There's nothing but beauty in
him. nothing but perfection in him. Those who are called and blessed
of God are those who are made ready for the marriage. His wife
that made herself ready, the Lamb's wife, because she willingly
put on the garments of salvation by faith, was made ready for
the marriage. But remember, to her was granted
that she should be so arrayed in fine linen, clean and white.
Her readiness is altogether the result of his grace. David sang
about it a little bit ago. He's all I need. He's all my
wisdom, all my righteousness, all my redemption, all my holiness,
all my sanctification, all my hope. He's everything. Do you
need anything else? Huh? Do you need anything else? As long as you think you need
something else. You'll never have Him. Never. You need any pardon but His pardon?
You need to make up for your sin in any way except by His
blood? You need any righteousness except His righteousness? Do
you need any holiness but His holiness? Do you need any perfection
but His perfection? Is there something you're going
to add? Something you're going to bring? As long as you do,
you'll never have Him. Oh, but if He's all in all, If
he's made unto you wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption, you're blessed of God. You're ready for the
marriage feast. Complete in him, perfect in Christ
Jesus. One other thing. These called
ones, every one of them are anxious for the marriage feast to begin. Those who are called anxiously
await and are looking for the coming of their beloved bridegroom. Rex and Debbie will soon be married.
19 years, is that correct? I think
their anniversary is the same as Shelby's and mine. June 1st,
we'll be married 19 years. I remember calling, we called
every day. I was in Springfield, Missouri.
She was in Winston-Salem. And rode every day. Called and
rode every day. We kept post office and the Ma
Bell in business for a year. Kept them going. And every day, every day, she
had marked off so many more days, so many more days, so many more
days. That's the way a bride anticipates the wedding. So many
more days. That's the way we anticipate
the wedding. What's that song David sings?
It won't be long. It won't be long now. It won't
be long now. Oh, hurry, hurry. Even so come
Lord Jesus. Those who are the called and
blessed of God They're anxious for the coming. They're anxious
for the wedding day. That's all they live for. That's
all they live for. Paul said, I forget everything
behind. Why? Everything I've ever done, said,
thought, or experienced, I count that just dumb. That's nothing. I forget everything behind. I've
cut every tender tie. I break myself away from every
earthly pleasure. And I seek to know Christ. Oh,
to know him and to be found in him. Not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, but the righteousness of God, which is
by faith of Jesus Christ, by his faithful obedience. And I
pressed toward the mark. I'm reaching for it. Not as though
I'd apprehended. I ain't got what I'm looking
after yet. I haven't gotten him yet, but I pressed toward the
mark for the prize of the high calling of God. And that prize,
that high calling is Christ Jesus himself. One last question. How are these called ones blessed?
Our text says, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage
supper of the Lamb. I know I'm speaking to many of
you who are called, and I want you to know, enjoy, and anticipate
your blessedness. I'll just briefly tell you. These
called ones were blessed long before they were called. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love, having predestinated us into the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself, according to good pleasure of His will.
These called ones were loved with an everlasting love. God
said, I've loved you. I've loved you with an everlasting
love. Therefore, I've called you. In
loving kindness have I called you. You wonder, why? Why should He love me so? Because
He would. That's all. Because He did. Because that's
what He chose to do and still chooses to do. Why did He call
me? because he would, because he
loved me with everlasting love. These blessed ones were chosen,
redeemed, and they have been kept and preserved in life unto
the time of their calling. These called ones are blessed
in their calling. You know, it's almost impossible
to decide, even after all these years, which is more delightful, the
courtship or the marriage? You remember your courtship? Oh, I enjoyed courting that gal.
I did. I enjoyed courting her. And she
enjoyed being courted. That's good. That's good. Have you ever been
courted by Jehovah, the God of glory? Read Hosea 2. He courts
his people. Oh, sometimes the courtship's
bitter, but he makes it sweet. He'll strip you. He'll take away
your merriness. He'll take away your delight.
He'll take away your happiness. He'll take away your confidence.
He'll take away your satisfaction. He'll make you hungry. He'll
make you thirsty. He'll make you helpless. He'll
bring you down into dust as nothing before him. And then I will allure
her unto me, and I will speak comfortably unto her, and I will
betroth thee unto me forever." That's what he said, and that's
what he does. All who've been called have been
courted by him, and they have been called in the day of his
power from death to life by the power of his grace. Nobody had to ask Lazarus whether
or not he was blessed. I was dead. Now I'm alive. This man who speaks to you, I
was dead. I was dead. Now I'm alive. I'm blessed. I'm blessed. Blessed in the calling. The God of heaven has graciously
arranged all things and rules all things for the good of these
called ones. We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called. And these called ones shall be
blessed forever. Blessed of God forever with Christ
Jesus. Heaven will be a place of mutual
contentment. Christ will be content with us
forever, and we'll be content with him forever. That's what
it is to be called. Blessed are the called. Oh, may
God make you to be among them, for Christ's sake. Amen.