Turn with me to Revelation 19. Revelation chapter 19. My subject tonight is the marriage
supper of the Lamb. It's described for us in Revelation
19 verses 7, 8, and 9. 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. And he saith unto me, Write,
Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the
Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are
the true sayings of God. Now, these verses do not explain
this glorious event. They only describe the glory
of the event. The fact that there shall be
a marriage supper is revealed. that it shall be a glorious,
everlasting celebration of salvation completed is evident, but the
details are yet hidden from our eyes for now. So we will not
cry into that which God has not revealed, but it will be profitable
if the Spirit of God will be our teacher for our hearts to
reverently rehearse and meditate upon that which he has revealed
in this text. Our text shows us this. In the
last day, there will be a public wedding of Jesus Christ and his
church, a blessed eternal union in which Christ and all his people
will be made perfectly one. And in the text, it's called
the marriage supper of the Lamb. Now, this marriage of the church
to Christ will be the final consummation of the whole work of redemption.
the whole church of Christ will be perfectly united to her divine
husband and they shall be perfectly one forever even as the son and
the father are one. Now that defies understanding,
explanation, it even defies imagination. God has arranged things by the
incarnation and substitutionary work of the Lord Jesus Christ,
by him becoming a man and redeeming a people out of this world, God
has arranged it so that those people whom he loves with an
everlasting love will be as really and truly and everlastingly one
with Jesus Christ as the Son is one with the Father. Let's
look in the scripture and see. John 17. John chapter 17. It is plainly revealed here that
we shall forever be perfectly one with our Redeemer. Completely,
perfectly one. We will not become gods, no. We will not become divine beings,
no. But we will be one with Christ,
really and truly. One with him who is our head.
One with him who is our mediator. One with him who is our surety. And that one who is the God-man,
our mediator, is one with God the Father and God the Spirit.
Here in John 17 and verse 20. Neither pray I for these alone.
That is, I'm not praying for these who presently now believe
on me, but for them also which shall believe on me through their
word. That includes us. That includes
all who believe the gospel in every age. And this is what he
prays, that they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and
I in thee. that they also may be one in
us, that the world, that the whole world may believe, that
the whole world may know that thou hast sent me, and the glory
which thou gavest me I have given them, that they may be one even
as we are one, I in them, and thou in me. that they may be
made perfect in one, and that the world may know that thou
hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me."
Now, as we look at this passage in Revelation 19, I want to show
you four things set forth in the passage. First, we will look
at the processional. When the Lord Jesus Christ comes
the second time without sin and to salvation, when he comes again
in power and in great glory to marry his beloved bride, there
will be a grand and glorious procession of events which will
immediately precede what John describes here as the marriage
supper of the Lamb. These events are recorded for
us in verses one through six. We've looked at them before.
I just want to gather them together here tonight and let you see
what will happen before this great wedding takes place. What
are the events leading up to the marriage supper? Here's the
processional. First, the one great event that
will take place as it's recorded here will be the destruction
of Babylon, the harlot church. Now, actually, this destruction
of Babylon is recorded in chapter 18, but in verses 1 and 2, it's
celebrated. Yes, it's celebrated. The destruction
of Babylon is celebrated by all the saints and angels of God,
all who are themselves made to be the heirs of God's everlasting
mercy and his glory. We read in verse 1, after these
things, after the destruction of the great whore, I heard a
voice of much people in heaven saying, Alleluia, salvation and
glory and honor and power unto the Lord our God. For true and
righteous are his judgments. For he hath judged the great
whore which did corrupt the earth with her fornication and hath
avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. Now Babylon represents
all false religion. I want to make some statements.
I have given considerable thought to them. I hope you will hear
what I'm saying. Any church, any church, any religious
organization that mixes anything with the blood and righteousness
of Christ for the sinner's acceptance with God to any degree is a harlot
church. Any church that mixes anything
with the grace of God for the salvation of sinners is a harlot
church. Salvation by grace alone through
the merits of Christ's righteousness and shed blood alone is the one
essential criteria for all true Christianity. Now let me repeat
that. I want you to understand exactly
what I'm saying. Salvation by grace alone through
the merits of Christ's righteousness and shed blood alone is the one
essential criteria for all true Christianity. By this doctrine,
every church, every preacher, every professed believer stands
or falls. The lifeblood of God's church
is the precious blood of Christ's effectual atonement for sin.
I make a big issue concerning the matter of effectual redemption,
concerning the matter of limited atonement, concerning the matter
of the accomplished redemption of our souls. I make a big issue
of it because in this day in which we live, that's the place
where Satan has most viciously attacked the glory of our Redeemer. And I'm telling you as plainly
as I know how, that anyone, anyone, any church, no matter how large,
no matter how influential, no matter how godly they may appear
to be, anyone who in any way detracts from the accomplished
redemption of Jesus Christ our Savior, who in any way mixes
anything with the accomplishment of Christ at Calvary for the
salvation of his people, that person is Babylon. That church
is Babylon and must be destroyed. The church that has any priest
but Christ is anti-Christ. The church that has any altar
but Christ is Antichrist. The church that has any head
but Christ is Antichrist. The church that has any means
of regeneration but union with Christ is Antichrist. The church
that offers salvation upon any terms but Christ alone is Antichrist. Now sooner or later, everybody's
going to realize this. Because in God's time, at God's
appointed day, when the Lord Jesus Christ comes, Babylon shall
fall. And the sooner Babylon falls,
the better. You heard me. The sooner Babylon
falls, the better. You see, Babylon is described
in verse 14 of chapter 17 as that religious system that ever
makes war with the Lamb. Babylon, the Antichrist religion,
Babylon, false religion, continually makes war with the Lamb. Her
most vile, most obnoxious weapons of warfare are now and always
have been the doctrines of free will, works salvation, ceremonialism,
ritualism, intellectualism, and legalism. Those are the weapons
of Babylon's warfare. wherever you find the least shred. wherever you find the least shred
of freewillism, wherever you find the least shred of works
salvation, wherever you find the least shred of ceremonial
ritualistic redemption, wherever you find the least shred of legalism,
wherever you find the least shred of men basing faith upon intellectualism
and philosophy, you have found Babylon Depart from her and do
so immediately, for Babylon must fall. Babylon always is opposed
to the pure, free, sovereign grace of God in Jesus Christ. She always, always mixes something
with faith. Now you can bank on it. How can I lay this out so that
there's no mistaking what I'm saying? Anytime you find anyone
in any way mixing something up with simple faith in Christ,
you found Babylon. I don't care what they mix. It
doesn't matter if they mix personal experience or personal feelings
or personal works or personal holiness. You mix anything with
simple faith in Christ and you have missed Christ altogether. You mix anything with simple
faith in Christ and you've missed the grace of God. You've fallen
from grace. That's what Paul told the Galatians.
You have missed Christ. Christ is unprofitable to you. Christ is meaningless to you.
Christ is vanity to you. Mix Christ, mix anything with
Christ and you've eliminated Christ. Mix anything with grace
and you've eliminated grace. Mix anything with the work of
God and you've eliminated the work of God. Babylon always mixes
something with faith and she even makes faith itself to be
a meritorious work of the flesh by which men save themselves. In this religious age, most everybody
you know or meet Most every preacher, most every professor, most every
religious leader will readily tell you that the difference
between the saved man and the lost man is that the saved man
had will enough and sense enough and disposition enough to believe
Christ and that his faith makes the blood of Christ to be effectual
to him. And in doing so, he makes man
his own Savior. He makes faith in Christ to be
a meritorious work of man by which he gives power and efficacy
to the blood and righteousness of Christ. Well, what's wrong
with that, pastor? Faith in Christ is not a meritorious
work at all. Faith in Christ is the gift of
God's grace by which we receive all the merit of Christ's atonement
into our own hearts and souls. Do you see the difference? There
is a vast difference. By our faith, we don't add anything
to what Christ has done. By our faith, we do not accomplish
justification, redemption, or salvation in any way. By our
faith, we simply receive what God has done, and the faith itself
is something God in His sovereign power and grace bestows freely
upon His elect. Those who point men anywhere
except to Christ, who point men anywhere away from Christ for
anything, point men to Antichrist. Those who point men in any direction
except to Christ point men to Babylon and to destruction. Everything
that's set up in opposition to Christ, one great, all-sufficient,
effectual sacrifice for sin must be cast down to hell. Would to
God it were come today. Are you saying, pastor, that
that all free will religion, and all works religion, and all
legalistic religion, and all intellectual religion, and all
ceremonial religion, and all ritualistic religion is Antichrist
and Babylon, and that the people in those churches are perishing,
I'm afraid I must plainly, boldly stand up and declare to this
generation, most definitely, most definitely. God help you
to hear me. This generation is perishing
without the light of the gospel. This generation is perishing
without the knowledge of the living God. This generation is
perishing without life with all confidence that they have life.
Now it's our responsibility. somehow unto God, to declare
to the best of our ability, to the utmost reach of our ability,
as God gives us opportunity, to declare to this generation
that salvation is of the Lord, and make them understand it.
Make them understand it. This is no day for mealy-mouthed
preachers. This is no day for mincing words. This is no day for complimenting
false religion. This is no day for complimenting
man and their religious zeal. I sometimes hear people talk
about admiring false religionists for their zeal, commending them
for their zeal. One preacher stood up in a pulpit
recently and said to the congregation, he said it in the wrong place,
but he said to the congregation, he said, I have to admire the
zeal of the Jehovah Witnesses. I've got no reason to admire
their zeal. I've got no reason to admire the zeal of Satan.
I've got no reason to admire the zeal of the demons of hell.
I've got no reason to admire the zeal of that which is opposed
to Christ. Who on earth admires the zeal
of their enemy? Yes, their enemy. For those who
are opposed to Christ and His free grace are the enemies of
God's kingdom and the enemies of Christ's glory. No, there's
nothing about them to admire. I'm saying that there is no atonement
for sin but the blood of Christ. I'm saying there is no holiness
for men but the righteousness of Christ. I'm saying there's
no life for dead sinners but by the sovereign will of Christ.
I'm saying there's no salvation but by the sovereign grace of
Christ. I'm saying there's no repentance and no faith but by
the gift of Christ. I'm saying there's no sanctification
but by the work of Christ. I'm saying there's no perseverance
in grace but by the preservation of Christ. I'm saying there's
no resurrection of the dead but by the power of Christ. I'm saying
there's no reward in heaven but by the obedience of Christ. I'm
saying there's no heaven at all but Jesus Christ and all that
he is and all that he provides freely of his free grace. In
the church of God, Christ is all. Any church that makes Christ
anything less than everything is a harlot church full of corruption,
full of fornication, full of wickedness. From hell she arose
and to hell she must go. The glory and the honor of Christ's
true church shall be known only when Babylon, the harlot church,
is cast into hell. Today, I know what people say. Sometimes
they even get enough nerve to say it to my face. And they'll
frequently say such things to you. You had the experience in
your shop recently, buddy. You mean to tell me that that
little congregation sitting out there on the hillside, and I
know that's compared. I know that's compared. Well,
we've got our cathedrals, and we've got our organs, and we've
got our choirs, and we've got our reverend doctors, and we've
got our most holy fathers, and we've got this, and we've got
that, and everybody agrees with us. You mean to tell me that
you're the only ones who have the light of the gospel? Around
here, that's so. Around here, that's so. You mean
to tell me that men and women who don't believe those things
that you preach are all lost around here, that's so. That's
so. I don't know anybody else around
here who preaches the gospel of God's grace. Never met him, never
heard tell of him. And I've been here long enough,
I expect I might have met him if he'd been around. Never heard
tell anybody around here, even came close to even thinking about
the possibility of preaching free grace. And I'm telling you
that in this day, I know we're the despised minority. In this
day, I know that men laugh and they laugh up their sleeves and
they snicker and ha ha. Who do you think you are? But
in the day of judgment, in the day of judgment, we'll stand
before the eternal God. And in that day, when Babylon
is cast into hell, everybody shall proclaim the glory and
the honor of the gospel by which we are accepted of God. Everybody. Only then shall things be known
as they really are. Only then shall things be seen
in their true light. I'm tired of fussing and fighting
with people. Don't intend to do it. Not going to debate. I'm happy to answer any questions
anybody has, but I'm just tired of debating with folks. I'm not
going to. I've got place anymore anytime some preacher or some
religious zealot smarts off and wants to be smart aleck about
the truth of God, I simply say to him, wait until judgment day,
we'll see. Wait till judgment day, we'll
see. Somebody has told the truth about God and somebody has lied
about God. And in the day of judgment, we'll
find out. We'll find out. Are you prepared to meet God
with your freewillism? Are you prepared to meet God
with your works? Are you prepared to meet God
with your ceremonialism? Are you prepared to meet the
living God with your legalism? I'm here to tell you, by the
grace of God, I am this night prepared to stand before the
God of glory in the robes of Christ's righteousness and nothing
else. By His free grace. And I'll meet
you there. We'll see who's telling the truth.
We'll see who's telling the truth. When Babylon is fallen, then
there's a call to worship. Look at verse five. And a voice
came out of the throne saying, praise God. What a strange word. What a strange word. Praise God.
Praise God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small
and great. And I heard, I heard as it was
the voice of a great multitude, like the roarings of all the
seas of the earth combined at one time, clapping upon the seashore. I heard the voices of many waters
and the voice of mighty thunderings saying, Hallelujah. Oh, you can't
imagine how it's going to sound. All the voices of God's redeemed
shout, Hallelujah, praise the Lord. Hallelujah, the Lord God
omnipotent reigneth, and now the world knows that he reigns. Everybody sees it now. And we're
not told who the one is who speaks, so we'll not guess who he is.
But the one speaking calls for everybody to praise God, and
praise him we shall. Well, that must be awful mean
God you serve and an awful mean people who worship him to praise
God at the damnation of the great harlot. Oh, no. No, not at all. We praise him for the vindication
of his justice. Which would you prefer? Which
would you prefer? Would you prefer that God lose his justice and
men get to heaven on their works? I prefer that men be cast into
hell and God stay just. Which would you prefer? Would
you prefer that God lose His glory and men by their will enter
into heaven? Or would you prefer that men
who worship their will and won't bow to the will of God be cast
into hell and God keep His glory? It's just that simple. It's just
that simple. People get upset with me. Some
folks get upset with me, a lot of folks do, who even profess
to believe the message of God's free grace. They say, you just
can't say things that way. You just can't talk that way.
It causes division and strife in the kingdom of God. My soul,
no. No, it doesn't cause any division
and strife in God's kingdom. It causes God's kingdom to be
distinctly separate from Babylon. And it causes division and strife
in Babylon, but not in God's kingdom. God's saints are committed
to God's glory, and they prefer His glory to their own salvation,
much less to the salvation of anyone else. We praise Him for
the vindication of His truth. For when Babylon has fallen,
God declares, this is the truth. Now, this is what it is. We praise
Him for the vindication of His saints, for Babylon has the blood
of His saints on her hands. We praise him for the vindication
of his son, for Babylon has denied the virtue and the merit of his
son's atonement and his son's righteousness. We praise him
for the vindication of his throne, for he proves that he is the
sovereign one over all the universe. These are the things that will
immediately precede the marriage supper of the Lamb. It will be
a glorious processional, appointing everyone to the bridegroom, our
Lord Jesus Christ. In this wedding procession, It's
a little different than it is in our society. In this wedding
procession, it is not the bride, but the bridegroom who gets all
the attention. It is not the bride, but the
bridegroom who is honored and adored and praised. And then
once the grand and glorious processional is over, the lamb and his wife
will come together for the wedding. Let me describe the wedding for
you. Let us be glad and rejoice and
give honor to him for the marriage of the lamb has come and his
wife hath made herself ready. Now we frequently hear about
this marriage supper. It's mentioned many, many times
in the word of God, but most people have very vague ideas
about it. And frankly, I say this cautiously because
one might slip my mind, but frankly, I believe every sermon I've ever
heard about it was just full of lies. Every sermon I ever
heard about it was perverted. Every sermon I ever heard about
it in my life promoted self-righteousness and promoted freewillism and
promoted the works of the flesh rather than the glory and honor
of Christ. Now, I readily grant that while we cannot tell you
everything that's going to happen in this great day. There are
certain things plainly revealed here and I can't begin to enter
into the details because the details aren't given. That's
reserved for a better day. But I can tell you what the wedding
supper means. I can tell you what the marriage
supper means. First of all, the marriage of the Lamb is the glorious
consummation of the everlasting covenant of God's grace. That's
what it means, first of all. Way back yonder, before the first
angel was created, before Lucifer was the sun of
the morning, before there was a star in the sky or a sun to
give light to the earth, before there was an earth to be lightened,
Before God made Adam and Eve and placed them in the garden,
God made a covenant. A covenant of everlasting redemption
with his son. And this wedding feast is the
result of God's gift to his son in that covenant. Let me show
it to you. Turn over to Psalm 2. Psalm 2. I'm just going to give you a
few passages of scripture here that will give you some vague
idea of the gift God made to his son as our mediator in the
covenant. I'm not going to try to explain
everything. I don't have time for that, and I don't have ability
for that. I'll just give you something
I know. Here in Psalm 2 and verse 8, this is a prophecy concerning
Christ. It's a prophecy based on God's
eternal purpose in the everlasting covenant. He's talking about
the resurrection of Christ. He said, Thou art my son, this
day I've begotten thee. Sit on my right hand and I'll
make your foes my footstool. And then in verse 8 he says,
Now ask of me as the reward of your obedience. as the reward
of your satisfaction, as the reward of your complete atonement,
ask of me and I'll give you the heathen for your inheritance
and the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession. Turn
over to Psalm 89. Psalm 89 is the same everlasting
covenant and this same blessed surety our Lord Jesus Christ
spoken of. In verse 23 we read, I'll beat
down his foes before his face. and plague them that hate him.
Go ahead and make war with the Lamb if you dare. Go ahead and
make war with the grace of God if you dare. Go ahead and make
war with the Son of God if you dare. God will beat down his
foes before his face. God will plague them that hate
him with everlasting destruction. But my faithfulness and my mercy
shall be with him, that is, with Jesus Christ. And in my name
shall his horn be exalted. I will set his hand also in the
sea, and his right hand in the rivers, and he shall cry unto
me, Thou art my Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation.
Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the
earth." Set on my right hand, you remember? I'll make him higher
than the kings of the earth. My mercy will I keep for him. My mercy, well, he doesn't need
mercy, no, but he keeps it for his sake. Because we need it.
He keeps it for you, for his sake. God's mercy for Christ's
sake to all his people. My mercy will I keep for him
forevermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him. His
seed also will I make to endure forever, and his throne as the
days of heaven. Look in John 17, John chapter
17. Our Lord is here coming to the
end of his ministry. He's finished the work of righteousness.
He's established perfect righteousness for his people. And now he comes
to his father in this high priestly prayer. And he says in verse
6, I've manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me
out of the world. Thine they were and thou gavest
them me. That's talking about us. This
wedding feast is the result of the father's gift to his son.
He says, they were yours, but you gave them to me and I've
saved them. I've manifested your name to
them. Look in verse 24. Father, this is what I ask of
you as the reward of my obedience. as the reward of my righteousness,
as the reward of my satisfaction of justice. Father, this is what
I will. I will that they also whom thou
hast given me, given me before the world began, be with me where
I am, that they may behold my glory. the glory which thou hast
given me, that is, his glory as the Lamb, his glory as the
Mediator, for thou lovest me before the foundation of the
world. God the Father chose to save some of Adam's race, and
those chosen ones were given to Christ as the Mediator and
surety, so that he would save them according to God's purpose.
For these elect ones, Jesus Christ entered into a covenant of redemption,
in which he pledged himself in due time to come into this world
and assume our nature. And therefore, he said in the
covenant, Lo, I come. In the volume of the book, it's
written to me. I delight to do thy will, O my God. You read
it in Psalm 40, verse 7. And then when he came into the
world, the apostle Paul tells us that as he was coming into
the world, he says, Father, the hour has come. Lo, I come to
do thy will, O my God. I come to do that will by the
which we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. In that everlasting covenant,
he pledged himself to establish righteousness on our behalf and
on God's behalf, to establish righteousness in the earth for
the glory of the triune God and for the salvation of his people.
In that covenant, he pledged himself to pay our debt to God. In that covenant, he pledged
himself to give us life by his almighty grace. In that covenant,
he pledged himself to bring all God's chosen ones home to heaven
in glorious union with himself. The scripture says that God's blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places. according as he hath
chosen us in Christ, for this purpose, that we should be holy
and without blame before him. That was God's object way back
in the council chambers of eternity, that moral heart should be holy
and blameless before God. That was his purpose. That was
his purpose. And here it is. That's the marriage
supper. This is the result of the Father's
gift to His Son in the everlasting covenant. This is the consummation
of the covenant. That which was arranged and settled
by the triune God in eternity in the covenant of grace is brought
to pass in its ultimate end when the Lamb takes all that the Father
gave Him into glorious union, into perfect union with Himself
in the wedding feast. No wonder this one who speaks
says, Rejoice! The marriage of the Lamb has
come and his wife has made herself ready. This marriage supper is
a blessed consummation, not only of the covenant of grace, but
it is a blessed consummation of our heart's betrothal to the
Lord Jesus Christ, our husband. Though Christ betrothed himself
to us in old eternity, in our experience, and the experience
is as necessary as the purpose. But in our experience, we betrothed
ourselves to him in time when we believed him. You see, faith,
I have been looking for years for a good word for faith. I
found one. Faith is a betrothal. That's what it is. It's a betrothal.
Commitment. Commitment to Jesus Christ is
our one husband. That's what it is. My wife. Just a couple of weeks, it'll
be 19 years. 19 years ago, betrothed herself
to me. She pledged to be for me and
not for another. She pledged herself to love me
and obey me and honor me. She pledged herself to stick
by me. She pledged herself to me. That's
what the betrothal is. And in faith, that one who is
born of God with willing heart, pledges himself to be for Christ
and not another. Pledges himself to love him and
honor him and obey him. Pledges himself to be with him
forever, thick or thin, come hell or high water, stay with
him, pledges himself to cling to Christ and never flee from
him. That's what the betrothal is. That's what faith is. When
the spirit of God showed us the beauty and the glory of Christ
in his grace, he conquered our hearts and caused us to betroth
ourselves to him. Some of you here have never done
it. You've never betrothed yourself
to Christ, and I know why. I know exactly why. You've never
seen Him. You've never seen Him. Oh, if
you could see Him, He'd get hold of your heart. If you could see
Him, you'd cry out, be my Lord, be my... Here I am, take me!
Do with me what you will, if you could just see Him. You see, the psalmist saw it. He said, blessed is the man whom
thou, Son of God, Lord of glory, King divine, Savior, crucified
Redeemer, risen Lord, blessed is the man whom thou choosest
and causest to approach unto thee. We have willingly committed ourselves
to one husband, yet the time of wedding hasn't
come yet. When I got married, the betrothal
took place, and in about a half a minute, I was married. The
wedding had come. But our betrothal took place
for some of us years ago, and we've been waiting a long time
for the wedding day. Our husband hasn't yet brought
us to our father's house. This world's not our home. No,
we're just passing through here. We're waiting for the consummation.
We've already said goodbye here. That's what the ancient Oriental
customs were. When the betrothal took place,
the couple was as good as married, but the wife, she stayed with
her father and her mother and her brothers and sisters for
a while. And what she was doing is she said, now listen, one
of these days my husband's coming, and when he comes, I'm going
to leave you. When he comes, I'm going to forsake father and
mother and leave only to him. You got to be prepared for that.
I'm going to leave you. She's already said goodbye. She's
just waiting on him to come. Have you already said goodbye? I've already said goodbye. I've
already bid farewell to this world. Farewell to every worldly
relationship. Farewell to every human tie. Farewell to everything here. I'm waiting. The wedding day
is coming soon. My husband's coming for me. That's
the Metropole. Oh, but blessed be God, He is
coming. He says, you believe God, believe also in me. In my
Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I'm going 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 where I am, there you may be also. Oh, my heart cries. It is the
voice of my beloved. Behold, he cometh leaping upon
the mountain, skipping upon the hills. Make haste, my beloved,
and be thou like a roe, or like a young heart upon the mountains
of spices. Even so come Lord Jesus. This
glorious wedding will be the perfecting of the body, the church
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn over to Ephesians 5, Ephesians
chapter 5. We were chosen. to this end,
and we were redeemed to this end. Verse 25, husbands, love your
wives just like Christ loved the church and gave himself for
it. Why did he do that? 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 of sin. or wrinkle of infirmity, or any
such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish."
Today, our Lord is still forming His church, His body, His bride. The church is not complete yet.
Even those who are already in heaven, they've not yet reached
perfection. No, they haven't. Hebrews chapter
11 and verse 40 says that they without us should not be made
perfect. They've not reached perfection
yet. For they, they are there, but their bodies are still in
the grave. But on this day, the bodies coming out of the grave
and we shall join them and we shall ever be with the Lord and
the church of God shall be perfected. Did you ever a watch for some public display,
some public cantata, or some public ensemble, and maybe you
arrived a little early. There's a choir in the background.
You come to hear this choir give a great rendition of some great
musical, perhaps at school, perhaps in a large town. Orchestras down
here in the orchestra pit. And the conductor is kind of
fidgety because there's some empty seats. Over to the left, in the back,
to the right, down here in front, there's just some empty seats.
And you sit there and you watch, and the choir members start coming
in. The orchestra pitch starts still
up, but that conductor's still fidgety. There's one empty seat
way back up yonder in the corner. And he can't start. There's one
voice missing. The choir's not yet perfect.
The orchestra's not yet complete. And in walks that one straggling
member and takes a seat. He taps the stick, and here we
go. Well, the choir's not yet complete. It's not yet complete,
just as soon as it's complete. God will tap his stick and here
we go. Here we go. The church is not yet perfect.
There's still yet those for whom the Savior has prayed. Those
whom the Savior says, they must hear my voice and there shall
be one fold and one shepherd. There's still plenty of room
in that choir. Still plenty of room. But I'm telling you that
in that day, there won't be an empty seat. There won't be an
empty place there. This will be the day of our home
going. These bodies shall be raised incorruptible. This will
be the day of our resurrection and our glorification. We will
be in that day. What God from eternity predestined
that we must be conformed to the image of his son. Conformed to him in heart. Conformed
to him in mind. Conformed to him in spirit. And
conformed to him in body. perfect conformity to Jesus Christ,
every member of his church. This will be the day of our presentation
when he shall stretch out his hands. Oh, father, here I am. And all that you gave me for
the world began and God shall be all in all. That will be the
day of our coronation. Read again Psalm 46. It's a description
of the coronation of the church. The church is the bride of the
great king. He will set a crown upon her head and make all creation
to bow at her feet for her honor that he has put upon her. That
will be the day of glory and bliss which shall never end. Look in chapter 21. John's describing the same day
again. He says, I saw heaven open. Verse two, I saw the holy
city, the new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And God himself
shall be with them and be their God. And verse four, God shall
wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more
death, neither sorrow nor crying. Neither shall there be any more
pain. For the former things are passed away, and he that sat
on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said to
me, Write, for these words are faithful and true. And he said
to me, It's done. Bless God, it's done. I'm the
Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to him
that is a thirst of the fountain of water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit
all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. I think I'll quit there. Lord willing, next Sunday I'll
show you the bridegroom and the bride. I don't want rush through
that. Most important that you see Him
and most important that you see what she shall be according to
His mercy and grace. This will be the wedding, the
marriage of the Lamb. Will you be there? God forbid that I should speak
presumptuously. And God let me not speak lest
I speak arrogantly. But yes, I'll be there. I'll
be there. Well, how on earth can you be
so confident? I betrothed myself to the bridegroom. I've given myself to him. And he's robed me with his spotless
righteousness and washed me in the fountain of his blood and
given me his own nature. Yes, by the grace of God, because
before the world was, he betrothed himself to me. When the world
is ended, I shall be with him and he with me in that day. where the sun rises never set,
light shines nevermore to allow darkness, where bliss and joy
and satisfaction shall know no end. The eternal Son of God shall
be forever delighted, for he shall see of the travail of his
soul and be satisfied. And my anxious hungry, thirsting,
laboring, weary soul shall be forever blessed for all that
I desire, all that I hope for, all that
I believe, all that God's promised, all that Christ is shall be mine. Believe in It'd be yours too. Oh, may God give you faith in
Jesus Christ. May God give you a heart tonight
to betroth yourself to Him in love, in faith, in commitment
forever. Amen.