been some years now since first I came to Him. A
wretch, a vile sinner, unclean. Came to Him for life, came to
Him for cleansing, came to Him for faith, came to Him for righteousness,
came to Him for everything. And I have been these 21 years
coming to him for everything, just like I did in the beginning,
a wretch, a vile sinner, unclean, in need of his mercy, in need
of his cleansing, in need of his grace. By the grace of God,
I intend to go on coming to him just that way. until at last I come to him and he comes to
me in the glorious resurrection of the just. Turn with me please
to Revelation 19. Our text speaks of that glorious
day when the marriage of Christ and his chosen bride The church
of the living God, the church which he purchased with his own
blood, shall be fully consummated. When Babylon is fallen, when
the wicked and unbelieving are destroyed by the power of his
wrath, in the end of the world, our Lord Jesus Christ will come
again in power and in great glory. Now you often hear about it,
but it's fact. He's coming again. This same
Jesus, the one who was born at Bethlehem 2,000 years ago, this
same Jesus, the one who lived the man of sorrows upon this
earth, this same Jesus, the one who was crucified as the sinner's
substitute on the cursed tree, this same Jesus, the one who
rose from the dead, is coming again. He's coming again. And when he comes, those who
sleep in Jesus shall be raised from the dead, raised in immortality,
raised incorruptible. These bodies shall be sown again
in the earth if time stands. These bodies shall return to
the dust from which they came. These bodies shall be eaten of
loathsome creatures, and that's only right. These bodies must
die because these bodies are the houses of sin. But these
bodies, like our souls, have been redeemed by the blood of
Christ, and these bodies shall rise in the resurrection by the
power of God, by His voice. We shall hear His voice in the
dead. shall be gathered out of the depths of the earth and rise
to meet the Lord God in the air. And then the apostle states it
so as to imply that there's going to be a little pause. Those who
have gone before shall rise first, but then immediately we which
are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall ascend
in a great translation and meet the Lord in the air. The word
that's used there implies that we will go out to meet him as
he comes, and we will attend him in his descent to the earth. He will come with ten thousands
of his saints, and he will judge the wicked in the power and glory
of his own sovereign dominion as Lord and King. And then, after
it's all over, we shall be united to our husband, our Lord, our
Redeemer, our Savior, our beloved. united to him in perfect matrimony,
united to him in perfect union, united to him in perfect glory,
united to him in the bliss of everlasting righteousness. The Lord Jesus Christ, we are
told, loved the church. and gave himself for it, 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. Now, that's what our text speaks
of. Look here in verse seven, Revelation 19 in verse seven.
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, And I fell at his feet to worship
him. And he said unto me, See thou
do it not. I am thy fellow servant and of
thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is
the spirit of prophecy. Now, throughout the scriptures,
the relationship of a bridegroom and his bride is used to describe
and illustrate the relationship that exists between Christ and
his church. If you read the fifth chapter
of Ephesians, you can't help but notice how that Paul so uses
this illustration that it's difficult to distinguish when he's talking
about the husband-wife relationship and when he's talking about the
Christ-church relationship. As a matter of fact, he says
concerning the man leaving his father and mother and being joined
to his wife and they two being one flesh, he said, now this
is a great mystery, but this is nothing. I'm talking about
Christ and his church. We're bone of his bone, flesh
of his flesh, members of his body. We're one with the Son
of God. In fact, the marriage of a man
and a woman was intended from the beginning to be a picture
and the type of the glory and the beauty of that union which
exists between Christ and his church. Adam was a type of Christ
who is the second Adam, the last Adam. As Eve was taken from the
side of Adam, so the church is born from the side of Christ
who suffered and died in the room instead of his church and
his bride. And throughout the scriptures,
this parallel runs so that we're seeing constantly illustration
after illustration of the love of Christ for his church and
of the union between Christ and his church. Now, in order for
us to understand the passage before us, perhaps a little more
clearly, it's needful that we understand something about the
customs of marriage that were prevalent among the Jews during
John's lifetime. In a typical Jewish marriage,
there were four things, four elements that were always prevalent. First, there was the betrothal.
Now, it might be compared to our engagements, but really it's
not a just comparison. Our engagements are not nearly
as binding as the betrothal in the Jewish society of that day. The betrothal is a engagement
where the marriage has been publicly announced and publicly accepted
and God's blessings have been pronounced upon the union. So
that from the day of the betrothal, the man and the woman who are
betrothed are locked together in the vows of marriage. They
are legally bound together. They are looked upon as husband
and wife and they must treat one another in the eyes of the
law as husband and wife. I'll give you an example. We
won't look at the text but you can compare Matthew chapter 1
verses 18 and 19. when Joseph was espoused to his
wife Mary. Now, Mary and Joseph had not
yet come together. They were not yet joined together
in the conjugal relationship. They had not yet known another
as husband and wife. Mary was the virgin mother of
the Lord Jesus Christ. But she was still considered
to be Joseph's wife because they were betrothed together. She
had committed herself to him and he had committed himself
to her. And in the eyes of the law, they were already married.
But then secondly, there was the interval, that time between
the betrothal and the wedding feast itself, an interval that
would last sometimes for many years. You remember how that
Jacob for many years labored for his wife, Rachel, because
of his love for her. Fourteen years, there was an
interval between the betrothal and the marriage itself. Sometimes
it was shorter. But during this time of interval,
the groom would pay a dowry to the bride's father, a dowry for
the honor of having her hand in marriage. Not a bad idea,
I don't think, being as how I have no sons and only a daughter,
the groom would pay a dowry to the father. That's pretty good
custom. Well, that was the way it was
in that day. Sometimes the dowry would be paid in money, sometimes
in cattle, sometimes in property, sometimes, as in the case of
Jacob, it would be paid in servitude. But then third, after the close
of the interval, there was the wedding procession. The bride
would be prepared and adorn herself. The groom, arrayed in his finest
garments, accompanied with his friends, would go in a grand,
singing, celebrating procession to the house of his bride. And
he would gather his bride to himself. Once he had received
her, then they would return in another grand procession, either
to his home or to his father's home. And that's the picture
you have in the Song of Solomon, chapter three. Who is this that
cometh up out of the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? When
the Lord Jesus Christ comes again with his bride at his arm, that's
the picture you have of this wedding procession. But then
at the end of the procession, the marriage was finally consummated
in the wedding feast. And that's what we have here
in Revelation 19, verses 7 through 10. It was a grand extravagant
feast. It was a feast provided entirely
by the labor and the expense of the groom and his father.
Usually the marriage supper would be a celebration lasting at least
seven days and sometimes twice that. At the end of the wedding
feast, the bride and the groom were publicly and permanently
united together as husband and wife. Now in our text, the betrothal
is over. The interval is over. Even the
wedding procession is over. And now the wedding feast has
begun. And this was a cause for great
joy in heaven. The speaker in verse 7 says,
let us rejoice, let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to
him. Honor to who? The lamb, the bridegroom. Give honor to him who is our
omnipotent reigning God. For the marriage of the lamb
is come and his wife hath made herself ready. There is a day
appointed. when the Lord Jesus Christ will
gather his bride out of the world and bring her again into his
Father's house for a glorious, eternal, everlasting wedding
feast. And that day, our union with
Christ, purposed from eternity, brought to pass in our experience
in time will be brought to its perfect consummation so that
we will be perfectly one with him. I can't even imagine what
it is. I can't even imagine what it
shall be, much less describe it to you. But all who are in
Christ, all who are united to Christ by faith, all who are
united to Christ by God's eternal decree and by God's immutable
grace shall be at that day made perfectly, perfectly, perfectly
one with Christ, one in heart, one in mind, one in spirit, one
in will, one in pleasure, one in delight, one in satisfaction,
so that we join with him in all things in perfect harmony. Now, in our text, there are four
things distinctly spoken of. Let me give them to you as we
go along. First, in verse seven, we see the marriage of the lamb.
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. Everything in heaven has been
anticipating this great event for thousands of years. When
it finally comes, the messenger calls for all the heavenly hosts
to rejoice and honor the Lamb, our Savior and our God. The angels
of heaven who announced the Savior's birth 2,000 years ago. Those
angels of heaven who for 6,000 years have been ministering spirits,
ministering to those who should be the heirs of salvation. Those
angels of heaven whom God created to bring about the safety and
the security and the peace of his people unto the day of their
calling, even to the day of their glorious inheritance. The angels
of heaven, God's appointed guardians of His church, have been anxiously
anticipating that day when He who came, the Lamb of God, would
come again and bring to heaven His glorious pride. They've been
anxiously awaiting this day. And so they join in the song
and they join in the celebration. God, our Father, planned everything
from eternity for this day. Everything. We can't begin to
fathom the mystery of God's everlasting purpose, but understand this.
Whatever God has purposed from eternity, whatever God brings
to pass, he purposed from eternity for the purpose of bringing together
in one all his elect so that Jesus Christ might stand out,
the preeminent one of heaven, the bridegroom with his glorious
bride. Everything God purposed, everything
God's doing, everything He has done, is doing, and shall do
is for the purpose of bringing about this glorious celebration
in heaven. God the Holy Spirit is the earnest
of this day. He is the earnest of our inheritance
until the redemption of the purchased possession. He is the one dwelling
in us who guarantees this day. He's the one dwelling in us who
is the earnest money, the down payment of the glorious inheritance. And God the Son sees this day
as the day of his joy, the day of his satisfaction, the day
of his soul's travail, seeing his seed and being satisfied
because now all his saints are gathered to him. The saints in
heaven long for this day. We've read in this book how that
they cry, how long, oh Lord, how long? How long till our bodies
and souls are united together in heavenly praise evermore with
our divine Redeemer? And the saints on earth, all
of God's saints taking their pilgrimage here, long for, yearn
for, and pray for this day when we shall be joined in perfect
union with our Lord Jesus Christ, like Job of old, In the midst
of our trials, in the midst of our sorrows, in the midst of
our difficulties on this earth, we console ourselves and strengthen
ourselves by crying, I know that my Redeemer liveth. I know that
he who loved me and gave himself for me is alive today and at
the last day. Though after my skin worms destroy
this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for
myself and not another. Oh, glorious hope. That's what
we anticipate. The lamb here is none other than
the Lord Jesus Christ, our sin atoning redeemer and substitute.
This lamb is the one we saw on the throne back in Revelation
5. This lamb is the one who holds the book of God's decree, opens
the book and unfolds the pages of the book. This lamb is the
one who rules all things in heaven and earth and in hell for the
glory of his own great being. This lamb is the one who came
and took away the sin of the world. This lamb is the one who
died, who redeemed us, who gathers us to himself. The church, that's
the bride described here. The bride in this passage is
the whole church of Christ. Now understand me well. When
I say the Church of Christ, I am not talking about this church
or this denomination. I'm not talking about this local
assembly or any multitude of local assemblies. I'm not talking
about Baptists. I'm not talking about Presbyterians.
I'm not talking about any denomination. I'm talking about God's elect
in every age, God's redeemed ones. That's the Bride of Christ.
The Lord Jesus Christ has his bride gathered out of every nation,
kindred, tribe, and tongue. They are those men and women,
all of them, from the beginning to the end of the world, who
are chosen of God, loved of God, redeemed by blood, regenerated
by grace, kept by power, and brought at last in everlasting
glory. Every man and woman who is born
of God's Spirit, everyone who is called of his grace, everyone
robed in the righteousness of Christ, Everyone whose sins are
washed away, they are part of this bride. As much a part of
this bride as Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob, John, Paul, or Peter. They are equally one in Jesus
Christ the Lord. In heaven there's no strife,
there's no division, there's no disunity, there's no disharmony,
but all of God's saints are one. Now today, the church is betrothed
to Christ. Turn over to 2 Corinthians chapter
11. 2 Corinthians chapter 11. And I'm going to spend the bulk
of my time dealing with this, with this marriage, the lamb
and his wife. Today, this day in which we live,
like the day in which John lived, the church is betrothed to Christ. 2 Corinthians 11 and verse 2. For I am jealous over you with
a godly jealousy. For I have espoused you or betrothed
you to one husband. that I may present you as a chaste
virgin to Christ. The gospel preacher comes and
brings the gospel to men in the name of God. And when he preaches
the gospel and the power of God's spirit and men and women come
to faith in Christ. When men and women are born of
God and trust the Redeemer, the preacher has, by the preaching
of the gospel, under the anointing of the Spirit, betrothed a people
to Jesus Christ the Lord. Oh, that's what I'm endeavoring
to do for you, to betroth you to Christ, to espouse your hearts
to Jesus Christ the Lord. Though the marriage has not yet
been brought to this glorious consummation that we see here
in Revelation 19, our union with the Son of God is a matter of
legal record in heaven. Christ is our lawful husband,
and we are his lawful betrothed wife right now. We are his lawful
bride just as much now as we shall be in the everlasting glory. You see, our Lord Jesus pledged
his truth to us in old eternity in the everlasting covenant of
grace. Now, in our wedding ceremonies, we bring a husband and wife together
before a preacher or justice of the peace. And honestly, it
doesn't much matter which. I don't know how preachers got
into the marrying business, but but we bring them together before
a preacher usually and the preacher calls for the man and the woman
to pledge their truth one to another. Well, our Lord Jesus
pledged his truth to us and everlasting mercy in the covenant of grace.
Let me read it to you in Hosea chapter two. Hosea, the second
chapter. I know this is talking about
us, I know it's talking about what Christ has pledged to do
for us, for the prophet himself tells us that. Look here in Hosea
2 in verse 16. And it shall be at that day,
saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me Isha. That is, you can
write it out if you don't have it in your marginal translation.
Thou shalt call me husband. Thou shalt call me husband and
shalt call me no more Beli. The word is master, Lord, despot. You call me husband, no longer
call me Lord. Call me husband, no longer call
me master. Call me husband, no longer call
me ruler. Oh, he is our ruler, but he's
our husband. The husband is the head of the
wife, and so the ruler of the wife. But we don't go around
and call our, you ladies don't call your husbands master. You
don't call your husbands Lord. You call them husband. It's an
endearing term, and the servitude is a willing servitude. Look
at verse 17, and this is the reason. I will take away the
names of Balaam out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered
by their name. And in that day, the day of his
mercy and grace, I will make a covenant for them with the
beast of the field and with the fowls of heaven and with the
creeping things of the ground. And I will break the bow and
the sword in the battle out of the earth, and I will make them
to lie down safely. Give you a translation of it.
We know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
And I will betroth thee unto me forever. Yea, I will betroth
thee unto me in righteousness and in judgment and in loving
kindness and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto
me in faithfulness and thou shalt know the Lord. and it shall come
to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear in
the heavens I will hear the heavens and they shall hear the earth
and the earth shall hear the corn and the wine and the oil
and they shall hear Jezreel. And I will sow her unto me in
the earth and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained
mercy. And I will say to them, which
were not my people, thou art my people, thou and they shall
say, thou art my God. And the apostle Paul translates
that for us in the book of Romans. And he says, talking to you,
Joe, I'll say to you, you weren't my people, now you're my people.
And those who were not my people shall say, thou art my God, because
he pledged his truth to it. I look in verse one of chapter
three. Then said the Lord unto me, go yet, love a woman, beloved
of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the
Lord toward the children of Israel. who look to other gods and love
flagons of wine. So I bought her to me for 15
pieces of silver, for an omer of barley and a half omer of
barley. And I said unto her, thou shalt abide for me many
days. Thou shalt not play the harlot
and thou shalt not be for another man. So will I also be for thee. In the everlasting covenant of
grace, the Lord Jesus Christ said, I'll be yours and you'll
be mine and I'll see to it. I'll redeem you and I'll call
you and I'll preserve you and I'll sow you unto me and I'll
win your heart. Having betrothed us unto himself
in eternity and having betrothed himself to us, our dear husband
paid a dowry for his bride. He paid a dowry for his church
and the dowry was his own life's blood. He paid it to satisfy
our debt to the justice of God. The hymn writer said from heaven
he came and sought her to be his holy bride. With his own
blood he bought her and for her life he died. And then we who
believe have pledged our truth to Christ in faith. That's what
faith is, what it is. Nineteen years ago, I stood in front of a preacher,
but more importantly before God Almighty, and I pledged my life
to that lady. Pledged it to her. That's what
marriage is. It's a commitment, a pledge of
my life to her. But it is. for better or for
worse, good times and bad times, a pledge. That's what faith is,
what it is. It is a commitment of my being
to Jesus Christ, my Lord. We've become dead to the law
and married to another, even to him that is raised from the
dead, Jesus Christ, the son of God, married to him, married
to him. We have pledged our hearts to
him. Faith in Christ is the deliberate
consecration of our beings to Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I don't know whether this generation
will ever hear it or not. There's something more to faith
than saying, I believe in Jesus. There's something more to faith
than a mental acceptance of certain facts about the Son of God. There's
something more to faith than accepting a creed or joining
a church or changing your lifestyle. Faith in Christ is the pledge
of my heart, the commitment of my being to Jesus Christ, my
Lord, my husband, if you will. This age in which we now live
is the interval of separation. Turn over to John 14. After our Savior paid our dowry, redeemed our
souls, he said, it's expedient for you that I go away. It'd
be best for you if I leave you here for a little while. It'll
be best for you if I depart and ascend back to my father. But
no need for you to be sorry, I'm going to my God and your
God, my father and your father, my home and your home. Look in
John 14, he says, let not your heart be troubled. Don't be afraid
at the word I've given you that I'm going to leave. Let not your
heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. in my father's house and many
mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you. I wouldn't
deceive you. I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and
receive you unto myself that where I am, there you may be
also." It was expedient for us that
he go away because during this interval, He is preparing a place
for us by his appearance in heaven. And during this interval, his
chosen bride must make herself ready so that she is prepared
to enter with him into the father's house. Now, then. How do fallen sinful
men and women make themselves ready for the marriage to the
son of God? This is what the text says. The
marriage of the lamb is come and his wife hath made herself
ready. How does that happen? Hath made
herself ready? Well, this is what she does. Everyone who is part of this
bride. They bathe themselves in the fountain of his blood.
Every one of them. Every one of them. So I thought
the redemption was done. It is. But the children of God,
by faith, plunge into that fountain filled with blood drawn from
Emmanuel's veins. And by doing so, they experience
the cleansing power of his blood so that their consciences are
freed from all guilt. She does that. Say, well, What
you're saying is that she simply receives what the Lord has done.
That's what I'm saying. But she does receive it with
all her heart, with all her soul. She lays hold of his finished
work and applies it to her own heart by faith and says, this
blood is my blood. This cleansing is my cleansing.
And she bathes herself in his blood. She puts on the robe of
his righteousness. Paul admonishes us again and
again to put on Christ Jesus, put him on, put him on. All children
of God, you who are loved of Christ, put him on, will you? Put him on! Put on his robe of
righteousness. I rise in the mornings and slip into the robe. Oh, it's
so good. Slip into that robe of perfect
righteousness. And I meet God. I meet God. And throughout the day, in my
heart and mind, as I draw near to God in prayer and in communion
and in fellowship, I put on the robe and meet God. I came here tonight to meet God. And what it did, put on the robe.
Put on the robe. What do you mean, pastor? I mean,
I simply trust Christ righteous. And I appear before God with
nothing but his righteousness, nothing but his blood. This thing
then of making ourselves ready for the marriage, making ourselves
ready to meet God is an act of faith. Yes, it's something we
do, but it's something that God by his grace enables us to do. And we willingly, with all our
hearts, Put on Christ Jesus, bathe in his blood and robe in
his righteousness and stand before God. I have none else except
him in whom I have hope. Then at the end of time, Christ,
our bridegroom, accompanied with the angels of glory and with
ten thousands of his saints, will come to receive his bride,
his church, into everlasting union with himself. The hour
is coming when those who are in the graves shall hear the
voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live. Every one
of them. Every one of them. I read in the history books of
how the God Saints have been burned at the stake and their
ashes scattered across the sea. And their enemies would say,
now let's see them rise again. You'll see it. You'll see it. How can it be? God, who made
us out of the dust in the beginning, will rise our dust again out
of the ground. That's how it shall be. By the
word of his power, the dead shall rise. And then we, which are
alive and remain, shall be gathered together with our Lord and with
his saints in the air and these bodies translated into everlasting
bodies of immortal glory. And now the wedding feast begins.
It's a feast that lasts not for a week or two, but it lasts throughout
all of eternity. This feast is the climax of God's
everlasting purpose of grace. It shall be a holy, blessed,
everlasting, perfect union of Christ and his elect. He prayed,
I will, Father, that they also whom thou hast given me may be
one as we are one. And it shall be. It shall be. Now, Darwin, that's just too
big for my little puny mind. I can't grasp that. But all his
saints shall be as perfectly one with him as that mediator
is one with God. A perfect union, a perfect union,
a complete union. So will we cease to be individuals?
No, no, of course not. No more so than the son ceases
to be the son when he is one with the father. But we shall
be one with him just as the son is one with the father in everlasting
glory. Now, secondly, notice the beauty
of the bride, verse eight, and to her was granted. That's the
key word 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. Before the marriage supper takes
place, the bride must be prepared. Now, this is no ordinary bride.
She has no ordinary garments. Her beauty is no ordinary beauty.
She naturally has no beauty at all. She naturally is loathsome
and vile. She naturally is corrupt and
wretched. But God, by his sovereign grace,
has made her to be beautiful. The great whore that was described
in chapter 18 was arrayed in the gaudy tapestry of the world.
She wanted her gold and her jewels and her fine garments. Well enough for worldlings, but
the church, the bride of Christ, is arrayed in garments of purity.
righteousness and light, the garments of salvation. Her wedding
garments of fine linen, clean and white, is here described
as the righteousness of the saints. Now, most of the commentaries
that I read on this passage, and I try to read a little, they
say that these fine linen, this righteousness of the saints, are the good works and the personal
righteous deeds, the personal holiness of God's people in this
world. But somehow or another, when
I'd read that or hear that, there's something about that just don't
jive. That just doesn't fit. Doesn't fit with what I know.
Doesn't fit with the word of God. Doesn't fit with this passage.
Doesn't fit with the message of his grace. For after all,
God's saints do perform good works, and they do walk in righteousness,
but their righteousnesses can hardly be called fine linen,
clean and white. Their righteousnesses in the
book are described as being filthy rags in the sight of God. So
it can't possibly refer to those things which we have done or
any measure of holiness which we have attained. Why the very
thought of such a thing is contrary to the whole message of grace,
for it declares that the saints will appear before God and they
will be accepted of God and wed to Christ and fit for the marriage
feast by their own works. Well, we know better than that. This fine linen, clean and white,
is that which God has given by his sovereign grace. It is the
righteousness of Christ imputed to us and imparted to us. Let's look in the scripture.
Turn over to Isaiah 61. Isaiah 61 and verse 10. The Lord God is speaking and
he says, I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. Our Savior speaking,
he says, I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be
joyful in my God, for he hath clothed me. clothed me with the
garments of salvation. He hath covered me with the robe
of righteousness as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments
and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. These are things
God has given me. Look over in the book of Ezekiel,
Ezekiel chapter 16. Now he's speaking not of our
substitute, but of the bride. He's speaking not of the redeemer,
but of the redeemed. He says in Ezekiel 16 in verse
six, when I passed by thee, I saw thee polluted in thine own blood. Now that's our natural beauty.
I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood, Yea, I said unto
thee, when thou wast in thy blood live, I have caused thee to multiply
as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen
great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments. Thy breast are fashioned,
and thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare. Now,
when I passed by thee and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was
the time of love. And I spread my skirt over thee
and covered thy nakedness. Yea, I swear unto thee and entered
into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest
mine. Then washed I thee with water.
Yea, I thoroughly washed away thy blood, thy pollution from
thee. And I anointed thee with oil
and I clothed thee also. with broidered work, and shod
thee with badger skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and
covered thee with silk. I decked thee also with ornaments,
and put bracelets upon thine hands, and a chain on thy neck,
and a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and
a beautiful crown on thine head. Thus was thou decked with gold
and silver, and thy raiment was of fine linen and silk, and brought
at work, and thou didst eat fine flour and honey and oil, and
thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a
kingdom, and thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy
beauty. For it was perfect through my
comeliness which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God." That's
plain enough, isn't it? That's the fine linen of the
saints. That's the fine linen clean and
white. That's our righteousness. It
is the righteousness of Christ that is His obedience to God
as our substitute that has been imputed to us, laid to our account. And it is also the righteousness
of Christ, his righteous nature that has been imparted to us
in regeneration. So that this righteousness of
the saints, it's theirs by a divine gift. It was granted unto her
that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white. And then thirdly, note the blessedness
of the called in verse nine. And he saith unto me, Right. 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, many are bidden to the marriage
in the preaching of the gospel. But there is no blessedness in
that. No blessedness in that at all.
In fact, to be bitten to the marriage and refuse to come brings
about a greater condemnation than if you were not bitten at
all. But blessed are those who are compelled, compelled by irresistible
grace, called, called by the power of the Holy Spirit, called
effectually to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Turn over to Luke
chapter 14. Luke chapter 14. Now the Spirit of God by the
gospel preacher does bid sinners come to Christ. The Spirit of
God by the preaching of the gospel does bid men come to Christ. And many who are bitten refuse
to come. Many who are bitten refuse to
come. Look in verse 15. Blessed is he that shall eat
bread in the kingdom of God, verse 16. Then said he unto him,
a certain man made a great supper and bade many. And he sent his
servant at the supper time to say to them that were bidden,
come for all things are now ready. His servant is the spirit of
God. He comes by the preaching of the gospel to men. And he
says, come. This morning I preach to you
those very words of our Lord Jesus. And the Spirit of God
by the gospel says to you, come. He's bidding you come. He bade
many come. Come. Come and eat. Come and
dine. All things are ready. Verse 18. And they all with one consent
began to make excuse. The first said to him, I bought
a piece of ground. and I must need to go see it.
I'll come another time. Anybody here ever bought a piece
of ground without looking at it? Not me. I've made some dumb deals
in my life, none that stupid. Nobody ever did that. They just
made excuse. Anything better than obeying. Another fellow
said, I bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them. I pray
they had me excused. Well, you're excused. You're
excused. If the ground and the oxen are
more important to you than the kingdom, you're excused. Go your
way. You're excused. There was one honest fellow in
the bunch. He said, I'm Henbeck. My wife won't let me come. You're
excused too. You're excused too. Yeah. So
that servant came and showed his lord these things. Then the
master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, Go out quickly
into the streets and lanes of the city and bring hither." Now
then, he didn't say, bid them come. He didn't say, ask them
to come. He said, bring them. Fetch them.
Fetch them here. Bring hither. bring hither the
poor and the maimed and the haunt and the blind. And the servant
said, Lord, it's done as thou hast commanded, yet there's plenty
of room. And he said, he said to his servant,
go out into the highways and the hedges and compel them to
come into my house, that my house may be filled. And he did. And
our Lord here is not talking about those who are bidden. He's
talking about those who are called. And there's a difference. He
says, blessed are those who are called to the marriage. Now,
when God does the calling, the reason they are blessed is that
God makes them willing to come. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causes to approach unto thee. Thy people shall be
willing in the day of thy power. Blessed are those whom God calls,
for their sins have been washed away. Blessed are those whom
God calls, for they are given a wedding garment. Blessed are
those whom God calls, for they're worthy to sit at the marriage
feast with the Lamb of God. Worthy may meet to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in light. And then, as though
this is just too much to believe, he says, these are the true sayings
of God. God said this, not a man. God
said this, not an angel. God said this, not a theologian.
God said this, not a preacher. These are the true sayings of
God. Blessed are those who are called to the marriage feast. Now, lastly, in verse 10, we
see the testimony of the scriptures. And I fell at his feet to worship
him. John was so filled with ecstasy
and wonder and amazement. that he fell down to worship
the one who showed him these wonderful things. I don't know,
perhaps John mistook this one who spoke to him for his glorified
Lord. I suspect that's the case. We're not told, however. He's
sharply reproved for doing it. And these are the things we read.
The one who spoke to him said, see thou do it not. Don't worship
me. Don't honor me. Don't worship
me, but rather recognize that I'm your fellow servant and of
thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God for the
testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Now, this is what
the text says. I'll give it to you in four statements. God alone must be worshipped.
God is to be worshipped and God alone is to be worshipped. We
do not worship angels. We do not worship dead saints.
We do not worship other men. We do not worship figures or
statues. We worship the living God. But
God is to be worshiped. He is to be honored. He is to
be magnified. He is to be extolled. God is
a spirit. He seeks men and women to worship
him in spirit and in truth. But secondly, all of God's saints
are brethren. They're all one in Christ. I
don't know who this brother was who was speaking to John, but
it wasn't an angel. He was one of John's brethren.
For all I know, it might have been righteous Abel. It might
have been Abraham. It might have been Moses, Elijah.
It might have been one of John's contemporaries who had been put
to death and put to death for the cause of Christ. I don't
know. But he was a man, one of John's fellow servants. And he
said, John, understand this, brother. We're one. God's saints in every age are
all one in Christ Jesus. And again, all of God's servants,
in whatever age they live, proclaim the same message. He said, John,
I'm of your brethren. I'm your fellow servant. I have
the testimony of Jesus. That's the message God's saints
always proclaim. That's the message his preachers
always preach. That's the message they preached
back there in the beginning. That was the message Moses preached,
the message Elijah preached, the message David preached, the
message Paul preached, and the message Don preaches. The testimony
of Jesus, that's all. And then he teaches us here.
that the spirit, that is the inner content, the inner meaning
of all scripture is the testimony of Jesus. That's it. Search the scriptures. For these
are they which, what? Testify of me. That's what he's
saying. The book, the book. Oh, I wish
I could get somebody to believe I wish I did some preacher to
stand up and declare this. The inner me, the spirit of prophecy,
the spirit of this prophecy from cover to cover is the testimony
of Jesus. That's all it says. Jesus Christ,
the son of God. It tells us who he is, why he
came, what he did, where he is now, what he's doing there, and
how he's coming again. It tells us the testimony of
Jesus. This book is the written word and it speaks of him who
is the living word, our savior, our husband, the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, I have to quit. I say to you who hear my voice,
come to the marriage. All things are ready and there's
plenty of room. There's plenty of room. Come
on. There's plenty of room. But I fear that some will be
found in the last day, gathered in the visible outward kingdom
of God. And the Lord will say to you,
friend, what are you doing here? You don't have on the wedding
garment. Oh, you've got the water of baptism on you. and you've got a ragged robe
of your own righteous doings on you, and you've got the smell
of self-righteousness on you, but you don't have on the robe
of my son's perfect righteousness. And if that's your condition,
he will say to you, depart, you cursed, into everlasting darkness. Well, we're going to eat the
bread and drink the wine, remembering him who back yonder
loved us, gave himself for us, washed us from our sins in his
own blood and made us perfectly righteous and anticipating him
who is yet to come in power and in great glory. and translate
us into his glorious likeness in that day when the marriage
feast shall begin. I pray you'll be there. And I
pray that you and I together shall spend eternity worshiping
and adoring him who loved us and gave himself for us.