Christ Loved the Church

Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the
church and gave himself for it. Question, do I belong to the
church which the Lord Jesus loves? Am I a part of that church for
which he gave himself? Am I a member of that sanctified,
cleansed church of the Lord Jesus Christ, the one that he says
he will present to himself a glorious church without spot or wrinkle
or any such thing? Well, first of all, I know this,
that this church of which our Lord is speaking here. Verse
32, Paul said, this is a great mystery, but I speak concerning
Christ and the church. Now this church of which our
Lord is speaking is not a material building. This place where we
are meeting today is not, I repeat, is not a church. What error and
misunderstanding has gripped the hearts of men and women in
this regard? We're going down to the church.
We're going to have a meeting at the church. I know people
who have sharp division over whether you ought to eat in the
church or not. This is not the church, this
building. And great error has been built
on this foundation. Confining our God to temples
made with hands, with the hands of men, out of wood, brick, stone,
and marble is idolatry. The Church is a company of people. The Lord Jesus Christ builds
his Church. The contractor can't do it. You
can't build a church. The Lord Jesus Christ said, I'll
build my church. So it's not, this is not a church. This is a meeting house. There
are churches meeting in caves. There are churches meeting in
homes. There are churches meeting in basements. There are churches
meeting under brush arbors. And there are people meeting
in buildings called churches that are not churches at all.
So it's not a material building, and that's an error, and it's
really idolatry. There are a lot of folks who
have more respect for a building and more love for a building
than they do for people who are the Church of the Lord Jesus
Christ. I've known ultra-church people. to have great respect for a building,
and then they'll argue, they'll divide over a building, over
the sanctity and sacredness of a building, and their brother
in Christ they'll cut to pieces with harsh words and with deeds
that are contrary to grace. There's something wrong with
that. That's idolatry. no more than the native, the
heathen, and the heathen of Africa worshiping his stones and his
marble idols. This is not a church. Secondly,
the church is not a visible organization on the earth. Now, there's the
church at Ephesus and the church at Corinth, but this church we're
talking about here, which Christ which Christ cleansed, which
Christ washed, which Christ redeemed, which Christ will present as
the glorious church. This particular church here is
not a visible organization. We only have to read the epistles
of Paul to discover that many in the local churches, read about
the church at Corinth, read about the church at Galatia, read about
these who departed, some of them from the gospel. and then tell
me that they were part of his church, they were strangers to
God. Paul said all Israel is not Israel,
and all members of the churches are not members of the church. All the members of churches are
not members of the church, just as all Israel is not Israel.
And then thirdly, this church we're talking about here is not
a material building, it is not a visible organization, and it's
not a denominational party. Listen to me. The Church of England. England doesn't have a church.
The Church of Scotland. The Methodist Church. The Methodists
don't have a church. God has a church. Christ called
it his church. The Baptist church, the Episcopal
church, the Catholic church, the Catholics don't have a church. This church here, which Christ
loved, is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the church
we're talking about. Our party politics and our platforms
do not make us his church or make us a part of his church.
We talk about organizing a church. You can't organize a church. A church is a called-out assembly. How can you organize what only
God Almighty can raise up and give life? God added to the church
daily, such as should be said. He's the one that brings the
church together. What is this church? Husbands,
love your wives as Christ loved the church, that he might present
it to himself a glorious church. I speak concerning Christ and
the church. What is this church? He called
my church First of all, it is made up of all true believers
in the Lord Jesus Christ, and only true believers. There are
no rebels in this church. There are no unregenerate people
in this church. There are no unbelievers in this
church. There are no false professors in this church. Every member
of this body, every member of this church, is a true believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, this church is made
up of all God's elect. The Heavenly Father gave to His
Son a people. His Son came into the world as
their representative and surety and redeemed them by His blood
and His Holy Spirit called them in time to repentance toward
God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This church is God's
elect. This church is made up of all
who have been convicted of sin in a genuine Holy Spirit experience,
who have repented in their hearts, who have believed on Christ in
their hearts, who have come to Christ in saving faith, who have
been born again of God's Spirit, who are clothed in the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. who are washed in his precious
blood and who are indwelt by his Holy Spirit. These are the
sheep of Christ. He called them my sheep. He said
to the professing religionist of his day, you believe me not
because you're not of my sheep. You're not of my church. You're
not of my body. These people are the family of
God. He is not ashamed to call them
brethren. These people are the treasure
of Christ. He said, I'm going to make up
my jewels. These people are the body of
Christ. And this really is my sole ambition. This really is the one desire
of my life, the one supreme, all-consuming purpose of my life. I want to be a member of this
church. This is the object of my search
to be a part of this church. You know why? I'm going to give
you three or four reasons. First of all, it says here, the
reason I want to be a part of this church, it says here that
Christ loved this church. He loved this church. He's always
loved it. Turn to Jeremiah 31. He's always
loved this church. This is the reason I want to
be a part of this church, a part of this body, a part of this
family, is because in Jeremiah 31, verse 3, he tells me that
he loves this church with an everlasting love. He's always
loved it. Look at verse 3. The Lord hath
appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an
everlasting love. Therefore with loving kindness
have I the reason I've drawn you The reason I've searched
you out and found you The reason I've called you is because I
love you God didn't begin to love you
when you made a profession of faith God didn't begin to love you
when he called you out That's reason he called you out Jesus
Christ didn't come into the world to get God in the notion of loving
us or to persuade God to love us. He came because Christ did
love us. Because God did love us. For
God so loved the world that he gave his Son. Christ is the gift
of God's love. He said, I have drawn you because
I've loved you. I've always loved you. In John
13, he says, Having loved his own, having loved them, he loved
them to the end. Having already loved them. Turn
to Jeremiah 1, verse 5. Listen to him speaking here.
I love this passage of Scripture. Jeremiah 1, 5. Look at it with
me. The word of the Lord came to
me, Jeremiah saying. Now watch this. Verse 5, Jeremiah
1. Before I formed you in the belly, I knew you. I knew you. What a gift. Before you came
out of the womb, I sanctified you and I ordained you a prophet
to the nation. It's always been that way. Deuteronomy
7. Turn over here and let's look
at this verse. You know why I want to be a member of this church?
Because Christ loves it and Christ has always loved it. Always. Deuteronomy 7 verse 6, Thou art
a holy people unto the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath chosen
thee to be a special people unto himself above all people that
are upon the face of the earth. The Lord did not set his love
upon you nor choose you because you were more in number than
any people. You were the fewest of all, but because the Lord
loved you. That's why, because of love.
Now, you know, I jotted down a couple of things here. Man
can't understand this kind of love that I'm talking about,
an infinite love, an eternal love, an everlasting love. It's
not in man's nature to love in this fashion. I'm talking about
unregenerate people. Disabled people can understand
it. Because God's given them an understanding. And God's given
them a measure of this kind of love. But an unregenerate man
cannot understand this. Now here's the reason, because
we love that which is beautiful, and we don't love that which
is ugly. We love that which attracts us. We dislike that which repels
us, repulsive to us. But that's not God's love. God
loves that which is unattractive and unlovely. Can you picture
yourself unattractive or unlovely? You are spiritually. In the sight
of God, the Scripture talks about us being full of dead men's bones,
an open sepulchre. The Scripture talks about us
being from the sole of our feet to the top of our head, wounds
and bruises and putrefying sores. Scripture talks about us being
worms, and God loves us. Now, secondly, our love is given
to those who love in return. It's not very possible that if
you love someone and they don't return it, you'll keep loving
them, not by nature. Now, spiritually, yes, but not
by nature. Christ said you love those that
love you. Why? Sinners do the same. Natural
men do the same, you see. They love those who return their
love, and they'll offer it, and if it's not returned, they'll
take it back. But Christ loved us when we didn't love him. And
even now, our love falls so short of what it ought to be, but he
loved us. And then natural men will start out loving, and that love turns to hate.
You've seen that happen often, I'm sure, in many cases. It starts
out strong. It's a strong love and strong
affection, but something happens and it turns to hate. God can't
do that. He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. He loves with an eternal love. He loves with an
unchanging, immutable love. So you see, this love we're talking
about here, this love of God, where does it find its cause? Natural love finds its cause
in beauty. Natural love finds its cause
in returned love. Natural love finds its cause
in response. But God's love finds its cause
where? in himself. That's what it says here in verse
8 of Deuteronomy 7. You say the Lord didn't send
his love upon you because you were more in number, because
you were lovely, because you were great, because you returned
it, but because he loved you. That's the reason. He did. He did. Because he did. Why should my Savior the Calvary
go? Why should my Savior bear my
guilt and shame? Why should my Savior set his
affection upon me? Why should my Savior set his
love upon me? Because he did. He found the cause not in me. Now you better learn this. I'd
better learn this. The cause is not in myself. The
cause of God's love is in himself. Listen to this hymn, sweet the
theme of Jesus' love, sweet the theme, all themes above, love
unmerited and free, our triumphant song shall be. Love so vast that
naught can bound, love too deep for thought to sound, love which
made the Lord of all drink the wormwood and the gall. which
led him to the cross, bearing there such awful loss, love which
brought him to the gloom in that cold and darkest tomb, love which
made him hence to rise far above the starry skies, there with
tender loving care all his people's griefs to bear, love which will
not let him rest till all his chosen are blessed till they
all, for whom he died, live rejoicing at his side, and the cause of
that love is found in himself." It's found in himself. I can't
explain it. I know it says here, Christ loved the church. He loved
the church. Turn back to Ephesians 2 and
read this. This, and it's unmerited. It's
undeserved. It's unsought. In Ephesians 2, it talks about
us, verse 2. We walked according to the course
of this world. Verse 3, we had our conversation
in the lust of our flesh, the desires of the flesh and of the
mind, and we're by nature the children of wrath, but God. who is rich in mercy for his
great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in
sin. He loved us. You see why I want
to be a member of this church? Christ loves this church. He
loves it with an everlasting love. That's why I've drawn you.
I've always loved you. I've always loved He loves it
with an infinite love. You know they read that verse
of scripture, Jacob have a loved and Esau have a hated? And I've
heard people interpret it this way, Jacob have a love and Esau
have a love less. Now let me ask you a question.
How can an infinite God, how can a perfectly holy God,
do anything less. Now if God loves less, then God's
love is not perfect. But God's love is perfect. Everything
God does, he does as God. He does in an infinite fashion. That's the reason the wrath of
God is eternal, because his love is eternal. That's the reason
the wrath of God knows no bounds, it's because his love knows no
bounds. That's the reason the wrath of God is infinite, because
his love is infinite. God hates Esau, that's what he's
saying. He loves Jacob, angry with the
wicked. I can't explain that, I just
know he's God. And he loves in an everlasting,
infinite, unchanging, God can't change. If anything changes,
now think about this some more, if anything changes, it's got
to change for the better or for the worse. The weather out there,
if it changes today, it's got to get warmer or colder. If anything
changes, if my ability to preach changes, I've got to be able
to preach better or preach worse if it changes. Now if God changes
His love, it's got to change for the better or for the worse.
God can't change. God can't get any better. He's
perfect, infinitely perfect. And God can't change for the
worse because he would be less than God. He loved this church. All right,
secondly, why do I want to be a member of this church? Because
Christ loves it. Secondly, he said he gave himself
for it. Now, by nature, we're not fit
company for Christ. By nature, I'm not fit company
for this church. I'm certainly not holy by nature. I'm certainly not without spot,
without blemish, and without wrinkle by nature. Christ cannot
commune with me as I am in sin. I love darkness. I love myself. My mind is enmity against God. I'm not subject to the law. I'm
a servant of sin. From the soles of our feet to
the top of our heads, we're unclean. By law, we are offenders. By
law, we're criminals. The Scripture says that the law hath concluded all
under sin. And in Romans 3, verse 19, listen
to this, Romans 3, verse 19. Therefore, now we know that what
things soever the law saith, it saith to them that are under
the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world
become guilty. By judgment I'm condemned to
die. The judge of the earth must do right. He will in no wise
clear the guilty. The soul that sinneth must die.
So by nature I'm not fit for a part in this church. I'm not
fit for a part in this church. So Christ had to do something
for me and for every member of this church in order to enable
us and equip us to be a part of his body. And what did he
do? He gave himself. Turn to Job 25. Here's the question
that Job asked twice in his writings, a question, the answer to which,
if you can learn, you learn the gospel. The question which Job
asked, if you can learn the answer to this question, the scriptural
answer, not an answer, but the scriptural answer, you learn
the gospel. Job asked in Job 25, verse 4, Be justified. The word justified
is holy, righteous, without blemish, without spot. How can man be
justified with God? How can he be cleaned that's
born of a woman? Behold the moon, even to the
moon it shineth not, the stars are not pure in his sight, how
much less man that is a worm, and the son of man which is a
worm, and he talks about man that drinketh iniquity like the
water. God Almighty cannot buy this
with money or possession. He cannot buy us righteousness,
a holy standing, a just standing before Him. He cannot forgive
it without satisfaction. He cannot decree it. God can't
decree righteousness. There's only one way that He
can purchase this righteousness, and that's to give Himself. To
give Himself. Born among the lowest, tempted
and tried by the law. nailed to a cross of wrath, buried
in a tomb, and risen by the Spirit, and ascended to the right hand
of God, as Toplady said, be of sin the double cure, save from
wrath and make me pure." The Lord Jesus Christ, in order to
cleanse his church, gave himself. Our pardon, our forgiveness,
our justification is all in Christ. Turn to Romans 8, verse 34, and
read it as Paul records our hope right here in Romans 8, 34. Who
is he that condemneth? Who can lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died. He gave himself. He gave himself. Look back at Ephesians 5 a moment. This church, Christ loved it
and he gave himself for it in order that he might sanctify
it and cleanse it. Two ways that the church is cleansed
and sanctified. It is cleansed by the blood of
Christ. It's the blood that makes atonement for the soul. It's
the blood of Christ that cleanses us from all sin. It's the blood
of Christ that reconciles us to God. It's the blood of Christ,
Peter said, that redeems us. But it's the word of God that
sanctifies us. He said, sanctify them through
thy word, thy word is truth. Now let me give you an example.
When a mother gives birth to a child, she gives that child
life from herself. She carries that child, and that
child's life comes from the mother. We know the father begets the
child, but the mother is the one that gives it life. And then
when she delivers that child, that child has life, and Christ
brought us forward. Over here in Isaiah, turn over
here just a moment, let me show you something, in Isaiah 53,
Isaiah chapter 53, and if you'll study this in one of your commentaries
later on, verse 11, it's talking about Christ redeeming us, wounded
for our transgressions, it says in verse 11, He shall see the
travail, you know what the word travail is, what it comes from,
it's birth pains, travail, a woman in travail. He shall see the
travail of his soul and be satisfied. Christ gave life to his church
from himself, by giving himself. His soul went into the valley
of death to give us birth, give us life. He took the Father's
wrath. He took the law's judgment. He
took justice's condemnation. He gave us life by giving himself. And that's what a mother does
who's carrying a child. She's giving of herself, giving
life to that child. That child derives life from
her. And she goes through a period
of travail and brings forth a child. And Christ came down here to
this earth in human flesh and went through the travail of souls. and torture a body under the
wrath of God, under the trial of the law, under the judgment
of sin, and brought us forth. Now then, that mother takes that
baby. It's got life. It's got to grow. It's got to keep that life. Turn
to 1 Peter. Let me show you something here
now. This is important. 1 Peter chapter 2. Then that
mother will take that baby in her arms, and she'll nurse the child. The old-fashioned way, of course,
I'm talking about the way that God presented it in his word
here, and this is the parallel. The mother, from her breast,
feeds that child milk, and that child grows and develops, and
is healthy. And he says here in verse 2 of
1 Peter 2, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the
word that you may grow thereby. And this is what we've got right
here in Ephesians 5. Christ loved the church. It's his church, his child, his
brethren, his sheep, always loved And he gave it birth, he gave
it life. In giving it life, he gave himself. And now for that,
for you, as a member of his church, if you are, for you to grow,
for you to develop, for him to nourish you and sanctify you
and strengthen you, he gives his word. See it right here. And that's how you grow. That's
how you grow. He breathed the Word. The Word
is the breath of God. The Word is the life of God. The Word is the milk of God. And you know what's wrong? The
reason you're undeveloped, the reason you got, the reason we
quit saying you, we, the reason we have all these problems we
have is because we are not on the breast of God's Word. This whole problem. You know
more about everything in the world. You know more about the
cold strike than you do about the book of Ephesians. And that's the reason that we're
so much like carnal people. We don't know enough about it. Boy, I wish we had the appetite
of a newborn baby. You don't see it in this country,
but down there in Mexico, the ladies nurse the babies while
you're preaching, while you're performing dental work or anything.
Those little fellows love that milk. I'll tell you, they'll
fight for that milk. They love it. I wish folks came
to the Sunday school classes and the church services as little
babies reach for the breast, hungry for the milk. Hungry for
the milk of God where that's how you grow That's how those
little rascal gets the fat pudgy is because they're on the best
diet that they can have they're on the mama's meal I like what
that black preacher said said reason you reason you Folks got
so many bullheaded kids you feed them that cow's milk That'll
take a while for that soak in That's reading we got so many
bullheaded church members we're feeding them on that strange
meal I The milk of God's Word gives people the fruit of the
Spirit, the grace of God. That's what I'm talking about.
All right, last of all, the reason I want to be a member of that
church, Christ loved it, Christ gave himself for it, cleansed
it, sanctified it with the Word. And then you know what it says
here? He's going to present it to himself a glorious church. Now you read about the churches
in the New Testament, the church at Ephesus and the church at
Philippi and the church at Colossae and the church at Thessalonica
and the church at Galatia, they weren't glorious churches. Oh,
they were missionary-minded and they had great leaders and great
people, but they had great error too. They weren't glorious. And you read about the churches
of the past. I've been reading this week about
the Moravians. And we Baptists, let's don't
be too rough on some of these folks until we're able to produce
what they produced. You know what the Moravians did?
Some of those great old Moravian preachers sold themselves into
slavery to preach to the slaves. That's right. They actually went
down and walked up on the block at the slave auction and sold
themselves so they could preach to those slaves. Some of, this
is true, some of them actually entered leper colonies back when
leprosy was not controlled and could not be treated. They actually
entered leper colonies and became lepers to preach to the lepers.
Let's don't be too rough on what we call, can't you imagine me
and the bride of Christ and one of those fellas on the outside?
I'm ashamed of folks that believe stuff like that. Can't you imagine
me, in 1977, with all the conveniences and all the spoil pampering that
we do for ourselves, and all this so-called orthodoxy, you
know, and the ordinances we are set to defend, even at the expense
of our Lord's honor, talking about that man being a guest
at the marriage supper, and me sitting at the table, and he
went to the leper colony? and became a leper to preach
Christ? He loved Christ like that? Well, that's rank ignorance,
is what that is. And I think gross blasphemy. Spurgeon's church,
with its orphanage, with its schools, with its thousands hearing
the gospel, it wasn't a glorious church. These Moravians, they
weren't a glorious church. This church here, God's blessed
us, we got a long ways to go, but we're not a glorious church.
Not yet. We got spots and blemishes, but
he says here that this church here, he's gonna present it to
himself! A glorious church! You know what
that'll be? That's when every person in that
church is gathered together perfectly free from all sin, made just
like Christ, all bright, bright with the glory that will exceed
the glory of Moses and Elijah on the mountain, a mighty company
which no man can number, all of them without a spot. Now, we're cleansed by the blood
of Christ, but we have our spots. We have our error of spirit,
error of doctrine, error of conduct. We have our, in the churches
today, we have false professions and wrong decisions and misunderstanding,
but in that day, not one spot, not one discord. without wrinkle. What does wrinkles mean? It means
age and weakness. But that church will be forever
young and eternally strong. And he goes on and he says he's
going to present that church which he loved, for which he
gave himself, which he nourishes through the Word, he's going
to present it to himself. It's his! And he's going to present
it, a glorious church having neither spot nor wrinkle, nor
any such thing, if you can think of anything else, that it should
be holy and without blemish. That's the glorious church, the
glorious church. My prayer is, and I hope it's
your prayer, Lord, make me more concerned, make me more concerned
about this relationship than about this one. More concerned
about this membership than this one. More concerned about this gift
than these that we put so much emphasis upon. Oh, to be one
with him. Our Father in heaven, bless the
Word, how we love this precious, precious Word. Help us to love
it more. Give us a hunger and a thirst
for righteousness, for the Word. Give us this panting desire that
David talked about as the hungry deer, thirsty deer panting for
the water brook, so panteth my soul after thee, the living God,
thy Word. Give us that thirst that cannot
be satisfied except when we drink at this fountain, that we may
grow thereby. Give us that life if we don't
have it, and then thy word if we do. In the name of our Lord
and Jesus Christ we pray, amen.

Christ Loved the Church

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Christ Loved the Church

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