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There's a little series that we've gone into, we broke away a little bit from 1 Peter, our study from 1 Peter, going through the book of 1 Peter. We're going to return to that, Lord willing, very soon, but I just felt as in being led of the Lord to go to Revelation chapter 19, how the coming of the Lord is drawn so near upon us as we look upon the signs of the times of their beloved.
We see, all you've got to do is cut on the television. You see violence filling this world, people trying to take justice within their own hands, which isn't going to happen rightly. Vengeance belongs to God, God's going to straighten it out, and He's going to when He comes back, and when the sound of the trumpet takes place, and the Lord Jesus Christ comes back in power and glory.
And it's going to happen very soon. We need to be ready. We need to be ready. So that's what we're looking at. We're looking at the glorious second coming of Jesus Christ. We just actually broke turf on it, but today I'd like to minister to your heart on something wonderful that's come to us in our text, is the marriage supper of the Lamb.
The marriage supper of the Lamb. So go with me now to Revelation 19. Revelation 19, isn't this so wonderful? We're going to talk about marriage. We're going to talk about the supper of the Lamb. And it's glorious.
Revelation 19. And I like to read verse 1 through 16, and we're going to look at the climax, Lord willing, next week, when Jesus Christ comes as King of kings and Lord of lords. But today we're going to focus on the marriage of the Lamb.
So hear the word of the living God. Revelation 19, beginning verse 1. I'd like to read to verse 16. After these things I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven saying, Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God.
For true and righteous are His judgments, because He has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication. And He has avenged on her the blood of His servants shed by her. Again they said, Hallelujah!
Her smoke rises up forever and ever. And the 24 elders and the 4 living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sat on the throne saying, Amen! Hallelujah! And then the voice came for the throne saying, Praise our God, all you His servants and those who fear Him, both small and great.
And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude as the sound of many waters, as the sound of mighty thunderings saying, Hallelujah! For the Lord God omnipotent reigns. I love this. Verse 7, Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory.
For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife, don't miss that, His wife has made herself ready. And to her was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright. For the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
And then He said to me, Write, Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And He said to me, These are the true sayings of God. And I fell at His feet to worship Him. But He said to me, See that you do not do that.
I am your fellow servant and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. And now I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse.
And He who sat on Him was called Faithful and True. And in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like flame of fire. And on His head were many crowns. And He had a name written that no one knew except Himself.
And He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood. And His name is called the Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. And now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that which with it He should strike the nations.
And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. And He Himself treads the winepress of the wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
Let's stop right there and let's pray and let's ask God to help us within this hour to worship Him as we come to Him by faith. And as we come to Him to seek His face and ask the help of the Holy Spirit.
Let's pray. Father, we come to You in desperate prayer this morning. Just not prayer, Lord, but desperate. Lord, our hearts, our hearts, oh Lord, are not where they should be. But You are the one, oh God.
Jesus Christ, the head of the church, is the one that searches the reins of the hearts. Lord, we would ask You, search me, oh God, and see if there be any wicked way in me. So Father, we do not know who we really are until we come face to face with Your holy word.
Father, we have no confidence in the flesh. The flesh will fail us every time. Father, help us to trust in You and holy in You. And nothing else, nothing else. No addition, no subtraction. But to trust in You with all of our heart.
So Father, lead us and guide us in truth. You said You would lead and guide the meek in judgment. So Father, as we come to You, Lord, if we need to be broken, break us, mold us, make us. Lord, remove the scales from our eyes that we may see Jesus and only Jesus.
Father, unstop our deaf ears so we can hear Jesus. Father, open our hearts that we may perceive the truth that You have before us. And Father, may the gospel of Jesus Christ glow and shine brighter than anything else.
And hide me behind the cross this morning, Lord. May we only see Christ and Christ crucified. Lord, I just want to be Your messenger. Faithful in bringing this Word and Your Word alone. Because it's Your Word alone, Lord, that has the authority here.
It's not nothing I say. But Father, it's Your Word that we glorify. So honor Your Word this morning, Father. As we come to You and give You the glory. And we would ask this in Jesus' name. Amen and Amen.
Praise God. This is the day the Lord's made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Church, to be a little touch of heaven. To what is to come one day and for all eternity. You know this Lord's Day morning, we have an announcement, I like to say, of the most anticipated day ever in the life of every believer.
It is the day of the Lord. And that day is the final consummation that Christ will come and set everything straight. He will, I assure you of that. The true church of Jesus Christ, the true church of the Lord, has but one desire, has but one treasure, has but one anticipation.
And that is Jesus Christ Himself. He who was crucified, buried, who is raised again from the dead, ascended to the Father and now is at the right hand of the Father in great power and glory, making intercession for His own.
And then one day, there's going to be the sound of a trumpet and He's going to come back in power and glory. It's going to happen, beloved. Because this book says it's going to happen. You know, the Apostle Paul said this in Philippians 3, 7 through 11.
But what things were gained to me these days, I have counted lost for Christ. Yet indeed, I also count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, He was His Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, dung, that I may win Christ, that I may gain Christ.
And I love what he says here. And be found in Him. How are we going to be found in Him? He goes on. Not having my own righteousness. Not anything of our own good deeds. Not my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ.
There's the gospel. Faith in Christ. The righteousness which is from God by faith. And he goes on to say, that I may know Him. That was his supreme desire, that was his ultimate desire, is to know God, to know Christ.
To know that I may know Him. And the power of His resurrection. And he doesn't stop there. To have that power of the resurrection and how that comes. And this is what most people don't want, but it's the only way to have His power of the resurrection.
And the fellowship of His sufferings. His sufferings. And being conformed to His death. We've got to be conformed to the death of Christ. Jesus says, we've got to take up a cross daily.
That's daily.
That's the believer. Count the cost. And then He says, if by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. So there was Paul the Apostle's goal. The greatest Christian. The greatest missionary.
The greatest theologian that ever lived. And at one time, the most religious man who ever lived. He was a Pharisee of Pharisees. But yet all his striving of the flesh could not get him saved. It was Christ alone that saved him.
Christ alone. And that is Christ alone that will save you and me. You know, Jesus is that treasure. That hidden in the field. He is that which is worth more than everything in this whole entire world.
He is worth the loss of all things. That's what Paul was saying. Jesus is that pearl of great value. That is worth the loss of all things. He is the church's one desire. The one treasure. The one great anticipation.
And that's whom we are waiting for to come back in power and glory. And beloved, I'm telling you. He's going to have a bride that is pure and clean and white. And it's his righteousness that he dresses his bride with.
And that's what we are going to look at today. And I also want to give a quick warning. As you well know, as we in the church, as the last days speaks up, Paul says, in the last days is going to be a falling away.
And we are seeing that. We see false teachers are rising up. There's apostate apostasy on every hand. There is an apostate Christianity, so called, that's preaching another gospel and another Jesus, unfortunately.
Be careful and beware. These only seek to use God to obtain earthly treasures. And they do it in the name of God. This is idolatry. No matter who they call themselves, we must be careful to stay away from those who preach another Jesus.
How can we know the difference? Well, the scripture says test the spirits and see whether they are of God. And how we can test the spirits is right here. Stay in this book. Saturate yourself with this book.
Cleanse yourself with this book and this truth. And it will cleanse you. So, true Christianity has but one true desire. This is what I'm saying. That one true desire is not just to receive and obtain the blessings of Jesus Christ, even though the blessings do come.
But that true desire is Christ the Blesser. He, our Redeemer. And it is this desire, not only to know Christ, but to desire to see Christ return. To see and desire to be with Him. And to love His appearing when He comes back.
Now, it's not going to be a grand and glorious day for those who do not know God. We know this because the wicked is going to be judged. But right now is the age of grace. And we will see this later on.
But as Jesus came and began His earthly ministry, He quoted from Isaiah. And He spoke about, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. And He has anointed me to preach glad tidings. The good news. To the oppressed.
To the poor.
To heal the brokenhearted. And He goes on. And then He does not quote that whole prophecy that Isaiah speaks of in Isaiah 60. I believe it's Isaiah 60. And He stops. He stops. And I want to make sure my chapter and verse is right to you.
Because I do not want to mislead you. That's 61. Excuse me. 61.
61.
Let me quote it. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me. Because the Lord has anointed me to preach the good tidings to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted. To proclaim liberty to the captives.
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound. And then He says this. To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. And you know something? Jesus did not finish that.
Why?
Because in the rest of that verse He says,. And the day of vengeance of our God. Beloved, what we read this morning in Revelation 19 is the day of vengeance of our God. That is the day of the Lord. But right now is the age of grace and mercy.
And God's patient to have people to come to know Him through repentance. And believe in Him. And that's what we need to do. And that is our message to tell the world. It doesn't matter how bad of a shape she's in.
How immoral and terrible and what people has done. There is salvation in Jesus Christ. And people can be saved. Because this gospel has the power to save them. To transform a heart that is hard and crusty like stone.
And God can do a heart operation. By the way, the scripture says, David cries out, create in me a clean heart, O God. God can create a new heart. He can give you a new heart. He can give me a new heart.
But it's our desire as God's believers to see Christ return. Because we love His appearing. It is a desire to see Him reign. It is our desire to be with Him for all eternity. And to love Him. And to adore Him.
And to praise Him. And to worship Him. Because that's the purpose why God saves us. Is to worship Him forever. As I said before, Dr. Tozer, A .W. Tozer says, God takes rebels and He makes worshippers out of them.
Isn't that the purpose of what God does? The purpose of salvation. Just not to have a ticket from hell. Or a ticket from hell and a ticket to heaven.
No.
Fire insurance from hell, some people would say. No, that's not the purpose. That's a benefit. No, our purpose is to be worshippers of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know, true believers are those who love and long for the glorious appearing of Jesus Christ.
They long and they love Christ because Christ is their first love. And scripture says, if you've forgotten your first love, if you've left your first love, Jesus said, go back and do your first works over.
And repent. I had a guy come to me here earlier within this week. I was putting up milk in the cooler and he took me by surprise. This actually happened a couple of days ago. And I know him. He knows my son.
And he came up to me and he said, You know, I know the scriptures. I've been a believer, but I'm living in sin. I was shocked. And I don't know what actually convicted him. I believe it was the Holy Spirit.
Nothing in me. I thought, wow, you know, here I am putting up milk and all of a sudden. And he asked me, he said, I've got something personal to bring to your attention. And I said, well, yeah, we can talk a little bit as I work.
And here we are in the cooler about 32 degrees. And he said, you know, I've been living in fornication. Living with this girl for five years. He said, I know I'm in sin. He said, it's wrong. He says, I've lost my way.
He said, but, he says, what do I need to do? What do I need to do?
I thought, wow.
He comes to me and asks what he needs to do. I said, lovingly. I said, you know, God loves you. But you know, and I don't even have to tell you this, God doesn't love your sin. And obviously you're convicted by it, aren't you?
I said, I'll say this lovingly. And I pointed him to Revelation. And what Jesus says, repent and do your first works over. I said, leave that lifestyle of sin. You've got to forsake it. I said, I'm going to tell you the truth.
I said, you may not like what I've got to tell you. And I'm going to tell you what the Scripture says. I'm not going to tell you my opinion. I'm going to tell you what the Word of God says. Because God is angry with the wicked every day.
I said, but you need to turn from your sin. Now, I said, a lot of people may think that's mean and harsh. But I said, no, it's the most loving thing I can tell you. And then I said, when you... I said, repent, do your first works over.
Get out of that relationship. And he said, well, I don't know if she'll understand. I said, look, then she's not for you. I said, if she understands. I said, obviously she's going along with that lifestyle.
So she probably needs to repent as well. I don't say probably, I said she needs to. I said, come out of that. Come out of that. That's what God calls us to do. Come out from the world. Come out from the harlotry.
Come out from the sinning. And He commands people to repent. And by the way, Scripture says in Acts 17 that God commands men everywhere to repent. It's not a suggestion. It's a command from God. And I said, you know, isn't this something that the church has so far gotten away from that.
Now we focus so much on the love of God and the grace of God that we've forgotten that God is just and holy and He commands people to repent. But I said, you know, our love and God's love, the way we think of what our love is is completely different from what God says.
God's love is warning and discipline. And He loves us. Not for who we are, because God is love. That's what Scripture says, right? It's not the definition of the world. It's not this feeling, good feeling stuff.
If it feels good, do it.
No, that's all.
Most of the time, all the time that is wrong. It's sacrificial. If you really want to know love, look at the cross. Look at the cross that Jesus died on. Well, can I tell you today, this story that we've read about the marriage supper, it's a love story.
It's the greatest love story I believe you can ever read in Scripture. You know, like a bride separated from her husband longing for the wedding day, the church is currently separated from one who loves that we love most.
Eagerly anticipating the great day of God Almighty, we can go and dwell with Him forever. We are like the Shumanite woman in Song of Solomon who has been separated from her beloved as long as to find her again.
Song of Solomon. You don't hear much about Song of Solomon, do you? This is a love story. It's a beautiful love story. Song of Solomon. Please go with me there. And it's pretty easy to find here. You just go to Proverbs.
And if I'm not mistaken, then you got Ecclesiastes, then you got Song of Solomon. So it's right after Ecclesiastes. So if you know where Proverbs is, you're right in the right area. Solomon writes it.
Song of Solomon. Some call it Song of Songs, but it's Song of Solomon. Chapter 5. Listen to the anticipation of the Shumanite woman. Chapter 5. Let me just read 8 through 16. I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,.
If you find my beloved,.
That you tell him I'm lovesick. I'm lovesick. Are you lovesick this morning? What is your beloved more than any beloved, O fairest among women? What is your beloved more than any beloved that you so charge us?
Charge us.
And there's the Shumanite right here. That's the daughters of Jerusalem. But here's the Shumanite. My beloved is white and rooty, chief among ten thousand, and his head like the finest gold, his locks are wavy and black as a raven.
His eyes are like doves by the rivers of waters washed with milk and fitly set. His cheeks are like a bed of spices, banks of scented herbs, and his lips are lilies dripping like liquid myrrh. His hands are rods of gold set with beryl.
His body is carved ivory and laid with sapphires. His legs are pillars of marble set on bases of fine gold. His countenance is like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. His mouth is most sweet. Yes, he's altogether lovely.
This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. Isn't that a beautiful picture of the bride and the bridegroom, of Jesus Christ and His church? It's a great anticipation. This is our current anticipation of the church, as it's told right here.
Well, in Revelation 19, we see a brief announcement of that day of consummation that's soon approaching, the marriage supper of the Lamb, the marriage of the Lamb. So this morning, the goal of the Apostle John and the goal of the angel who reveals this glorious day, and by the help and the power of the blessed Holy Spirit, to produce in each one of us a great anticipation for this great soon coming day, the marriage supper of the Lamb.
I do have an outline this morning. Let me give it to you, and we're going to work through it by God's help.
First of all,.
We're going to see an impressive scene. An impressive scene in verse 7 and 8 of Revelation 19. And second, we're going to see an important message in verse 9. And third, we're going to see an impulsive response in verse 10.
So we have an impressive scene, an important message, and an impulsive response. So let's begin, and let's look at this text together. First, we see an impressive scene. It's an impressive scene. We touched on this a little bit last Lord's Day, but it is an impressive scene, isn't it?
As we read this and looked at last Lord's Day, we see in the text that these two verses in a glorious rejoicing in heaven. Heaven rejoices. Heaven, with all the saints, erupts in rejoicing. And this is commonly known as the Hallelujah Chorus.
I don't know about you, I love good music. I love George Frederick Handel's The Messiah during Christmastime, but actually it's supposed to have been, he wrote it actually for, not Christmastime, it was for Easter, if you read the true story of it.
And after he penned those great words, and actually what he does, he just goes right to Scripture and puts Scripture to Scripture together, and he puts this glorious music together. And I love the Hallelujah Chorus,.
Don't you?
It's like a crescendo, it's like a climax, and it's all focused on God. And by the way, when that was first presented in Europe, and George Frederick Handel had it presented, people just stood to their feet.
And after he wrote that, the Scriptures,.
He said,.
The testimony of George Frederick Handel, he said, it was as if all of heaven was seen before him. And he said, he wept and cried. It was powerful. But beloved, can I say this, in all respect to George Frederick Handel's work, the Hallelujah Chorus, this is the real Hallelujah Chorus.
And actually, he gets it from Scripture, so he's not doing any dishonor to it, the Word of God, he gives honor to the Word of God. But this is the Hallelujah Chorus, this is when heaven erupts into great rejoicing.
And why? Because heaven, we see from heaven, the great harlot, in the immoral city, Babylon, is thrown down and burned with fire.
She's judged.
And heaven erupts, and glorious praise to God. And look at the text in verse 1 -5, you can see it, after these things I heard a loud voice and a great multitude in heaven, saying,.
Hallelujah,.
Salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, belong to the Lord our God. Isn't that glorious? Giving praise to God, because God has judged Babylon. He judges her. And we learn from the text here, that the destruction of the harlot is not the only reason to rejoice, and that there is rejoice in heaven, that is one reason to rejoice, but there is another reason that is revealed to us from scripture, for the redeemed to rejoice, and it is right here.
Then we see that this angel has just ushered John by the Spirit,.
By the way,.
He was in the Spirit on the Lord's day,.
When this was happening,.
Isn't it amazing?
He was on an isle of Patmos, in a gutter hole, and God shows him the glories, what is to come, and he didn't understand it, but he saw it. Thousands of years ahead, and God says, this is the way it is going to be, right here.
Because God knows all things, right? He knows the past, the present, the future. He has already lived it. And this angel has just ushered John through the back doors of the church, so to speak. And when John looks, there is a glorious wedding that is taking place.
And can I put it in our own language, he kind of sees the decorations of this wedding. He sees the preacher at the front door. He sees the big arrangements, all that is being made, and he sees the feast that is prepared, and he sees the groom up to the front, and he sees the bride standing at the back, all dressed in pure white linen.
Able and getting ready, I am sorry, to be presented to her husband. The ceremony. The happy scene. Have you ever been to a sad wedding?
I have preached a lot of funerals. Now let me say this, the saddest of all funerals is those who die without Jesus Christ. Those have been hard for myself. I have preached a lot of funerals. Those that die in the Lord, I give the gospel, usually their last request, the people that I have known, I say, please give the gospel to those that don't know God.
And I give the gospel, and that's glorious. And those who die in Christ, it's really a wonderful thing. I had the opportunity, it's been two years, Brother Keith, to marry this two fine couples right here, Brother Keith and Sister Fee.
And it was such a joy. But you know this, you know this, it's a joy and a happy occasion for a marriage, right? But verse 7, it's a happy scene. Look at verse 7. Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His wife has made herself ready.
Now, we have here, we love the truth that the harlot Babylon has got what she deserved, right? Now we long to see the bride get the groom. And that's the text here, is actually what it's saying. So, on this glorious day, everything works out for the good to those who love God and those who are the called according to His purpose.
God sets it straight. The day of vengeance has come. He judges the great harlot Babylon. And now, there's a wedding feast that's about to take place. Happy ending at last. Isn't that the way marriages are?
They live happily ever after. And that's the occasion here. Hallelujah! The groom is with the bride. That's the whole purpose here. The groom is with the bride. And this calls for rejoicing in heaven.
And all of heaven rejoices. This calls for happiness. This calls for a great celebration. This calls for praise to the groom, by the way. And as verse 7 says, and His wife, His wife,.
I love this,.
His wife has made herself ready. I heard Leonard Ravenhill say this one time. He was talking about the marriage of the lamb. And you know what he said? He said, you know, he said, I've been up to a lot of weddings.
And he was from England. And he was talking about all these weddings he'd been to in England and America and so forth. He says, down through his years, he said he was 80 at the time, probably thousands.
And he said, I never, he said, it's interesting, he said, I've been to poor weddings and rich weddings and all kinds of different classes of weddings. He said, but I've never ever seen a dirty bride. You know, what's the point there?
Jesus will have a pure bride when He comes back. And it says right here, His wife has made herself ready.
We need to be pure,.
Dressed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, not a righteousness of our own. And then outside, and from that, yes, there is the righteous acts of the saints, which is obedience to the Word of God. But look at verse 8.
Verse 8 says,. And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen.
Fine linen.
Clean. Not a dirty bride, right? Clean and bright. For the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Beloved, we have a picture here of a less than deserving bride. Is that what you see? I feel that way.
A less than deserving bride, a picture of a poor bride who could not even afford a dress of her own. A picture here of an unfit bride, by the way, who did not deserve a dress. That's the glorious picture that's given to us here.
But Jesus, the wonderful groom, provides every bit of that for her.
Isn't that beautiful?
It's a glorious picture here. The groom provides her beauty. He provides for her glory. He provides that she may stand ready at the ceremony. And that's the way the picture is in Scripture. The well-known Scripture is Ephesians chapter 5, and the Apostle Paul brings this out.
Chapter 5, verse 25 through 27. This is such a beautiful analogy of what is taking place here. And Paul says this to husbands.
He says,.
Husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her. That He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of the water by the Word. Notice what it says. He might sanctify and cleanse her.
He is the sanctifier. He is the one that does the cleansing. For her. For what purpose? Verse 27. That He might present to her Himself a glorious church. Did you get that? That He might present her to Himself.
A glorious church.
This is the kind of church that Jesus is going to have. Not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing,.
But that she should be holy.
And without blemish. So husbands, then He says this, and this is so convicting to me. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies, and he who loves his wife loves himself. That's how much you gotta love your wife.
If you're a husband.
Isn't that wonderful?
And this is the way Jesus. He died for her. He gave Himself up for her. He purchased her with His own precious blood. And that's what cleanses her and washes her by the Word. And He's going to have that kind of bride.
That He might present her to Himself.
I love that. Well, it goes on.
This is a beautiful picture here.
The beauty of the bride, which is the wife, is the direct result of the work of the groom. He paid off her debts with His blood.
Purchased her.
He washed her with His Word. He clothed her with His righteousness. And He did so that on this, anticipating the wedding day,.
That big day when He shall come.
And they will be buried. This is His wife.
This is His bride.
But He's coming after her. And He might present to Himself a perfect and beautiful spotless bride. And that she may have put on the beautiful garment. But it was a garment provided by the groom. Not by herself.
But by the groom.
It is a glorious and it's going to be a beautiful day. And they're going to live happily ever after. In heaven. And Jesus said that, didn't He? According to this last week. This is exactly the context of what Jesus is referring to in John chapter 14.
I think it's worth repeating again. I know I said it last week, but this is worth...
Oh my!
This is a promise. What did He say? Let not your heart be troubled. He's talking to His own disciples,.
To His bride.
You believe in God, believe also in Me. He gives a promise. In my Father's house are many mansions. And in the original text, it means many dwelling places that I have for you. Many dwelling places. And if it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you.
And what did He say? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again. You can take that to the bank. You can guarantee it. When everything else in this Word of God is taking place. When Jesus says He's going to come again, He's going to come again.
I will come again and receive you to Myself. And where I am there, you may be also.
Where I live, you may be also. But first there's a cross. Then there's a crown. Brother Keith brought this out. Before Jesus was a lion,.
He was a lamb.
Before the day of vengeance, is the day of grace. But you know this as well. His patience is going to run out one day. And He's going to come back. It's going to be very soon, beloved. We don't know when.
And anybody tries to predict it, it's false teachers anyway. Because Jesus said, no man knows the hour. The day of the hour. Well here, let's go on. It says, next, let's go to the second point. An important message.
We have an important message. Look at verse 9. Back to Revelation. Chapter 19, verse 9. Then He said to me, Right, blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And He said to me, These are the true sayings of God.
Now this verse is loaded up, beloved. John just saw a glimpse of the beautiful, beautiful wedding ceremony. But, let me say this. We don't see the ceremony quite yet.
Do we?
We actually don't see the marriage ceremony progress until chapter 21 of Revelation. So, jump with me to just maybe a page over. Look at chapter 21. I like to read most of this. Here you have the actual ceremony.
Here.
And it says this. And now I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God.
Notice what he says. Prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, Behold the tabernacle of God is with men and He will dwell with them and they shall be His people.
That's part of that covenant. God Himself will be with them and they will be their God and God will wipe away every tear away from their eyes. Isn't this glorious? There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, no crying.
There shall be no more pain for the former things have passed away. Isn't it great things that's prepared for those who love God? That believe and trust in Him? And then he says this. Then He who sat on the throne said, in verse 5, Behold I make all things new.
And He said to me, Write for these words are true and faithful. Again, He says it time and time again. True and faithful. True and faithful. And He said to me, It is done. I am Alpha. I am the Omega. I am the beginning.
The end. And I will give the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. And then He says this. The promise. He who overcomes shall inherit all things. And I will be his God and He shall be my Son.
But notice what it says here.
But the cowardly. The cowardly.
The unbelieving.
The abominable.
The murderers.
The sexually immoral.
The sorcerers.
The idolaters. And all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone which is the second death. Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me saying, Come and I will show you the bride and the lamb's wife.
Notice that. And He carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem.
Here it is.
Descending out of the heaven from God and having the glory of God. And her light was like the most precious stone, like a jasper stone clear as crystal. And she had a great and high wall, twelve gates and twelve angels at the gates.
Names written on them which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. Three gates on the east and three gates on the north and three gates on the south and three gates on the west.
And now the wall of the city had twelve foundations and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. He who talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city and its gates and its walls.
It tells the measurements right here. The measure of the great new Jerusalem, the city of God, the heaven of heavens. The city is laid out as a square in its length as great as its breadth. He measured the city with reed, twelve thousand furlongs in length and breadth and height and are equal.
He measured its wall, one hundred and forty cubits, forty-four cubits and according to the measure of a man that is of an angel. Basically fifteen hundred miles high, fifteen hundred miles wide. It's as high as it is wide.
Foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones. First foundation was jasper, second sapphire, the third chadoneon, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardox, the sixth sardis, the seventh crystallite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth cryosophes, I probably butchered that, the eleventh jacenth and the twelfth amethyst.
Twelve gates or twelve pearls.
Twelve pearls.
It's not gates of pearls, it's twelve pearls. It's a pearl. Each individual gate was one pearl. Have you ever seen a pearl fifteen hundred miles high? MacArthur said, I'd like to see the size of that oyster.
Wow.
And the street of the city was pure gold like transparent glass. And I saw no temple in it for the Lord God Almighty, the Lamb or its temple. This is the dwelling place. This is it right here. All the ceremony.
The city had no need for the sun or the moon to shine in it for the glory of God illuminated. The Lamb is its light. Jesus himself is that light. And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor to it and the gate shall not be shut at all by day.
There shall be no night there. And then he says this, and there shall bring the glory and the honor to all the nations into it, but there shall by no means enter anything that defiles or causes an abomination or a lie but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.
And by the way, that happened at the foundation, before the foundation of the world in eternity when God made a covenant.
With His Son,.
An agreement of who His bride would be. There you have the chosen, that God has chosen from the foundation of the world. Does that mean we know whosoever will? No, it doesn't. We don't know who the elect are, right?
But God does. But as far as we know, God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. I believe in the whosoever will gospel, beloved, that this gospel is to be taken to the whole four corners of the earth.
Well, this is what we see in the actual ceremony that takes place, and we see here are the guests, back to Revelation, the guests. We see a groom ready to be married. We know that she's, then there's a bride.
She does not deserve to be there. Next, we see all her beauty was given to her by the groom, and before any action was taken to have the ceremony to progress, there is a pause, and we all, we're supposed to learn something here, yes, and what is it we're supposed to learn from seeing the groom and the bride?
That verse 9 really says everything. Then He said to me, Right, blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. That's what we need to learn here. The called out ones, the redeemed is the bride.
So that, now, let me give a question here. What peoples is He talking about here? The people are those who are invited to the marriage supper, and some might ask, who are they? There's been a lot of different opinions and commentaries.
Is it Israel? Is it the church? Is it, who is it here? And let me just tell you the best I can. We'll look at Scripture. So the bride doesn't necessarily, the bride doesn't get invited. She does the inviting to this text.
Now that's interesting, isn't it? Now by far the most popular marriage analogy for us is that Christ is the groom and the church is the bride. We know that, right? That's straight. That's set in record.
But can I say this? This is not the only marriage used as an analogy in Scripture. Go with me to Matthew 22. We're going to jump around Scripture a little bit. We don't let Scripture interpret Scripture.
Amen there? We're not going to believe this preacher necessarily. I want you to study it. We need to look at what the verses of Scripture says. I don't know if I've got time to go through all this, but we'll look at a few verses.
Matthew chapter 22. Chapter 22 here is a parable. I want to read just verse 1 through 10. And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and saying, the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son.
Sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding and they were not willing to come. And again he sent out other servants saying, tell those who are invited, see I have prepared my dinner, my ox and fatted cattle are killed and all things are ready.
Come to the wedding. Jesus goes on to say this, but they made light of it and went their ways and one to his own farm and another to his business and the rest seized. His servants treated them spitefully and killed them.
But when the king heard about it, he was furious and he sent out his armies and destroyed those murderers and burned up their city and he said to his servants, the wedding is ready but those who were invited were not worthy.
Therefore go into the highways and as many as you find, invite to the wedding. That's everybody, beloved. So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found both bad and good and the wedding hall was filled with guests.
I'll stop right there now. That's a good parable. We don't... The question comes, who's the bride here? We don't know. We don't know, but God knows because the bride is never mentioned. But we do know from the parable that Israel are the original invited to the guest.
They refused the invitation. Israel refused it and the gospel goes to the Gentiles, right? And the Gentiles are the slaves who are both evil and good and they get invited instead. That's what's saying here.
So in this particular parable, the church is not the bride necessarily. He speaks of Israel but she refuses that invitation. So the church is really the dirty slaves who are fortunate to come at all. Here's another parable.
Go to Matthew 25, just a couple chapters over. We've looked at this before, but let me read a little bit more here and bring out something very important. My time's almost drawn up. In the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom and now five of them were wise and five were foolish and those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them but the wise took oil and their vessels with their lamps but while the bridegroom was delayed and all slumbered and slept.
Verse 6. And at midnight a cry was heard Behold the bridegroom is coming go out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps and the foolish said to the wise give us some of your oil for our lamps are going out.
But the wise answered saying no lest there should not be enough for us and you but rather go those who sell and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy and the bridegroom came they were not prepared beloved.
Those who were ready went in with him and to the wedding and the door was shut. It's like dark. When God's patience came to an end come to an end.
It was shut. God shut that door.
And then it says afterward the other virgins came also saying Lord, Lord open up to us. But he answered and said surely I say to you I do not know you. Watch therefore for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.
That's exactly the picture. And when Jesus comes back and that's exactly but what's the point here? I'm not going to have time to get to my other points speaking of points. But here what he's saying there are five foolish virgins who is Israel who were unprepared then there are five wise virgins who are the true church.
You see that? So the point is what he's saying we can't push a certain marriage parable too far. And kind of make it to say what we want it to say. We must take the text and there's so many other verses I'd like to go to and chapters read the book of Hosea in your devotional time.
Lord willing we'll pick up on this next Lord's Day. Ezekiel chapter 16. But the point is that the bride in Revelation 19 is all the redeemed. You see that? It's the redeemed of the Lord. The Old Testament the New Testament all the way through and through.
One church. One church. One bride. Jesus doesn't have two brides.
It's one bride.
Those who are invited in verse 9. And I'll close with this and the redeemed and the angel simply pointing out to John that we will have a bride who has not earned the right.
To be at this glorious wedding.
It's only because of what Jesus has done on the cross that He purchased her. And the scripture says we have not been purchased by things like silver and gold that's going to pass away. We've been purchased what?
By the precious blood of the Lamb. And that's what He purchased us with. Very quickly. Go to 2 Peter. I'll close with this, I promise. And then I will have a conclusion. But I've got to read this chapter because it's so strong and it fits so perfectly in everything that's being said here.
2 Peter 3. Listen to this. Beloved, now I write to you this second epistle in both of which I stir up your pure minds by the way of reminder that you may be mindful of the words which are spoken before by the holy prophets and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior.
Knowing this first. Notice what He says. Now some people might ask, let me stop and pause for a second. A lot of people say why hasn't Jesus come back yet? Well this chapter answers that. Knowing this first that scoffers will come in the last days.
We in the last days, folks?
I'm telling you what.
He said that 2 ,000 years ago on God's timetable. We in the last minutes. The minute's about to strike midnight. The midnight cry's about to come. Knowing this first, scoffers will come, beloved. Not might come.
They will come in the last days. Walking according to their own lusts. He's talking about scoffers in the church. Outside of the church too. And saying, where is the promise of His coming? You see that?
Where is the promise of His coming? Since the fathers fell asleep and all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. Everything is as they are. Sounds like somebody is just unbelief.
Unbelief. One of the worst sins. Verse 5. For this they willfully forget that by the word of God the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of the water and the water and by which the world that then existed perished being flooded with water.
Reminds of the great flood that took place. In Noah's day. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
But, listen to this. Beloved, do not forget. Do not forget this one thing. That with the Lord one day is a thousand years and a thousand years is one day. Okay. If it's been two thousand years ago it's like two days to God.
Time is nothing to God. He inhabits and dwells eternity, folks. Time is a gift for each and one of us has. From a seed in the moment of conception.
Within the womb.
Of a mother which nowadays is legal to kill. Sad, isn't it? But from that seed.
From the time.
And then we're born out of darkness into the light. That's the first birth and the second birth is very similar. You have nothing to do with it. God does the regenerating and you come out of darkness into light.
God gives us so many pictures externally to see the spiritual, see. He so desires us to see. But here, according to this, it's like time is no big deal. Do not forget this one thing that with the Lord one day is a thousand years and a thousand years is one day.
And here's the point. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise. God's not slack. And some, as some, count slackness. But this is why He hasn't come yet. He's long-suffering toward us.
Notice. He's hit us.
Not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. Beloved, no, like I said last week, a thief doesn't give an invitation when he's coming.
He's going to come.
When He wants to come. And as Jesus will come in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise and it tells us what's going to happen. The elements will melt with fervent heat, folks. Some people feel like that's atomic bombs and those kind of things.
I don't think so. God burned up Sodom and Gomorrah with fire from heaven. It's going to be the same thing. All God has to do is speak the word and fire will come down. And I'm telling you, the hot heat, He will purify everything.
Burn it up instantly. God's wrath, that's the day of wrath is coming. We're to flee from the wrath to come. But the day of grace is here. God wants to save us. Both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
And now listen.
Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness?
We should be holy.
In other words, separated from the world.
Love not the world,.
Neither the things in the world. If any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him. And then He speaks about what all there is in the world, the pride of life, the lust of the eye,.
And the lust of the flesh.
As all of the world, it's what? Going to pass away. But he that does the will of God shall abide forever. We should be godly.
We should be looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God. Because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire. For the elements will melt with fervent heat. That's the question. And then He says this.
Nevertheless, we according to His promise, His promise, look for a new heavens and earth in which righteousness dwells. Don't you long for that day, beloved? Well, let me say this. Come to Jesus. My question to you, are you washed in the blood of Jesus?
Have you believed in Jesus and put your whole confidence and faith in Him? Because that's how we're saved. We're saved by faith alone. By what Jesus did. We cannot earn it. You cannot earn it. You can't.
You can do everything you can like Paul. Paul did it all in the name of God as a Pharisee of Pharisees, right?
And he come to find out.
When Jesus, it was a collision course, Jesus came after him. Isn't that the way the groom does? He goes after his bride. It's not the other way around. It doesn't supposed to be anyway. It's a twisted backside, upside down world.
That's the way it is. But scripturally and biblically speaking, it's the groom that pursues the bride. Can't prove me wrong. Everybody say, yeah, that's the way the world,.
The world does it different.
That's the world!
God never had it that, in that intention.
Read in Genesis. Have you not read? When God made Adam. And God says, it's not good for Adam to be long, right? Made him help me.
This is so simple,.
But people's departed so much for this. And then, put him in a deep sleep. He did, God did an operation, didn't he? And he took a rib out. And what did he do with that rib?
He made a woman.
And you read that, and then God, it's like God presents, as the father presents her to him. You see that? It's God. He's the seeker, not us. Praise God. The gospel of free sovereign grace.
But,.
There is a command to repent, beloved. You must turn from your wicked ways, and trust the Lord with all your heart. Scripture says, whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord,.
Shall be saved.
That's a promise.
People say,.
That sounds easy,.
But that calling,.
That calling on the name of the Lord, I've got to turn from this.
And you know,.
In order to turn from that, I've got to have a desire,.
That desire.
Brother Keith brought that out this morning. We've got to have that desire to love God, and desire to hate sin, and desire to love righteousness, and love God. And after all,.
This life is fleeting, isn't it?
It's appointed once for man to die, and after that the judgment. Come unto Jesus. He said, come unto Him. He's meek and lowly.
And He'll take your sin,.
Wash it whiter than snow.
Mercy.
He doesn't have to do it, does He? He's chosen to do it, because He's God. He's merciful. Not anything because of us, because we don't, our righteousness is what? Filthy rags, filthy rags. Filthy rags.
As I said earlier,.
This bride,.
She's basically, she's not deserving, and she's filthy. Right now, I think a lot of times,.
The bride is just.
Wallowing with the world too much, and gotten herself filthy, but she's going to be cleaned up before Jesus comes. Time to get cleaned up. Amen? Praise God. Let's pray. Father, we thank You for this, within this hour.
Lord, there's so much more that can be said here.
But Lord,.
I truly believe in You, Lord. Enough's been said from Your Holy Word. We leave it at that. And as we sung earlier, Lord, at the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light, all the burdens of my soul rolled away.
It was there by faith. I received my sight, and I'm happy all the day. Now, no other way to have true happiness and true holiness is but through the cross. Lord, we come to the cross, and we're amazed that we even saved.
Lord, as all of Your goodness, nothing good in us, no good thing dwells in us, as Paul says. Lord, it's all because You're so good and so righteous and so holy and so pure. Yet, You were moved with mercy to have a bride of Your own and a love gift, a love gift, to love You.
Lord, help us to look to You as the first love. Lord, if we've got any other lovers in this world, Lord, may we cut it off,.
Do away with it,.
Because those kind of things don't love us. Lord, it's only You that truly loves us with an everlasting love, an everlasting love. So, Lord, help us not to lean on the arm of flesh, try to make ourselves clean, but wholly trust in Jesus' blood alone, in His righteousness, which has been imputed to us all because of the work of the cross.
Lord, we go to the cross, we go to the cross, and that's where we fall. Lord, wash us and cleanse us and be merciful to us as sinners. We ask this in Jesus' name.
Amen and amen.
Amen. Praise God.