FBC Morning Worship Service

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Sunday morning service from Faith Baptist Church

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Well, good morning, good to see you on this early spring day. It feels like spring, doesn't it?
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It's nice to see the sunshine and see the snow melt, enjoying that. I was really appreciating it early this week.
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I like to walk to the church sometimes in the morning. And on Monday, I think it was
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Monday, I walked to the church and the streets were all clear and I was able to walk.
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But until I got over here to the sidewalk between that street there and the church and it's still all covered with snow.
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So I trudged through the snow. Tuesday, there was a little less of that.
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And where my footprints were from the day before, I could almost see the sidewalk. And then by Thursday and Friday, the sidewalk was clear.
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Praise the Lord. Aren't you grateful? So I know I am. Well, a couple of things I just want to emphasize from your bulletin.
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One is the afternoon service today, our lunchtime together. If you have brought lunch or if you're going to go get lunch or whatever,
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I hope you'll take advantage of that time of fellowship after the morning service. And then the afternoon service at one o 'clock, singing through some psalms and reading those psalms together.
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And I sent out an email yesterday and said, I discovered something and I can't wait to share it with you.
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So I'll have to have to do that in the afternoon service today. Nothing profound and earth shattering, but it was a great delight to me nevertheless.
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So we'll do that this afternoon and the one o 'clock service. And then the other thing, men's breakfast a week from Saturday.
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So the 20th, eight o 'clock in the morning. So men encourage you, invite you to come together for that time.
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Nothing really big on an agenda. Again, just a time to get together as men, we'll pray together, share a meal together.
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I don't know, Michael may say, well, pastor, you know, as long as we've got some men here, we might as well get some things done.
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So we'll see about that, but don't let that deter you from coming to that breakfast.
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In fact, maybe that'll encourage you to come. You can help out and get some things done around the church. We'll see about that.
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And then other than that, just note, there's a note in here about the correct address for the foreman's.
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Everything last week in the address was correct except for the number one after the 180. So it's 1801
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Hickory Lane. And so speaking of them, you want to pray for Deb, having after her surgery the other day, just been in a great deal of pain and just pray for God to be gracious in that.
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We have a couple of new prayer letters from our missionaries, both Hammermeisters and Scott Williquitt, and it was struck in both of these letters how the missionaries, all of our missionaries are still being impacted by the
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COVID requirements and limitations and so forth. And not only that, but beyond Scott Williquitt, for example, had a couple of trips scheduled to Myanmar later this year.
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And if you're up on the news at all, you know about the political unrest in Myanmar. And so that trip is up in the air.
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And then, of course, the Hammermeisters are in Canada and Canada's restrictions on churches are horrible.
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And so they have not been meeting and still in any way.
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So you can read their letters and get more information regarding those things.
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To begin our service today, Psalm 47, I want to read verses 6 through 8, where we're exhorted, sing praises to God, sing praises, sing praises to our
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King, sing praises. For God is the King of all the earth. Sing praises with understanding.
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God reigns over the nations. God sits on His holy throne. So in our song supplement book, number 6,
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Jim's going to come and lead us to encourage us to behold our God, who is sitting upon His throne.
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So Jim, please. Thank you, Pastor. Again, it's number 6 in your blue books, supplement books.
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Let's stand together, please, as we sing all three verses of number 6, Behold Our God. Who has held the oceans in His hand?
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Who has numbered every grain of sand? Kings and nations tremble at His voice.
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All creation rises to rejoice. Behold our
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God, seated on His throne. Come, let us adore
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Him. Behold our King. Nothing can compare.
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Come, let us adore. Who has given counsel to the
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Lord? Who can question any of His words?
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Who can teach the one who knows all things? Who can fathom all
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His wondrous deeds? Behold our
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God, seated on His throne. Come, let us adore
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Him. Behold our King. Nothing can compare.
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Come, let us adore. Who has felt the nails upon His hands?
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Who has met a sinful man? God eternal, humble to the grave.
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God, His Savior, risen now to reign. Come, let us adore
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Him. Behold our King. Nothing can compare.
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Come, let us adore. Please remain standing.
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Brother Red Bill, would you lead us, please? Our Father, we just do thank
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You for that You're such a wonderful God. We just look forward to beholding You in the Scriptures this morning.
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And we just do pray, Lord, that as we see and gain a better understanding of You, Lord, that You would show us, show us ourselves,
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Lord, and how we need to trust in You. And just pray that You would show us what we should do,
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Lord. And pray that You would show us things from Your perspective.
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And, Lord, as we look at Your Word this morning, I pray that You would build and grow Your church. And just pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.
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And you may be seated. This morning we'll be commemorating the
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Lord's Supper together. And normally, at this point, we would read a psalm together.
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Today I wanted to read Isaiah 53. If you want to follow along in your copy of Scripture, you do so.
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Isaiah 53. This, of course, is a prophetic revelation of Messiah's death in our behalf, taking our place on the cross.
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We'll read this together and then sing a hymn that also directs our hearts toward the
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Lord's table and His work on the cross. And then we'll share in the Lord's table together.
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Isaiah 53 begins with a question, Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the
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Lord been revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground.
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He has no form or comeliness, and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire
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Him. He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
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And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him. He was despised, and we did not esteem
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Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed
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Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions.
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He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
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All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned, every one, to his own way. And the
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Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not
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His mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not
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His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment. And who will declare
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His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living. For the transgressions of My people
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He was stricken. And they made His grave with the wicked, but with the rich at His death, because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth.
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Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him. He has put Him to grief. When you make
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His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed. He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the
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Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the labor of His soul and be satisfied.
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By His knowledge My righteous servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities.
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Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He poured out
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His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and He made intercession for the transgressors.
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The Lord add His blessing to the reading of His word. Jim? Again in your blue supplement, number 65.
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Number 65. We'll sing all four verses together. Smitten, taken, and afflicted,
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See Him dying on the tree. Tis the
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Christ by men rejected, Yes, my soul, tis
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He. Tis the long -expected prophet,
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David's son, yet David's Lord. By His Son God now has spoken,
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Tis the true and faithful Word. Tell me, ye who hear
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Him groaning, Was there ever grief like this?
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Friends through fear His cause disowning, Foes insulting
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His distress. Many hands were raised to wound
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Him, None would enter, posed to save. Neck -tight
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His secret pierced Him, Was the stroke that justice gave.
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Ye who think of sin but lightly, Nor suppose the evil great,
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Here may view its nature rightly, Here its guilt may estimate.
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Mark the sacrifice appointed, See who bears the awful load.
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But to word the Lord's anointed, Son of man and Son of God.
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Here we have a firm foundation, Here the refuge of the lost.
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Christ the rock of our salvation Is the name of which we boast.
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Lamb of God, for sinners wounded, Sacrificed to cancel guilt.
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None shall ever be confounded, Who on Him their hope have built.
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So we think of Him who was smitten, stricken, afflicted, and why, why?
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The passage we read earlier, Isaiah 53, tells us He was bruised for our iniquities.
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By His stripes we are healed. So when those stripes were laid on the body of the
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Lord Jesus, and then the nails pierced His hands, were to reflect on that supper, that last supper, the night before His betrayal.
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When the Lord took that loaf of bread, and as we take that little wafer that reflects on that loaf of bread, and He broke it, and He said,
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This is My body that is broken for you. Take and eat.
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The body was broken, and when the body was broken, the blood spilled. Spilled out from His hands, from His feet, from His head, the crown of thorns, as it was placed upon His head.
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And then at last, from His side, as His wounded side poured forth the water and the blood.
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And Jesus, anticipating that, on that last supper meal, He took the cup, a single cup, and in that cup, the wine red and ready to be drunk.
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And He said to His disciples as He began to pass the cup around, This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for many.
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Drink ye all of it. And they all partook of the bread, and they partook of the cup, and the
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Lord said to us, Do this in remembrance of Me, because when you do, you show the
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Lord's death until He comes. And so today we remember what our
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Savior did for us in the giving of His body to be broken, His blood to be shed on that cross as He bore our transgressions and He bore our iniquities upon Himself.
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And we remember that, reflect upon that, until He comes. So we anticipate, we anticipate our
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Savior is coming again. What a glorious, what a glorious hope, confidence that we have in this world in which we live.
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So when we pray together today, we want to pray for not only our missionary of the week and ask for God to bless the rails and their service in Brazil.
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We also want to pray for other missionaries. I mentioned earlier the Barillas, Mark and Kelsey, were supposed to fly to the
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States on Friday, this past Friday. They had to get COVID tests beforehand.
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By the time their flight was to take off, they still hadn't gotten the results. When they finally got the results, they came back mixed.
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Mark tested negative, his daughter, who goes nowhere, stays home, homeschools, and all the rest of that, she tested positive.
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So they had to put their flight off for a week, get retested, and so on. So we just want to pray for the
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Lord to bless in that trip, if that's in the Lord's will. Perhaps God in His providence doesn't want them to make that trip.
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I don't know. We just want to leave that with the Lord's hands. And then also pray for the
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Heinecks, for Mark and Lynette. I mentioned at the Sunday school hour this morning, the church that they were working in, in Grecia, had that meeting last
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Sunday. There are just a bunch of things that have fallen out from that.
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But the bottom line is, Mark does not believe that working in that ministry is going to be a possibility, so they're looking for other options.
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So we want to pray for the Lord to direct in that. I want to pray for Deb Foreman, as I mentioned earlier, that the
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Lord would graciously heal her and ease some of the very intense pain that she's experiencing.
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I want to pray for Melissa. Melissa is going to give birth to a baby girl anytime, and they're working on that right now.
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So pray for our new granddaughter to come into the world safely and be healthy, and mom as well.
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Pray for God to be gracious there. Continue to pray for Bob Klein. I got to visit with him the other day, and he stayed awake most of that time, but he gets a lot of rest these days.
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Just pray for God to continue to be gracious to him. Let's look to the Lord in prayer, shall we? So our
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Father and our God, we are grateful today for your kindness and your love toward us expressed so vividly on that cross, that cruel, cruel, cruel cross.
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But, Father, a cross that's sanctified by what took place there, by the work on that cross.
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He who became a curse for us, he who became sin for us, also became to give us righteousness, to impute his righteousness unto us.
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We might be made righteous. Thank you for that gracious work on the cross.
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We're thankful, Father, that we have the hope and the promise of our Savior's return.
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And that return is imminent. He could come at any time. May we be ready.
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May we be watchful. And as we're exhorted in your Word, may we be busy about your work and doing that which you've given us to do individually, on an individual basis.
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You have equipped each of us to serve you in some way or another, different ways, but to serve.
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And I pray that when you come, you will find us so working, so engaged in loving service unto you.
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I pray that we would walk with you. We would live with you. It's so easy in this day when much is in turmoil.
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And there are threats to our sense of propriety and our sense of morality and what we know is righteous and true and just, so much of that under assault these days.
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It's easy for us to get distracted. It's easy to lose sight of who you are, that you are our
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God who is seated on the throne and that no power on this earth, no matter the nation, no matter the perceived position of authority, there is no power in place but it is of you.
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May we trust you as we navigate these waters before us.
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We thank you, Father, that we can intercede in behalf of others. We think of these missionaries that are particularly in need these days, the gorillas and the uncertainties and the confusion and the frustration they're dealing with.
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I pray, may they rest in you. May they find confidence in you. We think also of the hynix and the outcome of last week's church meeting and what that will mean for Mark and Lynette and their future.
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I pray that you would guide them to that very work that you would have them to do, whether it's to continue in Grecia or to find another location for service.
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I think of a meeting that Mark is to have today with some leaders and I pray that you would give wisdom and direction in that meeting.
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Father, we pray for your people that comprise this local church. Thank you for each one.
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Thank you for your faithfulness to us and the faithfulness of your people to the work of the ministry.
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We think of those, though, who are hurting today. We pray for Deb and ask that you would give relief from the pain that she is experiencing.
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Bless Eric as he cares for and tends to the needs of his wife. I pray that you would bless that couple and do so richly.
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We also pray for Bob. Continue to give him rest and confidence in you.
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Thank you so much for his testimony, for his faithfulness, for his trust in you, regardless of the circumstances of the body.
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Bless him richly, we pray. Father, we pray for those in our congregation who cannot be with us today because of physical limitations.
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Some who are shut in, others out of concern over the
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COVID virus, and others because of their physical needs. Melissa right now, just pray that by your grace you would give a healthy baby and a safe delivery.
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And may everyone be healthy in that delivery today, Lord willing.
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Father, we pray that by your grace as we continue to contemplate the work and the ministry of the church and who we are as a church to you, may our hearts be blessed and encouraged by that relationship, but may we also be challenged as we consider it.
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And this we pray in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Take your hymnals, your hymnals on page 160.
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My Jesus, I love thee. 160, let's all stand together and sing all four verses together.
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My Jesus, I love thee. I know thou art mine.
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For thee all the fallen will sin.
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I resign. Jesus, Redeemer, my
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Savior, art thou. If ever my
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Jesus tis now, He caused us first,
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And purified his tree.
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If ever my
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Jesus tis now, I'll love thee in life.
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I'll praise thee as long as thou lay'st,
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And hast me hath. And say when the death do lies,
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Cold on my face.
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Jesus tis now, In mentions of glory and endless delight.
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I'll sing with the glittering crown.
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Jesus tis now.
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Please be seated. Scripture reading this morning,
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I want to read in Ephesians chapter 5, and verses 22 through 33. This is a passage that normally, and rightly so, focuses, when preached or taught, focuses on the husband -wife relationship.
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That's certainly applied, and a legitimate application of this passage.
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I mean, Paul addresses the wives and the husbands in this passage. But what we're going to look at today is what underlies those exhortations.
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So Ephesians chapter 5, follow along again in your copy of Scripture, beginning with verse 22.
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Paul writes, Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as also
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Christ is the head of the church, and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.
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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 water by the
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Word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.
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So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
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For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the
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Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones.
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For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.
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This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless, let each one of you, in particular, so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
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A brief prayer, Father and our God, I pray that as we look at this passage in relationship to the underpinning idea in husband -wife relationships, we would be appreciative all the more of the relationship between Christ and His church.
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So we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. So somewhere in my reading this past week,
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I came across the idea that there are over a hundred different images in the
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Bible that refer to the church, that picture the church in some way or another.
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Now, I didn't try to run those down. I didn't even read all of those different descriptions. But I do believe that there are three primary images, three primary metaphors, if you will, for the church.
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And those different images emphasize a different relationship that the church has to Jesus and that those who comprise the church have as well.
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So what are those three images? I think the three primary images for the church, especially in the
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New Testament, are a building, a body, and a bride. So think about this.
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The church is a building. Jesus says, upon this rock I will build my church.
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And Christ, in relationship to that building, is the cornerstone or the capstone of that building, which is the church.
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And I think that picture of the church as a building emphasizes the church's relationship to the world.
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Then there's another image, the image of the body. The church is spoken of as the body of Christ, with Christ the head of that body.
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So we see that here in the book of Ephesians. Back in chapter 4, it says,
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So speaking the truth in love, we may grow up in all things into Him who is the head, Christ.
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And if you look in the context, it's talking about the church as the body of Christ, and Christ is the head.
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That image of the church as the body emphasizes the relationship of those who comprise that body with one another, our relationship to each other, if you will.
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But then there's this third image, the image of the church as Christ's bride.
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And Christ, of course, in the relationship to His church here, is the bridegroom.
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And the emphasis of this image, of the church as Christ's bride, the emphasis is the relationship of the church itself to Christ.
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Now over the next few weeks, we're going to look at each one of these different images. But today,
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I want us to see that Christ is the perfect loving groom.
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And I want us to see the church as His bride. Now that in itself encompasses a lot.
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And so we're going to divide this into three Sundays. Today, we want to look at the bride as she is loved.
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Next Lord's Day, Lord willing, we'll look at the bride as she is celebrated and vindicated.
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And then the following Sunday, we'll look at the bride as she is presented.
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The bride as she is presented. So for our purposes today, the church is the
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Lord's loved bride. Christ loved the church, our text says, in Ephesians 5, verse 25,
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Christ loved the church. Now as His bride, so loved by Him, Jesus is the bride's authority.
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And I don't want to dwell on this, but it's brought out in verse 23, as the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church.
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And here the idea of Christ being the head of the church, it's not like in the earlier passage,
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He's the head of the body. Here the emphasis is on His position of authority.
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Back in chapter 4, when it speaks of Christ as the head of the body, it's focusing on His being the center of control.
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Just like your head, your brain, and so forth, controls the rest of your body. But here the focus is more on His authority,
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His position of authority. And since Christ is our loving groom, and we
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His loving bride, as He is the authority over us, our response is to be submissive to Him.
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That's the idea of verses 22 and 23, and then on to verse 24. Verse 24 says, just as the church is subject to Christ, the wife is supposed to respond to her husband in that way.
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So, as loved by our groom, Jesus, we the church,
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His bride, are to be subject to His authority. He lovingly relates to us, as being an authority over us.
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But then, in verse 23, what we also see, is that Jesus is, in His love for His bride, is
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His bride's Savior. He is His Savior. The end of verse 23 says that He is the
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Savior of the body. Jesus is the Savior of His bride's body.
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So this, of course, is talking about His work on the cross. We just commemorated that a few moments ago, where He saves us,
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He delivers us, from the dangers of sin and death and hell.
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What is to be the church's response to our groom, who has saved us by even giving
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His own life on the cross? Our response is to be one of wholly dependent trust in Him.
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Hence, we see, for example, in the letter to Titus, when Paul writes to Titus, he says in chapter 3, talking about Christ's saving of us,
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Titus 3, verses 3 and following, he says this, Titus 3, verse 3,
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We ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.
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This is what our old life used to be, but He saved us. It goes on to say, but when the kindness and the love of God, our
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Savior, toward man appeared, how did He save us? Not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to His mercy
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He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom
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He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace, we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
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This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works.
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Our response to our groom, who in His love for us has saved us from sin and death and hell, our response should be one of belief, of total, complete, dependent trust, faith, if you will.
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So, Jesus in this passage in our text, in Ephesians chapter 5, is the bride's authority,
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He is the bride's Savior, but the primary focus of this passage is on the fact that Jesus is the bride's lover.
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He is the bride's lover. Verses 25 to 32 bring this out.
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Now, I want to show you four ways in which Christ demonstrates His love for His bride.
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Four different ways that Christ shows His love for His bride. In the first place, Christ's love for His bride is focused.
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It is focused. We read in verse 25 that Christ loved the church, and He gave
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Himself for her. You see the focus of that love.
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Christ loved the church. He gave Himself for her.
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Now, the fact of the matter is, and we see this earlier in the book of Ephesians, back in chapter 1, that that love that He has for the church was set on her in eternity past.
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Ephesians 1, look at verses 3 and 4. It says, That we should be holy and without blame before Him.
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He chose us in Him, in Christ, before the foundation of the world. So, that love that the bridegroom has for his bride is a love that was set on that bride in eternity past.
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But it is a work, a love, I should say, that is worked exclusively for her.
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He gave Himself for her. A little while ago, when we were commemorating the
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Lord's Supper, what were we commemorating? We were commemorating His work on the cross.
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And what was that work on the cross? That was the work in which Jesus, the bridegroom of His bride, the church, gave
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Himself for her. Or He was working exclusively for her.
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Now, what should our response be to that? Are you part of Christ's church?
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Are you part of the bride of Christ? Have you come to that place of seeing yourself as a sinner that cannot save yourself, like Titus 3 was talking about?
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You saw yourself, this is me, Titus 3, 3, this is me. You saw yourself that way.
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But then the kindness and loving kindness and the grace and mercy of God appeared in the person of Jesus Christ.
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Do you see Him? Do you see Him on that cross, dying for you, shedding
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His blood for you? Have you come to that place to see Him in your place, taking your place, dying your death, the one you deserve to die?
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And has that caused you to respond to Him and say, Oh, God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
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Be merciful to me, a sinner. Save my sinful soul. Are you part of the bride of Christ?
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Have you come to faith in Christ? All right. Then Christ, having made you a part of His body,
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His bride, made you a part of His bride, He set His love on you as His bride.
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How should you respond to that? I think a good way to respond to that is illustrated in one of the traditional wedding texts, if you will.
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And it goes something like this. And I've used this often in a wedding where you exhort the couple, quote, never take each other's love for granted, but always experience that breathless wonder.
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Here's how you and I should respond to the fact that Christ's love for His bride is focused.
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Here's how we should respond. We always experience that breathless wonder that exclaims,
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Out of the whole world, you have chosen me?
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This is expressed in the hymn. It's in your song supplement book. I don't remember the number. How Sweet and Awful is the
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Place? A couple of the stanzas go like this. Written by Isaac Watts, he said, he wrote,
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While all our hearts and all our songs join to admire the feast, each of us comes with thankful tongues.
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Lord, why was I a guest? Why was I made to hear
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Thy voice and enter while there's room when thousands make a wretched choice and rather starve than come?
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Why me? Why would you set that love upon me? And yet,
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Christ's love for His church is focused. He loved
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His church, His bride, and He gave Himself for her.
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So Christ's love is focused. And secondly, Christ's love for His church is sacrificial.
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Our text says He gave Himself for her. He gave
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Himself for her. Literally, He gave Himself up for her.
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This is, of course, speaking of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look, Jesus was not a martyr.
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He was not a martyr. A martyr is one who believes very strongly in his position, his convictions, and he will stand with this.
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And we have countless martyrs in church history. There were men and women who were told,
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You've got to recant this, you've got to turn from this, and so on. And they said, No, I'm not going to deny Christ, I'm not going to recant.
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And then authorities took them, or belligerents took them, and executed them.
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They were martyrs. Christ was not a martyr. Why? What's the difference?
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Well, one of the differences is that those martyrs, they didn't go, they didn't enter into a village and say,
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Here I am, kill me. Jesus came into this world saying,
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Here I am, kill me. I have come to sacrifice myself for my church, for my bride.
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I have come to give myself up for her. So this sacrifice of Jesus giving
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Himself up for His church, for His bride, was voluntary, and it was self -initiated.
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Do you not know that I could call 10 ,000 angels to deliver me if I desired?
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I could. But He did not. He gave Himself voluntarily, and it was a self -initiated sacrifice.
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It was a total sacrifice as well. Look back at verse 2 here in Ephesians chapter 5.
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We're exhorted to walk in love as Christ also loved us and gave
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Himself for us. What kind of giving was this? An offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet -smelling aroma.
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You know what the picture is there, right? You get the picture. Paul is alluding to those
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Old Testament sacrifices, those animals or those offerings that were brought to the altar.
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The animal was slain, its blood was poured out, and the carcass of that animal was placed on an altar, and it was burned up wholly, completely.
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That's the picture. This is our Savior. This is our groom.
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This is a sacrifice for us. Totally, voluntarily, self -initiated, sacrificing
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Himself in our behalf. And it was a satisfactory sacrifice.
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That sacrifice of our groom completely satisfied the wrath of God.
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Even as we sing in that hymn, In Christ Alone, in His death, the wrath of God was satisfied.
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It was a satisfactory sacrifice. Christ's love for His bride is focused.
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He loved His church. He loved and gave
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Himself for her. Christ's love for His bride is sacrificial.
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He gave Himself up for her. And Christ's love for His bride is intentional.
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It's intentional. We get this in verses 26 and 27. There are three purpose statements here.
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Do you see it? Each one begins with the word that. In order that, if you will.
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It can be translated that way. Christ loved the church, verse 25, the end of the verse says, and gave
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Himself for her in order that, verse 27, He might, or verse 26, that He might sanctify and cleanse it.
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Verse 27, in order that He might present her to Himself. And the last part of the verse, 27, in order that she should be holy and without blemish.
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Three different in order that's. So three different purpose statements. In other words,
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Christ, our groom, loved the church with intention.
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He intended something in His love for the church. And these purpose statements reveal the intention that Christ had in giving
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Himself up for the church, in loving the church. And the first intention is that of sanctification.
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The second intention, we'll look at each of these individually. The second intention was presentation.
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And the third intention is glorification. Let's look at those individually.
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The church's groom intends for his bride's sanctification.
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See this in verse 26. He loved the church that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word.
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This intention is something that involves an ongoing process throughout the church's life, the church's existence.
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An ongoing process. This is an ongoing process in your life individually as a member of the bride of Christ.
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An ongoing process. A process of sanctifying her.
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Sanctifying her. What does that mean? Well, it means in the first place setting her apart for Himself.
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And again, you know, in Ephesians, Paul is taking this relationship of Christ to his church and applying it to the marriage relationship.
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So when we think about that marriage relationship and the wedding and all the rest of that, we can get a sense of what this sanctifying is all about.
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The bride is set apart for the groom. You understand that on a human level in a marriage relationship.
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Well, Christ is setting apart His bride for Himself. Weaning her.
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Weaning her from all other distractions. So, for example, you think of what we read in James 4 and verse 4 of how we might be distracted.
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James writes and he says, Adulterers and adulteresses. He's writing to believers who are the bride of Christ.
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But he accuses them of being adulterers and adulteresses. Not in a physical sense. No, not at all. He says,
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Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
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So, in this intention of sanctifying
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His bride, setting her apart for Himself, what the Lord wants to do is wean us away, wean
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His bride away from the distractions of the world so that we are not so enticed by that world and become friends with that whole world system that is contrary to Him.
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Sanctification also involves this cleansing that is spoken of here in Ephesians 5 verse 26 that He might set her apart and cleanse her with a washing of water by the
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Word. Washing of water by the Word. So, this sanctifying, this ongoing process in the present involves setting her apart, pulling her away from the distractions of the world,
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His bride, and then cleansing her from any and every impurity.
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Now, lest we think this is all passive on our part. You know, after all, we're the bride.
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Okay, so we can just kind of sit back and fold our arms and say, okay, groom, do it.
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Do it. Well, He does. He does.
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It's God that works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.
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But I would remind you that we're exhorted to be involved in this cleansing process, this sanctifying process.
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2 Corinthians 7 .1, after talking about the fact that there's no concord between light and darkness,
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Christ and Belial and so forth, 2 Corinthians 7 .1 says, You and I are responsible as part of the bride of Christ.
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We're responsible to cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit.
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Christ, our groom, He motivates us to that cleansing because He is, after all, such a wonderful groom.
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James 4 .8 gives us the same idea. This ongoing process of sanctification is intended by our groom.
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I want you to notice how He goes about this cleansing process.
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Back in our text, we read in verse 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with a washing of water by the
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Word. By the Word. Now, Jesus brings out in His great prayer in John 17,
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He brings out that very idea when He prays to His Father, sanctify them,
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His followers, His bride. Sanctify them by Your truth.
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Your Word is truth. Your Word is truth. So, if we're going to participate actively in this sanctification intention of our groom, then what does that mean for us, for you, for me?
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It means we have to be involved in the
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Word. We need some regular, ongoing interaction with God's Word.
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Do we not? I mean, think about what you read in 2 Timothy 3 when
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Paul is writing to this pastor and he's telling him, he says in verses 16 and 17, you're probably familiar with these verses, right?
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All Scripture, all of God's Word is given by the inspiration, the breathing out of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for instruction, for correction, correction for instruction in righteousness that the person of God, you, might be complete, thoroughly equipped to every good work.
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It comes by the Word. And then he turns his attention to the pastor, to the preacher,
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Timothy, and he says in chapter 4, verse 1, he says, I exhort you, verse 2, preach the
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Word. Why? Because the time is coming when they're not going to listen. People are not going to want to listen to the
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Word. They're going to have itching ears and they're going to go off on other things. If you don't preach the Word, then they're going to go after other things.
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We need the Word. You need the Word. Christ's intention is our sanctification through the
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Word. But then he has a second intention in our text that he might not only sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the
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Word, but secondly, verse 27, he loved the church and gave himself for her in order that he might present her to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing.
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And here we see that the groom intends his bride's presentation.
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Her presentation. Alright? If sanctification is a process in the present, this presentation of the bride is an event in the future.
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Let me show you that event. Turn to the last book of the Bible next to the last chapter.
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Revelation chapter 21. Revelation 21.
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And we're going to say more about this in a couple of weeks. We look at this passage in more depth.
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But in Revelation 21, verse 2,
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John says, I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
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So right now what you see is a city, New Jerusalem, coming down from heaven, from God, out of heaven from God.
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And it's like this beautiful bride prepared for her husband. Well, who is that bride?
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What is this New Jerusalem, this city? Alright? Look at verses 9 through 11. Turn the page.
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Turn the page. Verse 9. It says, 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,
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Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife. Ephesians 5, talking about the church as the bride of Christ.
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It's the same reference here. I'll show you the bride, the Lamb's wife.
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And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain and showed me the great city, the holy
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Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God.
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Here is this event in the future where the bride is presented.
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The bride of Christ is presented. Now, by the way, to really get the sense of this, we have to kind of understand the
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Jewish wedding ceremonial culture. And here is the process in the
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Jewish wedding custom. The process begins with betrothal. It's like an engagement, but it's legal.
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So from the point of betrothal, the man and the woman are considered husband and wife.
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That's why we read of Joseph and Mary being betrothed, but Mary was
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Joseph's wife. So there's betrothal. And then there's an interval between that betrothal period and the culmination of the wedding.
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And in that interval, there's time of preparation, of adornment, when the bride prepares herself for her husband.
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And then, after that period of preparation and adornment, the groom comes to take his bride to the wedding feast.
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And there at that wedding feast, she is presented before all in all of her splendor, in all of her adornment and her glory, she's presented as his wife.
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But in our text, we read that, verse 27, that Jesus, our groom, presents his bride to himself, a glorious church.
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He presents her to himself as a bride that is glorious, speaking of her splendor and her wonderful presence and appearance and all that she is.
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Presents her to himself, a glorious church that is perfected, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing at the point of this presentation.
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Just think about this. I mean, isn't this, don't you see this parallel in the, well, traditional wedding anyway, where the bride will spend a great deal of time, days maybe, before that wedding day.
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And maybe weeks, I don't know, depends on the bride, but preparing for that. I mean, definitely weeks and weeks in advance, she goes to find the perfect wedding dress and she may go all over the place, all kinds of stores, looking at all kinds of dresses until she finds the perfect dress for that special day.
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And she'll go through all kinds of processes with the beautician working on her hair and somebody working on her makeup and probably getting a manicure and maybe a pedicure.
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I mean, all kinds of stuff for that day of presentation when she is presented to her groom.
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This is the picture of Jesus' intention for His bride's presentation on that day of presentation that she will be glorious and perfected without spot or wrinkle.
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Well, surely that's not the case of the church today, of the bride today, is it? Far too many spots, far too many wrinkles, but the day is coming, the day of presentation when all of that is gone.
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And then the groom's intention for the bride is not only her sanctification and presentation, but her glorification.
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Again, look at our text and that third purpose statement. He loved the church and gave himself for her.
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The end of verse 27, in order that she should be holy and without blemish.
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Now, literally, now listen carefully, literally this says, but that she should be being holy and without blemish.
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Do you get the significance of that word being in there? She should be being holy and without blemish.
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As in an ongoing way, in an ongoing character of his bride, she shall be being holy and without blemish.
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This is speaking of the bride's glorification, her ongoing state in eternity.
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So when the lover of our soul, our groom, gave himself up for the church, he did so with intention, intention for the now, the here and now, that the church, his bride, might be sanctified.
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Intention for a day in the future when she will be presented as a glorious church without spot or wrinkle, and intention for eternity that she shall be glorified, be being holy and without blemish.
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Now, by the way, this glorification is the ultimate goal for eternity future that was determined in eternity past.
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Let me show you this. Go back to chapter 1 in Ephesians. Back to chapter 1 and look again at verses 3 and 4.
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Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual blessing in heavenly places just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.
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Talking about eternity past. Look, in order that we should be being holy and without blame.
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Same word. Before Him. Forever.
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This is His goal. This is His intention. This is His objective. So Christ's love for His bride is focused.
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It is sacrificial. It is intentional. And then fourthly notice that Christ's love for His bride is intimate and personal.
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It's intimate and personal. Back in our text. Chapter 5, verse 29.
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Look at the intimacy here as our groom provides intimate, personal attention.
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He says, For no one ever hated his own flesh but nourishes and cherishes. Now look, just as the
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Lord does the church. Personal, intimate attention.
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As He nourishes His bride. He nourishes His bride.
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Again, this takes us back to the role of the word, doesn't it? Remember what
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Jesus told Peter after the resurrection, before the ascension.
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Peter was out fishing and Jesus is there on the shore and all the rest. And Jesus has this three -fold question of Peter.
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Peter, do you love me? Peter, do you love me? And Peter says, Yes, you know I do. You know I do. And each time, what did
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Jesus say? Feed my sheep. Feed my lambs.
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Be sure that my sheep are nourished. Peter got the message. In 1
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Peter 5, verse 12, he's writing to the elders of the church and he says to the elders, he says to you who are elders,
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I'm also an elder. He says, Shepherd the flock. Be a shepherd to the flock.
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Feed the flock as a shepherd will take care of feeding the flock.
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Making sure they're nourished. And Jesus provided for this and we read this here in the book of Ephesians.
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He provided for this in verses 11 and 12 of chapter 4 where he says that Christ gave himself, gave some to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers for the equipping of the saints, for the working of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come in the unity of faith.
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In other words, Christ gave these gifts to the church that they might be nourished, that the church might be fed and nourished.
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He cares for the church by nourishing his bride. He also shows his intimate personal attention to the church by cherishing her.
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Cherishing her. This has the idea of caring for tenderly. Speaking of shepherd, think of that imagery of the gentle, tender shepherd.
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That Jesus used of himself, right? He said, I am the good shepherd. I'm the good shepherd.
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I give my life for the sheep. You think of the imagery of Psalm 23, the imagery of the
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Lord as my shepherd and all that he does in showing that he cherishes his sheep.
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Or think about that parable that Jesus told, the parable of the lost sheep in Luke chapter 15.
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What does the shepherd, the tender shepherd, do for that sheep that's lost out in the wilderness? He makes sure that the ninety and nine are protected and cared for and then he goes out searching for that one and he finds him, finds that lost sheep and brings it back.
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He cherishes his bride. Why? Why does he have such an intimate personal, pay such intimate personal attention, nourishing and cherishing this bride of his?
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Why? Now, the answer is because of the intimate personal connection that he has with her.
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And that connection is brought out in verses 30 to 32. When he goes on,
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Paul goes on to say, we are members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones.
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Now he's using a different, he's using a different imagery here than he's going to, that he uses elsewhere when he talks about the church as the body of Christ.
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How do we know that? Because of what he says next. Look, he says, for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh.
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Get what Paul is saying here. That Jesus and his bride are so intimately connected with one another that they become one flesh.
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And the relationship between a human husband and a human wife and their union in marriage becomes a picture of the intimacy, of the oneness of the relationship between Jesus and his bride, the church.
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The marriage union is designed to picture that connection. In other words, the church is the body of Christ by virtue of being the bride of Christ.
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One commentator put it this way, just as the first Adam was joined to his wife and they became one flesh, so the last
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Adam is joined to his bride so that they become one with him.
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And then he goes on to say, God's primary intention for creating marriage,
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God's primary intention for creating marriage was to illustrate his love for the church.
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You see that brought out in verse 32, right? This is a great mystery. This one flesh union, this is a great mystery.
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But I'm speaking of Christ, Paul says, and the church. All right, so our groom, our groom has such a love for us that is focused, it is sacrificial, it is intentional, it is intimate and personal.
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How then should we respond to that love? Verse 33 tells us.
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Nevertheless, he says, let each one of you so particularly love his own wife as himself and let the wife, let the bride, see that she respects or reverences her husband.
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How shall we respond to the love of our husband? You who are the bride of Christ, how shall you respond to Christ who is your husband?
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With loving, wholehearted reverence and respect.
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Giving ourselves to him and to him alone. Jesus is the lover of the church.
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He's the lover of the church. That is, he's the lover of all who will flee to him and to him alone for their soul's salvation.
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Have you fled to him? Are you part of his bride?
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Are you trusting in his sacrifice for sin, that one and only sacrifice possible, that all sufficient sacrifice for your soul's salvation?
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You say, yes, yes, yes indeed. I'm part of his bride.
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Part of his bride. Well, is his cleansing word, is it washing you, preparing you for that glorious presentation?
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Oh, there's so much in this, isn't there? This lover of our soul has so much for his bride to take in.
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Our Father and our God, we're so grateful today for the love of Christ, the great bridegroom of his bride, the church.
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Oh Lord, I pray that we would be responsive to this love for our soul by being wholly, wholeheartedly committed, dedicated to him, just as a bride would be to her husband.
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May that be our heart. May that be our desire. May that be our experience. We pray in Jesus' name.
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Amen. Would you take your hymnal and turn to number 356. 356.
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I'm going to sing the first and third stanzas of this hymn, Jesus, lover of my soul.
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356, first and last stanzas. Let's stand together as we sing, shall we? Number 356 on the first.
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Jesus, lover of my soul, let me to thy bosom fly.
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While the nearer waters roll, while the tempest still is high, hide me,
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O my Savior, hide, till the storm of life is past.
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Safe into the haven guide, O receive my soul at last.
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On the last. Plenteous grace with thee is found, grace to cover all my sin.
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Let the healing streams abound, make and keep me pure within.
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Thou of life, the fountain of art, freely let me take of thee.
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Spring thou up within my heart, rise to all eternity.
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And I hope if you can stay for lunch, you'll join us in the fellowship hall and then back at 1 o 'clock for a time of some psalm singing and psalm reading.
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But let's close in prayer. Now indeed to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.
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To God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever.
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Amen and amen. You are dismissed. By the way, there's a benevolence offering.