Well, is everyone enjoying the heat wave we're experiencing today?
I'm afraid that I'm going to be disappointed to come later in the week,
but at least today, there's some semblance that spring is coming.
And with spring comes a very exciting feature of the season, weddings.
Spring is wedding season.
And I love weddings.
I'm with Captain Jack Sparrow on this.
I love weddings.
They're wonderful.
And my favorite time in a wedding, although the party afterwards is great,
the reception is great, the food is great,
my favorite thing in a wedding is watching the bride come down the aisle,
locking eyes with her groom, and her groom just beaming,
just ready to say the vows and to begin their marriage.
But imagine with me for a moment that what the groom's face would look like
if he saw his bride walking down the aisle with a smartphone in her hand,
head down, engrossed in a text conversation with a friend,
or scrolling Facebook laughing at cat videos.
Or she sees an old college friend in the congregation and she stops and has a chat and catches up.
I mean, that's ridiculous, isn't it?
But why?
Why is that ridiculous?
Why is it so inappropriate?
Why would that never happen?
I mean, the bride has the freedom to have relationships with other people, right?
She has the freedom to have commitments that are apart from her groom.
But in that unique time and place,
it is her exclusive relationship with the bridegroom that should govern all of her actions.
And she's walking down the aisle to say her vows and to be with him for the rest of her life.
And it should be that way throughout her marriage,
that she will have other relationships, other commitments,
but that relationship will be the relationship,
the commitment that defines all other relationships and commitments,
and that holds the highest place in her heart.
That is true in human marriages,
and it is also true in the heavenly marriage.
You see, even from early on in the story of the Bible,
God's relationship with his people is often portrayed as a marriage.
We're in the middle of a series on the church.
It's behind me.
And how the Bible speaks about the church.
God uses many different pictures and images and metaphors
to help us understand his relationship with his church
and our relationship to him.
For the past two Sundays,
Pastor Mike has helped us see that the church is God's flock.
We are following one unique shepherd,
Jesus Christ.
And this morning,
we get to explore a different image
that God uses to describe his relationship
with his people, the church.
And this is what we're going to see this morning.
If you're going to write something down right now.
God intends to have
an exclusively devoted relationship
with his people,
like a bridegroom with his bride.
God intends to have,
and has always intended to have,
an exclusively devoted relationship
with his people,
just like in a marriage,
like a bridegroom with a bride.
The Bible is, in one sense,
a love story.
A love story that begins,
is between God and his people.
And really,
the Bible begins with a marriage,
Adam and Eve,
and it ends with a marriage
with Christ and his church.
It goes from Genesis to Revelation.
And so,
what I'm going to do this morning
is just lead us through
the love story of Scripture.
It's got four chapters.
And it'll be pretty brief.
We're not going to camp too long
in each of them
because I want to make four connections
after we walk through the love story
of how this love story meets us
right here where we are in 2020.
So, four chapters of the love story
and then four connections
that help us answer the so what.
Why does this love story do something,
what does it have to do with me?
So, let's look in Deuteronomy chapter 7
to start our time together
in chapter 1 of the love story.
Deuteronomy chapter 7.
And here is chapter 1 of the love story.
It's this.
This marriage was initiated by God.
That's chapter 1.
Now, this marriage was initiated by God.
Now, we're not going to get
to Deuteronomy 7 immediately.
I just want to point one thing out there.
Before I do, I've got to set the stage.
When our ancestors, Adam and Eve,
did the unthinkable
and rejected God,
God dealt with their sin.
He sent them away from His presence.
But amazingly,
He did not destroy the rebels
as He definitely could have.
Instead, He began pursuing them.
And lots of things happen
from Genesis 3
when they sinned
all the way to Genesis 12.
But what happens in Genesis 12
is really foundational.
It shifts everything in the Bible.
God initiates a relationship
with one guy.
Abram.
He's just one ordinary sinner.
Nothing special.
And the way He initiates
a relationship with him
is He makes a covenant with him.
A covenant,
it's a really important word
in the Bible.
It's not just a contract,
like a business contract.
It's not just kind of an agreement.
It's a relationally binding commitment
that God makes with His people.
He makes certain promises to Abraham.
He agrees to do good to them,
to be their God,
and brings them into the land of Canaan
where He's going to dwell with them.
He makes all these promises to Abraham.
And it's all just initiated by God.
I'm going to do this to you.
And then the covenant also includes,
it's mutual.
It has certain commitments
that Abraham and his descendants
have to make
that they get to follow through on.
And that gets expanded
and quite literally set in stone
at Mount Sinai,
about 400 years after Abraham,
after God rescued His people from Egypt.
And this word covenant
is really important
because it defines
the kind of relationship
that God initiates with His people.
And really,
the best modern day equivalent
that we can compare
this unique relationship to
is a marriage.
marriage.
It was mutual.
It was meant to be exclusive,
which is very important,
as we'll see in a moment.
And it was serious.
This is not something
that Abraham was to take lightly.
It's not something
that God took lightly.
But God initiated it.
He pursued His people
and He won them.
Before we move
to the second chapter
of the love story,
let's look at something
in Deuteronomy 7.
That's why I took us there.
We need to ask the question,
why?
Why did God initiate
this relationship?
Why did God
pursue this people?
Why does He love them?
Especially given
what He knows about them.
Let's look at
Deuteronomy 7,
starting in verse 6.
For you are a people
holy to the Lord your God.
The Lord your God
has chosen you
to be a people
for His treasured possession.
out of all the peoples
who are on the face
of the earth.
Now listen here.
It was not because
you were more in number
than any other people
that the Lord
set His love on you
and chose you.
For you are the fewest
of all peoples.
But it is because
the Lord loves you
and is keeping the oath
He swore to your fathers.
Did you get that?
Why does God love them?
Because He loves them.
It was nothing
because Israel was big
or powerful
or sophisticated
or technologically advanced.
He loved them
because He loved them.
There was nothing in them
that attracted them to Him.
He didn't need them
for some particular reason.
He simply set His love
on them
because of His free,
sovereign choice
to do so.
It's just by grace.
So that's chapter 1.
God initiates the marriage
and it's by grace.
Chapter 2.
This marriage is troubled
by unfaithfulness.
This marriage is troubled
by unfaithfulness.
Flip back a couple of books
to your left
to the book of Exodus.
Chapter 20.
Sorry, we're going to be
flipping around a lot
this morning.
Get to know our Bibles
pretty well.
Exodus chapter 20.
And God spoke
all these words
saying,
I am the Lord your God
who brought you
out of the land of Egypt,
out of the house of slavery.
He's speaking to Israel here.
You shall have
no other gods
before me.
You shall not make
for yourself
a carved image
or any likeness
of anything
that is in heaven above
or that is in the earth beneath
or that is in the water
under the earth.
You shall not bow down
to them
or serve them
for I, the Lord your God,
am a jealous God.
That's marriage talk.
Now, the word jealous
should maybe raise
some questions
in our minds.
Wait a minute,
I thought jealousy
is a sin.
God's jealous?
Isn't that bad?
But let me assure you,
it is right and good
for husbands
to be jealous
for their wives.
That's why this is
a marriage word.
And it's also good
and right for wives
to be jealous
for their husbands.
Marriage can't function
without the right kind
of jealousy
of a husband
desiring the singular
exclusive affection
of his wife
and the wife desiring
the same from her husband.
Marriage can't function
without it.
I am jealous
for my wife.
I am a jealous husband.
My wife is a jealous wife.
And, you know,
normally I'm a pretty
easygoing guy.
I'm pretty calm,
pretty measured.
But if another man
were to make advances
on my wife,
my normally calm demeanor
would get fiery
pretty quick.
And that's right.
It should be that way.
Because we are in
an exclusively
devoted relationship.
That's why the thought
of a bride
walking down the aisle
looking at her smartphone
is so inappropriate.
It doesn't fit
with the kind of
exclusive relationship
that she is entering into.
And God is saying,
no other gods.
I'm your only God.
And sadly,
it did not take Israel
very long
to violate
that covenant promise.
Only a few days
after God spoke
these words,
and the very same place
at the foot of Mount Sinai,
his people intentionally
crafted
and started worshipping
a golden cow.
In essence,
they started
worshipping an idol.
They started worshipping
another god.
They were committing
spiritual adultery.
And the astounding fact
is they're doing it
right at the place
they had just made
their covenant vows
before God.
It's like a bride
who's at the altar
and she's starting
to flirt with another man
who's not her husband.
It's unthinkable.
And tragically,
this just set the tone
for the next
several hundred years.
Israel continued
doing this.
God's marriage
started falling apart
from the very beginning.
And none of it
was his fault.
He had initiated
the marriage.
He had paid
the dowry price.
He had given his wife
everything she could
have ever wanted
or needed.
He rescued her
from slavery
from crying out loud
and her heart
was far from him.
On that note,
start trying to find
the book of Hosea.
It is a minor prophet
kind of right in the middle
of your Bible.
It's the first minor prophet
so it's right after
Isaiah, Jeremiah,
Lamentations,
Ezekiel, Daniel,
then Hosea.
Start trying to find
the book of Hosea.
This book,
this prophet,
is extremely helpful
in helping us understand,
get a glimpse
into God's heart
as the heavenly husband.
While we're finding it,
let me set the scene for you.
Hosea was one of God's spokesmen,
one of his prophets,
when the kingdoms
of Israel and Judah
are starting to really spiral,
spiritually speaking,
at least.
And although all of God's prophets
were God's spokesmen,
calling his people back
to covenant faithfulness,
Hosea was very unique.
If you're there,
look at Hosea chapter 1,
we'll start in verse 2.
You will see why Hosea
is very unique.
When the Lord first spoke
through Hosea,
the Lord said to Hosea,
go,
take to yourself
a wife of whoredom
and have children
of whoredom
because the land
commits great whoredom
by forsaking the Lord.
Well, you don't hear that word
very often these days,
whoredom.
It doesn't sound like
a very good word
and it's not.
He is asking Hosea
to go and find a wife
who was,
if not already a prostitute,
who was at least prone
to waywardness,
unfaithfulness,
and prostitution
and marry her.
God wanted to use
his prophet's life
as a real life example
of what his people
were doing to him.
They were playing the whore.
They were acting
as a prostitute
although they were
a married woman.
So Hosea actually went out
and he found
a wayward woman
named Gomer
and he married her.
This means that Hosea
got to know
on a very personal level
the kind of pain
and grief
that God felt
as a betrayed husband.
And Hosea also knew
very well
what he was getting into.
God told him to do it
and he did it.
And God did the same thing.
He knew what he was
walking into
when he married Israel.
He knew he had married
an unfaithful wife.
He had purposefully
committed himself
to a people
who were not
and would not
be exclusively devoted
to him
as he was to them.
Now,
I might be wrong
but people don't
normally do this,
do they?
Hmm,
I think I'd like a spouse.
I want to go look
for the most unfaithful
and uncommitted person
I can possibly find
and marry them.
Who does that?
It tells us something
about the character
and love of God
that he would pursue
a flaky,
uncommitted,
undevoted,
and unfaithful people.
And God didn't just
sweep this unfaithfulness
under the rug.
He didn't just say,
oh, it's okay,
just come back with me,
please.
No, he judged his people
rather harshly
according to their sin.
If you read the rest
of Hosea
or any of the prophets,
you will see that God
has very harsh words
for his unfaithful people.
God's judgment
would fall on them,
he would be carried away
into exile,
and it seems like
the marriage is over.
It seems like the marriage
is in shambles.
And they would be carried away
and live in their unfaithfulness.
But we are only on chapter 2.
Let's look at chapter 3.
The love story continues.
Chapter 3 is this.
This marriage is transformed
by God's costly grace.
This marriage is transformed
by God's costly grace.
Look just across the page
at Hosea chapter 2.
Hosea 2,
we'll start in verse 14.
Therefore, behold,
I will allure her
and bring her into the wilderness
and speak tenderly to her.
And there I will give her
her vineyards
and make the valley of Echor
a door of hope.
And there she shall answer
as in the days of her youth,
as at the time
when she came out
of the land of Egypt.
Skip down to verse 19.
And I will betroth you
to me forever.
I will betroth you to me
in righteousness
and in justice,
in steadfast love
and in mercy.
I will betroth you to me
in faithfulness
and you shall know the Lord.
Wow.
After all that steady,
adulterous,
unfaithful behavior,
this is what God says?
I'm going to go after you again?
Again,
that's incredible.
He's promising
that after he judges their sin,
he's going to start afresh
with his unfaithful wife.
He's going to get her
alone with himself
in a place where they can
start their relationship
all over again.
He's going to betroth her
to him forever.
And there will be transformation.
Did you notice that
in verse 19 and 20?
The relationship will now
be characterized
by righteousness and justice,
steadfast love and mercy,
faithfulness.
and they will know him
as they have never
known him before.
It's almost like God's
putting a date on his calendar
in permanent marker
for he and his wife
to renew their wedding vows.
And he's going to make it happen.
They're going to start afresh.
But notice what comes next
in Hosea chapter 3.
Look at verse 1,
Hosea chapter 3.
And the Lord said to me,
Go again,
love a woman who is loved
by another man
and is an adulteress,
even as the Lord
loves the children of Israel,
though they turn to other gods
and love cakes of raisins.
So I bought her
for 15 shekels of silver
and a homer
and a lethic of barley.
The camera lens
shifts back to Hosea
and God calls him
to go after his unfaithful wife
who has left him
for another man
and to love her
by buying her back.
It cost Hosea money
to make a transaction
and buy his own wife back.
Now whether it was
because she was enslaved
to someone
or had become indebted
to someone,
we don't know,
but it cost Hosea
to get her back.
And the implication
of chapter 3
is that the renewal
and transformation
that God's promising
in chapter 2
is going to cost God something,
just as it cost Hosea something.
He would love her
with costly grace
in order to get her back
into an exclusively devoted
relationship with him,
just as Hosea had done
with his unfaithful wife.
Now flip to Matthew chapter 9.
So when a person,
a very unique person,
shows up on the scene
hundreds of years later
and God's people
are still waiting
for this vow renewal
to happen,
for this transformation
to happen,
and this person claims
that he is the bridegroom,
our ears should perk up.
Look at Matthew chapter 9,
starting in verse 14.
Then the disciples of John
came to him, Jesus,
saying,
Why do we and the Pharisees fast
but your disciples do not fast?
And Jesus said to them,
Can the wedding guests mourn
as long as the bridegroom
is with them?
The days will come
when the bridegroom
is taken away from them
and then,
then they will fast.
Jesus is using the issue
of fasting here
to make a really powerful point
about who he is.
He is linking himself
to Yahweh of the Old Testament,
the betrayed
but determined bridegroom
who's going to renew
his relationship
with his unfaithful bride.
And he's here.
He came.
The one that they were longing for
is finally here.
He's ready to renew.
He's ready to transform
and bring about
an exclusively devoted relationship
with his bride again.
But what would be the cost?
How would God the Son,
the bridegroom,
get his bride back
in a renewed,
transformed,
exclusively devoted relationship
with himself?
This is where we want to turn
to Ephesians 5,
the text that Tim and Danielle
read for us
just a few moments ago.
Ephesians chapter 5.
Ephesians 5.
Thanks for bearing with me
with all the page flipping.
Ephesians chapter 5.
Let's start at verse 25.
Husbands,
love your wives
as Christ loved the church
and gave himself up for her
that he might sanctify her,
having cleansed her
by the washing of water
with the word,
so that he might present
the church to himself
in splendor,
without spot or wrinkle
or any such thing,
and that she might be holy
and without blemish.
So Christ loved the church how?
By giving himself up for her.
He voluntarily took
the costly road of Calvary,
paying the ransom price
of his own life
to win her back.
It wasn't 15 shekels like Homer.
It was his blood.
Homer, sorry.
Hosea.
Let's put those two together.
God is all in
when it comes to his relationship
with his bride.
He has withheld nothing.
He paid the highest price imaginable
to win an unfaithful bride
back to him.
And notice the transformation
in verse 26 and 27.
He paid the price.
He gave himself to sanctify her,
to make her holy,
pure, righteous,
just as he is holy,
pure, and righteous.
He paid the price
to make her fit for himself
to be a perfect match for him.
And he does this
by cleansing her
through the washing of water.
just as a bride
would ritually bathe
before her wedding
with her husband
in ancient cultures.
Only Jesus' cleansing
of his bride
is done spiritually.
And it's done
by the speaking
of the word
of the gospel.
That I gave myself
for you.
That cleanses her.
It sets her apart
when she believes
that he gave himself
for her.
And notice that Jesus
is doing all of this
for his bride.
He made her fit
for himself.
He didn't say,
all right,
clean yourself up.
He is doing it for her.
Picture this.
A dashing,
cultured,
educated millionaire
walks the streets
of Chicago.
And he finds
an ugly,
smelly,
dirty,
foul-mannered,
ungrateful wretch
of a woman.
And he woos her
with gentlemanly kindness,
generosity.
He proposes marriage
to her.
And he pays
for the most
lavish makeovers,
the finest clothes,
the best education
money could buy
in order to make
her a bride fit
for him.
Now, it's not
a perfect illustration,
but at least it gets
at the kind
of costly grace
that Christ
has shown his bride.
And notice that
it doesn't say
that Christ loved
his church
and gave himself
up for her
because she was holy,
because she was lovely.
It says,
Christ loved the church
and gave himself for her
so that he might
make her lovely.
His love
makes her lovely,
makes her holy.
So the marriage
is transformed
by God's costly grace
through Jesus Christ,
the bridegroom,
giving himself up
for her.
And that leads us
to chapter four.
This marriage
is destined
for eternal bliss.
This marriage
is destined
for eternal bliss.
start making your way
to the end
of the Bible,
Revelation 19.
As you're turning there,
let me remind you
of something
that Jesus said
in John chapter 14.
Don't turn there,
just head to Revelation,
but let me help us
remember this.
He has just told
his disciples
in John chapter 14
that he's going away
and that they won't
be able to follow him
and they're very troubled,
they're very upset.
But he turns right around
and he says,
don't let your hearts
be troubled.
Believe in God,
believe also in me.
In my Father's house
are many rooms.
If it were not so,
would I have told you
that I go
to prepare a place
for you?
And if I go
and prepare a place
for you,
I will come again
and take you to myself
that where I am
you may be also.
In ancient cultures,
when a bridegroom
proposed to his bride
and the betrothal price
had been paid
to the bride's family,
the bridegroom
would leave
his bride's house
and go back
to his father's house
to build a place
in his father's house
for the new couple
to consummate their marriage
once the wedding
took place.
And once he finished
preparing a place,
he would leave
his father's house,
return to his bride's house,
and take her back
in a wonderful,
exciting ceremony
back to his father's house
where the wedding feast
would begin.
Jesus is the bridegroom
who came to us,
his bride,
paid the betrothal price
and went away
to prepare a place
for us
in his father's house
and he's coming again
so that we might forever
be with him
face to face
and the eternal wedding feast
would begin.
If you're in Revelation 19,
look at verse 6,
in the middle of verse 6.
Hallelujah.
for the Lord God,
our God,
the Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice
and exult
and give him the glory
for the marriage
of the Lamb
has come
and his bride
has made herself
ready.
It was granted
to her
to clothe herself
with fine linen,
bright and pure,
for the fine linen
is the righteous deeds
of the saints.
So we,
the church,
are now awaiting
our bridegroom's return
because our exclusively
devoted marriage
relationship with God
will be fully
and finally
consummated
in eternal joy
at the wedding feast
and we will see him
and we will be with him
and we will know him
and be fully known
by him
and the transformation
will be fully complete.
We will be presented
to our bridegroom
without spot,
without blemish,
without sin,
without shame
and we will know
and enjoy him forever.
That is the love story.
It is a love story
of exclusive devotion
that God has
for his bride
and that he expects
from his bride
and this love story
includes us.
With the remainder
of our time,
I want to make
four connections
that this love story
has with us
right here
and right now.
The first connection
is this.
This marriage
portrays God's
unflinching commitment
to an unworthy people.
God's unflinching
commitment
to an unworthy
people.
Just think about Hosea.
Like God,
he goes into a marriage
with an unfaithful woman
with his eyes
wide open.
He knows what
he's getting into
and like God,
he experiences
the grief
in the pain
of being betrayed
after giving himself
in faithfulness
to an unfaithful woman.
And like God,
he willingly pursues
his unfaithful
and adulterous wife
again
at great personal cost.
Church,
the reason God loves us
is not the reason
we tend to love others.
We tend to commit
ourselves to others
or have affection
for others
because we enjoy them.
We see some goodness
in them
because they can provide
some benefit to us.
Not with God.
He saw our stone
cold hearts,
our pride,
our rotten selfishness,
our obsession
with ourselves,
our stubborn self-righteous,
and he said,
I will choose
to do good to them
because I choose
to do so.
The only reason
I'm going to do this
is because of my
sheer love for them
and my free,
sovereign choice
to love them.
not because there's
anything good in them
but because of
my love for them
and I will make them
lovely through my love.
Christian,
that is how God
has loved you
and that's how God
continues to love you.
It's not because
you've progressed nicely.
It's not because
you finally stopped
doing this
or you finally
started doing that.
He loved you
when you were still
his enemy,
unreconciled to him,
stuck in your sin
and he sent Jesus
to win you
back to him
by going to the cross
for you.
He loved you
before you knew him,
before you ever knew
that you could love him.
This is the great
love of God
and his commitment
to unworthy people
like us.
It was his initiation,
his sovereign choice
to love you,
to love us
like that.
In a moment,
we're going to sing
a song that has a line,
two wonders here
that I confess,
my worth
and my unworthiness.
We know we are unworthy
because of our sin
and yet his love for us
gives us worth.
Next,
second connection.
This marriage highlights
our radical new identity
in our bridegroom.
This marriage highlights
our radical new identity
in our bridegroom.
flip back to Ephesians
chapter 5,
if you will.
I want to highlight
something for us there.
Ephesians chapter 5,
where we were earlier.
And let's look at
verse 28.
Ephesians 5,
verse 28.
In the same way,
husbands should love
their wives
as their own bodies.
He who loves his wife
loves himself.
No one ever hated
his own flesh,
but nourishes
and cherishes it
just as Christ
does the church
because we are members
of his body.
And here he quotes
Genesis 2.
Therefore,
a man shall leave
his father and mother
and hold fast
to his wife
and the two
shall become one flesh.
This mystery
is profound
and I am saying
that it refers
to Christ
and the church.
Paul tells husbands
to care for
and cherish
their wives
because they have
been brought
into a one flesh
union with them.
Marriage is a
marvelous mystery.
Two bodies,
two people
become wonderfully
one,
united
through exclusive
devotion
to one another.
But then
he makes our head
spin
by quoting
Genesis 2.
And he says
that the great mystery
of the one flesh
union of human marriage
was meant all along
to point to
the wonderful union
of Christ
and his bride.
When you stand
by a body of water
you look in
and you see
your reflection.
Our marriages
here on earth,
our human marriages
are just a reflection
of the ultimate marriage
that Christ
has made
with his church.
When we put our faith
in Christ's church
we are joined to him.
We are spiritually
made one with him.
We become
knit together
in an intimate
relationship
with him.
When Jess and I
got married
there were a lot
of personal changes
that had to happen.
I had to merge
bank accounts
with her.
I had to change
my residence.
I had to put
her name
on my car registration,
on my insurance.
And the bride
has even more to do.
Right?
She has to change
her own name.
Jess had to go
through the process
of changing her name
and then making sure
that change was
on everything
from her driver's license
to her Facebook account.
When a marriage
takes place
two people's lives
merge.
What is his
becomes hers.
What is hers
becomes his.
And so it is
with the union
of Christ
and his people.
Only it's not
a very fair exchange.
When he married her
he took all her sin
all her shame
her debt
her condemnation
and all that was hers
he absorbed.
Paid it all.
And all that was his
became hers.
His spotless record
his perfect righteousness
the father's
endless approval
and delight in him
now is ours
through our radical
new identity
with our bridegroom.
Do you realize church
that you are
your beloved's
and your beloved's
is yours.
As the apostle Paul
said in 1 Corinthians 6
you are not
your own anymore.
You have a radical
new identity.
You were bought
at a high price
and you are now
one with your bridegroom.
And he cares for you.
He nourishes you
as the husband
cares and nourishes
for his wife
even as his own body.
We must think
of ourselves
as in the most
intimate of relationships
with our heavenly bridegroom
because he cares for us
in this kind of way.
We have a radical
new identity
now.
Thirdly
third connection
is this.
this marriage's
purpose
reorients
our priorities.
This marriage's
purpose
reorients
our priorities.
Look again
at Ephesians 5
25.
Notice again
the purpose
for which
Christ loved
the church
and gave himself
up for.
Look for three
that's.
The word that
shows up three times.
In verse
26
that he might
sanctify her
verse 27
so that he might
present the church
to himself
in splendor
and then later
that she might
be holy
and without blemish.
So why did
Christ lovingly
give himself up
for his church?
To make her
a lovely bride
fit for himself.
He died
to make her
holy.
The purpose
of this marriage
is holy
and exclusive
intimacy
between God
and his people.
this is not
just a
relationship
in our lives.
It is the
relationship
in our lives.
It is a
relationship
of exclusive
devotion
having high
and holy
affection
for our
bridegroom.
So let me
ask you
does
the purpose
for which
Christ died
for you
show up
as a priority
in your life?
the purpose
of being
in a holy
exclusive
affectionate
relationship
with Jesus
does that
show up
as a priority
in your life?
Are you
responding
to his love
by making
your relationship
with him
your highest
priority?
This is a way
we need to think
about being
Jesus' disciples.
Having our hearts
fully bound
to him.
Not holding
any area
of our lives
back from him.
Giving ourselves
body and soul
to his person
to his purposes
to his priorities.
The problem
is this is
really hard.
Just try
fulfilling the
command
love the Lord
your God
with all your
heart, soul,
mind and strength.
It is really
hard
because sin
is still present
with us.
We see
everything that
we see
with our eyes
tells us
that Jesus
isn't really
that important.
He's unseen
by us.
He's invisible.
It's by faith.
fighting the
fight of faith
to be exclusively
devoted to Jesus
whom we can't
see right now
who is away
from us
it's really
difficult.
In James
chapter 4
I'm not going
to turn there
but in James
chapter 4
he calls the
church out.
He calls the
church
adulterous.
He exposes
heart level
identity level
issues in the
church that he's
writing to
and he says
you're committing
spiritual adultery
church.
You are
not living
in exclusive
devotion to
your bridegroom.
They believe
the right things
they attended
church
they're doing
the Christian
thing
but what their
hearts truly
wanted and craved
was far
from God.
They were committing
spiritual adultery
even as Christians.
Adultery begins
in the heart.
A person becomes
dissatisfied with
their marriage
they think they
could be satisfied
with something
else, someone
else and they
start looking
start wanting
start desiring
start wondering
start imagining
being with
someone else.
Their desires
their passions
draw them away
from the one
that they should
be exclusively
devoted to.
So Christian
how is your
heart seeking
satisfaction apart
from your
heavenly bridegroom?
You're walking
down the aisle
but are your
eyes fixed
on the one
standing at the
altar who's
waiting for you?
He is everything
that you could
possibly need
or want
or hope for.
Are you allured
by pleasure?
Are you driven
by comfort
a longing for
security
in things that
are not in
Christ?
Are you enticed
by the prospect
of having more
earthly goods?
do you not
believe that he
can provide for
you everything
that you need?
Are you enticed
by the thought
of your
reputation
or by the
approval of
others?
What does
your heart
desire besides
your all
satisfying
bridegroom?
Is he
your priority?
This is hard.
It's by faith.
this life of
exclusive devotion
is through
unseen things.
We have to
dedicate ourselves
to the Lord
and it takes
work.
It takes effort.
It takes engaging
with him in prayer.
It takes engaging
with him in his
word.
Is he,
your heavenly
bridegroom,
the object of
your gaze as you
walk down the
aisle of this
life?
He died to
make you a
lovely bride
and he's
waving to you
from the
altar,
trying to get
your attention.
He wants your
gaze to be fixed
and undistracted
so that you
can be
exclusively devoted
to him.
Lastly,
and very briefly,
this marriage
reminds us of
how we are to
feel about
Christ's bride.
This marriage
reminds us of
how we are to
feel about
Christ's bride.
We're in the
middle of a
series on the
church.
And as Pastor
Mike has
mentioned the
past few
weeks,
we want the
way God
thinks about
and God
feels about
and prioritizes
the local
church to be
the way that
we think about
and feel about
and prioritize
the local
church.
And if he
came from
heaven to
seek her
out,
to buy her
out of
spiritual
adultery,
to transform
her by his
costly grace,
and to prepare
her to be a
lovely bride for
all of eternity,
then we know
how much he
thinks about
her.
And we know
how deeply he
feels about
her and how
highly he
prioritizes her.
And if he
prizes her in
this way,
then we also
should.
Every member
of her,
we should
prioritize.
Take a moment
and just take a
look around.
Just look at the
faces around you.
This is fun.
Don't feel awkward
looking at people
and you're not
invading their
personal space.
take a look
around.
This is
Christ's bride.
He died
for her.
You will be
in eternal
and intimate
fellowship
with Christ
together,
with all of
these gathered
together,
and millions,
millions,
millions more.
We are his
treasured bride.
We must care
for and nourish
and promote
the well-being
of his people
because that's
what he does.
We must commit
ourselves to her
because that's
what he does.
It shows up
in very simple,
ordinary ways.
Being here,
Sunday after Sunday,
as best you can.
Being present,
engaging with people.
Get to know
their stories,
as Pastor Mike
helped us with
last week.
Talking to each
other,
seeing what their
needs are,
asking God if
there's a way
you can serve
them.
Serving in
ministry roles
is one way
you can do it.
You can help
all the ministry
teams we have,
but it's just
being here.
It's being present.
It's saying,
I'm here,
I'm engaged.
Let's commit
ourselves to
Christ's bride
the way he has.
And one day,
perhaps not too
far off,
he will present
us to himself
in splendor,
without spot
or blemish,
and we will
see his face,
and we will
know him,
and be
astounded
by his
love.
We will
not get
enough of
his incredible
love.
Ten million
years in,
we will still
be desiring
more of it.
So let's
live for that
day,
church.
Let's walk
down the aisle
with our gaze
fixed on our
unseen bridegroom,
who we see
by faith.
Oh,
beautiful and
cherished bride
of Christ,
be exclusively
devoted to
him.
Let's pray.
We thank you,
Father, that you
have engaged
yourself fully,
committed
yourself fully
to an
unworthy
people,
to make them
worthy,
to make them
lovely.
Lord, if there
are some in
this sound
of my voice
that are
feeling
particularly
unworthy,
would you
make your
exclusively
devoted love
known to
them?
Father, for
those who
are feeling
distant from
you, would
you draw
near to
them, help
them to draw
near to you
by faith?
God, help
us to be an
exclusively devoted
people to
you.
In Jesus'
name we
pray.
Amen.