As we begin today, I would like for us to imagine 5:30 pm Eastern Heaven Time, Jesus comes home from a long day of overseeing the universe just beat and exhausted and drags his feet through the door, his heavenly dog comes to greet him as he sets his briefcase full of universal management papers in the entryway and goes and flops on the couch, takes an alka seltzer and we, the church says, oh boy, better not talk to Jesus right now. He’s had a rough day.
No. He doesn’t get tired. He doesn’t get grouchy. He doesn’t need an Alka-Seltzer. He’s not eager to get into an argument with us over not doing this or that just right, even though we may be eager to start an argument with Him. God promises to love His Bride. His love is perfect, and he promises us a perfect love.
Charles Spurgeon said, “Since the Church is not fit for Christ by nature, he resolved to make her so by grace. He could not be in communion with sin. Therefore it must be purged away. Perfect holiness was absolutely necessary in one who was to be the bride of Christ. He purposes to work that in her, and to make her meet to be his spouse eternally. The great means by which he attempts to do this, is, ‘he gave himself for her.’ ”
Enduring Word said: “Using the love of an ideal husband as a pattern, we could say that Jesus has a constant love for His people, an enduring love for His people, and a hearty love for His people.”
- It is a love that loves without changing.
- It is a self-giving love that gives without demanding or expecting repayment.
- It is love so great that it can be given to the unlovable or unappealing.
- It is love that loves even when it is rejected.
This is the love of Christ. This is the love that God has for us, his bride. I know it’s kind of hard to picture us as Christ’s bride–especially for us guys in the room. But that is how the Bible refers to us.
This is the kind of love God has for those who are not yet a members of his bride–or his church. How many times have we experienced this kind of love from God? How many times have we come to God asking for forgiveness?
Seventy times seven, perhaps?
God’s love for us is unconditional. God’s love for us is eternal. God already demonstrated His love for us in that Christ died for us to make His bride unblemished.
He continues to demonstrate his love for us in the many promises that he continues to provide for us. There are so many promises that we’re conducting an entire year just to study some of them: salvation, provision, protection, comfort, peace, joy, to name a few.
God’s love is perfect. God’s promises are reliable.
If you’ve noticed, I haven’t given you a scripture verse yet, and that’s because I have a list of verses on God’s love that I would like to share with you. I am going to read through them now. No commentary, no explanation. I am not even going to give you the chapter and verse. I am just going to read them to you one after another to just let the words sink in. Some of these, I’m sure you know. They are in a random order–bouncing from the Old Testament to the New Testament. But I thought I’d do it this way so that you can more easily let God’s own words of His love for you–sink in better.
- God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? Numbers 23:19
- The very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Matthew 10:30-31
- “You my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are people, and I am your God,” declares the Sovereign Lord. Ezekiel 34:31
- Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine. Isaiah 43:1
- My unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed. Isaiah 54:10
- I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness. I will build you up again. Jeremiah 31:3-4
- I am concerned for you and will look on you with favor. Ezekiel 36:9
- Now that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself; the Lord will hear when I call to him. Psalm 4:3
- He cares for those who trust in Him. Nahum 1:7
- He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17
- God sends his love and his faithfulness. Psalm 57:3
- I will not take my love from him, nor will I ever betray my faithfulness. Psalm 89:33
- For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
- “They will be mine,” says the Lord Almighty, “in the day when I make up my treasured possession.” Malachi 3:17
That last verse, I think, segues us nicely into something that I want to point out to you. That is, Christ has not yet taken us as his bride. We, the church, or the people of God, are referred to as his bride, but perhaps you could say that in the present age, we are actually now betrothed or engaged to Christ. We are promised to be his eternally. But we are not fully his bride until he comes for us.
Revelation 19:7-9 7 Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. 8 Fine linen, bright and clean, was given to her to wear.”
Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.
But like I said earlier, God does not want, nor will he accept, a blemished bride. She, in order to be worthy of being God’s bride, must be perfect. Just right. No settling for second best. That’s not God’s way. He doesn’t settle for second best. He’s God, and He settles only for the best. Going back to our verse in Ephesians, He is going “to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.”
Welsh minister Martyn Lloyd-Jones put it this way: “When He presents her to Himself, with all the principalities and powers and the serried ranks for all the potentates of heaven looking on at this marvelous thing, and scrutinizing and examining her, there will not be a single blemish, there will not be a spot upon her. The most careful examination will not be able to detect the slightest speck of unworthiness or of sin.”
I also want to point out to you today that when Christ comes for his Bride, he will come at an hour of the Father’s choosing. In the Book of Matthew, Chapter 24, Jesus explains that no one will know the day or the hour, not even Jesus will know the hour of his own coming for his own bride. Then, that segues right into the next chapter and the parable of the Ten Virgins.
25 “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them.4 The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
6 “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
7 “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’
9 “‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’
10 “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.
11 “Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’
12 “But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’
13 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.
Here is another story. This is from an unknown author:
“A young man, who was to return home and be married, came sooner than was expected. He did not notify his bride-to-be of the exact time. He desired to please her with a surprise. He loved her devotedly and had worked hard and saved his earnings in order to purchase a home for her. It was about midnight when he arrived, but, with a happy heart, he felt he must go by her home. However, when he came near, he saw the house was all lit up. As he came nearer, he heard music. Still nearer, he saw dancing. Finally, looking through the window, he saw his bride-to-be in the embrace of another man. His heart sank within him, and he went away never to return. If Jesus came today, where would He find His professed bride?”
So, you see, when Christ comes for his bride, he is going to come at a day and an hour that no one knows. He wants us to be ready when he comes for us. The question is, are you ready?
Readiness for the arrival of our bridegroom requires us to be in love with our bridegroom. How is your love for Him? Remember when the Pharisees asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was? This was just a few chapters before what I just read. This is in Matthew, Chapter 22. What was his response?
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
I want to focus today on the first aspect of that. We can, and have, gone into a whole other sermon on the second aspect. And I don’t want to digress as we close today. I just want to challenge you as we leave, to focus on God’s love for us, and in turn, our love for God.
It is important that we have a right focus on God’s love for us because it strengthens us from day to day. It gives us a right sense of encouragement, a hope for today and tomorrow, and it provides us with the faith that we need for many things in life.
How can we love him more? We can draw closer to him by worshipping him in spirit and in truth. In honesty, not out of tradition. Tradition becomes rote. We lose heart when we worship simply because it’s out of some tradition. But spirit and truth are worship in sincere love.
How else can we love God more?
One last story before we close:
It was 1898, and Ben had left the East 8 years ago to head out West in hopes of making his fortune. Well, he wasn’t rich, but he had accumulated over 300 acres of good land and built a comfortable farmhouse on it. He raised wheat, corn, and all of his vegetables. He had managed to build his herd of cattle to over 200 head. Having accomplished all of this in only 8 years, he decided that it was now time.
The ad that he placed in the New York newspaper said, “Wanted: A good woman willing to be a pen pal. Marriage is a possibility for the right woman.”
Before long, he began receiving letters from Molly. Their correspondence soon turned into love for each other. Now, here he stood in the Kansas City train station waiting to finally meet her. When the train arrived, there were a lot of women getting off. Suddenly, he yelled, “Molly, over here!” She looked his way, walked over to him, smiled, and held out her hand. He took it for a moment, then let it go. She said, “How did you know who I was?”
He then reached into the back pocket of his overalls and said, “From these here letters.”
“But there are no pictures in them.”
He dropped his head a bit and said,
“Oh yes, there are! There are lots of pictures in your words.” You see, he had spent hours reading every word—looking for every little clue that would tell him who Molly really was. He had fallen in love with her words—words that had painted her portrait.
God’s precious Word paints a vivid portrait of who He is. We, as His bride, should fall in love with His Word so that we can then fall in love with its Author.
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