Address—Dave Spence
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Could we open our Bibles to?
Chapter that was opened to by our brother Doug this morning. Ephesians chapter one. And for the next three days, Lord willing, I would just like to look at Ephesians in the light of.
The bride of Christ.
When we mention the word bride, it's it sounds a chord in our hearts. It is in this book that we have the doctrine of the bride of Christ.
In the Old Testament book of Song of Solomon, it is really the musings and the communications of the bride and the bridegroom. It's there, the literal experience they have. So if you want to put the two books together, you can.
Here we have the doctrine, but we're going to have some we trust, some very practical things that would.
Enrich our lives and encourage our hearts.
In the first chapter of the book of Ephesians, it's speaking to you and me very simply of God's counsels.
Concerning a bride for his son.
Ponder that just a little bit in your own hearts.
God's counsels concerning Christ and a bride for His Son.
In the second chapter, it's the way that God took to form this bride.
That will go on through time and eternity. That is the Church.
The bride of Christ.
In the third chapter, it's the way that the Lord showed this blessed truth, the instrument that he chose the Apostle Paul to deliver such marvelous truth to attract the hearts of his people.
And in chapter four we have the.
Very practical side, that is, how to walk consistently, connecting ourselves with such rich and precious doctrine.
Knowing that we are the bride of Christ, and that goes on through chapter 6 of this blessed book.
Let's just read the first few verses and then we'll make a few comments. Ephesians chapter one verse one Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God to the Saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus.
Grace be to you, and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ?
According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world.
That we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestinated us according to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.
Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom, and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself. Now I asked you, beloved friends and dear young people, what world you are living in today.
Because there is a world that has an influence over all of our lives.
And it's a world that has and exerts power, attractiveness, it allures our hearts, and sometimes it forms our thinking and the direction for our lives and the choice even of a bride.
Or of one that would be your groom.
And we need to have our thoughts and hearts purified by the word of God so that we have God's thoughts concerning our pathway, relationships and objectives for this life. We need to have these things clearly before us because the moment that we divert, as our brother spoke about Peter following afar off last night, we often become.
Disillusioned and we lose discernment for our direction and.
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We lose that purpose of life.
And purpose of heart.
And the thought that we lose the sense of his claim upon our lives.
There were many the Lord Jesus Christ met with who lived in a world of delusion and despair and darkness, if you please.
One of them was a leper, And he came to Jesus, and he said, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. Was his world changed?
Yes, it was, because Jesus said I will be thou clean.
Here is a man who went home.
A cleansed leper. Think of how his family must have felt when they saw him walk in the door.
Another one, who was carried by 4 and let down through the tiling in the roof, into the presence of the Lord in this House.
He was healed, and he picked up his bed, and he carried it home.
Think of what he was met with at the door step.
The astonishment of his parents.
And the thrill that went through their hearts. And his too, of course.
Because here was a man who was lame and now was walking the man who sat at the temple.
We read in Acts early chapters of Acts, Acts chapter 3. Perhaps here he was laying and sitting at the the temple and he was healed.
And he sprang up and leaping and jumping, praising God. Think about this, beloved, the healing touch of the Lord through Peter and John. Think of what his parents must have saw, felt when he walked up the doorstep into the house.
And we could even talk about the wise men who journeyed all of that distance to find.
Not the Lord Jesus Christ in the Manger, but Jesus when he was in the house in Matthew chapter 2.
And they gave him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh. And then it says, they returned and went home another way. Their lives had been totally changed by the impact of that blessed one upon their hearts. How will we go home, beloved friends?
How will we go home from these meetings together?
Suppose that you were to approach your doorstep and.
You begin to knock on the door. Your mom comes to the door and you say to her.
Mom.
I am a bride.
Going to be a bright.
I just thought I'd better tell you now, What kind of an impact would that have upon your mother?
Or you guys, What kind of an impact would it have on your parents if you said?
I've met. I've met a young lady that's going to be a bride, my bride.
I'm sure it would. They'd be quite astonished.
And they want to hear all about it. But you know, beloved, you and I who belong to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Can go home and say because of the claim of love that is upon us, we are part of the bride of Christ. I walked into the bathroom this morning and the first voice that I heard was something like this.
Now I belong to Jesus.
Jesus belongs to me.
Now, some of you might be able to guess who that was, but he's a dear brother here, sitting on the other side of the room, Bob Brimelow and I appreciated that him. It really, it really spoke to my heart, because we should have the sense of belonging, beloved, belonging.
Do we belong to this world?
We're not of the world that fadeth away. We're not of the night, but children of day.
Now there were councils concerning Rebecca by Abraham to his servant Eliezer. If you read Genesis chapter 24, that was referred to Lord's Day Morning.
And they talked about a bride for Isaac. And it was very necessary that Isaac have a bride, but he was not to be chosen. She was not to be chosen of the daughters of the Canaanites.
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And the father told the servant very clearly, go down into Mesopotamia and take one of my own kindred and bring her here, so that my son can have a bride. And he did that. Rebecca had no knowledge of these wonderful councils concerning that which was going to take place in her life. No knowledge whatsoever. But it all took place, because there was divine councils above that guided the whole thing.
And when the servant got down into Mesopotamia, remember the dependence and the prayer of this dear man as he stood by the well. And he said, Lord.
Be merciful to me, so to speak, that the first one that comes and I ask a drink of and she gives me a drink, and my animals drink that that would be the one that would be the bride.
For my master son, and it came to pass. It happened just exactly as he desired it after having traveled those hundreds of miles.
He wanted to make sure he made no mistake and beloved. There have been councils.
Plans for a bride for God's son that you and I had nothing to do with. Secret counsels in a past eternity that we read of right here. Are these things profound or be beyond our ability to take in In a measure they are, but they're very simple. Look at the story of Rebecca and put yourself in her place. She knew nothing about those wonderful councils, but God saw to it by a hand of divine wisdom and love.
He guided her all the way back into that land of Canaan.
And she became the wife of Rebecca. Now there are some lessons to learn, I believe, from this wonderful story in Genesis chapter 24. And that is sisters.
Wait on the Lord?
And again I say, wait, I don't know that Rebecca was out shopping. Doesn't say that she was.
But it makes it very clear that there was one bride for Rebecca.
And this servant was so careful and so selective that he might bring the right one home for his masters son.
And he made no mistake. God is so careful that he's going to bring home the exact and select chosen bride for his son that he has counseled and predestined in a past eternity.
I believe there is one partner for you for life. It doesn't mean that if we make a mistake, God can't overrule and.
Give give blessing to our lives. That He does, and we have seen it over and over again. But I believe the important thing is waiting on the Lord in these issues.
Waiting on the Lord, and you won't be disappointed. You set your heart on Christ and His will, and in His time for you it says, the Scripture says, And he will bring it to pass. He will bring it to pass. Unquestionably so.
But we must hurry on, instead of talking about real, practical things, to think concerning God's desire for a bride for his Son.
Chosen in him before the foundations of the world, that we might be holy without blame before him in love.
When we look at our lives and the position that we are in as children of God, marked out because of this wonderful fact of God choosing us and we having no choice in the matter, it makes our hearts.
Just rejoice with Thanksgiving that he loved us so much.
Chosen in him the Lord Jesus told his own Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, that you should bring forth fruit unto life eternal.
Chosen in him. But the problem was this. There was a barrier between our lives and and Christ and God, and that was the barrier of sin. We could be chosen, but we're chosen not in our own standing, or in our own person, or because of our own merit, but we're chosen in Him, in Christ, before the foundations of the world. At what great cost has God gone to beloved friends to display to you?
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The magnificence of His love, his wisdom.
And his Grace.
Make no mistake about it, if you're if you are a child of God, no matter what happens in your life, you are going to be there as the bride of Christ, and you'll be at the marriage supper of the lamb that we have in Revelation chapter 19. You will be there.
But the problem is, along the way God has over abounded to us, super abounded to us in all wisdom and prudence, so to speak, that we might know what He has done.
Now I believe this was part of the discussion that Rebecca and the servant had as they wound their way home.
Back to the land of Canaan, where she would meet her bridegroom, and it was told of course to the family members, as they gathered together what the councils of Abraham and the servant were concerning the son of Abraham.
Would not that have made Rebecca's heart filled with such joy?
And blessing and Thanksgiving to God, so to speak.
Because she had nothing to do with it whatsoever, nothing whatsoever to do with it. All she had to say was, I will go. This was planned in a secret council that she knew nothing of. Now friends, let's just drop that right into our laps. Shut out the world that you've been operating in and that's been influencing you and change over into the world that God wants you to step into this afternoon and live in the rest of your life.
While we wait for the coming of the blessed bridegroom.
Do you really wish, beloved, to live in that world of joy and love and peace?
A world that can thrill your heart and fill your heart to overflowing.
So that you won't have to say, well, should I choose this allurement or this to go the way of this temptation, your heart will be so filled with Christ that you will not want anything but him.
Chosen in him before the foundation of the world.
That we might be holy and without blame before Him in love without holding. That we might be holy and without blame before Him in love. Holiness would refer to the nature that God has given to us because of all that His Son has done at the cross, we did not have a nature. We were by nature the children of wrath. Even as others we have a nature naturally speaking, that is at enmity.
And alienated towards God.
By wicked works a nature that does not love God.
I remember my.
Family member saying of her granddaughter that she had a granddaughter that would always love God and later on in her life she found that that granddaughter drifted far from God and was at enmity, did not even believe in God, much less God's son.
We are born dead in trespasses and sins. That's the second chapter.
But to be holy without.
Blame. That's our standing, and we have a new nature in Christ, a new life in Christ.
But we have a new standing too. We stand in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ.
How wonderful. God has provided it all. And now He's talking in these first few verses about His counsels concerning you and me. And He wants us to be to recognize the great place of blessing that we occupy as the bride of Christ.
The careful selection.
And the diligence that he has gone to, if we may so say, concerning choosing you for himself. And he did not choose you or me, because he saw anything in US.
In one sense.
But he chose us because of what he is, and God is love.
And the second thing he's predestinated us according to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself.
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The adoption of children, that means that we were not children naturally.
I have 3 adopted children as grandchildren.
They are truly loved, beloved. Some of you may be adopted, I don't know, but there is a very unique love towards those that that have been brought into a family, not by blood, but by adoption.
We've been adopted by Jesus Christ unto himself that brings in relationship.
We're going to be holy without blame before him in love.
We can love God now and have that free exchange of love because we have his nature.
But we have relationship privilege as children in his presence.
And the bride of Christ will occupy that place of relationship forever.
The closest, we may say, to the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ for eternity.
None closer than the bride. Oh, there will be other families in heaven. John the Baptist, in John chapter three, said he that hath the bride is the bridegroom. But the friend of the bridegroom heareth his voice, and rejoiceth greatly. So he classifieds himself as the friend of the bridegroom.
But he heard and recognized the Lord Jesus Christ as the bridegroom for the Church, one who had come to purchase a wife, a bride, for eternity.
Have we recognized? I know we talk about Jesus as Lord, and that's wonderful if we need that.
But if you ever recognize, have I ever come to that place of blessed relationship to own him as my bridegroom?
My beloved is mine, it says in the Song of Solomon, And his desire is towards me. The bridegroom's desire is towards the bride.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. That's the bridegroom knocking at the door of the brides heart.
His desire is towards us. What does he want, beloved? He wants.
Our hearts.
And it's according to the good pleasure of his will.
God is ordering all of these things to satisfy his own heart. Have you ever thought about your Christianity in that light?
We think about we're saved and we're gathered perhaps through the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's wonderful. And we think about how to get through every day, read some scriptures and we pray and that's that's very wonderful. But have we ever looked at the other side of the spectrum? God is working to bring satisfaction and joy to his own heart by giving his Son the gift of a bride.
The work of of God in supplying this wonderful gift to his Son and seeing in the end of this chapter, it's the fullness of him that filleth. All in all, it's his final work. It's his complete work, we might say. It's his crowning work.
But it's through redemption.
Verse 7 In whom we have redemption through his blood.
It's blessed to think of God's heart just flowing out to you and me right now.
He's abounded to us in all wisdom and prudence. He wants us to know his secrets, his counsel, that he's not only going to give you joy and happiness and you're going to occupy that most intimate place as the bride of Christ, but he's saying.
I'm bringing joy to my own heart. Remember dear young person.
He's bringing joy to his own heart. Are we giving him that joy? Are we in the circle of his love? Are we worshippers? Or are we just floating through life, disregarding who we really belong to? That now I really do belong to Jesus.
We have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins. I would have put that at the first of the chapter, but God was so.
Intent, we might say, to let us know how he is abounding towards us, he says. The first thing is you are chosen before the foundation of the world.
And before sin ever came in, God had the remedy. How different it is in the world when a disease strikes the world.
We look for a remedy. Science looks for something to take care of it. But God had the remedy before it ever happened. That sin came in. Why? Because his counsels were concerning having a bride for his son.
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Oh, the perfection of his ways. The wisdom of his heart marvelous when we just sit in the sunshine of that world that he's called us into. We can sit there today. We can go home living in the world, so to speak, of heaven that he's called us to. The Saints at Ephesus were a class of people that were going on in the worst kinds of of wickedness and idolatry that this world has ever seen, even the worship of the human body.
Awful, degrading, immoral. And we see this nation going that way itself.
They worship the image that had fallen down from Jupiter.
And then, of course, the center of that world's worship was right there. There was the temple of Diana, but there were many that were saved as a result of Paul's preaching at Ephesus in Acts chapter 1819. Perhaps, but they were so intent on.
Making sure they got rid of Paul and those that were preaching, they chanted for two hours. Great as the goddess of Diana of the Ephesians, Great is the goddess Diana of the Ephesians for two solid hours. And friends. That's the kinds. That's the kind of power Satan holds over this world. And the rulers of the darkness of this world hold that kind of captivity over their captives.
But those who were saved and delivered from that idolatrous way, it says they piled all of their treasures together and it amounted to 50,000 pieces of silver. And immediately they just bounced up into this world that we're talking about today that we should be living in. We who have not been degraded, so to speak, in that kind of lifestyle and idolatry, We hear most of us, most of us have been raised in Christian homes.
They saw the filth, the emptiness, the sorrow of living such a life, the vanity of it all. And the whole world had gone after that idolatry worshipping Diana, the whole world in that day.
And they turned against that world, and many preached in that day, and they turned the world upside down.
Completely, because they had been delivered out of such a sphere of darkness. And now the problem is the world turns us upside down and we get we really get stuck in a rut and inhabits and in friendships that lead to marriage that can be ruinous to a life that Christ has sanctified, so to speak, and set apart for himself and even set positionally in a heavenly sphere.
And we're living way, way, way below our privileges. Way below our privileges.
There was a little boy who was adopted into a.
A wealthy family, the family of a king.
And he was seen holding up his rags that he used to wear.
As he looked into the mirror in his bedroom.
And shedding tears of joy.
For use, he thought of what he used to be and the way he used to live.
Tears of joy.
He'd been delivered from it all. He'd been adopted into this wealthy family. Think of the family, beloved, that we have been adopted into.
Are we going back to the filthy rags and the things of this life?
That are garments of pleasures, of sin for a season.
Think of the world that Moses left in his day, The world that he left.
World of charm. But as a world of opportunity, he was going to inherit the throne of glory.
But the scripture says that when he was 40 years of age, he refused to be called the son of Pharaohs daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, esteeming the reproach of Christ, greater riches, greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. Here was one in a position of opportunity, a position of wealth and favor, and in line for the throne. And he left it all for a greater inheritance, we might say, not the inheritance that we'll have, which is the highest with Christ.
But the inheritance of faith, we might say.
And yet, we as Christians, we sink down into a way of life.
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That as we look back on our life, we say, I want to go back, I want to go back, I want to leave this world of joy that I was once in, that doesn't seem to be quite so illuminated and find something in the world that's exactly what the children of Israel wanted to do. In their hearts. They remembered the leeks, the onions, the melons, the garlics, the cucumbers and the fish.
And it attracted their hearts, their natural hearts.
And now we have verse 9. Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, What is the mystery of his will? It's that in the dispensation of the fullness of time, God is going to gather in one all things together, in one, in Christ.
Both which are in heaven and both which are in earth.
God is going to gather all things together in notice, friends, the Christ. The Christ.
One Corinthians chapter 12 verse 12 Says this for as the body is 1 and hath many members.
And all the members of that body, being many, are one. So also is the Christ.
You know what God calls you if you're a Christian? In the counsels of God, he calls the members of the body of Christ.
Notice the Christ, the Christ. Brother Bob and I were fellowshipping on that this morning. Wonderful. He calls you the Christ. And we go out in the world, and we think that we are our own. We can do what we please, and we can in a certain sense. But do you want to, beloved?
Do you want to?
We are members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones.
For this cause a man should leave his father and mother in Cleveland to his wife, and they shall be 1 flesh. We are one with Jesus. Just remember that. May we all remember that when we're tempted to go the wrong direction.
God calls us the very name of his beloved Son.
In view of the marriage day, in fact we are one with him. Now what? Know ye not that you're bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirits, which are His.
The next blessed thing, friends, is verse 11. We see that not only are we chosen, we are predestinated. We are accepted in the Beloved One in all that He is. We are actually in heaven now as far as God sees us. But in spirit is another thing. We have redemption through His blood, that even the forgiveness of sins. He's abounded to us in all wisdom and prudence made known unto us the mystery of His will, that he's going to gather together all things in the Christ, and that means you and I together with Him, we're going to reign with Him.
The bride will be the closest to him throughout eternity, but in the Millennium we will reign with him.
This world will look up and see a spectacle.
In the sky, I truly believe Christ and His bride.
And here we find the bride has an inheritance.
Did Rebecca have an inheritance when she got back to the land of Canaan?
Oh, she sure did.
Her heart was so filled, too, I'm sure, but by the time she had trials along the way, that was hundreds of miles that she rode that camel. Now you can think that that was not like riding in a Cadillac or a Jaguar.
It was a rough trip.
But her heart was so full of Isaac. When she got off, she covered her head. Got off the camel. She covered her head because she recognized her head, Isaac. And you know, friends, when our hearts are filled with the Lord Jesus Christ.
We'll want to make much of Christ and nothing of ourselves.
As his bride.
We have an inheritance and then we read where the Gentiles came in. In verse 13 and verse 14, it's the end of verse 13. It says you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. God has put his seal upon the work of Christ to guarantee the Holy Spirit that is given to you and me, to indwell our bodies, that he's going to finish that work. It's going to be, he's going to carry you all the way. It's an official stamp, a divine stamp, we might say, because.
The work of Christ is complete. It's done nothing to be added to it.
We have the Holy Spirit living within us, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession were purchased by blood.
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And in the New Testament Greek, there's a very touching word. It's a kind of a bridle word.
And it's this. Beloved. Now, girls, you think about this.
The earnest means and engagement ring.
How the Holy Spirit would woo our hearts, beloved.
We have been espoused unto Christ as unto A chaste virgin.
In Christ.
But as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, Even so our heart should be corrupted, and they are very easily corrupted from the simplicity or the single eye for Christ.
We've been engaged. We've received an engagement ring. My wife always gets upset because I lose my ring all the time and I had to buy a new one recently. But you know, that engagement ring will will never, never lose.
And it's a signal of eternal love. And it's like earnest money that's been given.
Let's say towards a house, Oregon, the purchase of some property. Let's say the property is worth $50,000 and the one who's going to purchase the property pays 100,000 for it.
Just as security to make sure it doesn't slip away.
That's the kind of earnest money that's been given to you and me, the Holy Spirit, the third person of the the Godhead to indwell us.
To make sure that we are taken home to glory because we are part of the purchased possession. We are the bride, part of the bride of Christ. That's the claim he puts upon us. That's the importance he wants you to feel.
You feel depressed about your life and your circumstances. Do you feel discouraged? Look on, beloved.
You can enjoy what you're going to step into right now, and the Holy Spirit will just flood your soul with joy.
Joy, unspeakable and full of glory. Now in the few verses that follow, it's just a prayer. And Paul is saying that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the verse right here, the Father of glory, may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him we've learned about.
What's going to happen to you and me? We're chosen in him before the foundations of the world, and we might be holy without blame before him in love.
We've been predestinated, we're accepted in the Beloved and all of those things. And now he gives us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the Knowledge.
Not of ourselves, but of Him of Christ, in whom are hid all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And that verse even takes in the church too. Now here's the prayer he prays. We're just going to read it and make little comment, and then we'll be finished. The eyes of your understanding, being enlightened. And that simply means that the eyes of your heart.
Might be open.
This wonderful knowledge we've been reading about, talking about Beloved, Have you ever thanked the Lord for it?
For his secret counsels. I'm sure when Rebecca got back, she got on her knees.
And thanked.
Her God.
For those councils that brought her into such a wealth of blessing.
May the eyes of our hearts be opened. You notice it does not say minds, it affects the heart. Any truth that does not affect the heart can be dangerous or lost.
This is a truth that should affect the heart.
And the scripture says to keep our hearts with all diligence or.
Guarded above anything that is to be guarded because that's where Christ dwells.
That we might know what the hope of his calling is. That is that.
We have been called up like a beggar out of the Dunghill, to be set among the Princess to inherit the throne of Glory.
That's the calling that is ours, and that we might know what the riches of the glory.
Of his inheritance is in the Saints, and that means that Christ is going to come and take His bride first. That's the moment we're waiting for, beloved.
He's going to take us first with him and then in Revelation chapter 19, it says we're going to come back with him.
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And that's when he's going to claim his inheritance with his bride. But he's not going to claim it without her. Because we are one. We are one with him.
Which he wrought in Christ. This is the power, verse 19 And to know the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality.
And power, and light, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and have put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church. To the Church, what is Christ to your heart?
What is he to mine looking unto Jesus?
The author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy the Church.
Yes, that was part of it. That was set before him, endured the cross. And now what is he to the church? He should be everything. Is he everything to you and me? He wants to be. He's available and he's accessible. Which is the body. His body, the fullness of him, that filleth. All in all, the Bible says that in a coming day, very soon, perhaps seven years from today, approximately.
He will come to be glorified in his Saints and admired in all of them that believe. Perhaps we don't give him that place of glory now.
But when we come back with him, the world will see glory because of the Church's compliment. In that sense, it's his glory.
We are one with him and he'll be admired in all of his Saints. His glory will be seen in all of his people and we're to know what is that great power to us Word who believe were to know it.
And that's beloved. What we need to pray for is that we might know these blessed truths. He's going to bring it to pass. All of these things are going to happen, but now are we in the enjoyment of them While we live in the world that we're in, we can change worlds and enter into His sphere and enjoy these blessed things today and make them our own. And it can only be through communion with Him.
By the power of the Holy Spirit, shall we just pray together.