9th ANNUAL BIBLE RESEARCH CONFERENCE

APRIL 25-26, 2014

COMFORT INN

MARIETTA, OHIO

"FAITHFULNESS"

“FAITHFULNESS IN MARRIAGE”

Over fifty years ago, my bride Suzanne and I were wed in Jamestown, NY. What a day that was, beginning with me forging my drivers license in order to get a marriage license. We eloped, as it were, and were in a great hurry to get this thing done, I mean fast in order to get back home before our parents found out. Well... we did and they did. I remember standing before that preacher shaking like a proverbial leaf in the wind because of the seriousness of the occasion. Even though I was not a Christian at the time, I knew that what I was about to do was for life. Quite honestly, I cannot remember hardly a word the preacher spoke that afternoon, but I knew it was the most serious moment of my life up to that time. What I'm proposing to do here today is rehearse those vows together with you and compare them with the promises we made to our Bridegroom, Jesus Christ.

Bridegroom? Yes, Jesus is our Bridegroom, we are betrothed, engaged to him right now. Our Lord speaks of this fact in parabolic forminMatt. 25:1: "Then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps, and went out to meet the bridegroom. All ten virgins represent figuratively ten members of the Lord's church, mind you. Only one half of the bridal party ever met him at the midnight hour, but there was, indeed a meeting. We are in a continuos wedding procession and have been since we met the Lord Jesus, so be prepared to meet the bridegroom! Again we read the words of John the baptizer: John 3:29 "He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. And so this joy of mine has been made full. The apostle Paul mentions betrothal clearly in one of his New Testament epistles: 2 Cor 11:2 For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. Brethren, a glory hallelujah, consummation day is eminently approaching where we will surely celebrate our wedding day with the Lamb of God. And the apostle John says so: Rev 19:7-9 "Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready." (8) And it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. (9) And he *said to me, "Write, 'Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.'" And he said to me, "These are true words of God."

Let's just suppose that there is a wedding ceremony pending in heaven much like many of us already have gone through when we married our spouses. Put on your holy imaginer just to see the results of it all. OK? Will the Father have an address to the assembled congregation that goes something like this?

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here in My presence to unite Jesus, My only begotten Son, the king of Kings and lord of Lordsand His spotless, blemishless, holy and perfect bride, the church of Christin Holy Matrimony, which is instituted and blessed by Myself, and to be held in honor throughout the ages to come. They desire to take each other as husband and wife for prosperity always; adversity never as sickness ceases while eternal health flurishes; and riches only from here on out, world without end. Amen.

Who gives this man to be joined to the woman? None other than the Father Himself assumes a duel role and steps forward to say "I do." As the solemn vows you are about to make be kept faithfully, and as your will becomes My will, your life will be full of joy, and your marriage rich in comfort and fruitful in every way.

I. Marriage is Ordained By God.

After the process of creation is described, My commentary states: Genesis 2:24 For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. But with further investigation we also see thatFirst Corinthians also says more on the subject at hand today: "But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him." Now church, you have already done this to a degree through your engagement period; but are now taking this to the next level through eternal bonds.

II. A Union of Two Lives.

The word union means oneness; to unify means to one-ify or to make one. When two marry they are joining their lives into one life, in this case eternal life. This is not the average marriage at all, it is special in every way. There is real unity in this marriage between My Son and His bride the church as well as Myself; "that they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us" This unity up here is of a very permanent and everlasting nature.

III. A Complementary Relationship.

I observed in the garden that it was not good at all for Adam to be left alone. I honestly desired fellowship with my human creation before the worlds were formed but I quickly recognized that he needed also someone of his own creation, so I gave him a helper. My son needs a bride who will serve Him forever, so I am giving Him a helper.

IV. A Covenant of Love.

This agreement of commitment is a solemn, eternal covenant of love. In the engagement period, the bride experienced My love and My Son's love daily as is recorded in My word often: John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. 1 John 4:9 By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. 1 John 3:1 See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 1 John 4:19 We love, because He first loved us.

DECLARATION OF INTENTION:

And now as your Father, I say to you:

My Son do you take the Church of Christ to be your wedded wife, to cherish her for all eternity to come? Do you pledge your loyalty to her, and promise to love, honor, comfort, and keep her, in perfect health and joy unspeakable through all the years of eternity to come? If so answer, "I do."

And as your heavenly Father I say to the bride of Christ:

Church of Christ do you take The Son of God to be your wedded husband, to cherish him and to live with him in overwhelming happiness and joy throughout all eternity? Do you pledge your loyalty to Him, and promise to love, honor, worship, extoll, praise and serve Him through all the years of eternity to come? If so answer, "I do."

Rings are of no consequence in this wedding ceremony, they were only of earthly good. They were used to represent a seal of intent and a symbol of lasting, abiding love. I have already placed my seal on you My Son while on earth, a pledge that You and You alone could provide eternal life to Your bride. John 6:27 "Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man shall give to you, for on Him the Father, even God, has set His seal." Further, to the bride I say that you likewise received a bonafide seal or pledge the minute you were baptized into My name, My Son's name, and My Spirit's name, for your initial salvation. Eph 1:13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation--having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise. The seal actually was a genuine guarantee looking forward unto this very day. Therefore my promise is being kept as I have kept all of My promises.

Since I have all authority in heaven and on earth, I now pronounce you Husband and wife.

Well, this may seam a little far-fetched, however, there is going to be a wedding in heaven between the Son and His bride. Rev 19:5-9 And a voice came from the throne, saying, "Give praise to our God, all you His bond-servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great." (6) And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude and as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. (7) "Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready." (8) And it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. (9) And he *said to me, "Write, 'Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.'" And he *said to me, "These are true words of God." [NASB]

Rev 21:1-2 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. (2) And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. [NASB]

The new heaven and earth is the environment that the bride finds herself when she comes down out of heaven as a bride adorned for her husband. When all of God's enemies mentioned in Revelation are destroyed, there will be a new environment for the saints to enjoy, for the Saints possess the Kingdom.

Dan 7:26-27 'But the court will sit for judgment, and his dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever. (27) 'Then the sovereignty, the dominion, and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.' [NASB]

"New Jerusalemdoes not mean that old Jerusalem is extinct, any more than New England infers that old England is destroyed. This is spiritual Jerusalem, the mother of us all (Gal. 4:26). She is from God and His Heaven. She is not a scarred, battle-worn, blood-covered, semi-dead old lady. She is adorned as a virgin bride for her husband. Surely she wears pure white wedding garments. The prostitute in scarlet was cast off by her lovers. The virgin is fresh, adorned and anxiously awaiting a new beginning with her husband. Those who take this literally cannot believe in a renovated earth for it is clearly stated that the first heaven and the first earth passed away. It is obvious that this chapter is picturing the Holy City, and not picturing Heaven. Heaven does not come down out of Heaven!" (George Faull/ Revelation Commentary).

The above wedding ceremony is just a scenario and that's all. But it does make one think, doesn't it. While dreaming this vision up, I couldn't help thinking about how very faithful God really is. If God is faithful even when we are not, how truly ashamed we should be. Think about the vows we made with our mates and for the most part we are faithful to those commitments. If we would be so faithful to the God of the universe as we are to our mates, my, how things would change in our lives.

For example lets look for a moment at our promises we made to our respective spouses in regards to loving them until death do us part. For the most part we do love them and express it on a regular basis, hopefully, really! Wives demonstrate this daily in the preparation of our meals, the laundry, housekeeping and in many cases working outside the home to supplement the family income. Most husbands in addition to working a full time job, busy themselves with yard work, lawn care, home repairs, run errands and many other such things because they love their mates and visa-versa. I purposely left out trout fishing you know.

Oh, how our heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ appreciate our devoted faithfulness to the work of the kingdom. Our scheduled, intended calling on the lost, especially, as well as ailing church members would go a long way with God as He sees our commitment to Him and His Son. Preaching the word, taking on a Sunday School class and teaching it or even having a weekly home bible study or discipling group would surprise the Lord with great pleasure. He would, without a doubt know that we love Him so. Couldn't we express our love to Him by helping to take care of the building and grounds we have set apart to worship Him. Helping with our fellowship meals, I mean cooking and cleanup shows our love for Him, doesn't it? Don't forget the musicians in our churches, how about special music or vocals? We could show our faithfulness to our commitment we all made to Him when we declared from our heart and recited the following words: "I believe that thou art the Christ the Son of the living God." Or as we made Him Lord by repenting of all known sins as well as claiming Him as Savior in the watery grave of baptism. We exchanged one master for another, the devil for our precious Lord Jesus. We vowed, if you will, to be true to Him and serve Him all of the days of our lives. Certainly we would not dare be less loyal to our Lord than to our spouses?

Another thought flies into my mind. We honor our mates, not only on their birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas, etc., but we honor them simply by being there for them in times of need, right? We honor them out in public and wouldn't dare think of disrespecting them or allowing others to do so, would we? Wives, you honor your husbands over all other husbands and husbands, you honor you wives over all other wives or women, don't you? You both honor each other far over and above your children and grandchildren don’t you? The lack of this principle produces a very unloving and unholy relationship. I just said something.

Let's compare this segment of our wedding vows with Christ. Certainly we just don't honor God, the God of it all for an hour on Sunday morning and then honor ourselves on Sunday night. Really, we wouldn't think of it, would we? Do we honor Him in the work place? Or do we dishonor Him there or do we allow others to dishonor Him or even curse Him in our presence? Would we allow our co-workers to curse our mates? Ah, but we never do such things. My wife and I try to eat every meal together, thus honoring the very presence of one another. Mind you, each meal we thank the good Lord for every bite we take and thank Him for one another at the same time. Would we miss dining with Jesus as He spreads His table each week or do we thoroughly enjoy His company as we do our mates? Suzanne and I talk to one another throughout the day and when we are on gospel trips together we talk almost non-stop, except for occasional naps. This is the honorable thing to do. How about honoring God through precious communication with Him. What's your prayer life like? Does it consist of "Thank You, Thank You, Thank You". Or "I need, I need, I need"? Try that with your mate and they'll walk out on you and leave you high and dry. Are your prayers to the Father healthy, wholesome and real? Do you just talk to God or is there real communication going on? Oh, how He wants to hear from us, He doesn't like being snubbed. He wants to know what's on you mind and how He can help.

I see another vow we took as we wed. We promised to comfort one another. I suppose that we men are the worst patients when we get sick. Really. I think Suzanne enjoys seeing me sick. No not because she is that sadistic, though she is German, remember. She can come running to my aid and baby me to death, I mean to health. She is some care giver as any one of you knows who have ever visited our home. She sincerely loves making me happy. I think my chronic migraines hurt her as much as they do me. She wants to be a comfort to me.

Our Lord sent His Holy Spirit to comfort us among other things. The Paracletos is the comforter and true encourager. And we do find a great deal of comfort in Him. But how, you say, are we ever to encourage the Lord God? By simply not discouraging Him. How do we do that? By being unfaithful. By being disloyal. By only paying attention to Him only for, maybe, an hour on Sunday. This must discourage God to no end, it has to.