The Bride of Christ, God's Love for the Church

  • Gene Cook
  • Jul 13, 2008
  • Series: Topical

Eph 5:25-27

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.

28 So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; 29 for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, 30 because we are members of His body. 31 FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND SHALL BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH. 32 This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.

NASU

Introduction

25 Husbands, love your wives

  • The text usually is used to teach husbands how love their wives
  • We must first understand the degree to which Christ loved the church
  • The Terminology of the Bride
  • Hosea 1 "Israel is not my wife because she has become a harlot"

Jer 31:31-33

31 " Behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them," declares the LORD.

2 Cor 11:2

2 For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin.

  • These truths are reflected in the traditional western wedding ceremony (I love doing weddings)
    • The wedding day itself (it is something that is anticipated) (wedding feast of the Lamb)
    • The separation prior to the ceremony
    • The brides veil that covers her face and when it is lifted when?
    • The standing of the witnesses (resurrection)
    • The witnesses on both sides of the aisle (the covenant witnesses)
    • The father giving the bride to the bridegroom (John 6)
    • The vows of marriage (the covenant stipulations)
    • The white wedding dress (the righteousness of Christ)

2. The Method that God uses to cleanse Jesus' Bride vv -25-26

just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,

  • mention what it means that "He gave himself up for her"
    • What does it mean that "he gave himself up for her"

§ Jesus gave up his throne in heaven

§ Took on human flesh

§ Was born in a feeding trough

§ Subjected himself to temptation

§ Subjected himself to sinners

§ Walked the earth for 33 years in a state of perfect obedience

§ Only to be brutally murdered by religious zealots

Who did he do this for?

§ A group of people who a bunch of sinful rebels

§ People that could care less about their sin or salvation for that matter

§ People that accept his forgiveness and grace and then continue sinning

  • People like me, people like you, he gave himself up for her!
  • Acts 20 (God purchased his own blood)
  • "sanctify her" set her apart
    • There are two senses in which this terminology is being used

§ Ongoing sanctification (making us more like Jesus)

§ Initial sanctification (set apart from the world as a believer)

§ It is the latter that Paul is referring to because of what he says next

  • "cleansing her by the washing of water with the word" (word and Spirit) (initial regeneration and sanctification)

The Holy Spirit as water

John 3:5-8

"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 " That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 "Do not be amazed that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'

Titus 3:2-7

3 For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. 4 But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, 5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by thewashing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,

And the Word

Heb 4:12-13

12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. NASU

  • More specifically, the Gospel

Rom 1:16-17

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel , for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH." NASU

3. The Goal of Jesus' Love for His Bride

27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.

  • The presentation of the bride in all her glory (followed by two descriptions)
  • Having no spot or wrinkle, or any such thing
    • He takes away all of our sin
  • Holy and blameless
    • He gives us his own righteousness

4. The Importance of Unity in the Goal

Eph 4:1-3

Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, 3 being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

NASU

  • Why is the unity of the church so important?
  • Let me put it this way, do our children need to see us model a healthy marriage?/
  • My point, the church is God's trophy on earth, on display for the world to see
  • A preview of the Kingdom that will be eternal
  • That s why we Elders must be diligent

Rev 21:1-2

Then 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 .

NASU

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