SPEAKER_01: All right, church family, happy Wednesday.
SPEAKER_01: So glad to be with you.
SPEAKER_01: Our last recharge of the semester.
SPEAKER_01: Uh where this semester we've been we've been looking at uh the church and we've been trying to think well of many aspects of the church.
SPEAKER_01: We've we've had a uh a wide array of subjects, right?
SPEAKER_01: We come by God's grace.
SPEAKER_01: We uh uh Christ has given us a mission that causes us to be united in purpose and to uh go to the ends of the earth for his glory.
SPEAKER_01: We've looked at you know, uh even structure in the church last week, so many things.
SPEAKER_01: Um and so this evening I want to uh encourage us by our final uh destination.
SPEAKER_01: Um so a couple summers ago, uh the the family went on a uh vacation, and so uh we we hopped in the car and and we drove for two days to Cody, Wyoming.
SPEAKER_01: And if if you've ever taken uh some young kids and and teenagers on a two-day car trip just to get to the destination, uh you might hear just a few times, are we there yet?
SPEAKER_01: Like, my goodness, what are we doing?
SPEAKER_01: The kids complained endlessly about that, right?
SPEAKER_01: But when we got there, okay, when we got there, it was worth it.
SPEAKER_01: There is this, there is this location in uh just north of Cody, Wyoming.
SPEAKER_01: You can you can see some of the pictures, and listen to me, pictures never even come close to doing justice to landscape.
SPEAKER_01: It it's like uh you you cross over this mountain and you look, and there there are mountains, and then there is canyons beneath, like 1200-foot canyon that the river goes down, and you your eyeball can't even take it all in.
SPEAKER_01: It is the most beautiful spot that I have ever been to.
SPEAKER_01: And the kids even still talk about it two years later, they don't remember the journey anymore, okay?
SPEAKER_01: They actually say, Hey, can we go back to Cody, Wyoming?
SPEAKER_01: They remember that, okay?
SPEAKER_01: So I want you to hear that church, we are on a destination.
SPEAKER_01: And so often when we think about the church, we we don't remember the fact that we're going somewhere.
SPEAKER_01: We're going somewhere, and when you get there, right?
SPEAKER_01: When you get there, it's gonna be so amazing, it's gonna be so glorious that all the pain, all the suffering, everything that had gone on before, you forget.
SPEAKER_01: Did you did you know that the scripture likens it to birth pains?
SPEAKER_01: I can't speak to that, but you mothers can.
SPEAKER_01: The birth pains.
SPEAKER_01: I I do remember when when both of our biological children were born, and my wife was able to hold them for the first time, all the pain went away.
SPEAKER_01: All the you you forget about it all.
SPEAKER_01: Guys, we're headed somewhere, and that's where we're gonna look at uh with our uh last um with our last uh recharge on Wednesday night.
SPEAKER_01: So look at Ephesians 5, 25 through 27.
SPEAKER_01: Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for her, so that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of the water with the word, 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.
SPEAKER_01: See, the church is the purchase bride of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: This is one of the most staggering images in the whole of Scripture.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus doesn't tolerate the church, he loves her, he died for her, he purchased her, he purchased the church with his blood, and he sanctifies her now unto himself, so that she might be spotless and blameless on that final day.
SPEAKER_01: You see, when we look around at the church, we notice all the warts, don't we?
SPEAKER_01: And we're like any other family, we have our warts.
SPEAKER_01: And we may look weak and imperfect, messy now, but Jesus knows what we will become.
SPEAKER_01: You see, Jesus is more committed to the church than the church is committed to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And if you keep reading in Ephesians chapter 5 here, there's one of the most staggering statements in the whole of Scripture.
SPEAKER_01: Because if you look a little further down, I don't have the slide, so you'll listen to me and take my word for it.
SPEAKER_01: In Ephesians 5, 31 and 32, Paul quotes Genesis 2, 24.
SPEAKER_01: It says, For this reason a uh a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave and be joined to his wife.
SPEAKER_01: And then he says this statement.
SPEAKER_01: I'm referring to Christ and the church.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you've contemplated that much.
SPEAKER_01: So let me put words to it.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus left the Father, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Not ontologically, he left the Father, took on flesh so that he might be joined to his bride.
SPEAKER_01: Have you thought of this?
SPEAKER_01: Marriage is a picture of what God has planned from the foundation of the world.
SPEAKER_01: Adam fell into a deep sleep, and God took out of his side a rib and formed the woman.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus fell into a deep sleep, and the sword was pressed into his side, and the blood spilled out, because he was purchasing his bride unto himself.
SPEAKER_01: This is a great mystery, but I'm talking about Christ and the church, that the Son left the Father, took on flesh in order to be joined to his bride.
SPEAKER_01: That is beyond my comprehension.
SPEAKER_01: That is too marvelous for words to sit and to contemplate all that he has done.
SPEAKER_01: You understand that the incarnation is permanent?
SPEAKER_01: I was in seminary when I fully discovered that.
SPEAKER_01: Because I only think of it in terms of like substitution, right?
SPEAKER_01: It's like, hey, Jesus came, he did this work, and then he went back to heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Well, the work's done, right?
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: He died on the cross, our sins are forgiven.
SPEAKER_01: That's what needs to happen for substitutionary atonement.
SPEAKER_01: Do you understand the incarnation is permanent?
SPEAKER_01: He took on flesh to be joined to his bride.
SPEAKER_01: That is magnificent.
SPEAKER_01: We are the bride of Christ, which is why the final destination is a wedding feast.
SPEAKER_01: Revelation 9, 6 uh 6 through 9.
SPEAKER_01: Look at this.
SPEAKER_01: Revelation 19, sorry.
SPEAKER_01: Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude, and like the sound of many waters, and like the sound of mighty pearls of thunder, saying, Hallelujah, for the Lord our God, the mighty reigns.
SPEAKER_01: Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to him.
SPEAKER_01: For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.
SPEAKER_01: 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.
SPEAKER_01: And he said to me, Right, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.
SPEAKER_01: And he said to me, These words are true words of God.
SPEAKER_01: Friend, what is the picture of heaven that awaits the church?
SPEAKER_01: It is a wedding feast.
SPEAKER_01: It is a wedding feast by God's design.
SPEAKER_01: It is a feast.
SPEAKER_01: What do you do at a wedding feast?
SPEAKER_01: You rejoice, you celebrate.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you even consume wine, which is why the Passover, the cup, is wine.
SPEAKER_01: Not for us to get drunk, but for us to be filled with joy.
SPEAKER_01: Did you know that God wants us to anticipate heaven as a magnificent party?
SPEAKER_01: As a party.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you go to a wedding feast and you fellowship and you are celebrating and you feast on all the goodness that God provides.
SPEAKER_01: And you save up for the wedding feast because that is just the time to party.
SPEAKER_01: You cast all your cares aside and you celebrate.
SPEAKER_01: And friend, that is the picture that God gives us of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: That is the church's final reward.
SPEAKER_01: To rejoice, to celebrate, to feast with God, a union and fellowship with Him.
SPEAKER_01: No more temptation, no more division, no more wandering heart, no more grief, no more death.
SPEAKER_01: Because the church will finally be home.
SPEAKER_01: And Christ will dwell with his people forever.
SPEAKER_01: Revelation 21, 3 and 4.
SPEAKER_01: That would be no.
SPEAKER_01: There we go.
SPEAKER_01: And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and he will dwell among them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be among them, and he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will no longer be any death, but there will no longer be any mourning or crying or pain.
SPEAKER_01: The first things have passed away.
SPEAKER_01: And then again, in Revelation twenty-two, verse four, the climax of the entire Bible, and they shall see his face.
SPEAKER_01: And when he looks at you, it will be like nothing you've ever experienced in your entire life.
SPEAKER_01: To be fully known, to be fully satisfied, to look into the eyes of him who gave himself for you.
SPEAKER_01: To know that he, without any reservation, loves you and accepts you.
SPEAKER_01: He is your creator.
SPEAKER_01: See, the greatest gift of all of heaven is not the streets of gold.
SPEAKER_01: It's him.
SPEAKER_00: It's him.
SPEAKER_01: And none of us have ever experienced anything remotely, even a millionth, of what it's going to be like.
SPEAKER_01: Scripture says to see him as he is is to be changed by him and to become as he is.
SPEAKER_01: When he comes, I will be like him.
SPEAKER_01: See, this is our hope.
SPEAKER_01: This is our end.
SPEAKER_01: And it's why in the interim we need to be reminded, guys, we're on a journey.
SPEAKER_01: See, yeah, there's crying and fussing on the car ride there.
SPEAKER_01: But we're reminded, we're on a journey.
SPEAKER_01: And we pursue holiness.
SPEAKER_01: And we endure.
SPEAKER_01: And we love the church.
SPEAKER_01: Because Jesus loved the church.
SPEAKER_01: And he has purchased us.
SPEAKER_01: And he calls us his own.
SPEAKER_01: Heavenly Father, we thank you.
SPEAKER_01: King Jesus, we thank you.
SPEAKER_01: We cannot wait to see that day.
SPEAKER_01: For the loved ones who have gone on before us, we rejoice.
SPEAKER_01: Even in our hurt and pain, we rejoice because they have received.
SPEAKER_01: They have received the end of their faith, the object of their faith, their salvation.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
SPEAKER_01: Father, help us to walk worthy.
SPEAKER_01: Help us to love your church.
SPEAKER_01: Help us to care deeply for the things that you care about right here on the journey because we know what awaits us.
SPEAKER_01: In Jesus' name we pray.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: God bless you guys.
SPEAKER_01: It's been a great semester.