And the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him and help me for him. And out of the ground, the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air and brought them on to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found an helpmate for him. The Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept. And he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the rib which the Lord God had taken from man made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh. They were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed." Amen. And we want to now come and seek God's face as we come to study his Word. Our Father, we want to thank you for the solid rock, which is Christ Jesus. And indeed, Father, in times like these, we not only need a Savior, but we do need the Bible. And we thank you that it is what we believe to be the inspired and inerrant Word of God. We believe this is your mind in all the matters of life and morality. And as we come now to consider again this subject of marriage and what the Bible has to say about it, May God himself speak through his word. May the Holy Spirit be our teacher, and may we ever know what it is that the Bible says about this subject. Father, we need you in this time that remains. Be our help, in Jesus' name, amen. You don't need me to tell you that this is a hotly debated subject today in the world in which we live. Very sadly, as I mentioned last week, it has become a rather militant debate, the whole subject of marriage, and it's not really my intention to be drawn into that debate. Rather, it has come in our study of this Scripture on a Sunday evening, and we've come to these verses which very clearly give us the very first marriage of mankind. And we have sought not to give our own opinion on this subject, rather, as I mentioned last week in our introduction, when it comes to any matter, no matter what that is, we take the Bible as Christians to be our basis. We believe that our mind on any subject must be the same as God's mind and that is built out of the Word of God. of God. And so again this evening, I'm not going to give you what my opinion is on marriage. Rather, I'm going to simply, in the context of Scripture, give you what is found here. Really, tonight is part two of last week's message, where we considered three things on this subject of marriage. Number one, we looked at the biblical institution of marriage. How that we find in this Scripture seven times in this portion about marriage that the name of God is mentioned. We believe that marriage has been instituted by God for the good of humanity and ultimately for His eternal glory. So marriage is a biblical institution. But last week we also looked at the biblical importance of marriage. How that even in the world in which we live today, that numbers of people getting married are in decline. Today, it is not perhaps an important thing as far as many people are concerned. It's not high up on the list of many young professionals. But as far as the Bible is concerned, and as far as God is concerned, marriage is extremely important. The Bible opens with a marriage, and the Bible closes with a marriage. Then we finished off last week by looking at the biblical interpretation of marriage. are many views on what marriage is, but what we believe the Bible to teach is that it's between one man and one woman for life till death do us part. I have three more things for you and I to consider this evening as we move on in this subject of marriage. Fourthly, I want us to consider the biblical intentions for marriage. the biblical intentions for marriage. Verse 18, "'And the Lord God said, "'It is not good that the man should be alone. "'I will make an helpmate for him.'" And then we have the account of that in verses 21 to 23. Every designer, when he designs something, he does so for a purpose. When he creates something, he has intentions for it. Many of you know, in my previous job, I was a graphic designer, and it was our role to create new brand identities for sometimes new companies or existing companies who were refreshing their identity. And when we would design a new brand identity for a company, we would normally, alongside that, create a set of what was called brand guidelines. Now, really, that was a document on how we, as the designers, intended their identity to be used. Within that document, you would see how the logo was to be used, how publications and advertisements were to be laid out, what colors to use and not to use, things to do and not to do. And really, so long as the guidelines were adhered to rigidly, it would not matter if the client left us and went to another design agency. So long as they took the guidelines and that agency stuck to those, the outcome would always be consistent as we initially intended. And the reason we created that manual was because we knew best on how that brand worked. Having drawn up the concepts and rolled out the initial applications, as designers, we knew it best. We knew it better than the client, and we knew it better than any other designer who came in after us. Why? Because we were the original creators of it. Some companies, in my experience, they respected that, and they stuck to the guidelines. Other companies felt they knew best. They undermined us as designers, done their own thing, and you can guess which company's identity worked out best. I suppose it's the same in engineering. When a product is designed, the engineers know the intentions, and they know how it works, and they provide plans. And so long as the manufacturers stick to those plans, then the product should turn out as intended. Likewise, when it comes to marriage, with God Himself designing it and instituting it, He has intentions for it. Intentions that, if stuck to, would lead to a successful, robust, and lasting marriage. His guidelines for marriage have been set out in His Word. The marriage that sticks closest to the Scriptures will undoubtedly be the strongest. Now, it won't be the freest from trouble. It won't be the easiest marriage in the world. It may not always be the happiest marriage, but it will be the healthiest marriage. It will be the most God-glorifying because it sticks to what God originally intended. You see, when we try to inject our intentions into God's institution, when we feel that we can do marriage better than God, when we change it to suit ourselves or feel to stick to what God has instructed and intended, then two things will inevitably happen. Number one, and ultimately, God will be dishonored. That's what happens. When somebody decides, even no matter what it is, to move away from what the designer intended, they're undermining and dishonoring the designer. But secondly, not only is God dishonored, but disaster is invited. I know that builders hate when clients go off plan, because it throws them into all sorts of unknowns. When we begin to go in our own way and do our own thing, we inevitably invite disaster. And so we're going to consider this evening, in this point, some things very briefly of God's intentions for marriage. And I've lifted them straight out of the preamble to the vows that I would use in any marriage ceremony. And probably most other ministers have this part in their marriage. I have it in my own words. Others will have it in theirs. But this is what normally what I say after I welcome the congregation and then move into the vows. Before coming to the vows, I make a statement like this. Marriage ought not to be entered upon lightly or unadvisedly, but thoughtfully and reverently, duly considering the causes for which it was ordained." And then there are four causes. Number one, it was ordained for the hallowing of the union between man and woman, so that the natural instincts and affections, being directed aright, they should live in purity and honor. Number two, it was ordained for the increase of mankind and that children might be brought up in the fear and the nurture of the Lord. Number three, it was ordained for the companionship, help, and comfort which husband and wife ought to have of each other. And number four, it was ordained for the welfare of human society, which can be strong only where the marriage bond is held. in honor." Now, normally on a wedding day, you don't have the time to expound those four different things. Normally, when you meet with the people getting married, you go through those things, but I want to take them this evening. Number one, it was ordained for the hallowing of the union between man and woman so that the natural instincts and affections being directed aright, they should live in purity and honor. Now, I'm going to deal with that in my next point on intimacy. Secondly, it was ordained for the increase of mankind and that children might be brought up in the fear and nurture of the Lord. You see, God intended marriage to be the institution out of which children would be legitimately born. Of course, we know from Psalm 127 and verse 3 that children are an heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is His reward. Now, I absolutely understand, and I'm sensitive to the fact that sometimes due to biological complications, not every couple can have children. It's not always God's will for people to be parents, and that can be very hard and distressing to understand and to accept. And we must trust that God is sovereign in such matters. However, going back to the beginning, it was God's intention for Adam and Eve to have a fruitful marriage by having a family together. Now, let me show you this very clearly when you go back to chapter number 1. I want you to look at chapter number 1 and verses 27 and 28. Remember, chapter 1 is that general account of creation. Verse 27, so God created man in his own image. In the image of God created he him, male and female created he them. And God blessed them and God said unto them, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over every living thing that moveth upon. the earth." Now, there's something really interesting here, and if you're in a habit of underlining your Bible, I'm going to give you a phrase here. You see, prior to the creation of Eve, God spoke directly to Adam as the man. He instructed him, giving him both directions and duties, the naming of the animals being one of those. However, when God created Eve, notice how God didn't speak only to Adam when it came to the subject of family. Verse 27 again, so God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him, male and female created he them, and God blessed them. And then note this phrase, and God said unto them. Not unto him, not unto her, but he said unto them, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it. In other words, as far as God is concerned, a man cannot be fruitful on his own, nor can a woman be fruitful on her own. This was something they could only do when they came together. God gave the instruction of being fruitful concerning family to the both of them, to man and woman together. Now, while I appreciate and I'm aware that many in society will hold a different stance on this, and you're absolutely within your right to do that, we believe as Christians, as far as the Bible is concerned, that children are to come out of a marriage between a man and a woman. These first two humans were to combine not only in bringing a child into the world, but they were to combine in bringing a child up in the world. And of course, in Ephesians chapter 6, Paul gave that vital charge to Christian parents, to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. That's a responsibility that is put on every single Christian parent, to bring their children up to know the Lord. We can't save them, but we have a duty to do all that we can to teach them about the Lord, about His ways, and to fear the God that we believe in. Thirdly, and as we consider God's intentions for marriage, it was ordained for the companionship, help, and comfort which husband and wife ought to have of each other. In verse 18, when God declared that it is not good that the man should be alone, he decided to make him a helpmate for him. Now those words, helpmate, are from two Hebrew words meaning a help and compatible. In other words, God created the woman to be a compatible helper for the man. Someone compatible with him spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically. And that's why God didn't just speak and a woman was formed. That's why God didn't form her out of the dust of the ground. Rather, because she was to be compatible with Adam, He took her out of the side of Adam. You see, Eve was created for companionship because Adam was incomplete without her. Remember, that is what the original means. Not that God's creation was flawed, but that it wasn't yet finished. So long as Eve wasn't born, God's intention and design for Adam wasn't yet fulfilled. He was never created to be alone. So God created woman as a companion for man to complement man and to complete man. Just as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 9, neither was the man created for the woman, but the woman for the man. Now, particularly in the world in which we live today, that may appear very demeaning to women. But I want to tell you that this role actually wonderfully glorifies her. There's nothing demeaning about this at all. You see, since a man is incomplete without a woman, men should cherish the wives God has given them because they need them far more than they perhaps appreciate. In fact, when we read in Ephesians 5, Paul said that men are to love their wives as if they love themselves. And as we think about Adam here, look at how much he cherished his wife. In verse number 23, she wasn't a servant. Adam didn't see her as that. He said, this is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. He wonderfully cherished his wife as his companion, realizing why God had given her as a gift unto him, to complete him. You see, why God has given the gift of singleness to certain people. And again, like children, it's not always God's will for people to marry. Some people live a life of singleness, and that was God's will for them. But for the most part, according to the Bible, marital companionship is to be sought in someone of the opposite sex. As Paul said again in 1 Corinthians 11 and 11, neither is the man without the woman, and neither the woman without the man in the Lord. Again, look at verse 24, and if you're underlining words, as we think of this whole subject of God's intention for marriage to be companionship, when a man leaves his father and mother and cleaves onto his wife, underline that word, they shall be one flesh. And that's a challenge for all of us, maybe particularly. I don't want to be too hard on gentlemen, but sometimes we want to be one flesh. But they shall be one flesh. When we leave our mother and father, we cleave onto our wife and we become not a me, we become a they. We move from being single to being a couple, from being not married to being married, from being outside of a union to being in a union. You see, God intended marriage to be a companionship. Yes, a companionship, not a dictatorship. God intended marriage to be a companionship, not a dictatorship. As such, then, as Paul said in Ephesians, five wives are called to submit unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. That means to honor your husband as the head of the home and give him his place as such, to respect him and submit to his God-given authority, as Paul finished off Ephesians 5, wives are to reverence their husbands. And that's something that is the duty of the wife. However, husbands are not to lord over their wives, but rather are called to love their wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. And sadly, in the world in which we live, there's even many Christian men, and yes, they may love their wives, but really, they're lording over their wives. And they're holding their wives in a place of submission, that they must do what he says or else, and that's not how God intended marriage to be. That's not what he intended it to be. We're to love our wives. And what's that love there? It's that self-sacrificing love of deep devotion, a love that puts the needs of our wives above our own. The apostle Peter calls husbands to give honor unto his wife as unto the weaker vessel. Oh, we're to honor our wives, remembering always, as another pastor says, A man's wife is his partner, not his property. I like that. A man's wife is his partner, not his property. A partner to be loved, honored, cherished, nurtured, protected, and provided for, guarded, not taken for granted, remembering, as Solomon said, that whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtain a favor of the Lord, not looking at our wives as something less, but as being equally created in the image of God. Peter went on to finish his verse by saying, and as being heirs together of the grace of life. That's what marriage is to be. being heirs together of the grace of life, God intended marriage to be for companionship. But fourthly, as we think about the biblical intentions for marriage, it was ordained for the welfare of human society, which can be strong only where the marriage bond is held in honor. You see, Genesis chapter number 2 doesn't just provide us with the first marriage, but with the first family, and subsequently with the first society. The foundation of that family was this marriage. Adam marries Eve, They then combine, conceive, and as a result, have two children. And that is how God first intended society to function. And when marriage is honored and children are born inside of wedlock, then that is what God honors. But today, more and more homes are broken, families are falling apart, children are growing up not knowing who daddy is, or who mummy is, or worse still, who either are. And sadly, so many children are the byproduct of a drunken flame. where neither mother or father ever remember anything about it. And I am not standing here, please don't misunderstand me, judging anybody, not one bit. That is not how God intended it to be originally. Society in the context of Scripture was formed out of marriage, and when that bond is held in honor, children are born into a loving and united home, then we believe that to be better for the welfare of society as a whole. not everyone will agree with these intentions for marriage. And again, you are quite within your rights to do that, but as Christians, these are what we believe to be some of the original biblical institutions and intentions for marriage. We have the biblical institution of marriage, the biblical importance of marriage, the biblical interpretation of marriage, the biblical intentions of marriage, but then we come fifthly to the biblical intimacy of marriage. Verse number 25, and they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. Now, this brings us back not only to the text, but to the first point I made about marriage, that it was ordained for the hallowing of the union between man and woman so that the natural instincts and affections being directed aright, they should live in purity and honor. Bible commentator John Phillips describes verse number 18 as God's marriage vision. He describes verse 24 as Adam's marriage vow, and then he describes verse 25 as the couple's marriage virtue. Now in verse 25, and it's important that we do this, we must notice how Adam and Eve were naked and neither of them were ashamed. The idea here seems to be that they were living in unperverted moral and marital purity, and this is what God desires for every marriage. What we have is Adam appreciating the beauty of his wife's body, and Eve likewise appreciating the form of Adam's body. And naturally, there was a physical and a sexual attraction to one another, and that is how God intended it to be. He created humans to be sexual creatures with sexual desires, desires that are to be channeled solely towards our spouse and subsequently fulfilled only by them. Of course, that was the opening theme of 1 Corinthians 7, where Paul wrote to that unfortunate congregation, which was rife with sexual immorality. Listen to how he said, how he opened this chapter in 1 Corinthians 7. Now, concerning the things whereof, he wrote unto me, it is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband. Let the husband render unto his wife due benevolence, and likewise also the wife unto the husband. The wife hath not power over her own body, but the husband, and likewise also the husband hath not power over his own body, but the wife. What we find is the natural affections and desires of men towards women and women towards men are to be directed and fulfilled within the bond and the boundaries of marriage. And you know, beloved, there is nothing at all shameful about that. There was no shame in the beginning. Rather, this was a special thing, a sacred thing. yet sadly, however, in the world in which we live, sex has been perverted to unfathomable levels, has become big business, and has turned into a thing of sheer seediness, darkness. It's reduced to something that is not special, let alone sacred or scriptural. All the boundaries and biblical guidelines are out the window, and now anything goes. We live in an age where both men and also women are objectified and reduced to little more than items of lust. However, that is not what God desired or designed for humanity. That is not how humans are to be viewed. We are those, as James said, which are made after the similitude of God. We are not objects, but we are precious, divine image-bearers. We are not objects, but mortal people with a mortal soul. Furthermore, and I think this is very unfortunate, within many churches, sadly, this has become a silent, taboo subject. Apparently, it's not appropriate for church. Folks, if it's appropriate for God to not only invent but to include within His Word, then it is appropriate for church discussion, albeit in a sensitive and reverent manner. It's important to our young people, and even when appropriate, children hear the biblical teaching on this subject, because I want to tell you, what they'll hear in the world is everything the Bible doesn't teach. And so then, when it comes to marriage, God has intended it to be a thing of intimacy and be the boundary within which our natural sexual desires are channeled aright. And as such, God desires marriage to be a thing of faithfulness, a thing of purity. Again, in that familiar passage of Hebrews 13 and 14, the writer says, marriage is honorable in all, and they bear undefiled, or more accurately, again, in another translation, let the marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefined." And God says in His Word that sexual intimacy is to be reserved only for marriage, while extramarital intimacy is rife in the world. It is wrong in the Word of God. And when our passions are directed aright and we keep ourselves only for our spouse, then we are able to live with a pure conscience before God and in a marriage that is honorable to Him. The biblical institution of marriage, the biblical importance of marriage, the biblical interpretation of marriage, the biblical intentions for marriage, the biblical intimacy of marriage, but finally, here's where I want to spend the remainder of the evening, the biblical illustration of marriage. Why is it that we Christians get so hung up about marriage? Perhaps that's what the world's saying. What does it really matter? Why are you boys, why is this one of your hobby horses that you're always on? Why do you put so much emphasis into hammering home what they would view as this archaic book? What it says, society has moved on. Why do we focus so much on it? Well, it is not just because God instituted it. it is because of what God has illustrated through it. Which brings us to that passage in Ephesians chapter number 5. If you still have a marker in that, you come back to it. I'm not going to be directly expounding this verse by verse. We've only ten minutes left, and it would take a great preacher to be able to do it in that time. But here Paul After giving the Ephesians an exhortation on marriage, which included a quotation from Genesis chapter 2 and verse 24, he summed it all up with these words. In verse number 32, this is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. You see, throughout the New Testament, the church, as we know it today to be the group of all evangelical Christians who have been born again throughout the New Testament, the church is described using different metaphors or analogies. Sometimes it's described as a building. Sometimes it's described as a body. But perhaps most beautifully, it's described as a bride. The church was designed be the bride of Christ. I remember a preacher saying one time that he has seen many a late bride, but he's never seen an ugly bride. You see, a bride is a thing of beauty, a thing of splendor, a thing that is a delight to her husband's heart. And so as we begin to think of the church in these imageries, in this imagery the church was designed to be the bride of Christ. And at the moment, today, where we are right now in history concerning the church worldwide, we are like that bride eagerly awaiting her wedding day. You know, the way brides are so conscious and so eager to be getting married and they count down week after week and day after day until that final day arrives. We're in that phase of preparation. You see, there is coming a day when the Bridegroom, who is Jesus Christ, is going to come from heaven to collect His bride, to take her out of this world and into heaven to the greatest marriage ceremony there has ever been. A ceremony not like anything else in history, for it's going to take place in heaven. The Bible calls it the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, when the cleansed, purified Bride of the Church is going to be presented faultless to her Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ. They'll finally have the prize for which he died. And all true believers, you will have been thrilled, as I've used that analogy, because we're eagerly awaiting that day. But you ask, why is marriage? Why is that marriage? Why is it an illustration of Christ in the church? Well, in Genesis 2, how did Adam get his bride? Well, she was created by God out of a sign. We read how in Genesis 2, the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept, and he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh. Instead, thereof, in the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man, made he a woman and brought her unto the man, which led Adam to confess, This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. Likewise, the church. No matter what other religions may say, it did not begin with Peter. It did not begin with any other of the apostles. It did not begin with any other man. The church was birthed by God himself, out of the sight of Christ. He, the Son of God, came from heaven to earth to redeem from it a people for his namesake. Oh, in the Old Testament, God took an earthly people and a lack people the people of Israel still today, even though they're blind, they're his ancient chosen earthly people. But when we come to Pentecost, to the New Testament, God decided to take out of the world a second group of people, a special people, a sacred people, a heavenly people, and he called that group the church. And they would come from all the four corners of the earth, Jews, Gentiles, no matter who we are, what nation we've been born into, from the four corners of the earth, God would take a people for His own name's sake. And that He would call the church. You see, you and I, We belong to a world of sin, a world of ruin, a world that is broken and separated from God. We were born into the slave markets of sin, but the wondrous truth of the gospel is that Jesus came from heaven to buy us out of that market, not with silver and gold, but with his own precious blood. The difference being that God did not put Christ to sleep. as he did with Adam. In the beginning, when Eve was created, we don't read of Adam feeling any pain. He wasn't aware in the moment that a wife was being wonderfully created. He just woke up and was presented with a beautiful bride. But when Christ came, oh, how things were so much different. For he did not go down into sleep, but he went down into death. He went down into death for you and I. He came to willingly give up his life for ours, allow himself to be taken and by wicked hands crucified. Oh, He came to give us back to the smiters. We read of Him enduring the cross and despising the shame. We read of Him being poured out like water, His bones being bent out of joint, His heart melting like wax, His strength being dried up, being despised and rejected of men, being wounded and bruised, being oppressed and afflicted, being brought as a lamb to the slaughter. I know that bridegrooms come to wedding ceremonies in many different ways, but certainly on their way to their wedding, I would say few of them, in fact, none of them, have ever been laid as a lamb to the slaughter. This was all the unimaginable agony Jesus endured upon the cross, as they pierced his hands and his feet, fixed him to an old Roman cross, a cross where he hung between heaven and earth, lifted up before God, and lifted up on behalf of all men. He endured our pain, our punishment, and our penalty for the sin we each had been born with. After hanging in agony for the best part of six hours, he gave up the ghost. Oh, He was not murdered. He willingly laid down His life for you and I, after He had endured all of the affliction of God. We read, however, as the soldiers came around, as it was their custom, you see, they were rushing because it was the Passover was coming, and they wanted to get the job done quickly. And often victims would hang on the cross for hours, sometimes days, and to speed the process up, The soldiers would often go round, and they would break the legs, causing the body to slump and subsequently suffocate. And that's what they were doing this day, the Jesus dying. These Roman soldiers were coming, and they were coming to break his legs to speed the process up. Have you ever listened to what the Bible says? When they came to Jesus and saw that he was dead already, they break not his legs, but one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. Oh, what a picture. We're not in paradise now, we're in the gory hill of Golgotha, but what a reminiscent shadow of Adam. Just like Adam, the side of Christ, the second Adam was pierced, and out of it came life, giving blood and water from his side. A bride was born, a bride called the church, a bride made up of all who would believe that Jesus was suffering and bleeding and dying for them. Oh, there have been many wonderful husbands in history who have done heroic things for their wives, in the name of love, but no man ever like Jesus. He loved the church so much that he gave himself for it. This is why marriage matters for it so wonderfully, typifies that mystical union between Christ and His church. I wonder, as you think about that, have you ever considered that Jesus was upon the cross for you? You see, many think that being part of the church is as simple as having your name and a role, but dear friend, it is so much more than that. Just as in marriage where a man is to leave his old life and cleave to his new wife, so too there must be a point in all of our lives where we decide to leave our old life of sin Realizing we're lost, we seek Christ and repent, turn away, leave that life, and cleave to Christ, cling to the cross, forsake all, and trust Him, seek His forgiveness, and be born again of God. Let me ask you tonight as I close, are you cleaving to Christ? Have you left your old life of sin and sought the Savior who loved you and gave Himself for you on Calvary's cross? Are you part of that great blood-washed company who are no longer their own, having been bought with so great a price? Are you part of that great company, the true church of God, who are waiting to meet their blessed bridegroom? the Lord Jesus Christ. In the world in which we live today, I don't know how much longer time is going to continue. Not much longer. But God is preparing his bride for the great coming consummation. I thank God that I'm going to be there. Thank God I'm going to be at the married supper of the Lamb. Not because there's anything good in me, but because my beloved bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ, loved me and gave himself for me. He gave himself for you. Friend, if you want to be in heaven one day and be part of this glorious bride, today she's not perfect, because we're still a group of redeemed sinners. but one day she will be perfect, presented spotless to God. I wonder, should he come to take his bride home tonight, would you be going or would you be left behind? Oh, dear friend, this is the wonderful illustration of marriage. This is the great mystery. I have spoken concerning Christ and the church. Christ is speaking to you tonight, why not come and trust Him as your own? Let's pray.