Yeah, I'm getting used to it now. Most of us here probably know that a beatitude, simply defined, is a pronouncement of supreme blessing, a pronouncement of exalted happiness. And most of us here are familiar with the beatitudes that we find in scripture. In his Sermon on the Mountain, Matthew 5, the Lord Jesus pronounced a blessing upon all who would possess these particular characteristics of Christianity. He said, blessed are the poor, blessed are those who mourn, blessed are the meek, the merciful, the pure in heart, blessed are the peacemakers, blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness. comforting, glorious promises, right? All of them having to do with a future hope for our present state of being, living as we live in a cursed world, a sin-cursed world, a world that produces sorrow and mourning, a world that desperately needs peacemakers, and a world that definitely persecutes because of righteousness. But what I want to focus on this morning is what I'm calling the final beatitude. It's not found in Matthew 5 with the rest of those beatitudes because it's not so much connected to our future hope for our present state of being as it is our present hope for a future state of being. This beatitude, if anything, you could say is the sequel to Matthew 5. This beatitude gives us all the more reason to do what we're told in Matthew 5.12 which is to rejoice and be glad because your reward in heaven is a great reward. The beatitude I'm speaking of we find in Revelation 19. Please turn with me to Revelation 19. Now, Revelation 19 is that one book in scripture that focuses generally on the not yet, right? It contains a lot of prophetic statements that unlike the rest of the Bible, have not yet to date been fulfilled. But they will. Because we know there's not one single statement, not one single jot, not one word of promise that God speaks that if it hasn't already, will eventually come to pass. And the message of the book of Revelation in large part is with regards to what is yet to come, what's coming, what is to be. The coming consummation of the ages, the end of this world, the ushering in of a new heavens and a new earth where in only righteousness dwell. And this new era is going to begin with a banquet. It's going to begin with a supper. But this isn't just any supper. This is going to be a wedding supper. Look with me at verse 9 if you would. This is where John was instructed to write what I like to call the final beatitude. Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Now I call it the final beatitude not because it's the last one in the Bible, I call it the final beatitude because it marks the beginning of a never-ending blessed eternity for all those who are in possession of this special invitation. You can see it was very important that John write this beatitude down because as it says, these are true words of God. Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Well, let's pray. Let's pray together. Our Father in Heaven, as You have given us all of Your words recorded in Scripture, as You have given us words that we can already see have come to pass, and as You have also given us words that have yet to come to pass, we know that we can trust in every one of Your words because these are Your words and these are the words that You have had written down for our benefit and for our good. We give You thanks and praise that we can traffic and holy things this morning as we open up your word. And we pray, Lord, that you would please come and meet with us and give me the ability to speak clearly and give the hearers the ability to hear clearly so that we might be encouraged and built up in what you've given to us in Christ. Lord, may we be able to look ahead and smile at our futures because of Jesus. And it's in his name we pray, amen. The best love stories are always the ones where in the end, after much hardship and pain and struggle and trial and difficulty, the man finally wins the woman, right? The prince finds his princess. The king gets his queen. And then what happens? There's a wedding. And then the happy couple go riding off into the sunset together to live happily ever after, right? Well, what we read here in Revelation, this is the beginning of the Bible's happily ever after. But this one's not fictional. Every other happily ever after, for the most part, you've got to say is fictional. Because without eternity, without heaven in the picture, the man and the woman in every single story, after they go riding off into the sunset together, are still going to have to face each other's bad breath. And what I mean by that is they're still going to have to face each other's faults and sins and blemishes and shortcomings and it's always going to be in the context of an imperfect world that's filled with sin and sorrow and corruption and disease and of course eventually that great party crasher we call death. See these are the parts of the story you never get to see after they go riding off into the sunset. The fact that years later Prince Charming turns out to be perhaps not quite as charming as we thought. I mean, years later, we find him belching at the table, spending too much time stag hunting with the men of the castle, and neglecting his marriage. Even Cinderella, we find years later, Cinderella develops an insatiable, financially devastating love for expensive ball gowns and crystal shoes, and winds up in a more intimate relationship with the castle mice than with her own husband. You see, there are problems, and there are quarrels, and there's sadness, and there's separation, because this is what life is like in a fallen world. In reality, at least as far as this world is concerned, in what Solomon called life under the sun, there really is no happily ever after. The global divorce rate alone can tell you this. But the happily ever after of the Bible is real. The happily ever after of the Bible is non-fiction. It's actually the prototype. I think it's the happily ever after that all the stories and fables like to borrow from. You see, this wedding supper is going to take place in time and space and history. And it will be the beginning of a happily ever after for some. Because this is the marriage supper of the Lamb. Every Christian knows who the Lamb is, right? Every Christian knows the bridegroom in this account, right? Because it's none other than the Son of God himself. It's none other than Jesus Christ. He's the Lamb of Scripture. He's always the Lamb of Scripture. He's the Lamb foreshadowed by Abraham's burnt offerings. He's the Lamb foreshadowed by the Hebrew Passover. The Lamb spoken of by Isaiah. You know, that Lamb that is led to slaughter like a sheep before its shearers remains silent. He's the Lamb that John the Baptist spoke of when he said, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He's the Lamb of whom Peter spoke when he said, redemption can only come through that of a precious, spotless, unblemished Lamb. And He's the Lamb that according to Revelation 6, many on this earth will seek to hide from on the day of judgment. This is Jesus. He is the Lamb of the Bible. He's the Lamb of Revelation 19. He's the Lamb that the angels of heaven rejoice over. Look at verse 7 in the text. Verse 7, Let us rejoice and be glad and give glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready. The Lamb and His Bride. We know the Lamb. But secondly, we know who the Bride is, don't we? Who is the Bride? The Bride is His Church. This is a picture of a marriage. A marriage, you could say, literally made in heaven. A perfect groom and His perfected Bride. Christ and His beloved people, the ones for whom He came, the ones for whom He died, all of them, throughout the ages, collectively. This is the Bride of Jesus Christ, and this is the beginning of their happily ever after. Now God chose to use the analogy of a wedding feast to mark this glorious event. Have you ever wondered why? I believe it's because Revelation 19.9 is marking what may be the greatest milestone in all of redemptive history. You see, this is a monumental event. There's not a whole lot of mention of it throughout scripture, but this is a monumental event. Now, don't get me wrong. There are a lot of monumental events in redemptive history. Certainly the virgin birth, a monumental event, right? And of course, the cross. is a monumental event, but you see, this is the final fruit of those things. This is the final fruit of the virgin birth. This is the final fruit of the cross, right? He will see the travail of his soul and be satisfied. This is the uniting of Jesus with his people in a brand new way. Brand new. A permanent, in a sense, you could say a physical union. that is never going to be separated by anything. This is new. 1 John 3.2, we know that when He appears, we will be like Him. 1 Thessalonians 4.17, and so we shall always be with the Lord. You see, the marriage supper, the wedding feast, the celebration pictured here, it's a capstone. It's a pinnacle, and if nothing else, it serves to remind us of everything that's taken place in order to bring us to this point in time. I mean, a feast. Think about a feast. It's always a celebration of what's already taken place, right? In a few weeks, many of us will be having a Thanksgiving Day feast, right? And when we enjoy that feast together, that commemorates something that took place hundreds of years ago, right? The celebratory supper. whether it's after the bountiful harvest or whether it's after the winning game. The celebratory supper always reminds us that there's been a lot of preparation, there's been a lot of work done in order to bring us to this day, right? And this wedding feast that we see here, it points us to the similarities that we find in scripture between marriage just that earthly union between a man and a woman and our redemption in Christ, our union with Christ, his union with his church. In fact, really so much of our redemption in scripture actually seems to draw from the actual events that led up to a real wedding supper. And if you want to get the full flavor of everything that's taken place up to this point, if you want a better understanding of the analogy of this wedding supper, It can be very helpful, I have found, to look at the customs of the first century Jewish wedding. The first century Jewish wedding, because the parallels between earthly marriage and Christ's marriage to his church are actually quite staggering. You see, our 21st century minds have kind of been conditioned by our concepts of courtship and marriage. But you gotta think, back when John recorded these words, somewhere around 95 AD, we're talking 2,000 years ago, when John wrote these words, everything that took place that was leading up to a wedding feast was very culturally different from what we know today. And I think we get shortchanged by this as we're reading passages like this, but it is really amazing. Now, when you look at everything that led up to a first century Jewish wedding feast, when you look at it in the context of when John wrote these words, it begins to form such a clear picture of Christ's promises and Christ's work and Christ's marriage to his church. I mean, there are parables and illustrations that really seem to come to life in a new way when you know the ancient customs of the Jewish wedding. So here's what I'd like to do this morning. I'd like to briefly examine the historical first century Jewish courtship and betrothal customs, some of which are still practiced today among various sects of Jews. And for time's sake, I promise you I'm not going to go into a lot of detail. But just allow me to paint for you a very simple picture of everything that would have led up to a first century Jewish wedding feast, a Jewish wedding supper. And as I do that, instead of dozing off and going to sleep, I'm gonna urge you, as I do that, I want you to see what biblical texts start to bubble to the surface for you. I want you to see what texts of scripture come to mind as I rehearse the ancient Jewish wedding customs. All right, it's gonna be brief. Betrothal, that's where it all starts, the betrothal. Sometimes this was arranged by the fathers of the two families involved, as in an arranged marriage, but not always. There were not always arranged marriages. The betrothal involved the prospective groom traveling to the home of the prospective bride and agreeing with the father of the bride on a purchase price for her. Now, this was not like he was buying a piece of merchandise. This was more along the lines of a dowry because the bride's family stood to lose a member and the groom's family stood to gain a member. So something of value had to be promised as a purchase price for the bride. Now, it's important to understand that betrothal was actually the official establishment of the marriage covenant. See, unlike our modern day engagements, which can be made and then easily broken off, betrothal was actually the making of a covenant. They called it a ketubah. And at this stage, at the betrothal stage, the man and woman were considered full-fledged husband and wife. And at this point, only a formal legal divorce could undo this bond. That's what Joseph was gonna do with Mary when he thought that she had been unfaithful to him, you remember? how the Bible says he was going to put Mary away secretly. Well, he was going to go and quietly obtain a legal divorce from Mary because to be betrothed was to be considered officially husband and wife. And get this, get this, at the time of the betrothal, before the groom would depart to go back to his father's house, the groom would drink wine from a cup And then he would offer that cup to the prospective bride. Now if she took of the cup and drank, this was an acceptance of the proposal. And then the father would then pronounce a betrothal benediction over the cup and the couple. Now this would be the last thing that the prospective groom would do before leaving, before departing to go back to his father's house. He would share the cup with the bride. That was the first step, betrothal. But then secondly, of course, as I said, the bridegroom leaves. He departs the bride's house to go back to his father's house in order to prepare a place. He would go back to his father's house to prepare living accommodations. He would build a bridal chamber for his bride in his father's house. Now there would be a period of up to 12 months where the bride and the groom would be separated from one another. He to prepare a place for her, and she to prepare herself for him. During this time, she would wear a veil, and among other things, she and her handmaidens were to be preparing a wedding gown for her. And they were all to be eagerly awaiting the return of the bridegroom. At the end of this separation period, when the father of the groom determined the right time. It was always the father of the groom who would determine the time. The groom was sent back for his bride. He would be accompanied by his best man and a host of other male escorts. Usually this was done at night by lamplight or torchlight. And it was like an official procession. It was almost like a parade from his father's house to the bride's house. He would go to the bride's home in order to collect her, to take her back with him to the place that he had prepared in his father's house. Now you see, she was to be waiting for him. This also is different for us, right? This is culturally different. This is foreign to us. In our day, the groom is usually waiting for the bride, right? The groom waits for the bride to show up at the church. The groom waits for the bride to come down the aisle. But you see, this was not so in the ancient Jewish tradition. In the ancient Jewish tradition, the bride had to be waiting for the groom to come. The bride and her bridesmaid were to be waiting for the arrival of the bridegroom. Interestingly enough, the bride was never privy as to when exactly the bridegroom was going to show up. Now, she would have had an idea of what season he was coming, but she would not know the day or hour that the groom was going to show up. As I said, that day and hour was always set by the father of the groom. Now, usually upon his arrival, probably at night, she would have only been tipped off that he was there by the shouts coming from the street. There would be shouting. The escorts of the groom, some of the townspeople perhaps who would have joined in the procession, they all would have been shouting the same thing. Can you guess what it was? The bridegroom comes. The bridegroom comes, that's what they would be shouting, and then finally there would be a procession of sorts from the bride's home back to the groom's house where both the bridal chamber and a number of invited guests would be waiting. Now at some point, I'm not sure when, this is kind of unclear to me, but at some point the bride actually undergoes a ceremonial water immersion, a ritualistic cleansing they called a mikvah, This is still practiced actually today by some orthodox Jews, this ritualistic cleansing, this baptism of sorts. The couple would enter the bridal chamber where the marriage would be physically consummated without getting too graphic. The bride's purity was proven. And then after this, the feast would begin. The celebratory marriage supper that could go on for seven days. Well, that's basically a brief sketch of a first century Jewish wedding. Now, as you heard these things, how many parables bubbled to the surface? How many things that Jesus spoke came to mind? How many things written by Paul did you think of, right? As I very briefly went through these stages of the first century traditional Jewish wedding, how many portions of scripture were coming alive in your mind, right? How many parallels did you see in redemption? How about in the betrothal, right? There's the price paid for the bride. Was anybody thinking of Paul's words to the Corinthian church in respect to their sexual purity? You remember that 1 Corinthians 6.20, Paul says, you have been bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body. Or Paul's words to the Corinthians when he feared that they were listening to false apostles. Remember what he said? He said, I'm 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. Paul says, I've been a responsible wedding coordinator to the church, to the church of Christ. How about the sharing of that cup between the bride and the groom? Did it bring anything to mind for you? Did it make you think of Jesus passing the cup to those who were the representatives of his church, of his bride? Matthew 26, 27, when Jesus had taken a cup and given thanks, he gave it to them saying, drink from it, all of you. And then what did he say after that? You remember a few verses later he said, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until the day I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. And then there was this separation period, right? This up to 12 month separation period where the groom would go back to his father's house to prepare the bridal chamber. Now who of you were not thinking of Jesus' words to his disciples in John 14? In my Father's house are what? Many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you, for I go to prepare a place for you, so that where I am, so that I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, you will be with me also. And then the groom, when the groom comes to receive his bride, in that procession of sorts, is anybody thinking of the parable of the wise and foolish virgins? Waiting for the Bridegroom to arrive. Matthew 25, 1-13. Some of them were prepared for His arrival. Some of them were not prepared for His arrival. How about the shout of the Bridegroom coming? Right? In that same parable it says, at midnight there was a shout. Behold, the Bridegroom! Come out to meet Him. Well, in 1 Thessalonians 4.16 we read of Jesus' return for His people. where it says, the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout and with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God. How about the bride not knowing when the groom is going to show up? Right? Matthew 24, 36, But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven nor the Son, but the Father alone. And how about that ceremonial cleansing of the bride? Could you hear Paul's words in Ephesians 5 regarding the parallels of earthly marriage to Christ and his church? 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 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. And finally, how about that feast? This glorious wedding supper. Matthew 22. The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. And what happens? What happens in this account? The invited don't show up. Those who are invited to this feast don't come. In fact, not only do they not show up, but they mistreat and even kill the slaves that were sent with their personal invitations, right? The king's wrath is kindled against these people and what does the king do? He sends out brand new invitations. To who? He sends these invitations out to the lowly and the poor and the wretched. so that these people can come and share in the joy of this glorious wedding supper. Brethren, that's us. I don't know if there are any sons of Abraham according to the flesh here. This is us. We are the lowly and the wretched and the undeserving that have been invited to come to this glorious wedding feast. This is us. We have been courted and betrothed and joined to a holy spouse. We've shared that cup with Christ in many ways, have we not? He is right now as we sit here, preparing a place for us. And we are eagerly anticipating His return for us. We're waiting for the feast to begin, are we not? We're waiting. for the marriage supper of the Lamb to begin. This is our happily ever after. Think about this now. There's no greater union, no greater earthly union, I should say, than marriage, right? Marriage is the greatest earthly union there is. Not even the mother-child relationship, not even the baby-in-the-womb dynamic is greater than marriage. Right? Because marriage is the only relationship that God has deemed a one-flesh relationship. Not even the baby in the womb is called a one-flesh relationship. But a man and a woman marrying, that's a one-flesh relationship according to God. Genesis 2.24, a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife and they shall become one flesh. Right? What a wonder. This dynamic, this relationship is used as a working metaphor for the union between Jesus and his redeemed community, his church. Now, how can we really begin to fully understand the implications of this? I'm not even sure Paul fully understood it. I'm not sure Paul fully grasped it. Turn with me to Ephesians 5, if you would. Ephesians chapter 5. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul can find no better comparison to show the relationship of Christ to His people than that of earthly marriage. You see, there's an intertwining correlation between the two. Verse 23 of Ephesians 5, he says, the husband is the head of the wife as Christ also is the head of the church. Right? Verse 24 tells us that as the wife is to the husband, so the church is subject to Christ. The conclusion in verse 25 is husbands ought to love their wives sacrificially, using Christ's love for the church as their example, their supreme example to follow. Verse 28, he brings out that one flesh dynamic. Husbands should love their wives as their own bodies with a nurturing, cherishing love because this is how Jesus loves his people. And then verse 30 reminds us that we're members of Christ's body. Verse 31 recalls Genesis 2.24 again, for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, be joined to his wife, the two shall become one flesh. And then even Paul, one of the greatest Christian minds that ever walked the earth, even Paul seems to hit a theological ceiling in verse 32. This mystery is great, he says. Not the human one-flesh marriage dynamic, but he says, I'm speaking with reference to Christ and his church, right? Even Paul is blown away by this. Jesus has a bride. And this bride consists of, what, the many, how many? The multitude, what, millions? Like the sand of the seashore? This bride consists of the many that he has purchased with his blood. The Lord Jesus, He's covenanted with, He's sacrificed for, He's given nurture to, and He has been dwelling in His bride, who at this wedding supper will be, because of Him, a pure and perfect bride. Look at chapter 19 again, Revelation 19. Look at verse 8 there. Revelation 19 and verse 8. John tells us something about the bride here. In Revelation 19, eight, he says, it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean. And then it says the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Well, what does this mean? This means we are passively justified and actively sanctified. Passively justified, actively sanctified. My wife and I just celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary this week. And it makes me think back. When we got engaged, a friend of ours stepped forward and said, I'm so happy for you two. He says, I want to buy her wedding gown. He says, you guys go out, you find whatever wedding gown you want. Money is no object. And this man had the resources to do this. He said, you go out, wonderful Christian man, you go out, find the wedding gown that you want, I'm gonna pay for it. My wife and I are gonna buy it for you. So on the day of our wedding, that gown was 100% gift. It was a gift. It was 100% given to her. But she had to adorn that gown. She had to put it on. She had to wear it. And she was beautiful. She was absolutely beautiful wearing that white gown, walking down that aisle that day. And as she walked down the aisle, even though that gown was 100% gift, it was every bit her gown. You see, the bride at this wedding supper, who also happens to be the invited, they're actually one and the same in this passage. The bride at this wedding supper is going to be adorned with an imputed righteousness, but that imputed righteousness is always evidenced by actual righteousness, always. And this describes everyone who repents and looks to Christ by faith to save them from their sin. You see, the glorious truth is, if you are a Christian, if you are a man, a woman, a boy or a girl, and you are living right now a holy, sanctified life, while trusting in Jesus Christ to save you from your sin, then you are betrothed right now to Him. You're betrothed to Christ. We're joined to Him in an intimate, Sacred spiritual union. There is right now a covenant, a real covenant that is binding us together with Christ. In John 17, he said, I in them. I in them. Just let that sink in. Jesus said, I in them. See, we are inseparably joined to Christ. And God says what he has joined together. Ain't nobody gonna separate. But brethren, all that said, the best is yet to come. The best is yet to come, because all of us right now, we're still in the betrothal period. We are still in the betrothal period. The marriage hasn't been fully consummated. I've wondered, why are wicked men always trying to marry Jesus off during the time of His earthly ministry. Have you ever noticed that? I mean, there have been books written, there have been movies produced, they have come up with new Gospels, and they're always attempting to prove that Jesus had an earthly wife. Have you ever noticed that? I mean, what nonsense? What is this other than an attempt to rob Christ of His deity? I mean, first of all, what one woman would be fit to be the wife of the Son of God? But more importantly, this would make Jesus a polygamist. Because He already has a bride. Jesus already has a bride. The Scriptures are so abundantly clear on this. He is betrothed to a bride that is right now being made ready for a great day that's yet to come. It is yet to come, a real happily ever after. And if you're a Christian here today, this applies to you. So as I bring this to a close, what should knowing these things do for us? What should having these truths in our hearts, what should this do for us? Let me leave you with a few parting thoughts. First of all, anticipating this wedding supper. anticipating this feast, this marriage supper of the Lamb, it ought to help us divorce ourselves from this present world. Right? It ought to help us to divorce ourselves from where we live right now. Brethren, our treasure is not here. Our treasure is not here. We are right now citizens by marriage of a far better country. Philippians 3.20, our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly await for a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. What we value most has to be above. Now, how often do we catch ourselves cleaving to the dust? How often do we catch ourselves attempting to find our greatest joys and our greatest pleasures in the trinkets and the baubles of this world, the pleasures of this life, right? Jesus said, I go to prepare a place for you so that where I am, there you will be with me also. I'm here to tell you this morning that our fullness of joy is yet coming. It's coming. Our fullness of joy is yet to come. Right now, we have the Spirit of Christ. As the people of God, we have the Spirit of Christ. And He is to us like a pledge. He's like a token. He's like an engagement ring, if you will, right? But at that wedding supper, we are gonna find ourselves in the immediate presence of the Lamb, in the immediate presence of our Savior. And this thought should help us to no longer be married to this world. Some of the most miserable people I have ever met are people who are seeking to find their pleasure in this world, in this life. And sometimes, even as Christians, we forget who we are. Sometimes we can get caught up in the same stuff. I wonder if there's a Christian here this morning who might be feeling lately like you're missing out on something. You ever feel like you're missing out on something because you are a Christian? Well, that's really just a form of discontentment, isn't it? Are you struggling as a believer with any kind of discontentment? Are you discontent with your present financial situation? You know, do you find yourself doing the if-onlys? Sometimes we get caught up in the if-onlys. Oh, if only I had more money. If only I could afford this or that. If only I could get ahead financially. If only I could get this or that. If only I could have a better marriage. If only I could have a spouse. If only I could have this. Listen, don't forget something. You have treasure laid up for you in heaven. And no one is going to take that away from you. Do you struggle with singleness? I know Christians that have struggled with singleness. Sometimes they feel perplexed. Why hasn't God brought that special someone into my life yet? You know, I patiently wait. I'm listening to him. I'm in the scriptures. My prayer life is vital to me. And God knows what I want. He knows I want a spouse. But it hasn't come yet, why? And Christians can get perplexed. But I would remind you, if this is you this morning, you have a spouse. You have a lover of your soul in Jesus Christ, and he loves you far greater than any earthly spouse could ever possibly love you. Far greater. How about your health? Are you having struggles with your health? Some of us have to deal with day-to-day growing infirmities and weaknesses and limitations, right? Aches and pains, all kinds of problems associated with the effects of sin on the world. Since I hit my 50s, sometimes I feel like I should belong to the ailment of the month club. It's like just constantly something new cropping up, you know? But we need to remind ourselves a day is coming. A day is coming, Malachi 4 says we're going to skip about like young calves being let out of a stall. So it really doesn't matter what your physical condition is right now. A day is coming where you are going to be like a spring calf leaping about in a field. I don't know if any of you have seen what a spring calf looks like when it's let out of a stall for the first time. It's been told me that it's a giddy sight. They just can't contain the exuberance. They can't contain the joy. This is the picture of us in this day that's coming. Are you sometimes disappointed with the way life is turning out? You have an eternity of life in front of you, an eternity of life. This is a blip on the screen, brethren. Whoever believes in him will not be disappointed. The trials and the difficulties that we are facing today should only serve to heighten our longing for this marriage supper that's coming. What did Paul say? Momentary light affliction, right? He said that, momentary light affliction. That stuff is producing for me an eternal weight of glory. And he says, I don't even know what to compare it to. It's beyond comparing it to anything. This weight of glory that we have yet to experience. Long for that. I not too long ago heard of a toddler, a little toddler who was with his family at the zoo and he was just enjoying the zoo, just laughing and just smiling it up with all the animals. And then a gorilla got a little too close to him and it freaked him out. And this little toddler, all he could do was start trembling and look up at his father and say, home! Just home. You ever do that? You ever just get to the point where you just look up at your father and say, home. I just wanna go home. Do you struggle with sin? Do you struggle with sin? I hope you do. I hope you do. You better be struggling with sin because if you're not struggling with sin, you're either dead or you have turned away from the living God. Keep struggling with sin. Paul said to the Philippian church, don't worry, I'm confident that he who began this great work in you, he's going to perfect it. We're all a work in progress now, aren't we? But I want you to remember that a day is coming, a day really is coming where even your progressive sanctification is gonna be over. It's gonna be done with. A day is coming where the battle is gonna rage no more. No more battling with sin. No more raging sin coming up against you. A day is coming where you're gonna be able to say at this marriage supper, just like Paul, I have fought the good fight. And by grace, I have kept the faith. You're striving against sin, the weapons of your warfare. Stuff's gonna be laid down forever. And you are gonna join a heavenly host of saints made perfect. And it's gonna be around a table of feasting. What is this gathering gonna look like? You ever wonder what the marriage supper of the lamb is gonna look like? I have. Is it going to be with real food and real drink? I think so. I mean, I'm teachable, but I think it's going to be real food and real drink. I don't know what it's going to look like, but one thing I do know for sure, there's going to be perfect love and perfect unity among all who are gathered. And there isn't going to be one Christian, not one of God's elect that are going to be missing from the table on that day, not one. And every one of us are going to go on to experience a happily ever after. And the incredible wisdom of God's word, all of his promises, all of the parables, all the illustrations, and even all the warnings, they're all going to be vindicated on that day. Brethren, wait patiently for that day. Hold on and look forward. Keep one eye on that marriage supper of the lamb. And while you are here, rejoice in your bridegroom because he's coming. He is coming. Oh, may God use the things written in his word to encourage and to save and to sanctify. Let's pray. Oh Lord, how we look forward to that day. Eye has not seen, ear has not heard. We can't fully understand all that the Lord has prepared for us. And yet, Father, by faith, we embrace these things. By faith, we wait upon you. By faith, we wait for this marriage supper of the Lord to begin. And we thank you, Lord, that you don't leave us without hope in this life. Lord, with all going on around us, with such a spiritual erosion taking place in this world around us, sometimes we are left crying home. And we pray that you would give us all of the patience that each and every one of us need to wait, to wait upon you, and to wait for that day and hour to come. where we will lay down the weapons of warfare, where we will know real feasting around a real table with the saints made perfect. Lord, give us patience to wait upon you for that day and please continue to sanctify and make holy those who belong to you. Lord, please use your word, use it greatly among your people and use it among those who do not know you. We ask it in Jesus' name, amen.