This morning we're going to wrap up our series that we've been going through people for himself. Our series on the church. And we're going to conclude with Ephesians chapter five. We're going to consider what Paul has to say here. We've considered all kinds of things over this summer series, all kinds of different doctrines and questions about the church, about polity and procedure and structure and office. But as we conclude, as we come to a close now, we need to zoom back out and we need to remember why all of this talk about the church is so important in the first place. We need to remember who we are as the church and where we're going and how we're going to get there. And so we're gonna consider Ephesians chapter five this morning. That will give us some answers to those questions. So please look with me at Ephesians chapter five, beginning in verse 25. This is the word of the Lord. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself, for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself and let the wife see that she respects her husband. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we thank you for this reminder that you love your church and gave yourself up for her. Not only have you given yourself for her, but you continually work in her, sanctifying her, preparing her for that glorious day when you return. And she is presented in splendor. As you have already begun that work in our own lives, would you continue to do that work, even right now, even in this moment through the preached word? May you do that work in our hearts. And we pray all of this in your mighty name. Amen. Again, we've talked a lot about the church and a lot of detail over the past several weeks. We've journeyed through this forest and examined all these different trees and these root systems. We've considered all the individual branches of the various doctrines of the church. We saw how individual churches like ours. are just one of the many trees, visible expressions of God's invisible, holy, universal Catholic Church, even like we confessed from the Nicene Creed earlier in our service. We are but one church among many churches that make up this vast forest, as it were, of God's people. But this morning, as we wrap up the series, we need to journey back out of the forest. We need to get back out from the individual trees. We need to climb back up the hill and be able to look out upon what God is doing in its totality. We need to see the grand portrait that God is painting of his family, of the family of God. And that's our goal this morning. That we would not finish this series and end up missing the forest for the trees. That everything we've discussed previously, that's all very important, it's good, it's helpful, but we cannot make them of such high importance that we miss the beauty of what Christ is doing in his church. And that's what we wanna see this morning. And Paul helps us to see this in Ephesians chapter five. In this letter, Paul's already expounded. He's already preached the gospel of free grace through Christ's atoning sacrifice on the cross. He's already preached that to them in the first three chapters. And then in chapter four, Paul gives a forceful therefore. Therefore, because of what Christ has done for you, because of how he saved you, because of how he's redeemed you without any merit of your own, Now, here's how you ought to live. So verse four, chapter one, Paul says specifically, therefore, I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. Now, if you were here during our series when we went through Philippians, I hope that that verse sounds familiar to you, because that's exactly the same thing that Paul says in Philippians. Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel. Because God has made us citizens of his kingdom without any merit on our own part, he's accomplished that all of his own. And now here's how we ought to live. We ought to live like who we have been made to be. And so that brings Paul to chapter five. This is the entire emphasis of the second half of Ephesians of how we are to live. And so in chapter five, Paul moves on to give some practical instruction within the families, practical codes of conduct in order to walk in a manner worthy of our calling. He gives instructions to wives and to husbands, to parents and children, even to servants and masters. And so that's the context of this passage. It's a wonderful, it's a beautiful passage of scripture, especially regarding our marriage relationships between husband and wife. It's a favorite to be preached at weddings. This passage was preached at our wedding. I love this passage, it's so meaningful. It's so meaningful, especially as we consider our relationships to one another. But even more so, and as we already see jump out from this text, This has something very important to say to us about Christ's relationship to his church and about our relationship to Christ. And so that's what we want to consider this morning. See, it's in this passage that we see that the church is the bride of Christ. The church is the bride of Christ. That is the glorious, wonderful truth that is our topic this morning. That's the forest for the trees. That's what we want to consider this morning. What it means that the church is the bride of Christ. And so we're going to look at this by working our way actually backwards through the text we just read, when we want to notice three things. First, we want to see who we are. Who we are as the bride of Christ. And then, We wanna see where we're going. And third, lastly, how we will get there. So who we are, where we're going, how we will get there. Let's consider this now together. Looking at the end of this passage, verses 29 through 32, who are we? We are the bride of Christ. Have you considered that amazing biblical scriptural promise before that we, as the church, are the bride of Christ? This takes us back all the way to the first sermon in the series, that there exists, only within the church, nowhere else in the world can you find this, only within the church, there exists this special relationship between God and his creation. God is the sovereign over all creation, he's the creator over everything, he rules over everything, yet within the church, He has a special relationship to her. It's only within the institution of the church that Christ rules as head and mediator of his people. And so it's only in the church where we see God's love shown toward his people in this way. The church is God's own possession, a people for himself, that he saves, that he unites himself to. And so it's proper then that Paul can talk about this relationship as a marriage relationship. So look back with me at verses 29 and 30. And remember, he's using the illustration of a relationship between husband and wife. But he says this, he says, for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it. just as Christ does the church because we are members of his body. So how is it possible that we are members of his body? How is it possible that we are one flesh with Christ as it were? Well, Paul immediately in the next verse, he goes back to the very beginning of scripture and he quotes from Genesis. And he says, therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. So we know this is what happens when man and woman, when they're joined together in marriage, this was God's intent from the very beginning, from when He created Eve and He brought her to Adam. This was His intention for marriage. And Christ Himself, He quotes this same verse in the Gospels to reiterate and to emphasize how important this is. But here, Paul quotes it, But now in order to look beyond the institution of marriage itself to the marriage between Christ and his bride. And so he says in verse 32, this mystery is profound. And I'm saying that it refers to Christ and the church. There is a mystery. Within all of our earthly marriages, there's a mystery of how one man and one woman, the two can become one. And they truly do become one flesh. Paul's saying that this mystery is profound. But even more than that, this mystery actually points beyond itself to something even grander and more mysterious. That our marriages here on earth, though wonderful and full of great benefit and beauty in and of themselves, they actually, are given to us to point beyond ourselves back to Christ. And so in marriage, when the two become one, husband and wife, that's also true of Christ and the church, that we are united to him as one flesh. And if we are one flesh with Christ, then of course it naturally follows that Christ will nourish us, that he does cherish us, that he does love us, How could he not? Of course he will, because he is united to us and we are united to him. And so that's who we are. That's that's who the church is. We are one with Christ, united to him in this mysterious union. And it is mysterious. You know, this analogy does break down at some point. It goes beyond our understanding. How is it? What's the process? What happens in time and even outside of time? How does this mysterious union take place where we are united to Christ? How does the spirit work in that process? How can that be? I love the way that Calvin puts it when he writes on this verse. He says, for my own part, I am overwhelmed by the depth of this mystery and am not ashamed to join Paul in acknowledging at once my ignorance and my admiration. That's what he says about this great mystery and it is great. And we cannot explain it to you fully. I cannot explain it to you all that takes place and all that happens, but it is a doctrine that is so wonderful that we ought to consider it daily? What would it look like to wake up in the morning and to think that I belong to Christ and he belongs to me? To dwell on that, to consider it, what kind of comfort would that bring to us? To meditate upon that, to think of that, constant. It should, it ought to lead us to daily admiration and wonder at this Christ, this God that we serve. And if you are in Christ this morning, make no doubt about it. This is true of you. This is who you are. And this is who the church is. This is who we are. We are the bride of Christ. How wonderful is that? But that's not all. That is who we are, but we have not yet arrived at the destination. We are at once currently, truly we are united to Christ and the effectual call of the Spirit in our lives, but Christ has not yet returned. We are united to Him, yet we are apart from Him. He is always with us, yet we long to see Him face to face. You know that tension, you know that struggle. You know that prayer, come Lord Jesus, come quickly. That's where we are going. So that's the next thing we have to see from this passage. Where is it that we are going? And we see this in verse 27, Paul writes and says, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that she might be holy and without blemish. This is where we're going. This is the wonderful promise of the future day that's coming for the church, for the Christian. The picture here in this verse is the picture of the wedding day. Can you picture that with me? Maybe you can remember back to your own wedding or to a wedding that you've been to recently. And you know that everything has been leading up to this moment in great anticipation. And now the hour has finally come. The family is all seated. The bridal party is already processed down the aisle and is waiting at the front. The groom is waiting there as well, standing there also. And then they close the chapel doors so that the bride can take her place behind them. And there's this hush through the room. It's quiet. Everybody's eager. They're waiting because they know what's about to happen, what's about to come next. And then, finally, the bridal march sounds on the organ, the doors are thrown open, and there's the bride. And she's beautiful. She's wonderful. She's adorned from head to toe in so much beauty in her wedding gown. Everything is beautiful. Everything is glorious. What a wonderful moment. Everybody stands and they turn to take a look at this beautiful bride on that day. But remember, our marriages only point to something that's greater than themselves. And we know that even with all the beauty that happens on our weddings, that no wedding actually takes place where everything works out perfectly. You know that. You may have even experienced that yourself. Not everything goes always according to plan. There's always something that might go wrong. Maybe there is a problem with the wedding dress. Maybe there was fighting among family members the night before, or even just the months and weeks that led up to the marriage itself. Maybe the bride or groom, they feel nervous. Maybe there's still some struggles that they've had even leading up to the wedding. Maybe they're distracted. Maybe they're doubting. Maybe there's some difficulties that are lurking beneath the beautiful veneer of the hair and the makeup and the suit and ties. Maybe there's something underneath and they don't know what to do about all that. But on this wedding day, on this day in the future, what happens? How is the bride on this wedding day, how is she described? It says that the doors open wide and she's presented in splendor. Splendor. I love that word. We get the same word behind this word is the same word behind doxology. At the end of our service this morning, we sing the doxology, which is a song or a word of praise. We ascribe praise and glory to God. It's glory. And this word splendor has that same word for glory. It's a kind of glory that's being worked in us. Christ is working in us this glory that he himself has. And he is making us glorious so that on that day, We are presented in full glory, perfect, splendor, without any spot, without any wrinkle, without anything at all, we're presented as glorious unto him. Because he is making us like himself. And on that day, He presents His bride to Himself in this splendor, in this righteousness that is not her own, but has been worked in her by the Spirit, making her to be more glorious and glorious more and more day by day. And though it is true, we will never become like Christ in His glory perfectly. He will always forever be alone worthy of our glory and our praise. Yet we will be made like Him. and we will be presented to him in glory. What will this look like? Words fail us at this point, but Paul tries his best. He says, we'll be presented in splendor, in this glory, without spot, without wrinkle, or any such thing. There will be no spot anywhere on that wedding dress. There'll be no spills that happen. There'll be no wrinkles, nothing will be wrinkled. Everything will be in its perfect place. No such thing, not even a petal on the bouquet will be out of place on that day. Nothing inside of her, nothing inside of the bride will distract her. Her thoughts will finally, solely be fixed on Christ. No sinful desire will arise within her that would distract her and detract from this perfect wedding day. No memories of past sin will remain and seek to condemn her because she's looking at Christ and he has become her all in all. Finally. After all this waiting in exile, God's people will finally be free from all the pain and the sting of sin and death, and we will be with Christ forevermore. That is where we are going. That is the glorious day that awaits us. Paul paints an even more vivid picture of this day in 2 Corinthians 11, in verse 2. And he says, he's writing to the Corinthian church. He says, for I feel a divine jealousy for you since I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. Do you hear that? But he goes on to say, he says, but I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. You see, that is what we're called to be. A pure virgin to Christ. That is who we will be presented as on that day in splendor, on that wedding day, a pure virgin. But how is this possible? You might ask. How can this be? Because we know ourselves. We're all too aware that we are not the pure and blameless person that we are called to be. We are not perfect. We can remember our past failings, and our hearts do condemn us at times. Our sins are ever before us. How can we be pure the way that we are called to be? How can we possibly hope to be the kind of bride that Christ has called us to be? At the PCA General Assembly this past June, Dr. O. Palmer Robertson, wonderful, godly, elder statesman of the PCA in so many ways. He asked us these same questions in a talk he gave during the assembly. He was asking these same questions that you might be asking this morning. How can there be any hope for me, dirty and sinful person that I am? Like Paul warns in that passage from 2 Corinthians, our thoughts can lead us astray. They can deceive us. Even thoughts that would say, there's no way Christ could ever love me. Not after what I've done. Because of who I am, there's nothing that he could do to save me, to make me lovely. There's no way. But that condemnation that you feel, that is not from God. It's a lie. Because here's what Christ tells us. This is what Dr. Robertson reminded us in that talk. That we are always too quick to forget this, but we must always remember the power of the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. That is what we must always remember. That is what leads us to the last thing we must see in this passage. We've seen who we are, we've seen where we're going. There seems to be no hope that we'd ever get there, but how will we get there? Let's look, verses 25 and 26, back to the beginning of the passage. Paul says, husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her that he might sanctify her. having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word. It is the power of the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit that gets us there. Christ gets us there. He sends his Spirit to get us there. Christ makes us holy. Notice the progression in these verses. Why are husbands to love their wives? It's because Christ loved the church. Well, how did Christ love the church? Here's how, by giving himself up for her. Let's ask the question, when? When did Christ love the church? When did Christ give himself up for her? Why did he love her? Was it because she was lovely? Was it because she was beautiful and splendid? It can't be because we haven't arrived there yet. We haven't made it to that wedding day yet. Verse 27 hasn't happened yet. That's the destination, but we haven't arrived. So when did Christ love the church in this way? It must have been while the church, while she was yet unlovely. It was while she was yet made up of sinners like you and me that Christ gave himself up for her. While she was yet unlovely, without splendor, unworthy of such love, that was when Christ laid down his life for his church and for you and for me. Do you believe that? So how do we get there? First, Paul says that Christ laid down his life for the church. That is the atonement. That is his sacrificial death on the cross, that through his shed blood for you, you have the forgiveness of sins. His perfect life he lived, that perfect righteousness is credited to your account. You're justified in the sight of God. He's accomplished that for you. And then Paul continues and says in verse 26 that we will get there because Christ is sanctifying the church. This is the life we live of sanctification. A big word that just means that we're being made holy. Day by day, hour by hour, we're being made holy. Daily dying to the old self and living to the new. The regenerating work of the Holy Spirit makes you a new creation. And so we are constantly putting off the old self, putting on the new, so that in that day to come, that wedding day, where we are going, we will be presented in splendor. But notice, so important, who is doing the sanctifying work? Sanctification is the work of God's free grace. It is God's work. Does that mean it doesn't matter what I do? Does that mean I can do whatever I want because I know God is gonna sanctify me in the end? By no means. That's not what we're saying. But I would have none of us leave here this morning thinking that our efforts, or better yet, our lack thereof have any part to play in our salvation. That is a joy-stealing, assurance-robbing error that we think that we are somehow in by grace, but we must stay in based upon our efforts and our good works. That if we fail to remain faithful, He will not, in the end, be faithful to us. But that's not what I see in this text. That's not what I see here. What I see is Christ, from beginning to end, doing it all on our behalf. Why? Because He loves you. And He wants to present you as holy and blameless and pure. He wants to save you from all those things, and He will do it, because He's faithful and just. He is the one who loves us, He gives Himself up for us, so that He might sanctify us, He says. Cleansing us with water and the word. So that, do you see this? So that He might present us to Himself. On that day. And then we get to that verse 27, we've looked at it. This is the only verb that's attributed to us. What is it that we must do? What is it that the church does on this wedding day to get there? Verse 27, we do nothing, but the verb is to be. That she might be holy and without blemish. We do nothing, but we simply be who Christ has made us to be on that day. So Christian, do not put yourself back under the curse of the law, which condemns, which says, do this and live. You are not under the law. You are under the gospel, and the gospel is a proclamation that says, it has been done for you. Do we seek to obey Christ? Yes, of course we do, but not in order to become the bride of Christ, because we already are. That is who we are. We are the bride of Christ. We have a glorious and splendid future ahead of us. And Christ is faithful and he will get us there. And so as we wrap up this, our time this morning, as we wrap up this series again, do not miss the forest for the trees. Remember the Christ who loves the unlovely. who loves them so much that He adorns them in this splendor. Remember that Christ is building His church, He's making her glorious, more and more glorious day by day. And remember that great celebration that awaits us. And rest knowing that Christ, He is faithful, He will get us there. Let's pray. Jesus, how many names and titles have we considered over the past several weeks? There's so many. You are the elder, the overseer of our souls, the good shepherd of your sheep. You are the king and head over your church. And this morning, we get to consider how you are the husband and bridegroom to your bride. Continue to work in us as you're pleased to make us lovely and holy. We long for that wonderful day in which you present us in full splendor to yourself. We will be glorious like you, but we know that we will always and only ever worship you. You alone are the one who is worthy of praise and glory and honor. May we sing, may we ascribe, may we marvel at your gloriousness, even now, even today. We pray all of this in your mighty name, amen.