A Bride for Christ
Pastor C. W. Powell
A Sermon Preached February 25, 1996
At Trinity Covenant Church (R.C.U.S.)
Colorado Springs, CO.
Genesis 2:18-25
There are several things about our text today
that are important.
First
of all, man was created to live in fellowship.
The ideal is not for
him to be alone. We have been called into fellowship with Jesus Christ himself
and God His Father. It is true that man was created alone, but God did not intend
for him to remain alone.
The
Nature of Adam
God knew what sort of
creature He had made when He made Adam. Adam was created in the image of God,
and in fellowship with God. As Christians we confess that God is One in
essence, but that in that essence are Three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost. These Three Persons have in that one essence know what it is to love, to
be loved, to speak and be spoken to. There is fellowship in the Trinity, and
man was created to live in that fellowship.
Also included in that
fellowship is fellowship with the other men that God intended to live on the
earth. This fellowship is with all the people of God, all the people that God
made. There are a number of special figures that are used to describe the
fellowship that the Christian has with God:
God's
Likeness
Man must be of
suitable nature to fellowship with God: He was therefore created reasonable,
self-conscious, with holiness, righteousness, and knowledge. But when man
sinned, this image of God was corrupted in all its parts, so that man is unfit
to be in the presence of God. He was driven forth from the Garden of Eden, and
came under the judgment of God.
Because of this, in
order to be restored to fellowship with God, man must be born again. He must be
regenerated, to have the image of God restored. That is what God does in Jesus
Christ. To express the origin of spiritual life and of the image of God in man,
the soul is said to be born of God:
Second, In the New Birth Man Is Restored
to the Divine Nature
“Whereby are given
unto us exceedingly great and precious promises: that by these ye might be
partakers of the divine nature....” 2Pet. 1:4: When a king placed his seal on a
document, it left its imprint on the wax. Strictly speaking, the imprint in the
wax was not the king's seal. It was only the image of the seal, but it was
called the king's seal. In the same way, the work of the Holy Spirit in the
soul of a man may be called the “divine nature,” that is the image of God is discernible
in the man. Peter tells us that it is by the great and precious promises of God
that we are sealed with the divine nature. In believing the promises in Jesus
Christ we are renewed in the image of God, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Holiness
unto the Lord
Deut. 26:18, 19. “The
Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised
thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments; and to make thee high
above all nations which he hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honor; and
that thou mayest be an holy people not the Lord thy God, as he hath spoken.”
Hebrews 12:14: “Follow
peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord”
There is no wickedness or anything that defiles
in God. He altogether perfect and separated from sin, and only that which is
holy can have fellowship with Him. If man is to be the friend of God, man's
sins must be taken away, his nature must be renewed, and he must be made holy
and perfect. All of this is promised and provided for in the Gospel.
Adopted
in Christ.
But having been born
again, we are adopted in Christ. The evidence of this is the Spirit of
Adoption: Galatians 4:4-7: “But when the fullness of the time was come, God
sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that
were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye
are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying,
Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no
more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of
God through Christ.”
Liberty
Fellowship depends
upon liberty: We have been brought into liberty. Christ does not “lay down the law” to his people. His call is the
call of love: Rom. 12:1 “Beseech you by the mercies of God” ; Matt. 11:30. “My
yoke is easy.” Christ assumes that his bride loves him, and wants to do him
good. The ungodly live in terms of a judge/criminal or a master/slave relationship.
But when a man is born again, his sins are forgiven, and he is adopted into the
family of God, and lives in the liberty of the sons of God. It is a
relationship of love and fellowship, a husband/wife relationship.
Secret
Counsels
Because we have been adopted as sons, we are
introduced to the Father's secret counsels. “No man hath seen God at any time;
the only begotten Son, which in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared
him.” John 1:18. “Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long
time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me
hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father.” John 14:9.
“Henceforth I call you
not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have
called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made
known unto you.” John 15:15
“The secret of the
Lord is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant.” Psalm
25:14
Free
Access
Because we have
fellowship with the Father, we have free access to the Father: “For the law
maketh nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which
we draw nigh unto God.” Heb. 7:19:
“If we say that we
have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with
another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” I
John 1:6,7;
“Let us therefore come
boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to
help in time of need.” Heb. 4:16.
Third.
We Are Married to Christ
The whole purpose of
God creating Eve, was to set forth in a relationship most wonderful of all that
mankind has, the beauties of our Union with Jesus Christ. There is no book of
the Bible that sets this forth more wonderfully than the Song of Solomon. Under
the figure of the human, normal love of a man to his wife, and her love for
him, the fellowship of Christ and the church is set forth.
There is not time to
consider everything in Solomon's great book, but I want to consider several
major things:
Christ loves His Church
Christ loves her
dearly: Cant. 1:8. He calls her the `fairest among women.” He delights in her
person.
The Church loves the
voice of Christ: Cant. 2:8-12: “The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh
leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. My beloved is like a roe
or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the
windows, showing himself through the lattice. My beloved spake, and said unto
me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For, lo, the winter is past,
the rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the
singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land...”
The difference is the
voice of Christ. She delights in his
voice, and longs to be with him.
The
Sorrow of the Church
The church cannot bear
to be separated from Christ: “By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul
loveth: I sought him, but I found him not. I will rise now, and go about the
city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth:
I sought him, but I found him not. The watchmen that go about the city found
me: to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?” Cant. 3:1-3.
The true Church is
miserable if the voice of Christ is obscured by false doctrine, by legalistic
thunderings, or worldly methods or goals.
The
Ravishing of the Heart of Christ
Christ is ravished
with the love of his Church. “Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in
thee. Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, with me from Lebanon: look from the
top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the lions' dens, from the
mountains of the leopards. Thou has ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse;
thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy
neck.” Cant. 4:7-9
Oh, beloved of
God! Love the Lord Jesus Christ. All is
here, and here is all. Nothing else is important, and all your gifts and
fastings and prayers and service is nothing if you do not love Him. He loves
you. Hear his voice, and give him your love.
In this one figure:
this one likeness of Adam and Eve, see the beauty of Jesus Christ and His
church. There is something here for Everyone:
For the young who hope to be happily married
someday. This is for you. The joy you expect to find in marriage sets forth the
joy that you will find if you seek it in Jesus Christ. If you marry out of the
Lord, your marriage will not be a pattern of Christ and His Church, and you
will not find the joy and rest that you seek.
For the happily married. In the blessings of God
see the love that Christ has for you as his beloved. If the figure is so
wonderful, how much greater the fulfillment in heaven, when we are present at
the marriage supper of the Lamb.
For the unhappily married. In your frustrations
and grief, see the pattern in Jesus Christ. Seek to conform yourself to Christ,
seek his love: you will be a better husband in considering Jesus Christ; you
will be a better wife as you see the pattern set forth in the Bible concerning
the church. God does not give all men and women happiness in marriage; there is
both joy and pain set forth in the world, so that we would seek our rest in
Jesus Christ. But do not lightly leave your duty and calling, study and pray to
be a better husband or wife; for who knows whether you will be the salvation of
your spouse. (I Peter 3:1)
For the widowed, the divorced. Know the pain of
separation from Christ. Know that
Christ will never forsake you nor leave you, but he is faithful always. If the
sin was yours, he is faithful and will not forsake you, but will forgive your
sins, if you confess them to Him. If you have been wronged, he knows what it
means to be forsaken and betrayed. You can also find comfort in Christ.
May God bless you.
Mail:
Trinity
Covenant Church
6050 Del Paz
Drive
Colorado
Springs, CO 80918
