So Kevin and Krystal are getting married.
This is really important in their lives.
It's like a speck on the sand of sea shores
in light of all eternity.
This is important in their lives,
but you know if we brought out the balances,
and we started throwing the important things in that balance
about their lives...
This marriage is important.
It's defining in their lives in many ways,
but it is not the most important thing to be said about their lives.
Not at all.
There's some more important things to be said about them
than the fact that they're getting married today.
They're already married.
You say, "Wait. What?"
The defining aspect of their lives is their Christianity.
That above everything else...
This day is important.
That day they came to Christ is more important.
This marriage is one thing.
Their marriage to Christ is altogether another thing.
This marriage is temporary.
They might want it to last forever, but it's temporary.
And we're going to say in the vows,
"Do you take her until death?"
"Do you take him until death?"
Every marriage in here is going to sever
when one of us passes out of this life.
But that union to Christ is forever.
And this is something that the Scripture speaks to...
And so what I thought I might do is
Go through some of these verses.
In fact, the majority of these verses that we find in Scripture
that speak to us about Kevin's marriage to Christ,
Krystal's marriage to Christ,
Listen to these. Take these in.
Before we actually bring them up and get them married...
Psalm 45 verses 10-11, "Hear, O daughter, and consider..."
Of course, this may be addressed to the daughter Israel
The true Israel is the Christian: Jew or Gentile.
Every Christian here, hear this, you're being told to hear.
"Incline your ear, forget your people..."
In other words, where you came from...
Do you remember how Scripture says,
"Come out from among them...
Come out from her. Come away."
The Lord calls us,
forget your people and your father's house.
And the King will desire your beauty.
"Since He is your Lord, bow to Him."
So we know Who's being talked about here.
We can't know Christ unless we leave off our former family.
Who is our former father?
Jesus spoke to the Jews in His day, "your father the devil."
We don't think so, but that's true.
And who were our people?
The Scripture tells us about those;
the sons of disobedience, the children of wrath,
but "leave your father's house,
and the King will desire your beauty."
What beauty??
Sinners? Oh, this beauty...
Remember, Ephesians 5, Jesus loved the church
and gave Himself for the church,
and what was it for?
It was to sanctify her.
It's to cleanse her by the washing of water of the Word.
It's so that He might present the bride to Himself in splendor.
That's where the beauty comes from.
Or think about this...
Paul says of the Corinthian church that he was jealous of her,
and he was wanting her prepared,
betrothed to Christ, as a pure virgin.
Just think about that. The Corinthians!
What do we know about the Corinthians?
"Such were some of you."
What were they? They were what we were.
A lot of sinners. Liars, idolaters,
fornicators, homosexuals, drunks,
selfish, self-absorbed, full of pride...
That's the kind of people
that are betrothed to Christ as a pure virgin.
Christ gives us the beauty that He desires...
But think about that: what He's making the children of God,
the King desires our beauty,
that we might be presented to Him.
I know, I saw it in your eyes brother, you watched that sight,
your bride coming down that aisle.
You were admiring.
Jesus Christ admires His bride too.
He admires these two, and there's a beauty.
He is loving them.
He gave His life that they
might be made beautiful, pure virgins.
It doesn't matter if you had a background
like the Corinthians themselves...
pure virgins, that's what the blood of Christ,
the death of Christ, that's what He's accomplishing.
Listen to this, Isaiah 54:5, "Your Maker is your Husband,
the Lord of Hosts is His name."
We just sang "to make a wretch His treasure."
The Lord our Maker is our Husband.
He makes a wretch His bride.
And when the Lord creates a bride for Himself,
He's going to create a bride worthy of His name.
Christian, just think who you are!
You are being made into a bride
acceptable for the Son of God Himself.
That's what's happening.
And the Lord of Hosts is His name. The Lord of armies.
There's power! He's capable.
No matter how defiled,
He's capable of removing that stain.
He's got the power, He's got the might.
He's got the authority.
There's power in that Name.
There's salvation in that Name.
Listen. Hosea 2:19, "And I will betroth you to Me forever.
I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice and in
steadfast love and in mercy.
I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness,
and you shall know the Lord."
Now take that one in.
In Scripture, we know this:
To know the Lord doesn't mean to know some facts about Him.
Adam knew Eve and she conceived a child.
The closest physical intimacy...
What we're told is that being betrothed to Him forever,
we will come to know Him.
There is a picture here.
Christ is bringing us to Himself; the closest affection,
the closest tenderness, the closest intimacy, forever.
We're talking about Christianity.
This is the most important reality about these two.
They're Christians. That's the defining element.
Betrothed, married to Christ.
This is the church speaking,
"My beloved speaks and says to me,
'Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.'"
That's Christ. She's saying, that's what He says to me.
Is that not what He says to us?
He beckons us, even in this life,
"Come away. Come away."
Even in their marriage,
He's going to beckon to you, brother, "come away."
And to you, sister, "come away."
Even apart from each other, "come away."
As sweet as their union is going to be,
Christ is still married to them,
with an eternal marriage,
and He calls us to come away.
John the Baptist, you remember him.
He pointed to Christ, and he said,
the Bridegroom is the One that has the bride,
not the church, not the preacher,
not any man, not John himself...
it's Christ Who has the bride.
He alone is the Bridegroom.
He's the One that has her.
She belongs to Him and to no one else.
Again the Song of Solomon,
"I am my Beloved's, and His desire is for me."
Brothers and sisters, what we need to recognize:
This guy desires this lady.
But that's the shadow. That's what God designed
so that all of us here today could look at that and say,
Wow. That's like going out in the sun.
That's like your child running out in the sun,
and you look at your child and you look
at the shadow cast on the ground,
and that's what this is. This isn't the reality.
Oh, it's very real in a sense.
But it's what God designed for us to just get a glimpse,
to just get an idea...
But we have this, Romans 7 verse 4,
the apostle Paul says to the Roman Christians,
"Likewise, my brothers, you also have died,"
Now listen to this:
"you have died to the law."
He just got done describing a woman
who has a husband and the husband dies,
and now she marries another husband. And he says,
"you have died to the law through the body of Christ,
so that you may be married to another."
Christian, our first husband was the Law.
Our second husband is Christ.
"Married to another.
To Him Who has been raised from the dead
in order that we may bear fruit for God."
We were once married to the Law.
He was not a kind husband because he showed no mercy.
Very strict, very harsh.
And the moment we messed up,
he cursed us all the time. He was cruel to us.
But, we find in Jesus a gentle Husband.
One Who laid down His life for us.
He set us free.
And He died and He rose from the dead.
And it's in Him now we become this very fruitful tree unto God.
And then when you get to the last book of the Bible
Here it is, here's Scripture closing out,
"Let us rejoice and exalt and give God the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come
and His bride has made herself ready.
It was granted for her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure,
for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints." And listen to this:
"and the angel said write this,
'blessed are those who are invited
to the marriage supper of the Lamb."
Oh brothers and sisters, those of us, there's many of us here
that have already received our invitation.
Some of you have not yet, and we bid you, call upon Him.
You want that invitation to that marriage feast.
Blessed are those who have invitations there.
It's a blessing to be here today, but you know...
You could miss this one. You don't want to miss that one.
That is the marriage feast of all marriage feasts.
That is the greatest defining reality
about the Christian and about these two.
Union with Christ.
Brethren, we're going to sing three more songs,
and then we'll go to getting these two married.