25-0131A_MESSAGE OF GRACE PT-24 (THE MARRIAGE)

Rev 19:1  And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God: 

Rev 19:2  For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. 

Rev 19:3  And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever. 

Rev 19:4  And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia. 

Rev 19:5  And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. 

Rev 19:6  And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. 

Rev 19:7  Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. 

*AND THEY HAVE THE MATERIAL ON EARTH NOW TO MAKE THEMSELVES READY.

THE.MARRIAGE.OF.THE.LAMB_  PHOENIX.AZ  SUNDAY_  62-0121E

  E-27    No doubt but your lovely pastor here has approached this subject many times, and that... We know that there is going to be a bride, and there's going to be a wedding supper served in the sky. That's just as sure to be as God is, because it's His Word.

And we know that those that are going to make up that bride is going to be His church, and they're going to appear before Him without spot or wrinkle. And they have the material on earth now to make themselves ready.
 
*THE FIRST THING TAKES IN NATURAL MARRIAGE IS A DECISION HAS TO BE MADE.

THE.MARRIAGE.OF.THE.LAMB_  PHOENIX.AZ  SUNDAY_  62-0121E

  E-38    Now, marriage in one sense is a type... The earthly marriage here is a type of the heavenly marriage. Now, let's go over it just for a few moments, to rehearse it a moment. The first thing there is, there must be a decision made. The first thing takes in natural marriage is a decision has to be made. The young lady has to make her decision whether she wants this young man, and the young man, whether he wants the young woman. There has to be a decision made, and you have to make it. She must be the only woman in the world that you love, and he must be the only man. If it isn't, then you made a wrong decision.

*THE FIRST THING YOU HAVE TO DO, IS MAKE UP YOUR MIND WHETHER YOU'RE GOING TO SERVE GOD AND TAKE HIM AS YOUR SAVIOUR…

And that's the same way it is by making the decision for Christ. The first thing you have to do, is make up your mind whether you're going to serve God and take Him as your Saviour; or, you're not going to do it. Are you going to serve the world, are you going to serve Christ? You have to make up your mind. There has to be a decision made. When you make up your mind that you're either going to serve God or mammon, then you take your choice. But the decision has to be made.
 
**AFTER THE DECISION IS MADE THAT YOU ARE, THEN COMES THE ENGAGEMENT.

THE.MARRIAGE.OF.THE.LAMB_  PHOENIX.AZ  SUNDAY_  62-0121E

  E-39    And then, after the decision is made that you are, then comes the engagement. That... You find that at the altar. You've got to make an engagement before this union can be. And that's the way it is with Christ's church. It has to be an engagement with Christ, a--a pledge, an engagement, a love affair.

And then the next thing is, is promises made. There has to be promises made to one another, like that you make promise, "Sweetheart, if you'll marry me, I promise that I'll be loyal and true. I will look upon no other woman."

Or, "I'll look upon no other man. And I'll do all that as a duty as a wife. If we have children, it'll do all as a duty as a--as a mother. I--I'll be a housekeeper." All these promises has got to be made, or should be, in a correct wedding.
 
*AND THAT'S THE SAME THING WHEN YOU COME TO CHRIST. "LORD, IF YOU WILL RECEIVE ME INTO YOUR KINGDOM, I PROMISE..." THERE YOU ARE.

THE.MARRIAGE.OF.THE.LAMB_  PHOENIX.AZ  SUNDAY_  62-0121E

  E-40    And that's the same thing when you come to Christ. "Lord, if You will receive me into Your Kingdom, I promise..." There you are. "I'll love You. I'll be true to You. I'll serve You day and night." It's too bad we forget that. "I'll serve You day and night. I'll fast; I'll pray; I'll be loyal to You. I'll bring my tithings into the storehouse. I--I'll--I'll pray many times a day. I'll--I'll do anything. And I'll pledge all my love to You." That's what you should do. That's exactly right, where you promise that, and it should come from your heart.

If you promise your husband that, and not from your heart you mean it, you are absolutely not living correctly with him. It's kind of a crystallized affair.
 
*AND WHEN WE TAKE OUR PLEDGE TO CHRIST, IF WE DON'T BECOME PART OF HIM…..THEN WE'RE ARTIFICIAL CHRISTIANS.

THE.MARRIAGE.OF.THE.LAMB_  PHOENIX.AZ  SUNDAY_  62-0121E

  E-41    Look here. If--if you haven't got teeth, and you use false teeth... Now, that's all right. It's substituting for the teeth that you once had. But actually, those teeth are not connected with you. It's not part of you. If you had an arm amputated, and you put a false arm on, well, that arm is actually not connected with you. It's just stuck on you. See, it's not connected with you.

And when we take our pledge to Christ, if we don't become part of Him, like a woman ought to become part of a man and a man part of the woman, then we're artificial Christians. We're not really... You're really not married to that woman. You might be loyal. If you don't love your husband, and him sixty or seventy years old, and you don't love him as good as you did at the beginning, then you're really just raising his children.
 
*WELL, YOU CAN'T PUT ON CHRISTIANITY. YOU'VE GOT TO BE CONNECTED WITH IT.

THE.MARRIAGE.OF.THE.LAMB_  PHOENIX.AZ  SUNDAY_  62-0121E

  E-42    And that's the way the churches are, too many today. We're just taking the name of the Christian church, pretending to be the bride, when it's artificially; we're not connected with Christ in any way. We're like an artificial tooth, artificial arm, artificial eye. See, it's something that's artificial if we're just putting it on. Well, you can't put on Christianity. You've got to be connected with it.

And then a church that's just artificial called the church of Christ... Well, them children then, are not in there that's born of that same organization is only... They're not Christ's children; they are denominational children, and not children of Christ.
 
***AND THAT'S WHEN THE BRIDE--BRIDE TAKES THE BRIDEGROOM'S NAME. SHE IS NO MORE THEN OF HER OWN NAME; SHE TAKES THE BRIDEGROOM'S NAME.

THE.MARRIAGE.OF.THE.LAMB_  PHOENIX.AZ  SUNDAY_  62-0121E

  E-44    But, you see, first, decision's made, next engagement, then promise, and then the ceremony. And that's when the bride--bride takes the bridegroom's name. She is no more then of her own name; she takes the bridegroom's name.

And then when the church has the ceremony, makes their promises, then she takes the Bridegroom's Name. Then she's no longer a church of the world; she's the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Not... I don't mean that by Name; I mean that by birth, by nature, by the power of God. By the revealed truth of God in the heart she becomes a Christian church, the great, universal apostolic Christian church. She becomes a part of Christ. When she does that, she... Christ injects into her His own Spirit, His own life. And the Bible said to Adam and Eve there, "You're no longer twain, but one." And when the woman, church, is married to Christ, they're no longer two. They are one: Christ in you. Amen. That's it. His life has been brought into you. Then you become the bride.

Eph 5:20  Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; 

Eph 5:21  Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. 

Eph 5:22  Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. 

Eph 5:23  For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. 

Eph 5:24  Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. 

Eph 5:25  Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 

Eph 5:26  That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 

Eph 5:27  That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. 

Eph 5:28  So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. 

Eph 5:29  For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: 

Eph 5:30  For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 

Eph 5:31  For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. 

Eph 5:32  This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 

Eph 5:33  Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband. 

Mat 19:5  And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? 

Mat 19:6  Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.