In this sermon, the preacher uses the story of Abraham and Isaac from Genesis 24 to illustrate the relationship between God the Father, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the church. Abraham represents God the Father, who sends his servant Eliezer (representing the Holy Spirit) to find a bride for his son Isaac (representing Jesus Christ). The preacher emphasizes the battle between good and evil that Christians face, as described by Paul in Romans 7. The sermon concludes with the marriage of Isaac and Rebecca, symbolizing the union between Christ and the church.

And that's just a little taste of our choir and the blessing that you will receive tonight as you come to the cantata of the song, Unending. I might say that someone asked me, you know, in reference to the mailbox back there, actually asked me how many are in the church. Now, they said, we'd like to send a card to everybody. Well, we have just about 200 family units. Family units. So, if you want to have some idea of how many there are, there it is. But I would suggest that as you give, you think of the number of friends you would ordinarily send to. Now, don't send cards and then put your name on there. You're defeating the purpose. When you put your name back on that big card, this indicates you're wishing a joyous and a happy Christmas to everyone here. And they don't want a card from you. You just put your name there and whatever you would have spent on cards and stamps, give it to Christ. I'm sorry for the post office. I'm happy. They're probably just as content, may I say that. I would like to this morning, would you turn with me over to Revelation, over to that portion that I'm dealing with primarily, and that is the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. I was just thinking, it's kind of nice that, I don't know what the spotlight looks, but I can, it just happens to shine on my Bible, this one here, it's very nice. But we're dealing with the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, and I will read the portion and then talk to you a little further about this. This is a subject which, to my heart, is a tremendous subject since it is the most important step in life, life, marriage, and death. They are the three most important steps in life now. Of course, coming to the Savior is the essential. But in life itself, being born, who you marry, and your death are very, very important. How you die, the family you were born into, and then marriage in the middle of that, tremendous, tremendous importance. Now, of course, there are two places where, what can you do? If you're already married, the Lord is very clear that if you're married to an unsaved mate, you don't jump up and leave. Peter says in his Epistle, I'm just talking about unsaved mate, that you wouldn't use this as a reason. I'm not talking of other things. I have had occasion where I've had to say, people come into my study, I've had a wife come in severely beaten for the third time. I wouldn't let her go back to her husband. There's nothing in the Word of God that says a wife has to go through beatings all the time. There are such things as that. I'm not talking now, I'm talking merely of not living together. I'm not getting into any other areas. There are problems of drunkenness and beating and violence that would be terrible to contemplate that Christ put his blessing upon such a thing. God does not bless such things, but to use the excuse for leaving a husband or a wife just because they're unsaved would not be divine principle. Peter says in his Epistle that if your wife or husband is unsaved, do not leave him, for how shall you know whether his soul shall be saved or not? In other words, God says under a normal condition of marriage, you just don't walk out on the arrangement and decide that you're going to break the whole thing up just because you have a mate that's unsaved. So we must be very careful in considering such things. So there is that area that is very important. Then, of course, there are other areas. There is the area, for instance, every time I would speak about marriage, which is so much spoken of in Scripture, there will be the unmarried. And the unmarried, of course, I'd like to say this, something that I have said before, but I think bears repeating to the unmarried. I'm thankful that you have a bridegroom in heaven, if you're saved. And since there are at least 10 percent more women in the world than men, you all can't get married. It would be illogical to think otherwise. But may I just say this, something that has always been in my heart, I wrote it a long time ago, and I think it bears that repeating. Holy loneliness is better than married misery. May I repeat that? Holy loneliness, and there may be some loneliness of not having a mate, is much better than married misery. And sometimes young folks get the idea you've got to get married. You grab at anything. Doesn't seem to matter much. May I tell you there's nothing worse or more miserable? In 20 years, I've had enough to deal with in my study to know that young people can make tragic mistakes and get this idea that you've got to get married. I don't know what it is about a girl of 21 or 22 that thinks things have ended, that if you're not married by the time you're 21, why, life is over. Well, I want to tell you that's not true at all. It's not true at all. You ought to make sure that the mate that you marry is in the Lord, in the Lord. Now, I'm going to read on the marriage supper, and then I'd like to talk a little bit about it. We're in Revelation, the 19th chapter, beginning at the 5th verse and going through to the 9th verse. 19th of Revelation. Just as I read it, since I've said this before, I quickly just mention it now. The church has been raptured. The church has been caught out. This is what we're waiting for now. We're waiting for the church to be caught up to meet the Lord in the clouds and the air, and then shall we ever be with the Lord. That's what the true church is waiting for. That's what those who are longing for the coming of Christ, that he shall appear, are waiting for, to be taken out before the wrath of God breaks forth upon this earth. It's coming. It's coming. Great wrath, God says, such as never was seen upon the face of this earth, unto that time shall come. I'll read those portions at another time, but the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give its light, and the star shall fall from heaven, and every mountain shall be moved out of its place. Sounds like hydrogen warfare in a big way, doesn't it? But it will all come from God's hand, who made the atom and knows how to split it. He doesn't have any problems. He did it at Sodom. He knew more about the hydrogen bomb and atomic bomb long before the scientists got it, and burned up Sodom in one big flash, and that was it, foretaste of what men would find out later on. And so, this is that time that on earth all hell will break loose, but up in heaven the church has been caught up, and two things are happening. Number one, the judgment seat of Christ, which I've spoken about before Jesus, and I'll be speaking a little more about it later on, not today. And then, on the other end, toward the great end of the great tribulation, just before, because this whole chapter tells us, after the marriage supper of the Lamb, then the Lord comes with all of his saints and sends fire upon the earth and destroys all the nations who have gathered themselves in great conflict against his people Israel, that they should take a spoil to themselves. And it's all heading up. You just read your newspapers, and you've got it all in your Bible. You wouldn't need the newspapers at all, all laid out there for you. But the marriage supper of the Lamb just proceeds in heaven, the time of the great tribulation's end, the finish of it, the battle of Armageddon. Now, this is what I'm talking about, the marriage supper of the Lamb. 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, and I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, as in the voice of mighty thundering, saying, Alleluia for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife has made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Right, blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. Now, this marriage supper of the Lamb, the wife hath made herself ready. She made herself ready at the judgment seat of Christ. Everything had to be cleansed away, all the mistakes of a Christian life. And there's not one of you here that haven't made a lot of sad mistakes in your Christian life and haven't had a lot of sins since you're saved. I'd love to say that after you're saved, there's no sin. But I would have to lie against the word of God. God doesn't want us to sin, but he recognizes that we will sin. He doesn't want us to take the attitude that since I'm going to sin, like the Jews did of old, they said, Let us sin that grace may abound. And Paul says, How can you say that? How can you who are dead to sin live any longer therein? You've been saved by grace. Now begin to live this life for Jesus Christ. But there are those things which John in his epistle makes very clear. He's talking to the saints of God, and he says, He that saith he hath no sin is a liar, and the truth is not in him. And the truth is Jesus Christ. The minute Christ comes into your heart, you see the dreadfulness that you are in your very being. Those imaginations and those thoughts, all stemming from Adam, that are part of our life, you're amazed at now that Christ has come and made his abode in your heart. You hate yourself. You loathe yourself. But Paul says, You should know what this is testifying to you. He says, This is testifying that now the Holy Spirit has come to abide in your breast, and sin has become exceedingly sinful. So now, whereas before you could do sin, commit sin, and it never bothered you, now it crushes your tender heart, because the Holy Spirit dwells within your breast. Recognize yourself. See yourself. Never lie to yourself. Your salvation is the most precious thing you have. And a great conflict has been set up in your soul. The flesh against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. Paul tells us in Romans 7 that this battle is tremendous, that the good that he should, he doesn't, and the evil that he shouldn't, that he does. Wretched man that I am! He says, Who shall deliver me from this body of my death? I thank my God through Jesus Christ. And so, the judgment seat has to come, the place where the Christian comes, and God opens up all his heart, all the unconfessed sin. Listen, if you've got any sin, will you please confess it and get away from it? The Lord is coming soon. Can I talk to you personally, heart to heart? Is there some, and I'm not, you know, I realize that in this day we're living in, all we hear is sex, and as though sex is the only sin there is. I want to tell you, there's a myriad of sins that will be brought up before the judgment seat of Christ. And if they are not confessed and forsaken, it says if we confess and forsake it, we'll find mercy, but if we don't, then we'll not have the mercy of God. And all those sins that we committed, God will bring up as deeds that they might be cleansed away, and there'll be tears at the judgment seat of Christ, and he will wipe away all tears from our eyes at that time, but there'll be tears up there just at that judgment seat, because we'll see ourselves in all of the reality, a mother and a father and the children, and how lax we've been, and how poor we've been as Christians, and how miserable we've been, and how little we've prayed, and how little we've longed for our children, and how little the sons and daughters have responded to the Lord they love in their attitudes toward their parents. Then that judgment seat will bring it out, and every young daughter and son and mother and father will understand where they failed. I think God will tell me where I failed. I'm sure he will. I'm conscious of my frailty. I would wish that the power of God would so descend upon me that the words that I speak to you would convert your hearts to Christ and bring you along to a deep and holy living with Jesus, so that the judgment seat will not be too difficult for you. Can I say that? We shall all appear there, but that will take away, that will take away so that we can go in free, and he'll clothe us. It says, to her was granted that she should be, it's a grant from God that she should be clothed in pure white linen. We don't deserve pure white linen. If you think you deserve the pure white linen, put your hand up high. The only thing you deserve is death and separation from God. You don't deserve anything. By grace, unmerited favor of God, you're saved and redeemed, so that the clean white linen, it is granted to you to be clothed in it at the marriage supper of the Lamb. Paul says, I am jealous over you with godly jealousy, says to the church, just as I would say to Malvern, you come from all over 47 villages. Did you know that? That's where you come from. No Baptist work is this big unless it takes in a great territory. It may be that there are sectarian groups that you can confine to a little village and all the people flow in, but not the Baptist works, not the works where the Lord Jesus is glorified and exalted. If I were to depend upon Malvern for a church, I'd have about 40 or 50 people. And so, it extends out, extends out. And so, here we are as a church, and Paul, in speaking to the church, says, I'm jealous over you with a godly jealousy, 2 Corinthians 11, 2, for I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. Imagine the position the pastor faces that he might present that body which has been entrusted to his care as a chaste virgin unto Jesus Christ. And then, beloved, I'd like to take you over now, if I can, to Ephesians, the fifth chapter, because I mentioned Ephesians this morning and the great mystery. May I say a little about marriage? I once had quite a long discussion with my oldest son on marriage. As you know, Bob is training to be a theologian. That's all he wants to do is write and write books. He's already in the process of writing a book. But I can remember a discussion I had with Bob, and at the time when I had the discussion with him, some of the things he said, he and I had quite some long discussions upon them. Since that time, I've gone over the subject matter very carefully, and I have realized that my son understood some great things and tremendous truths. The discussion we had to do was with what marriage is. This is where the problem is today. The problem today is there's so little understanding of what marriage is. Since that talk with him, I have gone back into the Old Testament to see and to get a greater comprehension of what marriage is, and I think that we would eliminate all premarital sex and considerations if we understood what marriage is. I would remind you that in the Old Testament, it is very clear that in that day there was no ceremony. Let me just read to you a little portion. I have several, but I'd like to read to you just one portion in the Old Testament to give you the concept of what marriage is very clearly. If you would turn with me over to Genesis, and I'll just take the one portion. I'd like to take a lot of portions, but I think I'll hold to the one. Let us take Genesis, the 24th chapter, beginning at the 63rd verse. May I just, before I mention this, say this to you. This is the story of Abraham, and I want you to picture Abraham in the position of God. This is a beautiful, symbolical message. Isaac as his son, representing Jesus Christ. Eliezer, Abraham's servant, representing the Holy Spirit. And Rebekah, who becomes the bride of Isaac as the church. Now, Abraham, as father, has sent out Eliezer to get a bride for his son. God, the Father, sends the Holy Spirit that he may get a bride for Jesus Christ. Eliezer goes out, and he takes with him all the riches. Isaac is that son that is born miraculously. Sarah was barren, and Abraham was old in years, 100 years of age, and Sarah was 90. And they bore Isaac, and Isaac is the child of promise. Picture of the coming Messiah. Not to be natural born. Just a picture. Christ was to be born of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit came upon Mary, and she conceived. Here, there was deadness in Sarah's womb, and Abraham was 100 years of age. And Isaac was born. He sends forth the camels with the servant Eliezer, with all the riches of his household. All the camels. How many of you read that book, The Camels Are Coming? Any of you read it? The Camels Are Coming. Has to do, it's probably down in the library, has to do with this very story. The camels have all the riches. Abraham says, I want you to go and get a bride for Isaac, Eliezer. See, his servant, the Holy Spirit. And he says, I want you to take all my riches with you, put them on the camels, and show the riches to that one who shall be his bride. So they know the great riches of his Father. The Holy Spirit tells us of his great riches of God the Father, the heavenly inheritance he wants to give to us. And so, Eliezer goes forth. And at this point now, he has come, a lot has happened, and he has found Rebekah. And now I'll start with the 61st verse. And Rebekah arose and her damsels. And they rode upon the camels and followed the man, Eliezer. This is the Holy Spirit. They follow, we follow him. He dwells in us. This is richer than here, but this is the picture. And the servant took Rebekah, and the Holy Spirit takes the church, and went his way. And Isaac came from the way of the well, Lehoroi, for he dwelt in the south country. And Isaac went out, and this is a picture of Jesus, to meditate in the field at the eventide. And he lifted up his eyes, and he saw, and behold, the camels were coming. For all the riches, God the Father has given unto his son's hands all the riches. And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel. For she had said unto the servant, What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us? And the servant had said, It is my master. Therefore, she took a veil and covered herself. And the servant told Isaac all things that he had done. And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent. And he took Rebekah, and she became his wife. And he loved her. And Isaac was comforted after his mother's death. No ceremony. Now, this is why, may I say this? This is why any relationship between a man and a woman, a boy or a girl, before marriage, is crushing. Because actually, in those days, there was no ceremony. The woman that you took into your tent, and you knew her, was your wife. And henceforth, after that, you committed adultery with anybody else. Did you know that? This was how it was. This was the joining together. And this is what my son Bob had said so quickly, that when I first listened, I thought, No, no, this cannot be. And then I searched the scripture, and I realized that in every position, including Adam, it merely says, And he took unto himself his wife, and she bore children. That the minute we are joined together in that most holy union that God has ordained, that shall picture his relationship of his son to his church, that moment, we are married in God's eyes. You can't play with sex. That's what God says. That union is a union that makes you one. And every psychiatric clinic, every psychiatrist warns that there is something about this union, I have just read it, that is so intense and so makes two people one, that it causes the greatest havoc to the human mind that anyone can know. Why? Because God ordained that this union made two people one. Now, you may ask me, How about me? I sinned. Bring it to Christ. What does Paul say? Such were some of you. You were this and you were that. He goes down the whole gamut. Some of you, he says, were effeminate. He says, Some of you had relationships which I don't even want to mention. But now ye are clean through the work which I have preached unto you. So, beloved young people, I plead with you. Understand God. In God's eyes, you are married when you have that intimate union with anybody else. Why do you think it causes havoc in marriage? Because that union with anybody else breaks. That holy, intimate union you have with that one woman that God has ordained of that one man. We are not to take the mistakes of Abraham who died with concubines. We are not to mistake the mistake of Moses in his relationship with those who are not of the church, taking an Egyptian for his wife. We are not to listen to David. We are not to listen to Solomon. God puts them there to show their mistakes. Jacob married four wives and had nothing but problems. And the twelve tribes of Israel come from his four wives. But it says, And Jacob only loved one of them. So, you see, this is why this union is so important. And it's so foolish. People talk of premarital sex as though it's something men have in their hands to do what they please with. I would remind you, you were made by God, men and women, male and female, may He then. And when they come together, they are one. And no minister has to put a little hand of blessing over and say, I make you one. You make yourself one when you are joined to another. I know we don't have in the church here the canons of the Catholic church when they take a wedding that has not been consummated and say, since the wedding has not been consummated, it is annulled. What are they saying? You are really not married. Why? No consummation of the wedding. So, you see how clear the word is? And the beautiful part is here, that it shows forth Christ as Isaac. Those are the servants of the Holy Spirit looking for a bride. And when Jesus takes us, He takes us to Himself. And what does He say in John 17? O Father, that we may be one, I in them, and thou in me, that we all may be one together. For they are members of my body and of my flesh and of my bones. And to Adam, in the beginning when he took Eve, these are the very words God used. Adam says, Now, woman, thou shalt be flesh of my flesh and bone of my bones, because I have joined myself to thee. Oh, do you see the tremendous seriousness? How glibly we face marriage. Oh, how glibly. How we take sex out of God's hands as though it had no meaning. And God is making sure that we comprehend all the depths of this holy relationship. Let me read Ephesians 5. I have more to tell you, but I want to read that portion to you so that you will just get the concept that I have in my heart. Ephesians 5, 22. Now, may I say this first just before I read it? You cannot understand marriage unless you are a Christian. It's not possible. You don't know what it is. All you think it has done is join you together physically. But I want you to see what God says. Now, I want you to read first with me before I read the 22nd verse. I want you to look down to the 32nd verse. Notice what it says. After he talks all about marriage, here's what he says. This is a great mystery, for I speak concerning Christ and his church. The bridegroom and the bride. Now, that's all he's going to say. Now, listen. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. Only a Christian wife will comprehend this. Others will say, that's silly, rebellious. I don't want to have any part of this thing. Notice, for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the savior of the body. Now, how can a husband who doesn't believe in Christ know what I'm talking about? The husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of his church. Now, isn't this an amazing thing? You can go in any church that doesn't believe in the gospel. You can go all kinds of places that never preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, don't understand it at all, and they'll read the scripture to validate marriage. But may I remind you that if you do not know the Savior, how can you know how Christ loved his church? He's the Savior of the body. The husband is to love his wife so deeply and intensely that he would die. He'd shed his blood, he'd be crucified if necessary, before he would hurt the tender and the holy love that Christ has placed in his heart for his dear and holy wife that God has given to him. And a wife then says, I want to submit to thee, for thou dost love me like Christ loved his church. That's Christian marriage. Anything less is nothing. Why can't a Christian marry an unchristian? Because you can't know anything about it. Half the relationship will know what the holiness is of the relationship, and the other half will know nothing. Why should an unsaved wife who knows nothing about Jesus submit herself to a saved husband who really loves Christ? It says here, husbands, love your wives. May I hear? As Christ loved his church and gave himself for it, wives, be in submission to such a husband. He'll be no dictator. He'll love you so deeply as no man has ever loved. For herein is love. Not that we love God, but that he loved us and gave himself as a propitiation for our sins. This is the love that will give everything for the one that is beloved. So why should there be no joining together of the saved and the unsaved? Because it is clear it's an impossibility. You cannot. The word doesn't allow it. Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Why, God? Because it's impossible. One half the body will know the holiness and the purity and the greatness and the beauty of it, and the other half will have the low level of what they think about marriage. And if it doesn't work, you can get a divorce and all the rest. Well, I want to tell you, that isn't the way God did it. God made man and he made woman and he made them in a special way, in his own image and in his own likeness. And the joining together of a man and woman in that wholly intimate union is a picture of Christ and his church. Husbands, love your wives like Christ loved his church and gave himself for it. Notice the 29th verse. I'll have other things to say, but I want to finish. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but he nourishes it and he cherishes it, even so the Lord the church. For we are members of his body and of his flesh and of his bones. Read Adam's words in Genesis 2 and Genesis 4, where he says, And now, woman, Eve means woman, woman, thou art flesh of my flesh and bone of my bones. Oh, the beauty of what we could do in a world of sin, if marriages were right, and children were born properly. One in every four births in the United States is illegitimate. The likeness of marriage, casting it aside, Jesus says, As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the day of the Son of Man. They were marrying and giving in marriage, and all he is saying is, They didn't think of me. They did what they wanted. I was left out of the thing entirely, and they just married and gave in marriage. It didn't mean a thing. Oh, that you might see the holiness of it. Young person, if you marry an unbeliever, you're asking for tragedy, despair, loneliness of spirit. And I want to tell you, all the flesh in the world can't take care of a lonely soul with a lonely spirit, seeking Christ in an unequally yoked marriage. Now, for those of you who I said before, what can you do? You can pray for your husband or your wife that they'll be redeemed. You can pray for your spirit, and believe it with all your heart. Don't you dare give up. Don't you quit. You pray, pray, and believe God is going to answer you. Are we ever hopeless? Why, of course not. The great hope of Christ has been placed in our breast. If we've made our mistakes, if we've failed, he never casts us away. He says, I give unto you eternal life, and you shall never perish, neither shall anyone ever pluck you from my hand. Now, he says, son, daughter, you made a mistake. Now, listen to me. You pray, and you live that life. I've called you to live as a wife or a husband. And look to me, shed your tears to me. And it may be one year, it may be two, it may be five, it may be ten. And I know a woman in here, thirty years of praying, and her husband saved today. I praise God for that. Took a long time, but she never gave up. She never gave up. God impressed you with the seriousness of marriage. When you join yourself to a man or a woman, you are married in God's eyes. And from that point on, you commit adultery in every relationship you had. Fornication and adultery. And the only way you can clean it up, and I'm so thankful I can say that today, I don't care what you've done. Paul says, such were some of you, but now are ye washed. Now are ye clean. Now are ye pure through the word which I have spoken unto you. Get it all cleansed up and begin afresh, new, vibrant, and holy. And then live it for Jesus Christ. Well, it's a high and holy calling. But this is reality. Let us pray. Now, Father, these are tremendous truths, and yet we can see that it is truth. Lord, help us to understand. We're thankful for the Christian wedding today. That it is truly a teaching testimony. That it is teaching for those who are married and teaching for those who come. And that it is the benediction of the church of Jesus Christ upon two who love Jesus and are publicly saying, we are one in Christ. We now desire to be one in the flesh. Lord, we'll make our marriages here very holy, very blessed. And upon those who may be in trial, problems, all kinds of married difficulties. Oh, Jesus, they're saved. They know you as their Savior. Oh, Father, may their hearts be filled with prayer and faith that you're going to change things. It may seem hopeless. So often it does, but it always seems darkest before the light comes. And suddenly, a great light shines into a heart that we thought would never be lit by the Holy Spirit. And they're saying, oh, God, give confidence to thy children. And may we make sure ourselves that we have cleansed all sin away. If we've made mistakes up to this point, if we have sinned, let us never cover it. Let us say, Lord, we've sinned. We confess it all. We're starting afresh. Bless this people with thy holy word. Thou hast said, if my words abide in you, ask me what she will, and I will do it. So let that word rest in us. In Christ's name, amen.