Coming to the table, take your Bibles and turn to Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter 5. Let me read in your hearing starting in verse 25 and going down through verse 27. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for her, so that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that he might present to himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing. but that she would be holy and blameless. When we come to Ephesians chapter five, no doubt it is a familiar portion of scripture. It is often one of those scriptures that are read at a wedding. And this passage of scripture that I've read in your hearing comes in the context of exhorting the people of God not to be drunk with wine, but to be filled with the spirit. Verse 18, not to be drunk with wine, but be filled with the spirit. And then the apostle Paul sets before his readers five ways in which A person filled with the Holy Spirit exhibits that reality. He talks about here, he begins with the idea of speaking, and then he says singing to one another, and then making melody, and then giving thanks, and then the fifth thing or fifth way in which a believer manifests that he's filled with the spirit is being subject to one another in the fear of God. And so we're instructed that as those filled with the spirit, we are a people who manifest the spirit of Christ, that is, he came not to be served, but to serve, and we ought to have a joyous disposition as we submit to one another's who are believers in Christ. And so he sets this fifth manifestation of being filled with the spirit of being that of be subject to one another in the fear of Christ. And then what does he do? He begins to set before his readers the relationship of submission and where submission is warranted specifically. He's given us this general idea of being subject to one another, but then he becomes very specific and he looks at the wife. and says, with your husband, there's to be submission. He looks at the child and says, with your parents, you're to be in submission. He looks at the slave and says, you're to be in submission to your master. And then also in this passage of scripture, he then turns his thoughts to the one who's in authority, and he addresses the husband. Husband, love your wife. He addresses the parents. Fathers do not provoke your children to anger. He addresses the master. And he says here in chapter six in verse nine, masters do the same thing to them and give up threatening knowing that both their master and yours is in heaven. So he addresses all these who are in authority. Now, why do we go through all that? You might be asking that question. I thought we were coming to the table. Well, I went through all that because what's fascinating is in the midst of all this practical instructions, for husbands, for wives, for children, for parents, for slaves and masters. In the midst of that, he, as it were, leads us to a deep doctrinal truth. I mean, starting at verse 25b through verse 27, we have this wonderful doctrinal truth that ought to thrill our hearts and souls this afternoon. Because here in this passage of scripture, 25b through 27, there are two things I want us to have that I pray will lead us to the table. First of all, there is this glorious or gracious, this gracious assertion, and that gracious assertion is followed by a glorious purpose. And really what we have in this passage is the same thing that we found in Isaiah this morning. Isaiah looked forward to the branch of the Lord. The Apostle Paul here looks back to the branch of the Lord coming as that substitute for the judgment that is due his people. So unbeknownst to us, Pastor Micah took the prophecy, and now as we come to the table, we're gonna look back to what Jesus Christ has done. So very simply, I want you to notice these two things. First of all, this gracious assertion. Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for her. Now, in this passage, notice what is the focus. What's the focus of these verses? Well, it's this. It's the church. In these three verses, the church is referred to some seven times. Verse 25b, the church, and gave himself up for her. Verse 26, that he might sanctify her. and cleanse her by the washing of the waters. Verse 27, that he might present the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she would be holy and blameless. The church, her, she, he mentions over and over again. So the church is the focus of this passage. The people of God, whom God the Father gave to his son in his own sovereign and eternal and divine selectivity. The church. Now, I say this is a merciful assertion, that Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. Why is it a merciful assertion? Well, the answer to that is, remember who the church is made up of. People, as we reminded this morning, who deserve the judgment of Almighty God. Look over. to Ephesians chapter two. And the apostle Paul describes these people and before by God's grace, they were united to that branch of the Lord. and you were dead in your trespasses and sin, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that's now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them, we too all formerly lived in the lust of our flesh, indulging the desires of our flesh and of the mind and were by nature the children of wrath even as the rest. Here's a description of the church before they came to Christ. They were with the sons of disobedient. They were simply indulging their own flesh and their own desires. They were the children of wrath. So when we read these words, this assertion, he loved them. Why? Because they were so lovely? Did he look upon this group that were the, Children of wrath and say I see something about you. I like no No They deserved his wrath But in his mercy He brought them unto himself For the substance, go back to chapter five, the substance, having seen the focus, the substance of this assertion is this. He loved the church and gave himself up for her. That very assertion is what we celebrate as we come to the table. He loved the church and gave himself up for her. He loved, notice it doesn't say he loves the church. It says he loved the church. Why is it put in past tense? Because here Paul has in mind an event that took place in history. where Christ loved the church that led to action, which means he gave himself up for her. There's a manifestation of that love in history as it is displayed by his action. He loved her and willingly went to the cross. and had the wrath of almighty God poured out upon him. What an assertion. John 15 and verse 13, greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friend. 1 John chapter three, we know love by this, that he laid down his life for us. Galatians 2.20, I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who what? Who loved me and gave himself for me. What the Apostle Paul has in mind is a love that was displayed in action on the cross for a people who were undeserving. It is a merciful assertion. But then secondly, notice with me from this passage, the glorious purpose. Why? Why did he love a people unlovely? And why did he give himself up for them? And the scripture tells us this. Again, look at the verse 26. So that, purpose clause. If you know Greek, it's the henna clause. So that, with this purpose, he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of the water with the word and so that he might present to himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she would be holy and blameless. The purpose that Christ has in view on this occasion of the display of his love through his action is set before us. There is what we might call an immediate purpose and an ultimate purpose. First, the immediate purpose, so that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word. The church that Christ loved and died for was in herself, as we mentioned already, evil and unrighteous. Her description is given to us, not only in Ephesians chapter two, but also, we won't take time, go to Romans chapter three. And there you see a description of this church before being united to Christ. She was unclean, defiled. She needed cleansing. The immediate purpose in the loving and the giving of himself was to bring about that cleansing, that he might sanctify her, set her apart, that he might make her holy. It says, sanctify her having cleansed her by the washing of the water with the word. She will know forgiveness. She will know pardon through the work of Jesus Christ. Mr. O'Brien in his commentary says this, Christ died to devote the church to himself in an exclusive and permanent relationship analogous to marriage. There are two elements, a separation from all that is unclean and evil and a consecration to God and to his will. The immediate purpose is that he might set us apart, make us holy. And even as we reminded this morning, I mean, every so often I meet someone who professes to be a believer, says he believes in Christ, says he's a follower of Christ, and yet continues in his sin. How can that be? How can a man and I've had him do this to me before, say, I know I'm in Christ, so it doesn't really matter how I live anymore. I can still live in my sin. I'm assured of heaven because of Jesus Christ. That makes a mockery out of why Christ loved us and gave himself up for us. It was to deliver us from the power and the dominion of sin. to be a holy people. But there's an ultimate purpose found here in verse 27, that he might present to himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she would be holy and blameless. And that statement, there's two things I want you to notice. There's sort of a general statement and then he enlarges upon that. That he might present to himself the church in all her glory. He will present to himself in splendor the church. He has, I believe, he's sort of looking through the eyes of faith. And he sees, as he gave himself up for her, that day coming when she will be spotless and glorious in his sight. He's looking forward as he's dying there on the cross. He has in mind that event in which the church will be found without spot or wrinkle. I believe it's probably what the writer of Hebrews has in mind when it says concerning Christ, for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross. As he thought about his bride in all her beauty, without spot or wrinkle, there was, in fact, a joy in his own heart in giving his life up for her, that he would take the judgment that she deserved. Mr. Stott, John Stott, in his commentary says this, on earth, she is often in rags and tattered, stained and ugly, despised and persecuted. But one day she will be seen for what she is, nothing less than the bride of Christ. He loved that church and gave himself up for the church. He saw, he saw that beautiful bride. Notice the wording here says that he might present to himself the church in all her glory. It is a wedding analogy. Oftentimes when you go to a wedding, The father brings the bride down the aisle. And then the man standing in front, we get to say, who gives this woman to be married to this man? And the man says, her mother and I. It's the same idea. Christ comes with his bride down the aisle. Who gives this church And he says, I do. And then he takes the place of the bridegroom, and he sees the church in all her glory, absolutely spotless. It's hard to even imagine that he could ever see me spotless, but clothed in his righteousness, he finds me holy and glorious in his sight. And so I like to think that as he hung on the cross, he, through the eyes of faith, thought of that event when the church would be presented to him glorious, glorious. He might present to himself a church in all her glory. And then he expands, what exactly does that mean? Having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she would be holy and blameless. A negative and a positive. Negatively, no spot or no wrinkle. The word spot is used only one other time in the New Testament. It's used by Peter, 2 Peter chapter two and verse 13, when Peter writes that the false teachers are suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong, they count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime and are stained and blemish reviling in their deception as they carouse with you. It's the idea of defilement, a spot, no more defilement. Can you imagine? Can you imagine no more defilement of the soul? And without wrinkle, that word wrinkle here is, it's the only time it's used is here in this verse. And it describes something like skin or fabrics with lines or creases. In this verse, wrinkle is used figuratively to describe some type of imperfection. You can imagine, had I come this morning and I put this shirt on, but this shirt had just laid in a pile all wrinkled up all week. And I came here this morning and you see all these creases and wrinkles and everything else in this shirt. And you think, man, did that guy sleep in that thing last night? It's just, it's just defiled. It's disfigured. Well, here we're told that on that glorious day, no more wrinkles. no more stains, no more imperfections, and positively holy and blameless, holy, without sin, perfectly righteous, not that which is found in ourselves, but that which is found in the Lord Jesus Christ, and blameless, without fault. And when you think of that, You go back, go back to Ephesians chapter one, that familiar portion of scripture, Ephesians one. Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before him in love. Well, this is the purpose that Christ set his love upon us and gave himself for us, that we might be set apart a holy people and that by and by we'll be absolutely holy and blameless. the bride of Christ. And that's what we celebrate as we come to the table tonight. So in the midst, going back to where we started, in the midst of all this practical instruction with regard to relationships, and he wants to set up before us a picture of what it really looks like, he puts Christ before us and what Christ has done for us. So it ought to make us, as the people of God, love your wife as Christ loved the church. That's a monumental task, but it's what we ought to be pursuing, men, to love her that way. And may God use this to all the more cause us to despise our sin, to hate our sin, flee from our sin, the very purpose that Christ died for us is that we would be a holy, sanctified people. And may this encourage us concerning days that are yet to come when we'll stand before our Savior as our bridegroom. And no more, no more defilement of the soul, No more battling with sin. May it encourage us to press on for that day when we will see our Savior face to face. So as we come to the table, we are declaring his death until he comes. Even as each time we come to the table, it ought to remind us not only of his death, but of his coming. He's coming. and that we might be encouraged to live for him until that day. Well, may God now help us to come to the table remembering what Christ has accomplished for us. Let us give thanks that Christ