TEXT.
“Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through
the body of Christ, that you may be married to another, even to Him who was
raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.” (Romans, 7:4)
In
discussing this subject, I wall direct your thoughts in the following:
I.
I will show that married life is often mentioned in the Bible as describing the
relationship between Christ and the church.
II.
I will show what is implied in this relationship.
III.
The reason why this relationship exists.
IV.
The great guilt of the church, in the way she treats Christ as she does.
V.
The forbearance of Christ towards the church.
I.
Married life is clearly set forth in the Bible as describing the relationship
between Christ and the church.
Christ
is often spoken of as the husband of the church. “For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is His name;
and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the God of the whole
earth.” (Isaiah 54:5) “And as the bridegroom rejoices over the
bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.”
(Isaiah 62:5) “ ‘Return, O
backsliding children,’ says the Lord; ‘for I am married to you. I will take you, one from a city and two
from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.’”
(Jer 3:14) “ ‘Surely, as a wife
treacherously departs from her husband, so have you dealt treacherously with
Me, O house of Israel,’ says the Lord.”
(Jer 3:20) “ ‘Behold, the days
are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the house of
Israel and with the house of Judah. Not
according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took
them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they
broke, though I was a husband to them,’ says the Lord.” (Jer 31:31)
Concerning
Israel “she is not My wife, nor am I her Husband!” “ ‘And it shall be, in that day,’ says the Lord, ‘That you will
call Me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer call Me ‘My Master,’” (Hosea 2:2,16 – Read
Hosea, at least the first two chapters).
The church is spoken of as the bride, the Lamb’s wife. “And the Spirit and the bride say,
‘Come!’ And let him who hears say,
‘Come!’ And let him who thirsts come.
And whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.” (Rev 22:17)
In other words, Christ and the church say, “Come”. The apostle Paul says, “For I am jealous for
you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed
you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” (1 Cor 11:2) I can only refer to these passages. For those of you who are familiar with your Bibles, I won’t have
to take up precious time to show that this relationship is often suggested in
the Bible, in many different ways.
II.
What is implied in this relationship?
1.
The wife gives up her own name, and assumes the name of her husband.
This
is universally true in marriages. And
the church assumes the name of Christ, and when united with Him the church is
baptized into His name.
2.
The wife’s separate interest is merged with that of her husband.
A
married woman has no separate interest, and no right to have any. In the same way, the church has no right to
have a separate interest from the Lord Jesus Christ. If a wife has property, it goes to her husband. If it is real estate, the life interest
passes to him, and if it is a personal estate, the whole thing merges in him.
The
wife’s reputation is united to her husband, so that his reputation is hers, and
her reputation is his. What affects her
character, affects his character; and what affects his character, affects her
character. Their reputation is
one. Their interests are one. The same is true with the church. Whatever concerns the church is just as much
the interest of Christ, as if it was personally His own matter. As the husband of the church, Christ is just
as much pledged to do everything that must be done to promote the interest of
the church, as the husband is pledged to promote the welfare of his wife. As a faithful husband gives up his time, his
labor, and his talents to promote the interest and happiness of his wife; so
Jesus Christ gives Himself up to promote the welfare of His church. He is as jealous of the reputation of His
church, as ever a husband was of the reputation of his wife. Never was a human being so pledged, so devoted
to the interest of his wife, or felt so keenly an injury, as Jesus Christ feels
when His church has her reputation or her feelings injured. He declares that it would be better if a man
had a millstone tied around his neck, and he were cast into the depths of the
sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones that believe in him.
(Matt 18:6)
3.
The relationship between husband and wife is such, that if anything is wrong
with one, the other is full of sympathy.
In
the same way, Christ feels for all the sufferings of the church, and the church
feels for all the sufferings of Christ.
Once a believer realizes Christ’s sufferings, there is nothing else in
the universe that so affects and dissolves his mind with sorrow. Never did a wife feel such distress, such
broken-hearted grief, if she is responsible for the suffering or death of her
husband, as the Christian feels when he views his sins as the reason for the
death of Jesus Christ. Let me ask some
of these married women present here today, how you would feel
if your husband, to redeem you from merited disgrace and death, had volunteered
the greatest suffering and pain, and even death for you? When you saw his face, how would it affect
you? To be reminded of it by any
circumstance, how would it melt you down in broken-hearted grief? Now, have you never understood that your
sins caused the death of Christ, and that He died for you just as absolutely,
as if you had been the only sinner in all of God’s world? He suffered pain, contempt, and death for
you. He loved His church, and gave
Himself for it. It is called the church
of God, which He purchased with His own blood.
4.
The wife pledges herself to yield her will to the will of her husband, and to
yield obedience to his will.
She
has no separate interest, and should have no separate will. The Bible forbids this, and makes it a
Christian duty for the wife to conform, in all things, to the will of her
husband. The will of her husband becomes
to the faithful wife the mainspring of her activity. Her entire life is only carrying out the will of her
husband. The relationship of the church
to Christ is precisely the same. The
church is governed by Christ’s will.
When believers exercise faith, the will of Christ becomes the moving
cause of all their conduct.
5.
The wife recognizes her husband as her head.
The
Bible declares that he is her head. In
like manner, just as from the head proceeds all those influences that govern
the body, so from Christ proceeds all those influences that govern the church.
6.
The wife looks to her husband as her support, her protector, and her guide.
Every
believer places himself as absolutely under the protection of Christ, as a
married woman places herself under the protection of her husband. The woman naturally looks to her husband to
preserve and protect her from injury, from insult, and from needs. She hangs her happiness on him, and expects
that he will protect her; and he is bound to do it.
In
the same way, Christ is pledged to protect His church from every foe. How often have the powers of hell tried to
put down the church, but her husband has never abandoned her. No weapon formed against the church has ever
been allowed to prosper, or ever shall.
Never will the Lord Jesus Christ forget His relationship to the church
and leave His bride unprotected. No! Let all earth and all hell conspire against
the church, and just as certain as Christ has power to do it, His church is
safe. And every individual believer is
just as safe as if he were the only believer on earth, and Christ is just as
truly pledged for that believer’s preservation as if he was the only believer
on earth. The devil can no more put
down a single believer to final destruction, than he can put down God
Almighty. He may murder them, but that
is no injury. Overcoming a believer by
taking his life gives Satan no victory.
He put Christ to death, but what did he gain by it? The grave had no power over Christ. It could not keep Him. The same is true with a believer. Neither the grave nor hell has any more
power to injure one of Christ’s little ones that believe in Him, than they have
to injure Christ Himself. Jesus said,
“Because I live, you will live also.”
(John 14:19) And, “He who
believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.” (John 11:25-26) There is no power in the universe that can prevail against a
single believer to destroy him. Jesus
Christ is the Head of the church, and Head over all things to the church, and
the church is safe.
7.
The legal existence of the wife is so merged in that of her husband, that she
is not known in law as a separate person.
If
any actions or civil liabilities come against the wife, the husband is
responsible. If the wife has committed
a trespass, the husband is answerable for that trespass. It is his business to guide and govern her,
and her business to obey; and if he does not restrain her from breaking the
laws, he is responsible. And if the
wife does not obey her husband, she has it in her power to bring him into tremendous
trouble, disgrace, and expense.
Likewise, Jesus Christ is Lord over His church, and if He does not
actually restrain His church from sin, He has to answer for it, and is brought
into great trouble and reproach by the misconduct of His people. By human laws, the husband is not liable for
capital crimes committed by the wife.
The law does recognize her separate existence and will punish her. But Christ has assumed the responsibility
for His church, of all her conduct. He
took the place of His people, when they were convicted of capital crimes, and
sentenced to eternal damnation. This is
answering in good earnest. And now, it
is His business to take care of the church, and control her, and keep her from
sin; and for every sin of every member, Jesus Christ is responsible, and He
must answer. And He does answer for
them. He has made an atonement to cover
all of this, and he lives forever to intercede for His people. He holds Himself responsible before God for
all the conduct of His church. Every
believer is such a part of Jesus Christ, and so perfectly united to Him, that
whatever any of them may be guilty of, Jesus Christ takes upon Himself to
answer for. This is abundantly taught
in the Bible.
What
an amazing relationship! Christ has
assumed the responsibility, not only for the civil conduct of His church, but
even for the capital crime of rebellion against God. There is a sense, therefore, in which the church is lost in
Christ, and has no separate existence known in the law. God has so given up the church to Christ by
the covenant of grace, that strictly speaking, the church is not known in
law. I do not mean that crimes
committed by believers against the moral law are not sin, but that the law
cannot get a hold of them for condemnation.
There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. The penalty of the law is forever remitted. The crimes of the believer are not taken
into account to bring him under condemnation; no, in no case whatever. Whatever is to be done falls on Christ. He has assumed the responsibility of
bringing them out from under the power of sin, as well as from under the law,
and stands pledged to give them all the assistance they need to gain a complete
victory.
III.
Why does this relationship between Christ and His church exist?
1.
The first reason is given in the text, “that we should bear fruit to God”. (Rom 7:4)
The main purpose of the institution of marriage is the propagation of
the species. The same is true
concerning the church. Through the instrumentality
of the church, children are to be born to Christ, and He is to see His seed,
and to see of the travail of His soul, and be satisfied, by converts multiplied
as the drops of morning dew. It is not
only through the travail of the Redeemer’s soul, but through the travail of the
church, that believers are born unto Jesus Christ. As soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth children.
2.
Another purpose of the marriage institution is the protection and support of
those who are naturally helpless and dependent. If the law of power prevailed in society, everybody knows that
women, being the weaker sex, would be universally enslaved. The purpose of the institution of marriage
is to secure protection and support for those who are frail, who would
otherwise be continually enslaved and abused by the law of force. In the same way, Jesus Christ upholds His
church, and provides her all the protection against her enemies and all the
protection against the powers of hell that she needs.
3.
The mutual happiness of both parties is another goal of the marriage
institution.
The
same is true of the relationship between Christ and His church. Perhaps you may think that it is strange, if
I tell you that the happiness of Christ is increased by the love of the
church. But what does the Bible say?
“Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the
shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Heb 12:2)
What was the joy set before Him, if the love of the church was not a
part of it? It would be very strange to
hear of a husband, contributing to the happiness of his wife, not enjoying it
himself. Jesus Christ enjoys the happiness
of His church so much more, since He loves his church more than any husband
ever loved his wife.
4.
The alleviation of mutual sufferings and sorrows is another goal of marriage.
Sharing
each other’s sorrow is a great alleviation.
Who does not know this?
Likewise, Christ and His church share each other’s sorrows. The apostle Paul says he was always bearing
about in his body the dying of the Lord Jesus; “For as the sufferings of Christ
abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ”. (2 Cor 1:5)
And he declared that one purpose of all his toils and self-denials was
that he might know the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings. (Phil 3:10)
Paul rejoiced in everything that he suffered for the church that he
might fill up that which was lacking in the afflictions of Christ. (Col 1:24)
The church keenly feels every reproach cast on Christ, and Christ keenly
feels every injury inflicted on the church.
5.
The main reason for this union of Christ with His church is that He may
sanctify the church.
Read
what is said in Ephesians, 5: 22-27.
“Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also
Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to
Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ
also loved the church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and
cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 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.”
Here
is the great plan of Christ in marrying His church. It is so He might sanctify it, and cleanse it, so that it should
be perfectly holy and without blemish.
John, in the Revelation, informs us that he saw those who had washed
their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. See how beautifully the Bride, the Lamb’s wife,
is described in the 21st chapter, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared
as a bride adorned for her husband.
IV.
I will now say a few words about the wickedness of the church, in her behavior
towards Christ.
1.
Vast multitudes of those who claim that they belong to the church, the bride of
Christ, really set up a separate interest.
They
pretend to merge their selfish interests with the interests of Christ, but they
obviously maintain a separate interest.
And if you try to make them act on the principle that they have no separate
interest, the fact that they truly have their own agenda will be revealed. What would you think of a wife who maintains
a separate interest from her husband?
You would say it was obvious that she did not love her husband as she
should.
2.
The church is not satisfied with Christ’s love.
Everybody
knows what an abominable thing it is for a wife not to be satisfied with the
love of her husband, but continually seeks other lovers and is always
associating with other men. Yet, how
obvious can it possibly be, that the church is not satisfied with the love of
Christ, but she is always seeking after other lovers? What should we think of those members of the church who are not
satisfied with the love of Christ for happiness, but must have the riches,
pleasures, and the honors of the world to make them happy?
Still
more horrible would be the conduct of a wife who selects her lovers from the
enemies of her husband, and brings them home with her, and makes them her
chosen friends. Yet, how many people,
who say that they belong to Christ, wander off and give their affections to
Christ’s enemies. Some will even marry
those whom they know hate God and religion.
Horrible! Is that what a bride
should do?
3.
Every one knows that it is a disgraceful thing for a wife to be a harlot.
Yet,
God often speaks of His church as going astray and committing spiritual
whoredom. And it’s true. He does not make this charge, like a man
makes it against his wife, when he is determined to leave and abandon her. But he makes it with grief and tenderness,
and accompanies it with the moving persuasions, and the most melting requests
that she would return. (Read Hosea)
4.
What would you think of a married woman, who expects that after she is married,
she will get tired of her husband, and leave him for others?
Yet,
how many professing Christians are there today, who once they make their
profession of faith, they no more expect to live without sin than they expect
to grow wings and fly. They came into
God’s house. They pledged themselves to
live completely for Him. They married
Him publicly, covenanting to forsake all sin and to live alone for Christ,
promising that they would be satisfied with His love and declaring that they
will have no other lovers. Yet, even
while they are promising all of this, they expect, in their minds, that they
will scatter their ways to strangers on every high hill, commit sin, and
dishonor Christ.
5.
What would you think of a woman, who at the very time of her marriage, expected
to continue in her course of adultery as long as she lives, in spite of all the
commands and objections of her husband?
Then
what will you think of professing Christians who deliberately expect to commit
spiritual adultery, and continue in it as long as they live?
6.
However, the most abominable part of this kind of wickedness on the part of a
wife happens when she turns around and then charges the blame of her conduct on
her faithful husband.
Now
the church does this! In spite of the
fact that Christ has done all that He could do short of using absolute force to
keep His church from sinning, the church turns around and charges Christ with
her sin. They treat Christ as if He
places her in a position where she has to sin, because He didn’t make adequate
provision for preserving His people against temptation. Many professing Christians are horrified
today at the very mention of the term ‘Christian Perfection’, as if it was
really dishonoring Christ to believe that He is able to keep His people from
committing sin and falling into the snare of the devil. And so it has been, for hundreds of years,
that the majority of the mainline churches refuse to teach that Jesus Christ
has truly made such provision that his people may live free from sin. And I really wonder how anybody can teach
that the bride of the Lord Jesus Christ is expected to do as she is doing
today. Has Christ married a bride, and
made no adequate provision to protect her against the arts and seductions of
the devil? Well done! That must be the ridicule of hell.
7.
Suppose a wife should refuse to obey her husband and then make Him responsible
for her conduct.
Yet
the church refuses to obey Jesus Christ, and then makes Him responsible for her
sins. This is a serious problem with
the church, that she is continually blaming her Head for her delinquencies.
8.
The church is continually dishonoring Christ.
The
reputation of husband and wife is one.
Whatever dishonors one, dishonors the other. Now, the church, instead of avoiding every appearance of evil, is
continually giving the enemies of God opportunities to blaspheme by her
conduct.
V.
Let me say a few words on the forbearance of Christ towards the church.
What
other husband, in such circumstances, would maintain the relationship and bear
what Christ bears? Yet, He still offers
to be reconciled, and He reaches out to regain the affections of His
bride. Sometimes a husband really loses
his affection for his wife, and treats her so harshly that, although she once
loved him, she doesn’t love him any more.
But, where can anything be found in the character and conduct of Christ
to justify the treatment He receives?
He has made as many sacrifices as He possibly could make, to win the
affections of the church. What more
could He have done? Where can any fault
or any deficiency be found in Him? And
even after everything the church has done against Him, what is Christ doing
now? Suppose a husband followed his wandering,
guilty wife, from city to city, year after year, pleading and enticing her with
tears, to return to his house and be reconciled. But she persists in going after her lovers, even while he
continues to cry after her and begs her to come back and live with him, and he
will forgive and continue to love her.
Is there any such forbearance and condescension known among men?
REMARKS.
I.
Christians should understand the damage their sins cause.
Your
sins dishonor, grieve, and injure Christ, and then you turn around and make
Christ responsible for them. You have
such a relationship with Him that you should know what is the effect of your
sin. How does a wife feel when she has
disgraced her husband? How her face
blushes and tears fill her eyes! When
her offended husband comes into her presence, how she falls down at his feet
with a full heart, confesses her fault, and pours tears of repentance onto
him. She is grieved and humbled, and although
she loves him, his very presence is a grief until she breaks down before him,
and feels that he has forgiven her.
How
can a Christian fail to recognize this?
When a Christian is betrayed into sin and has hurt Christ, how can he
sleep? How can you help realizing that
your sins take hold of Jesus Christ, and hurt Him, in all these tender
relationships?
II.
One great problem with Christians is that they expect to live in sin, and this
expectation guarantees that they will continue in sin.
If
an individual expects to live in sin, he, in fact, means to live in sin, and of
course, he will live in sin. I am
afraid that many professing Christians today never really meant to live without
sin. The apostle insists that believers
should reckon themselves dead to sin, that they should, from now on, have no
more to do with sin than if they were dead, and no more expect to sin than a
dead man should expect to walk. They
should throw themselves on Christ, receive Him in all His relationships, and
expect to be preserved and sanctified and saved by Him. If they would do this, don’t you think they
would be kept from sin? Just as
certainly as they believe in Christ for it!
To sincerely believe that Christ will keep them insures the result that
He will. And the reason why they don’t
continually receive preserving grace at all times, as much as they need and all
they need, is that they don’t expect it, and they don’t trust in Christ to
preserve them in perfect love. Man
tries to preserve himself. Instead of
throwing himself on Christ, he throws himself on his own resources, and then in
his weakness expects to sin, and, of course, he does sin. If he knew his own complete emptiness, and
would completely throw himself on Christ and confidently rest on Christ for
sanctification as well as for justification, the one is just as certain as the
other.
No
one who has trusted in God for anything He has promised, has ever failed to
receive, according to his faith, the very thing for which he trusted. If you trust in God for what He has not
promised, that is tempting God. If
Peter had not been called by Christ to come to Him on the water, he would have
been tempting God to get down out of the boat into the water, and Peter could
have lost his life for his presumption and folly. But as soon as Christ told him to come, it was simply an act of
sound and rational faith for him to do it.
It was a pledge on the part of Christ, that He should be sustained; and
so he was sustained as long as he had faith.
Now, if the Bible has promised that those who receive Christ as their
sanctification shall be sanctified, then you who believe in Him for this end
have just as much reason to expect it, as Peter had to expect he should walk on
water. It is true, we may not expect a
miracle to be wrought to sustain the believer, as it was to sustain Peter. But it is promised that the believer shall
be sustained, and if miracles are necessary, no doubt they will be performed,
for God would move the universe, and turn the course of nature upside down,
before one of His promises to those who put their trust in Him should
fail. If God is pledged to anything, a
person that ventures on that pledge will find it redeemed, just as certainly as
God possesses almighty power.
Has
God promised sanctification to all those who trust Him for it? If He has not promised sanctification for
you, then for you to go to Him in faith and ask Him to preserve you from temptation
and sin is tempting God. It is
fanaticism. If God has left us
desperately needing to get along with our own watchfulness, firmness, and
strength, we must submit to it and do the best we can. But if He has made any promises, He will redeem
them completely, even if all earth and hell opposes it. And the same is true concerning the mistakes
and errors that Christians fall into.
If there is no promise that they shall be guided as far as they need to
be guided and led into the truth, and into the way of duty and peace; then for
a Christian to look to God for knowledge, wisdom, guidance, and direction
without any promises is tempting God.
But if there are promises on this subject, depend on them! They will be fulfilled to the very last
penny to the believer who trusts in them.
Exercising confidence in such promises is only a sober and rational
faith in the word of God.
I
believe the great problem the church has with the subject of Christian
perfection is because she has not fully understood how the Lord Jesus Christ is
totally pledged in all these relationships, and that the church has just as
much reason and is just as much bound to trust in Him for sanctification as for
justification. What does the Bible
say? “But of Him you are in Christ
Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption.” (1 Cor 1:30) How did the church get the idea that Jesus
Christ is our Redemption, and has made Himself responsible so that the meanest
individual who throws himself on Christ for justification will definitely
receive it? The church throughout its
history has universally admitted this.
But the Bible, just as clearly, teaches us that Jesus Christ is promised
and pledged for our Wisdom and our Sanctification to all that receive Him in
these relationships. Hasn’t He promised
that if any man lacks wisdom, he may ask of God, and if he asks in faith, God
will give wisdom to him? (James 1:5) What then?
Is there then no such thing as being preserved by Christ from falling
into this and that delusion and error?
God has made this broad promise, and Christ is pledged just as much for
our wisdom and our sanctification, if we only trust in Him, just like we should
trust in Him for our justification. If
the church would only renounce any expectation from herself, and die as
absolutely to her own wisdom and strength, as she does to her own righteousness,
or the expectation of being saved by her own works, Jesus Christ is just as
much pledged for one as for the other.
The only reason why the church does not realize the same results, is
that Christ is trusted for justification, and He is not trusted for wisdom and
sanctification.
The
truth is, the great bodies of believers in churches today, having begun in the
Spirit, are now trying to be made perfect by the flesh. (Gal 3:3)
We have thrown ourselves on Christ for justification, and then have been
attempting to sanctify ourselves. If it
is true, as the apostle says, that Christ is to the church both wisdom and
sanctification, what excuse do Christians have for not being sanctified?
III.
If individuals don’t expect to live without sinning against Christ as much as
they expect to live without open sins against men, such as murder or adultery,
it must be because of one of three reasons:
1. Either we love our fellow men more than we
love Christ, and so we are less willing to harm them. Or
2. We are restrained by a concern for our own
reputation; and this proves that we love our own reputation more than
Christ. Or
3. We think that we can preserve ourselves from
disgraceful crimes better than we can preserve ourselves from less heinous
sins.
Suppose
I were to ask you if you expect to commit murder or adultery? Horrible, you say! But why not? Are you so
virtuous that you can resist any temptation that the devil can offer? If you say you can, you don’t know
yourself. If you have real power to
keep yourself from openly disgraceful sins in your own strength, you have power
to abstain from all sins. But if your
only reliance is on Jesus Christ to keep you from committing murder and
adultery, how is it, that you should get the idea, that He is not equally able
to keep you from all sin? Oh, if
believers would only throw themselves wholly on Christ, and make Him
responsible, by placing themselves completely under His control, they would
experience His power to save, and would live without sin.
IV.
The church is a horrible reproach to Jesus Christ!
V.
Can you now see why converts are what they are?
Degenerate
plants of a strange vine, sure enough!
The church is in such a state that it is no wonder those who are brought
in, with few exceptions, are a disgrace to religion. How can it be otherwise? How can the church, living in such a
way, bring forth offspring that will do honor to Christ? The church does not, and individual
believers do not, in general, receive Christ in all His offices, as He is offered
in the Bible. If they did, it would be
impossible they would live like such loathsome harlots.