3ABN Australia Homecoming

Knowing God Through His Faithfulness and Trustworthiness

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

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Series Code: HCAU

Program Code: HCAU180016A


00:01 Music...
00:20 Welcome to 3ABN Australia Homecoming...
00:24 Music...
00:31 Hello Friends and welcome to another
00:34 3ABN Australia Homecoming 2018,
00:37 my name is John Lomacang, this is John Malkiewycz.
00:40 The two Johns...
00:42 That's right, 1st John and 2nd John...
00:43 you decide which one is which
00:45 but we are so glad that you have taken the time
00:47 to tune in for this beautiful...
00:48 this has been a power-packed Holy-Spirit-filled Homecoming.
00:54 Can you all say, "Amen" to that?
00:55 Amen.
00:56 And today is not going to be any different.
00:58 No, it's going to be a...
00:59 a day where you're going to be spiritually fed
01:02 and you will come to know God even better
01:05 and more than you did before.
01:07 That's right, and I'm so thankful for the theme,
01:09 "Knowing God... "
01:10 because knowing information
01:12 and knowing God are not the same
01:14 and we have been knowing the Lord in beautiful ways,
01:16 I've seen the Lord anoint the different Speakers
01:19 and the musicians and the ministers of music
01:21 and this is going to be a wonderful time.
01:23 Tell us a little bit about what's happening now
01:25 before I share about the Speaker for this hour.
01:28 Okay, our special item today is with a young lady,
01:31 she's a beautiful young lady,
01:32 she's committed her life in singing for the Lord,
01:34 and that's Marleta Fong and she's going to be accompanied
01:38 with Sanja Kitevski on the piano
01:41 they both go together and play together
01:43 and they enjoy one another's company
01:45 and she's going to be singing,
01:46 "For God So Loved The World" John.
01:48 Wow! You know it's wonderful about the minister of music
01:52 is she's the sister of the Speaker of the hour,
01:56 The Bible says, "I will pour out my Spirit
01:59 on My manservant and our maidservants"
02:01 and we know God has poured out His spirit on Charissa Fong
02:04 and her message is going to be,
02:06 "Through His faithfulness and trustworthiness. "
02:10 But she told me a different title...
02:11 It's still the same thing.
02:13 Okay, the title... the sub-title is:
02:15 "We're getting married. "
02:16 I heard that.
02:18 And it's going to be amazing, I know,
02:20 but before Charissa Fong comes to... to bless our hearts,
02:25 we're going to be blessed as we invite Marleta Fong
02:28 and Sanja to come and bless us with the song,
02:30 "For God So Loved The World. "
02:32 Pause.
02:38 More pause.
02:46 Piano...
02:54 For God so loved the world
03:03 God so loved the world
03:10 that He gave His only
03:17 begotten Son
03:26 that whosoever believes
03:34 Whoever believes
03:41 Shall not perish
03:48 but have everlasting life
03:56 For God so loved this fallen world...
04:04 He left His glory above
04:12 To carry my cross
04:19 For God so loved
04:26 our world.
04:32 Piano...
04:38 more piano...
04:44 some more piano...
04:51 For He came not to condemn...
04:59 He came not to condemn
05:05 but that the world through Him
05:12 might have everlasting life
05:20 For God so loved this fallen world
05:28 He left His glory above
05:34 to carry my cross
05:42 For God so loved...
05:47 For God so loved,
05:55 For God so loved
06:02 piano...
06:06 our world.
06:09 Piano...
06:18 Amen.
06:20 Audience: Amen.
06:23 Pause.
06:26 Good morning everyone.
06:27 Audience: Good morning.
06:29 Lovely to see you all so bright and early this morning.
06:32 Our subject today is:
06:34 Knowing God through His faithfulness and trustworthiness
06:37 so let's open with a word of prayer.
06:39 "Our loving Father in heaven,
06:41 it's so good be together to study Your Word
06:44 and as we do, we invite the Holy Spirit
06:47 to be present in our midst.
06:48 I pray that You would speak to our hearts
06:51 that Jesus would be lifted up
06:53 and we would leave this place loving Him more
06:56 is our prayer in Jesus' name, amen. "
06:59 Well, I've been doing a lot of thinking about weddings lately,
07:04 actually, I've been thinking a lot about weddings lately,
07:08 and the reason why is because earlier this year,
07:11 my former boyfriend took me on a drive
07:15 to a beautiful national park
07:17 surrounded by mountains and trees
07:19 and a beautiful river flowing by,
07:21 we got out of the car
07:23 and he walked down to the edge of this cliff...
07:25 it wasn't really a cliff but it was like that
07:28 and he got down on one knee and to cut a long story short,
07:32 he asked me to be his bride and I said, "Yes. "
07:35 Audience: Clapping.
07:37 And when I said, "Yes" praise the Lord,
07:40 when I said, "Yes" my whole world changed.
07:42 Nobody else was there to experience this moment,
07:45 it was very special, it's just me and him...
07:47 the Lord... the angels...
07:49 there was a family
07:50 that was swimming on the other side of the river
07:53 and they watched the whole thing happen
07:56 and when it was over,
07:58 they looked at us and they said, "Well... "
07:59 and I said... this...
08:01 and Justin said, "She said, 'Yes'"
08:04 and they... we don't know who they are
08:06 they don't know who we are but they just started rejoicing
08:09 and clapping and shouting... sharing our joy
08:12 and I've since discovered, everybody loves a wedding...
08:16 everybody loves a love story
08:18 and Friends, I'm here to tell you this morning
08:20 that heaven is no different.
08:22 Heaven gets excited about a wedding as well
08:25 so if you have your Bibles, please take them...
08:28 come with me to Revelation chapter 19
08:32 and notice with me verses 6 and 7.
08:36 Revelation chapter 19 verses 6 and 7.
08:41 The Bible says, "And I heard as it were
08:46 the voice of a great multitude as the sound of many waters,
08:50 and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying Alleluia:
08:55 for the Lord God omnipotent reigns.
08:57 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give Him glory:
09:01 for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
09:04 and his wife has made herself ready. "
09:06 Now, I'm just going to begin by telling you an Amazing Fact.
09:10 Did you know that the word, "Hallelujah"
09:13 appears four times in the Bible
09:15 and all of them right here in Revelation chapter 19
09:19 which makes this chapter the original Hallelujah Chorus.
09:22 Audience: Laughing.
09:24 Amen.
09:25 In fact, the Hebrew of this phrase in the book of Psalms
09:29 is translated as, "Praise the Lord"
09:31 and it's this one word that drives everything in chapter 19
09:36 of the book of Revelation.
09:38 It's like the whole of the New Testament...
09:40 all 26 books and 18 chapters
09:43 has been telling us the story of Jesus
09:46 how He came down from heaven,
09:48 died on the cross, rose from the grave,
09:51 ascended to heaven
09:52 sent the Holy Spirit
09:54 raised up His church
09:55 and has ministered in heaven's holy sanctuary for us
09:58 and now, all that's left is for him to come
10:01 and for everybody to shout a resounding, "Hallelujah"
10:04 of praise to God.
10:06 The marriage supper of the Lamb has come.
10:10 Oh, friends, the Bible is the greatest love story
10:13 telling us about the greatest lover that there ever was.
10:18 You see, many years ago, in a garden called "Eden"
10:22 a paradise of pleasure...
10:25 God made man in His image
10:27 and the relationship that He shared with Adam and Eve
10:31 was very special.
10:32 There was no fear... perfect love
10:35 and there was perfect joy... no shame...
10:38 but then one day, things went wrong,
10:40 lies were believed... trust was broken...
10:45 and the heart of God was shattered.
10:47 The Bible tells us that sin separates us from God
10:52 and any of us who have been through betrayal of trust
10:55 will have experienced the pain of a broken relationship,
10:59 you know just a little of the pain that God's heart
11:03 went through that day in that garden
11:06 and so, because sin caused a separation between God,
11:10 sin divorced man from His presence,
11:13 God was not content to let that be permanent
11:16 and so, He told Adam and Eve,
11:18 "I have a plan and I am going to do everything that I can
11:22 to restore our relationship again
11:26 friends, love always finds a way
11:29 and so for the last 6,000 years,
11:32 God has been seeking to woo us to Himself.
11:36 Ask Hosea about it, He can tell you the story.
11:40 Boil it down and the whole salvation story
11:43 is about the faithful, tireless pursuit of God,
11:48 the injured bridegroom for His prodigal bride... His people.
11:52 Now, I just want to share with you
11:54 a little lesson that I got from nature.
11:57 Did you know that when it comes time
12:00 for a female eagle to choose her mate,
12:03 many mates come along... potential... rather...
12:06 potential mates come along and she looks over her suitors
12:09 and she has this little test that she puts them through,
12:13 she will pick one... she'll fly with him...
12:16 and during the course of the flight, she will come down,
12:20 she'll pick up a stick and she'll fly up high with it
12:23 and at some point, she will drop that stick
12:26 and if he's a good suitor, he will be watching...
12:29 he will see the stick come down
12:31 and he will swoop down and catch it
12:33 and that will impress her and so, she'll do it again.
12:36 She'll pick up a bigger stick, she'll fly a little bit higher,
12:40 she'll drop it and again, he has to catch it.
12:43 She keeps doing this process
12:45 and if an any point along the way... he drops the stick,
12:49 well, she just moves on and finds somebody else.
12:51 She'll do this until she can pick up the biggest stick
12:55 that she can find... drop it,
12:57 and if he catches it, he's the one.
12:59 Why does she do this?
13:01 Well, interestingly, if they settle together
13:06 and little eaglets come along,
13:07 one day, they will build their nest high up somewhere
13:11 and in the process of time,
13:13 those little eaglets are going to learn how to fly
13:16 and it's possible that one of them might fall out of the nest
13:19 and that's where his role comes in.
13:21 He's going to swoop down and faithfully get them.
13:25 Now, I love this picture
13:27 because, you know, the attributes of God
13:29 are clearly seen in nature.
13:31 God has been faithfully trying to woo us to Himself
13:35 through His faithfulness throughout Bible history.
13:39 God kept trying to win the heart
13:42 and affections of the human race
13:44 and to a man named Abraham
13:46 He made an amazing covenant promise,
13:49 He told him that he would make of him a great nation
13:53 and that through them,
13:55 all the nations of the earth would be blessed
13:58 and friends, by an absolute miracle,
14:00 God kept His promise, did He not?
14:03 He kept it faithfully and Isaac was born
14:06 and through Isaac, the nation of Israel was born
14:10 and through Israel, Jesus came as well.
14:14 Then we come to the New Testament
14:17 and suddenly this relationship pursued
14:20 that God has been on with His people...
14:22 it takes a totally new turn
14:25 that no one in the universe was expecting.
14:27 I remember one Sabbath,
14:29 I was welcoming people to my local church
14:32 and this young man showed up, I've never seen him before
14:36 and he showed up at the church, I shook his hand
14:38 and this is what he said to me, straight up...
14:40 after I welcomed him, he said, "I'm here to find a wife. "
14:43 Audience: Laughter.
14:45 I couldn't help him
14:47 but when Jesus came to this world, friends,
14:51 He came to take a wife.
14:54 The Bible says in Ephesians chapter 5 verse 25,
14:58 "Husbands, love your wives,
15:01 just as Christ also loved the church,
15:05 and gave Himself for her. "
15:08 That's a high calling for any husband, by the way,
15:11 what an example!
15:13 What a standard we have in Jesus!
15:15 But understanding this concept,
15:18 I tell you, it will change your life,
15:20 and that's kind of what I hope
15:22 you will catch a glimpse of today.
15:23 You see, in Jewish culture, when a man loved a woman,
15:27 proposed to her and she said, "Yes"
15:29 then the wedding process would take place
15:32 in the following stages.
15:34 Number one, the bridegroom would go to the bride's home
15:38 and he would negotiate a bride price
15:42 with the father of the bride
15:43 and he would pay that price to the father.
15:46 and although it was paid to the Father,
15:49 the idea was that when she was married,
15:52 the father would actually give that inheritance...
15:55 that dowry to her for her to take into her married life.
16:00 Friends, 2,000 years ago, Jesus Christ left heaven...
16:06 the Father's house...
16:07 to come down to this earth where He would die for His bride.
16:12 The Bible says in Romans 5 verse 8
16:15 that God demonstrates His own love toward us
16:19 in that while we were not sinning...?
16:20 while we were still sinners, Christ died for us at Calvary,
16:28 as the Lamb of God,
16:30 Jesus came and He took away the sin of the world
16:33 and He came to pay the bride price for us
16:37 with His own blood.
16:38 Can we say, "Amen. "
16:39 Then after this, in a Jewish wedding ceremony,
16:43 there was a thing called the Betrothal Ceremony
16:46 and this had three parts to it, number one,
16:49 there was a thing called the Katuba or a Covenant,
16:53 a contract that was drawn up between them
16:56 and signed by both of them
16:58 and it would contain promises of the bride to her groom
17:02 and of the groom to her husband...
17:04 and an original of this contract was actually kept
17:07 in the local synagogue.
17:09 It was considered to be a legal document
17:12 and that meant that the only thing that could break it
17:15 was adultery or unfaithfulness.
17:17 This was to try and give security to the bride.
17:21 Then, after this contract was signed,
17:24 the couple would drink from a shared cup as well.
17:28 There was also, I understand,
17:30 a practice of ceremonial washing involved, prior to all of this,
17:35 where the couple separately would wash to cleanse themselves
17:39 but also to say that we are now keeping ourselves
17:43 for each other.
17:44 Isn't this beautiful?
17:46 Friends, when we commit our lives to Jesus
17:48 through the waters of baptism,
17:50 we are saying a public "Yes" to Jesus
17:53 in a public "no" to everybody else,
17:55 we're saying that we choose Him and Him alone.
17:58 Then, after the betrothal ceremony,
18:02 the custom was that the bridegroom
18:05 would return to His father's house,
18:07 to prepare a place for his bride
18:10 and it wasn't uncommon
18:12 for the groom to actually build on to his father's house,
18:15 if they weren't rich, he would just build an extra room
18:19 onto his father's house
18:21 and then, before he left to do this,
18:23 he would even tell his bride,
18:25 "I go to prepare a place for you
18:27 and if I go to prepare a place for you,
18:30 I will come again and receive you to myself
18:32 that where I am, there ye may be also. "
18:35 When Jesus said those words to the disciples,
18:38 they knew, this was wedding language,
18:40 Jesus was going to prepare a place for them
18:43 and not only this, it gets even better than that.
18:48 The Rabbi was actually supposed to inspect the place
18:52 that the groom was preparing for the bride
18:54 to make sure that... get this,
18:57 that it was better than the place she was leaving behind.
19:01 Audience: Laughter.
19:03 How does the Bible finish?
19:04 It tells us all about heaven
19:06 and how much better this heaven is
19:09 compared to the world that we live in...
19:11 do death, no wars, no tsunamis,
19:14 no heartache, no cancer, no pain... all gone...
19:17 all good... forevermore, can you say, "Amen. "
19:20 Not only that, but while he's preparing a place for his bride,
19:24 the bride would stay in her father's house
19:27 and she would prepare herself for the wedding.
19:30 She would wait for her groom they say... up to one year,
19:34 no more than that
19:35 and right now, that's what we're doing.
19:37 We're waiting for the bridegroom to come,
19:39 we're waiting for Jesus to come
19:42 and when both bride and place were ready,
19:45 then the groom would come to get his bride
19:49 and he would take her to his father's house,
19:52 the wedding would take place
19:53 and it would be topped off with a marriage supper
19:56 where they would celebrate with friends and family
19:59 on this joyous occasion.
20:01 What a God!
20:02 What a groom! What a lover is Jesus, amen
20:08 and I just can't stop being so excited about it,
20:11 maybe it's because I'm engaged as well right now
20:14 and this all just takes on new meaning
20:16 but when I come to the book of Revelation,
20:18 I see John, he gets a glimpse
20:21 of our heavenly bridegroom and he...
20:23 he gives him release... he finds He has four names
20:26 here in the passage which we're about to read,
20:28 so come back to Revelation 19 and notice with me, verse 11.
20:32 It says, "Now I saw heaven opened,
20:36 and behold a white horse;
20:38 and He who sat on him was called Faithful and True,
20:42 and in righteousness He judges and makes war. "
20:46 Hollywood can't compete with this,
20:49 this day is the brightest day of human history
20:51 and it makes human history's brightest day
20:54 look like midnight.
20:56 In Revelation chapter 13, a question was asked
20:59 by those who follow the beast and worship him,
21:02 and it was this, "Who is like the beast?
21:05 and who is able to make war with him?
21:08 Well, friends, Revelation 19 is the answer to that question,
21:13 for the first time John sees heaven opened,
21:16 not just the door open in heaven...
21:18 he sees heaven opened and he sees Jesus
21:22 our heavenly bridegroom coming into view,
21:27 bursting into view as a mighty warrior
21:30 on a magnificence white horse
21:32 at the midnight of human history.
21:34 Forget, "Here comes the bride"
21:36 here comes the groom and he is wonderful.
21:40 The last time the world saw Jesus,
21:42 they saw Him with a crown of thorns,
21:45 when John sees Him in Revelation 19,
21:47 He is crowned with many crowns.
21:49 The last time the world saw Jesus,
21:51 He rode on a donkey.
21:53 When John see Him here in vision,
21:54 He sees Him riding on a white horse as a conqueror
21:57 and a victorious warrior.
21:59 Friends, Jesus is coming back not as a lamb slain
22:03 but as a redeemer of the world,
22:05 as our redeemer and our victorious king.
22:07 He's coming to reign and rule,
22:11 and names in the Bible, you and I know,
22:14 they're very significant
22:15 because they tell us about a person's character.
22:18 When He introduced Himself to Laodicea,
22:21 He called Himself, "the faithful and true witness"
22:24 and here, we meet our champion of eternal justice,
22:28 our warrior groom,
22:29 He wants us to know that He is called, "faithful and true. "
22:34 Study God's Word and every verse, every chapter,
22:40 every story will tell you the same thing,
22:42 "God is always faithful even unto the point of death,
22:47 He's never been unfaithful...
22:50 He has never let us down... always faithful"
22:53 and that's a quality of a groom.
22:56 He's faithful to his bride.
22:58 Faithful and true
23:00 which is why Joshua could say in Joshua 21 verse 45,
23:04 "Not a word failed of any good thing
23:08 which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel;
23:11 all came to pass. "
23:13 God always keeps His promise,
23:16 this means, that we can trust Jesus in sickness and in health.
23:21 For richer or for poorer, even till death,
23:25 we can trust Him to the very end
23:27 because He says, "Be thou faithful unto death
23:29 and I will give thee a crown of life. "
23:31 When the Bible speaks of God's faithfulness in Lamentations,
23:35 it tells us, "His faithfulness is great. "
23:38 In the book of Psalms... Psalm 36 verse 5,
23:41 it tells us, His faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
23:44 The next time you soar 37,000 feet,
23:48 remember that God's faithfulness reaches you there
23:51 and it's higher still.
23:52 Have you experienced the faithfulness of God
23:55 in your life?
23:56 I have...
23:58 just this year, I was on my way to American Samoa
24:01 for a church meeting
24:02 and to get to American Samoa, you have to leave the airport
24:06 in Apia and you fly...
24:08 do a little island hop on a little plane
24:10 that looks like a mosquito
24:12 and I was all ready to go on this plane,
24:14 I was waiting in the waiting room
24:17 and then this official came and said,
24:19 "Ms. Fong, you can't get on the plane. "
24:21 I said, "Okay. "
24:22 they took me out the back
24:24 and they sat me down in their office and they said,
24:26 "I'm sorry, but you don't have a visa
24:28 to enter American Samoa. "
24:30 Now, we didn't know this visa existed,
24:32 I've traveled to the States many times
24:34 and never had a problem getting into America
24:37 but American Samoa... I was not permitted to go.
24:40 So, we prayed,
24:42 and praise the Lord, I have an aunty
24:45 who's a very strong woman and she...
24:48 my family actually watched the plane
24:50 that I was supposed to get on take off,
24:52 they were all waving that plane off thinking I was on it,
24:55 and I came out running from the airport,
24:57 I said, "Hey, I'm still here. "
24:59 They said, "What are you doing here?"
25:00 I said, "I don't have a visa. "
25:02 So, my aunty got on the phone,
25:04 and this is how God works,
25:05 it just so happens and I didn't know this
25:07 but I have an uncle who is the Chief of Immigration
25:11 in American Samoa.
25:12 Audience: Laughter.
25:14 I didn't know this man existed until this trip,
25:17 but when my aunty got on the phone to Uncle Dennis,
25:20 she called him and she said,
25:22 "Dennis, you get Charissa on the next plane,
25:24 she's supposed to be there and take a meeting
25:26 in American Samoa tonight. "
25:28 And so, I don't know what he did
25:30 but he did something
25:32 and I ended up sitting in the co-pilot's seat
25:35 all the way to American Samoa
25:38 and actually, I'm very nervous about flying,
25:41 flying is a spiritual experience for me
25:43 but the pilot... he looked at me and he said,
25:46 "You see that button there on the door?"
25:48 He said, "When I tell you to press it, press it. "
25:50 I said, "Anything you say, I'll do it. "
25:52 So, the plane takes off, he says, "Put it down. "
25:55 So I put the button down, we get up...
25:59 He says, "Bring it up" so I brought it up...
26:01 everything he said, straight away I did it
26:02 because I did not want this plane to crash.
26:04 Praise the Lord, we got there
26:06 but just before we got there, he looks at me and he says,
26:09 "That's a very important job you have right there"
26:11 and I said, "Great, what... what is it?"
26:13 He said, "That's the air conditioning. "
26:15 Audience: Laughter.
26:16 So... but God was faithful.
26:18 God... God made...
26:21 He made a way for me to this island place,
26:24 where there was no way... God did it.
26:27 To me that was just the most exciting answer to prayer.
26:31 When I left American Samoa, I get to the desk in Immigration
26:35 and the lady says,
26:36 "Oh, the boss wants to talk to you... the Chief...
26:39 I knew it was Uncle Dennis and I said,
26:41 "Well, I don't have a phone number here,
26:43 I don't have a phone and I can't call him. "
26:44 So, said, "Okay" she gets her phone
26:46 types a number in and says,
26:48 "Chief, I have Ms. Fong here. "
26:50 He said, "Give the phone to her. "
26:52 I get the phone, "Hello, Uncle Dennis... "
26:54 I've never met the man before
26:56 and he says, "Is everything okay?
26:58 because if you ever need help, just let me know
27:00 and I'll get you anywhere you need to go. "
27:02 But... how good is God?
27:04 Like, right when we needed something,
27:06 He had Uncle Dennis there, ready to go
27:08 and God moves like that,
27:11 whenever we come to the end of our resources,
27:14 God is just beginning,
27:15 He's just about to come through and provide what we need.
27:18 So, the first name that John sees that Jesus has
27:22 in the book of Revelation is,
27:24 He is called, "Faithful and True. "
27:27 Our heavenly groom is faithful and true
27:31 but not only that, there's more.
27:33 Look at verse 12, Revelation 19 verse 12 says,
27:38 "His eyes were like a flame of fire,
27:41 and on his head were many crowns;
27:44 he had a name written,
27:45 that no one knew, except Himself. "
27:48 Friends, this is the same Jesus who we saw,
27:52 walking through the candlesticks
27:53 when he was ministering to the seven churches there
27:56 at the very beginning of the book.
27:58 He is the same Jesus
28:00 who has tenderly, lovingly cared for His church bride
28:04 in every age of human history and He says to us...
28:09 He presents Himself to us, rather, as One who sees all,
28:12 knows all and rules all, amen
28:16 and he is wearing so many crowns,
28:19 John can't even count them.
28:21 You know, that's interesting because the beast...
28:23 we're told how many crowns the beast and the dragon wear
28:27 John can count them, there's ten there,
28:29 but when he looks at Jesus,
28:31 there are so many crowns, he cannot count them.
28:33 By the way, there are two words for crown in the New Testament,
28:37 One is Stephanos, which is a victor's crown,
28:40 this is what is promised to those who overcome
28:43 in the book of Revelation, if we are overcomers,
28:46 Jesus will give to us the victor's crown
28:49 and the other is a "Diadem" which speaks of a royal crown
28:53 and guess what, Jesus wears both.
28:55 He wears both the Stephanos and the Royal Crown
28:59 because He overcame the evil one
29:01 and it is because He overcame the evil one,
29:05 that we too can overcome.
29:07 When I do this, you can say, "Amen. "
29:09 So, amen... He overcame.
29:14 Now, what is this about the name that nobody knows?
29:17 Obviously, I don't know it so I can't tell you what it is
29:20 but listen to this... reminds me of a story.
29:23 When the angel of the Lord met the parents of Samson,
29:27 the Bible tells us that Manoah said in Judges 13:17 and 18,
29:32 Manoah said to him, "What is your name,
29:35 that when your words come to pass, we may honor you?"
29:38 And the angel of the Lord said to him... " in verse 18,
29:43 "Why do you ask me my name, seeing it is wonderful?"
29:47 That is, if I were to translate that a little differently,
29:51 "It is too wonderful for you to understand. "
29:54 Friends, there are aspects of God's character.
29:58 Christ's character which are too wonderful for us
30:02 to even begin to understand.
30:04 He's more than wonderful.
30:07 Jesus is better than the best thoughts
30:09 that you have ever had of Him,
30:11 He's more wonderful than my mind can conceive,
30:14 He's more wonderful than my heart can believe,
30:17 He goes beyond my highest hopes and fondest dreams,
30:20 He's everything that my soul ever longed for...
30:23 everything He's promised and so much more...
30:26 that's what Jesus is to all of us
30:29 and by the way, to the overcomers, He even says,
30:34 that I will give to them a new name which no one knows.
30:37 Beautiful.
30:39 So He comes, He is faithful and true,
30:41 our groom comes and He has a name
30:43 which is too wonderful for us to even comprehend.
30:46 He's better than our wildest dreams
30:48 and our highest imaginations,
30:50 and more than that, notice what it says in verse 13,
30:54 it says, "He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood:
30:57 and His name is called The Word of God.
31:00 And the armies in heaven clothed in fine linen,
31:03 white and clean followed Him on white horses.
31:06 Now, out of His mouth goes a sharp sword
31:09 and with it... that with it He should strike the nations:
31:12 and He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron:
31:15 He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and the wrath
31:19 of Almighty God. "
31:21 How many grooms do you know
31:23 that when they show up to their wedding,
31:26 they come with an army?
31:27 Pause.
31:29 That's what Jesus does when He comes back
31:31 and even Enoch...
31:33 the only recorded words of Enoch in the Bible,
31:35 in the book of Jude, he said... the Bible says,
31:38 "Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these things
31:41 saying, "Behold, the Lord comes
31:44 with ten thousand of His saints. "
31:46 There's something almost ruggedly handsome
31:49 about Jesus returning with the armies of heaven...
31:52 all the angels of heaven and the Bible telling us
31:55 that His robe is dipped in blood.
31:57 You say, "Charissa, this doesn't sound handsome to me. "
32:01 Well, let me just share with you the devotional application
32:03 I take from this.
32:05 When I was in Primary School, I was bullied quite bad,
32:09 so bad that I dreaded going to school.
32:12 I would cry... I'd come home and I'd beg my mom,
32:16 "Please, don't send me back to that place,
32:18 I don't want to see those... those people again. "
32:21 And my mom would hug me... she would comfort me,
32:23 my sister would come... she would comfort me
32:26 and speak consoling words to me,
32:28 and when my dad walked by the room
32:30 and he saw me sitting there crying... being comforted,
32:33 and he said, "What's the matter?"
32:35 We told him...
32:36 and my dad's response was always very simple,
32:39 always the same...
32:40 he wanted to know their name,
32:42 what they looked like and where they lived.
32:44 Laughter...
32:45 He was read to fight for me,
32:47 when I see Jesus here in this passage,
32:49 I see Him pictured
32:51 not as someone who's not been doing anything for us,
32:53 but as someone who's engaged
32:56 in the conflict of battle with sin for us
32:59 to save us, to rescue us, to fight for us
33:01 and any time that... in the process of Jewish wedding,
33:06 while the groom was away preparing a place for the bride,
33:10 and the bride is waiting for the groom to come,
33:12 if at any time in that process,
33:15 the bride started to get worried...
33:17 started to distrust... maybe think...
33:19 "Maybe he won't come back for me. "
33:21 Guess what she could do?
33:23 She could go to the local synagogue
33:25 and pull out the Ketubah... contract
33:27 and she could open it and she could read the promises
33:31 that her groom had made to her.
33:33 Has God left to us a Ketubah?
33:36 God has left to us promises in His Word,
33:40 He'll keep them...
33:41 whenever we feel like we can't make it,
33:44 read God's Word.
33:45 Whenever we feel like we're abandoned,
33:47 read the promise that He made to you here
33:49 where He said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you. "
33:53 God keeps His promises... He's faithful and He is true
33:57 and here, John sees Him, not only with that name
34:00 and the name that nobody knows,
34:02 he sees Him here as the Word of God
34:04 and we know from the Word that God's Word is powerful.
34:08 Jesus speaks and the waves are stilled,
34:11 He speaks and a fig tree withers,
34:13 He speaks and soldiers are knocked off their feet,
34:17 He speaks and the dead come forth,
34:20 and when the Word of God comes, when Jesus comes...
34:23 that He will speak and the dead in Christ will rise
34:26 amen,
34:27 so we see, there is power in God's Word,
34:30 the Bible says,
34:31 "By His Word were the heavens made. "
34:34 So, beloved Church, and I can call you that
34:37 because you are His beloved bride,
34:40 read God's Word... study God's Word...
34:42 claim the promises therein, love it and share it...
34:46 because when we do that,
34:47 this Word is a living and a powerful thing
34:50 an extension of Himself and it will change our lives
34:53 pause...
34:56 but it gets even better than that,
34:58 He's faithful and true,
35:00 He has a name too wonderful for us.
35:03 He's the Word of God but look at how this ends
35:07 in verse 16.
35:08 It says, "And He has on His robe and on His thigh
35:13 a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. "
35:17 I don't think John slept very well after he saw this vision.
35:23 If I were him, I think I'd be awake for a very long time.
35:28 You know, the composition of Handel's Messiah...
35:32 it took him just 24 days to compose the whole thing.
35:36 Isn't that amazing?
35:38 It's a remarkable piece of work
35:39 and the highlight of that work,
35:41 perhaps its most famous part,
35:43 is Handel's Hallelujah Chorus.
35:46 I love the Hallelujah chorus,
35:48 They play it at the Sydney Adventist Hospital,
35:50 "Carols by Candlelight" at Christmas time
35:52 and you see fireworks in the air
35:55 and you hear the Hallelujah Chorus coming
35:57 and it's like a little foretaste of the coming of Jesus...
36:01 that's what it feels like,
36:02 but one day, according to the accounts,
36:04 after Handel was writing his Handel's Messiah,
36:08 an Attendant of his was looking for him in his house,
36:11 called out to him... no response...
36:13 and so, finally the Attendant comes...
36:16 opens the door to Handel's Office... Study...
36:19 where he was working
36:20 and he finds Handel with tears streaming down his cheeks
36:24 and he says, "What's the matter?"
36:25 And Handel held up the Hallelujah Chorus...
36:28 the score he had just finished writing
36:31 and he said this, "I did think I saw heaven opened
36:35 and did see the face of God. "
36:37 Pause...
36:39 John... sees heaven opened and he sees the face of God
36:45 and he sees Him coming back as King of Kings
36:48 and Lord of Lords
36:49 and if John was a wedding photographer,
36:51 he would make a good one
36:53 because he doesn't miss any detail
36:54 he even catches that the name on His thigh
36:57 matches the name on the robe,
36:59 this is not someone else's robe, this robe belongs to Jesus.
37:04 This is a picture of a Covenant-keeping God as well,
37:07 if you look at the story in Genesis 24,
37:10 but listen, there are many kings
37:13 but He is the King of all those kings.
37:15 There are many Lords
37:17 but He is the Lord of all those lords.
37:19 Did you know that the admirers of Charlemagne...
37:23 the great Charles the Great,
37:25 they sat his corpse up in its grave,
37:28 they crowned him with a crown...
37:30 put a scepter in his bloodless fingers
37:33 and they said... this was their way of honoring a king.
37:37 Friends, when Jesus comes back, He's a living King.
37:40 He is the King of kings and Lord of lords...
37:44 He's God's Son... He's the sinner's Savior
37:47 He's honest... He's unparalleled...
37:49 He's the miracle of the ages,
37:51 He is able to supply all of our needs
37:54 everything that we have ever needed,
37:56 His hand has provided,
37:58 He's available for the tempted and the tried,
38:01 He forgives, He saves, He sympathizes,
38:04 He delivers... He defends... He blesses the young,
38:08 He blesses the old... He serves the unfortunate,
38:11 He beautifies the meek, this is our King.
38:14 He's the King of kings and the thundering hoofbeats
38:19 in the book of Revelation in chapter 19
38:22 tells us of a White Horse Rider who is heaven's bridegroom
38:27 and He loves us more than we can ever know.
38:30 When we accepted the proposal of Jesus,
38:33 when we accept Him and His love for us
38:36 and we accept Him as our Savior, everything changes.
38:39 So, we can say, "Ride on King Jesus,
38:42 no man shall hinder Thee. "
38:44 All heaven is excited about the coming climax
38:48 of this romance of the ages between Christ and His people
38:52 His church... it's all it had...
38:55 He's coming soon.
38:56 The marriage supper of the Lamb, He's coming
38:59 and an eternal honeymoon awaits.
39:01 This is the wedding of the ages, friends,
39:05 and it's not far away.
39:06 I'm excited about it today.
39:08 This isn't fake news that I'm sharing with you.
39:12 It's true, it's faithful,
39:14 it's as real as the Bible you hold in your hands.
39:16 There's no budget constraints to this wedding,
39:19 there's no guest-list limitations to this wedding.
39:22 Prince Harry... Meghan Markle had a beautiful wedding.
39:26 Apparently, they spent an excess of 50 million Australian dollars
39:30 on their wedding...
39:31 it was beautiful...
39:33 hey, don't be amazed...
39:34 this wedding's going to break the bank...
39:37 it's going to be more amazing than that wedding...
39:40 a billion times more spectacular.
39:42 Friends, the groom is ready,
39:44 the armies of heaven are ready, the place is ready.
39:49 The meal is ready.
39:52 The decorations are ready, can't wait to see...
39:55 choir is ready... but what about the bride?
39:58 There's no wedding without a bride
40:01 and I'm a bride-to-be right now
40:04 and my question when I read this passage is this,
40:08 "How do you prepare to meet a groom like that?"
40:12 I had a nightmare before I was engaged.
40:15 I had a nightmare once and it said...
40:18 in my dream I dreamt that I was decorating a church
40:22 for my wedding
40:23 and everything was in place
40:26 and after I finished the final decoration,
40:29 I realized that I had forgotten to get a dress
40:32 and I remember I woke up in a cold sweat...
40:35 it was the terrible realization to come to.
40:38 What would it be to not be ready
40:41 to meet the bridegroom of heaven?
40:45 What would it be to not be ready to meet our royal groom?
40:50 Well, we're still in Revelation 19, just go back...
40:54 look at what it says again in verse 7
40:56 and we'll read through to verse 9.
40:58 The Bible says, "Let us be glad and rejoice
41:03 and give Him glory!
41:04 For the marriage of the Lamb has come,
41:07 and his wife has made herself ready.
41:10 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen,
41:15 clean and bright
41:16 for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
41:20 Then he said to me,
41:22 'Write, blessed are those who are called
41:24 to the marriage supper of the Lamb!'
41:26 and He said to me these words,
41:29 'These are true saints of God. '"
41:32 Friends, there are only two women in the book of Revelation,
41:36 and it's not hard to tell which one is the bride.
41:40 She looks like a bride... she's radiant... she's glowing,
41:45 she looks so beautiful in white.
41:48 When the Bible says
41:50 that the garment is the righteous acts of the saints,
41:54 it means that God's bride... His church...
41:57 will develop a character that is like their Lord's...
42:02 that is like her groom's
42:05 to make her ready to spend an eternity with Him
42:09 but can we manufacture a character like Jesus?
42:13 No... our best attempts are embarrassing
42:18 so, listen to this,
42:19 it just keeps getting better
42:21 because the word in the Greek for "granted"
42:24 actually means, "given. "
42:26 It's given...
42:28 the white robes are not self-made
42:31 purchased on eBay
42:33 or supplied by any other wedding shop,
42:37 they're supplied by Jesus.
42:39 Audience: Amen.
42:41 And given to the redeemed.
42:43 He does it all...
42:44 He paid the price... He's paid the bride price...
42:47 He has prepared a place
42:50 and now we find, He provides the garment too.
42:53 He is the One who presents us faultless before His glory
42:57 with exceeding joy.
42:59 He is the One who washes us whiter than snow,
43:03 how does He do it?
43:04 Little detour because I like detours...
43:08 Joni Eareckson Tada... you familiar with her?
43:11 I was reading about what she said
43:15 about the day she got married
43:17 and for those of you who don't know,
43:18 Joni Eareckson Tada dived into shallow water
43:21 when she was a teenager and became a quadriplegic.
43:24 When I was a teenager, her testimony... her story
43:27 was very impactful on me
43:28 and this is what she says about her wedding,
43:31 I'm just going to read it here because she says it well.
43:34 She said, "I felt awkward as my girlfriend strained to shift
43:38 my paralyzed body into a cumbersome wedding gown.
43:42 No amount of corseting and binding my body
43:45 gave me a perfect shape.
43:46 The dress just didn't fit well and then,
43:48 as I was wheeling into the church,
43:50 I glanced down and noticed,
43:52 I'd actually run over the hem of my dress
43:54 leaving a greasy tire mark.
43:56 My paralyzed hands couldn't hold the bouquet of daisies
44:00 that lay off-center in my lap
44:02 and my chair, though decorated beautifully,
44:05 was still a big, clunky, crane machine
44:08 with belts and gears and ball bearings.
44:10 I didn't feel like the picture-perfect bride
44:13 in a bridal magazine.
44:14 I inched my chair close to the last pew
44:17 to catch a glimpse of Ken in the front.
44:20 There he was, standing tall and stately
44:23 in his formal attire.
44:24 I saw him looking for me,
44:27 craning his neck to look up the aisle,
44:30 my face flushed
44:32 and I suddenly couldn't wait to be with him.
44:35 I had seen my beloved.
44:37 The love in Ken's face
44:39 had washed away all my feelings of unworthiness.
44:41 I was his pure and perfect bride.
44:44 How easy it is for us to think that we are utterly unlovely
44:49 especially to someone as lovely as Jesus
44:52 but He loves us with the bright eyes of a bridegroom's love
44:55 and cannot wait for the day
44:57 until we are united with Him forever. "
44:59 The reason I took that detour
45:02 was because when I asked the question,
45:04 "How do we prepare to meet a bridegroom like Jesus?"
45:07 There's one step in a Jewish wedding
45:10 that I deliberately skipped over,
45:12 and that is this, as part of the betrothal,
45:15 before the bridegroom...
45:17 but when the bridegroom would leave, he would send a gift...
45:20 a betrothal gift to his bride
45:23 again, as a promise that he would come again...
45:26 a token of his love and a promise
45:28 that he would be coming back.
45:30 Did Jesus leave us any gift?
45:33 He gave to us the Holy Spirit
45:36 and what is the purpose of the Holy Spirit?
45:40 To empower us and to teach us to live for Jesus
45:44 and to be like Jesus.
45:45 He's the One who changes us.
45:47 When I surrender my life to Him,
45:49 He does all the changing that needs to take place
45:52 from the inside
45:53 so that I will be ready to meet my bridegroom on the outside,
45:57 amen.
45:58 Have your surrendered your heart to Jesus today?
46:02 Have you allowed... are you allowing the Holy Spirit
46:06 to work in your heart day by day
46:08 so that you will be ready to meet heaven's bridegroom.
46:12 When we are filled with the Holy Spirit,
46:14 the fruit of the Spirit will be seen in our lives
46:17 and the righteous acts of the saints.
46:19 That's the fine linen that is spoken of here in our text.
46:22 Friends, Jesus is our Ephesians 5 Bridegroom
46:26 coming back to our Proverbs 31 bride
46:29 and I find this all personally very overwhelming.
46:33 When we commit our lives to Jesus,
46:35 we become part of His bride... part of His church.
46:39 The King of kings is not just a King,
46:42 He's an engaged King
46:44 and soon, He will be a married King.
46:46 So, I've got news for you today,
46:48 we're all getting married.
46:50 By God's grace we'll be married to the King of kings...
46:54 all of us... to Jesus.
46:56 With earnest longing, Christ desires to bring us to His home,
47:00 to share forever with us.
47:03 We are engaged to Him but are we fully engaged to Him?
47:06 Let me read to you this quote from the Spirit of Prophecy,
47:09 she says, "The church is the bride,
47:13 the Lamb's wife.
47:14 She should keep herself pure, sanctified, holy.
47:18 Never should she indulge in any foolishness;
47:22 for she is the bride of a King. "
47:25 Listen to this,
47:26 "Yet, she does not realize her exalted position... "
47:29 and here is the best part...
47:32 "if she understood this,
47:34 she would be all-glorious within. "
47:38 Huh, this all can change our experience with Jesus
47:43 because we are loved by a warrior groom
47:47 who is faithful and true...
47:49 more wonderful than we can ever comprehend.
47:52 He is the Word of God, the King of kings
47:55 and one day, by God's grace, if we surrender to Him,
47:58 day by day, we will see Him face to face.
48:01 Revelation 19 invites us to think about something
48:05 more than our Facebook accounts, more than our studies,
48:08 more than our degrees and our work,
48:11 it invites us to remember
48:12 that we ought to be preparing for a royal wedding.
48:15 Pause.
48:17 John saw it... imagine it...
48:19 the coming conqueror of conquerors,
48:22 coming down with the ranks upon ranks of heaven's army
48:26 riding down the pathways of light...
48:28 past galaxies and systems and worlds unknown,
48:31 coming to this earth to claim His bride
48:35 and take her home, it's a beautiful picture.
48:37 Tell me a more wonderful picture than this.
48:40 Truly the high point of human history
48:43 will be the appearance of the captain of our salvation
48:46 on the field of battle.
48:48 Audience: Amen.
48:49 Beloved Church,
48:51 momentous times are ahead of us,
48:53 you read about it here in the Bible's last book.
48:56 Does Jesus have your heart?
48:58 Because He loves you.
49:00 This is why today and every day,
49:02 you and I must embrace the victory of the cross
49:05 and surrender our lives and our hearts to Him
49:09 who is the lover of our souls.
49:11 He conquered by His love today
49:13 so you'll be ready to be taken with Him when He comes.
49:17 This defeat to be conquered by the love of God
49:21 is a blessed defeat if there ever was one.
49:24 There is nothing better... nothing sweeter
49:28 than to be shipwrecked on God and stranded on omnipotence.
49:33 So Friend, when things aren't going your way,
49:36 trust that God would lead you through,
49:39 He will make a way through the disappointment.
49:42 Pause.
49:44 When death seems to gain the upper hand,
49:46 trust that your groom... God... He will bring you through
49:51 and He will bring life
49:53 when people disappoint and fail you.
49:57 Trust that your heavenly bridegroom will never fail you,
50:02 He has never failed us yet.
50:05 When you don't see God at work...
50:08 pray... rest in His peace
50:12 and know that your heavenly bridegroom...
50:15 He knows all about it.
50:17 Jesus' final words in the book of Revelation is simply this,
50:21 He says, "Surely, I come quickly. "
50:25 And what is John's response?
50:27 I love it how he says it,
50:29 He says, "Amen, even so, come, Lord Jesus.
50:33 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. "
50:37 After John has just seen heaven's bridegroom,
50:40 seen the place that the bridegroom has prepared
50:44 for His bride,
50:46 all that's left to say is, "Amen...
50:49 and even so, come, Lord Jesus. "
50:52 Has this picture of Jesus encouraged you today?
50:56 Audience: Amen.
50:58 It encourages me,
50:59 I look on the church differently now,
51:01 I see her as a bride waiting for her lover... for Jesus Christ
51:06 and there is no greater lover than Jesus.
51:09 So, do you want to be ready for Him when He comes?
51:12 Then, beloved church, let's be prepared
51:15 and let's allow the Holy Spirit
51:17 to do whatever it takes in our hearts
51:19 so that we'll be ready to see Jesus, let's pray,
51:22 "Our loving Father in heaven,
51:25 we thank you so much
51:27 that You are the lover of our souls
51:30 and You have faithfully, tirelessly pursued our hearts
51:35 and Lord, today as we have seen Your love again,
51:39 we see what You have promised, we see all that You have done,
51:43 our hearts have been conquered by Your love,
51:45 we want to be ready when Jesus comes,
51:48 make us a captive to Your love,
51:50 and so, Lord, as we pray this prayer,
51:53 I invite the Holy Spirit to come into my heart,
51:57 and I pray that everybody here with their heads bowed
52:00 would do the same,
52:02 that we would allow the Holy Spirit
52:03 to come into our lives, You didn't leave us orphans,
52:06 You sent to us the comforter so that we would never be alone
52:10 and so that we could make us to be more like You,
52:13 so Lord, we give You permission
52:15 to work in our hearts and to change them,
52:18 so that when Jesus comes... our heavenly bridegroom...
52:22 we'll look up and we'll be ready to meet Him,
52:24 until that day, Lord, keep us faithful is our prayer,
52:29 You've been so faithful to us,
52:31 all we want to do is be faithful to you,
52:34 so give us the strength to do that,
52:36 we pray in Jesus' name, amen. "
52:38 Audience: Amen.
52:43 Piano...
52:50 more piano...
53:08 some more piano...
53:26 Hallelujah...
53:30 Hallelujah... hallelujah...
53:34 our God reigns...
53:38 Hallelujah...
53:41 Hallelujah
53:44 Hallelujah, hallelujah
53:48 And He shall reign forever.
53:52 Piano...
54:13 And He shall reign...
54:23 And He shall reign forever...
54:28 Hallelujah, hallelujah
54:34 Hallelujah, Hallelujah...
54:39 And he shall reign forever.
54:45 Hallelujah...
54:48 Hallelujah,
54:51 Hallelujah... Hallelujah
54:55 And He shall reign forever.
55:00 Piano...
55:39 Hallelujah...
55:41 Hallelujah
55:42 Hallelujah, Hallelujah...
55:46 And He shall reign forever.
55:50 Hallelujah...
55:52 Hallelujah, hallelujah...
55:57 Hallelujah...
56:00 And He shall reign forevermore.
56:06 Piano.


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Revised 2019-04-09