True And False Church (Part 2): Derek Prince Sermon (Transcript)

And so what was intended to bring life became an instrument of sickness and death. And that is just a very elementary picture of what’s involved in perverting the gospel.

I really don’t believe that the majority of us today realize how serious this issue is. I don’t want anybody to give any kind of public indication, but I have a feeling that the Holy Spirit is showing me that there are some of you here who are listening to another gospel. And I want to warn you: it’s poison. You are endangering your soul by entertaining another gospel. And any kind of other gospel will produce not a bride but a harlot.

That is the source and origin of the false church: Another Jesus; a different spirit; and a different gospel.

And then I tried to give you kind of general Biblical picture of the false church, and one of the types that Scripture presents us with is Jezebel who was not an Israelite but married to an Israelite king and imported into Israel the worship of a totally evil and demonic being called Baal. And once she’d gained authority, she became the main persecutor of the true prophets of God and maintained at her own expense or at the expense of the kingdom 400 false prophets, and was responsible for the death of a totally innocent man and his sons: Naboth. She was in fact very simply a murderess.

PICTURE OF FALSE CHURCH (cont’d.)

Deceiving and dominating multitudes (Rev. 17:1, 15)

Now I’d like to go on with some other aspects of the Bible’s picture of this false church. And most of this is found in Revelation, and if, one particular chapter it’s the 17th chapter of Revelation which begins with an angel saying to John, the Revelator: “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters.” (Revelation 17:1)

And then a little further on in that chapter, Revelation 17:15: The angel says, “The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues.” So the picture is of a spiritual force that captivates vast numbers of the human race: peoples, multitudes, tribes, and tongues.

And the picture of sitting on them implies ruling over them, dominating them. In the Bible, the word ‘sit’ is often used specifically of sitting on some kind of a throne. And this false church is pictured as enthroned over vast multitudes of the human race. In other words, it’s a major influence in the course of human history. It’s not just some little accident somewhere.

And this false church particularly seeks to win over and manipulate the rulers and the wealthy. And I would offer you a little hint: any group that aims particularly for the wealthy is probably in error.

Jesus said the gospel is preached to the poor; (Luke 4:18) that doesn’t mean we leave the wealthy out. But when people go for the wealthy, it’s usually not the Holy Spirit that is motivating. Thank God the wealthy can get saved. But when a church goes for the wealthy in order to use their influence, that motivation probably doesn’t come from God.

Leading rulers into spiritual adultery (Idolatry) (Rev. 17:2; 18:3)

Let’s look at some of the pictures here. Again we’re in Revelation 17 and we read verse 2 which is a continuation of the previous verse:

Revelation 17:2: “with whom [that’s the false church] the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication.” There the meaning of fornication is primarily spiritual; it’s false religion, it’s idolatry. But notice the first people listed that’s going in for idolatry are the kings of the earth, the rulers, the wealthy.

And then in chapter 18 and verse 3 says:

Revelation 18:3: “For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, [her false teaching which brings the wrath of God and leads people into spiritual fornication] the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury.”

So again the emphasis is on the kings and the wealthy. And in a certain sense, relating to her is a means to achieving wealth. It’s interesting in the book of Revelation, how much emphasis there is on merchants. It seems that the main wealth is in the hands of the merchants.

And as someone that has been away from the continent of Europe for good many years and come back, I’m impressed how business has become the number one issue, and everything else is secondary to business. What political motivation could not do, business motivation seems to be doing, in other words uniting the nations of Europe.

And if you read through Revelation, you’ll see again and again the picture of the merchants who are supporters of this organization, because it’s a source of wealth to them.

Now the wealth is not wicked; wealth comes ultimately from God. But the pursuit of wealth by religious means in my observation usually lands you in trouble. And I think there’s a very celebrated publicized case of a radio evangelist; it’s just been in our papers, that is a very vivid example of the danger of using the gospel or the so-called gospel as a means of gaining wealth personally.

I have to say the so-called gospel, because I’m not going to name any organization, but I think all of you know the one I’m speaking about. Ruth and I were invited to appear on that program about two or three years ago just before Christmas… longer than that, and anyhow four years ago, let’s say, we were on theoretically the main participants for two hours. The first session one hour, they took more than 20 minutes to raise money by selling dolls. And I had just about eleven minutes.

The second session I had a little bit more. Theoretically this was a celebration of Christmas, and that there was no reason to suspect any of the things that subsequently came to light, but I said to Ruth, we will never come back here. Because these people are misleading millions of people as to the real nature of Christianity. They’re giving them a totally false picture of what it is to be a Christian. And I don’t pick on that particular individual. I pray God will have mercy on me. Maybe he has to take a hard road to the mercy of God. But I use it as a lesson for myself.

Luxury, splendor, ceremony, wealth (Rev. 17:4; 18:3, 11–13, 16)

We’ll look a little further in this picture; we go back to Revelation 17 again. And we look at the picture of a church living in ostentatious luxury and splendor. And this is a very vivid picture that’s emphasized.

Revelation 17:4: “The woman [that’s the false church] was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication.” And again the golden cup is the teaching with which she seduces multitudes from the truth. But you’ll notice that she was adorned with gold, silver, precious stones and pearls — very ostentatious and showy wealth.

And then chapter 18 verse 3 and then verses 11 through 13.

Revelation 18:3: “For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury.” Notice again the merchants make their money by plying their trade in connection with this organization.

See, I would have to observe, seems to me in Western Europe, the United States, other lands like that, if a thing makes money, it requires no other justification. That’s all that’s needed. If a thing makes money, no matter whether it’s moral or immoral, whether it’s harmful or beneficial, if it makes money, that’s its justification.

And I think in a way what the Bible is showing us is that the source of this is spiritual; it comes from the corruption of the church.

Anyhow going on in Revelation 18 verses 11 through 13…

Revelation 18:11-13: “And the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, [this is at her destruction] for no one buys their merchandise anymore:” Once this organization has been destroyed… “merchandise of gold, and silver, precious stones, and pearls, fine linen and purple, silk and scarlet, every kind of citron wood, every kind of object of ivory, every kind of object of most precious wood, bronze, iron, and marble; and cinnamon and incense, fragrant oil and frankincense, wine and oil, fine flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and bodies and souls of men.”

There again it’s a picture of a church that entices with tremendous lavish display, with tremendous ornamentation, with very magnificent buildings and architecture.

See, as I read this, something in me says: it all appeals to the soul but not to the spirit. Its whole drawing power is directed to the human soul, but it doesn’t touch the human spirit.

And then in verse 16 of that chapter…

Revelation 18:16: As they watch the destruction of this city, they say, “Alas, alas, that great city that was clothed in fine linen, purple, and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls!”

And as I was reading that verse one time, it came into my mind to compare this with the attire of the high priest under the law of Moses. And I noticed there was one significant difference. Let me read those words again, and then I’ll go back to Exodus 28.

‘she was clothed in fine linen, purple, and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls.’

Now going back to Exodus chapter 28 verse 8, we have a description of the high priest’s ephod which was the distinctive garment that a priest wore. And I want to read this, and I want you to see if you can notice just one thing that the high priest had the harlot didn’t have. The harlot had everything except this one thing.

Exodus 28:8: “And the intricately woven band of the ephod, which is on it, shall be of the same workmanship, woven of gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet thread, and fine linen thread.” What’s the extra thing? Blue, that’s right.

The false church has the purple and the scarlet, but only the true priest has the purple, scarlet, and the blue. And blue, I believe, always speaks of the heavenly, the realm of the Spirit. So this false church operates in the realm of the soul; its appeal is to the soulish in man, aesthetic, music, art, all of which are legitimate in their way but it does not touch the spirit of man. There is nothing of the blue in it. That’s nothing of the purity of the heavenly.

And Paul indicates in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, that it’s very important for God’s people to learn to distinguish between the spiritual and the soulish. The way you’re looking at me tells me I need to read that chapter to you.

Spiritual vs. soulish (1 Cor. 2:13–16)

1 Corinthians 2, just reading the latter part of chapter 2… the essence of this is the distinction between the spiritual and the soulish. Now the word soulish is not used, because we don’t have the word soulish in the English language, but we simply have to have it to translate the Bible rightly, see.

Let me just say something. The Greek word for soul writing it in English letters is psuche from which the adjective is psuchekos.

All right. The Greek word for spirit is pneuma from which the adjective is pneumatikos. You can see that they follow the same form.

Now how do we translate pneuma and pneumatikos? What’s the adjective from spirit… spiritual. So to be logical, if this word is psuche is soul, psuchekos must be translated soulish. You see that.

Now we don’t have that word. In the Scandinavian languages, they have a word that corresponds to that. But if you don’t translate it soulish, you really miss the point.

Now I think this says the carnal or the sensual… the natural but whatever it says, I’ll say soulish, okay. This is the Prince version, amplified. All right.

1 Corinthians 2:13: “These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.” I’m always uneasy when people start to use the jargon of psychology and psychiatry to express spiritual truth. But Paul says we don’t use that kind of language. It’s all right in its context but it’s not suitable for expressing spiritual truth.

1 Corinthians 2:14

“But then the soulish man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

You see you have to have the difference between soul and spirit all the way. The soulish man cannot receive spiritual truth because it’s received with the spirit.

1 Corinthians 2:15

“But he who is spiritual judges or discerns all things, yet he himself is discerned by no man.”

Now here is the application: one of the essential things for spiritual success is to be able to discern between the soulish and the spiritual. And at the present time according to my observation, most of God’s people cannot do it, and I sit in meetings and I say to myself, I wonder if these people realize what influence they are under.

The soulish appeals to the emotions; it sounds very good; it stirs you up. You can be soulishly motivated to give a large offering, but it doesn’t do the things in you that need to be done. And basically soulish Christians are very easily deceived.

Being a preacher for many years, I understand what it is to put on an act soulishly that will get people crying, and get them giving and get them excited. But it doesn’t change them. A week later they’re just the same.

I have to say frankly there’s a lot of raising offerings in the church which is done in a soulish way. Why I say this is because the false church specializes in the realm of the soul, everything about it is soulish. And if you’re living in the soulish realm you’ll be tremendously impressed. They’ll carry you away; you’ll be deceived.

But if you’re able to discern between the soulish and the spiritual, you will not be deceived. I have seen this because I have the privilege of knowing Greek. I’ve seen this distinction for years but never until recently have I seen how urgent it is for God’s people not to be fooled by the soulish.

Now I’m probably going to leave a lot of unanswered questions in your mind, but that is a blessing, because you start asking the questions, asking God for the answers He’ll give them.

What I’m trying to emphasize is I don’t know whether I’m succeeding communicating: this false church operates in an area of the emotions, of the intellect; it can use very fine language. It can quote poetry; it can have very tremendous music.

Whereas very often the true church has very simple music and may sing the same chorus 50 times, and the aesthetically motivated say that’s not for me. I’m not advocating singing choruses 50 times but there are times when it’s spiritual… Ruth and I were in a meeting once praying for the sick, and God was really breaking through. This was in Australia, and somebody sang a chorus I’ve never heard before: it’s the blood, it’s the blood, it’s the blood, that sets me free. I can’t remember it but that’s all it is: it’s the blood, it’s the blood, it’s the blood, it’s the blood, it’s the blood that sets me free.

By the time we had sung it about 50 times, you know what… we were set free! See, that’s not soulish. That’s not aesthetic. I don’t mean that God’s people can’t have wonderful music, and that the truth cannot be expressed in fine language. But if its appeal is in that realm, it’s not from God.

I didn’t plan any of this, it’s not my outline, but I absolutely feel pressured to emphasize this point. I’ve sometimes sat at the back of a meeting and just thought: dear Lord how long will it be that your people can be so easily fooled?

Spiritual counterpart of Old Testament Babylon (Rev. 17:5)

All right, let’s go on with the picture of the false church. The next statement is found in Revelation 17:5…

Revelation 17:5: “on her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”

So in the spiritual realm, the false church is equated with Babylon in Old Testament history. That if you want to ask what are the distinctive features of Babylon? First, it was a persecutor of the true people of God; it destroyed the kingdom of Judah.

But its two main features were idolatry and the occult. Let’s look at just two passages; the first is in Isaiah chapter 47. And this is addressed to Babylon…

Isaiah 47:12-13: “Stand now with your enchantments and the multitude of your sorceries, in which you have labored from your youth –” What’s that? Enchantment and sorcery in one word is? Occult, that’s right.

And then verse 13: “You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels; let now the astrologers, the stargazers, and the monthly prognosticators stand up and save you.” What’s that? Astrology, horoscope; that’s what Babylon specialized in.

And then in Jeremiah 50 we have a similar picture.

Jeremiah 50:2: “Declare among the nations, proclaim, and set up a standard; proclaim — and do not conceal it – saying ‘Babylon is taken, Bel is shamed. Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are humiliated, her images are broken in pieces.” Bel and Merodach are names of two pagan deities. And notice what’s the emphasis on? Idols and images.

And in the same chapter 50 verse 38…

Jeremiah 50:38: “A drought is against her waters, and they will be dried up. For it is the land of carved images, and they are insane with their idols.”

So the tremendously distinctive feature of Babylon was it was the capital city of idolatry and the occult in the whole of the ancient world. And the title given to the false church is spiritual Babylon.

You see the church is being infiltrated by the occult, particularly through the New Age movement. And there are multitude of Christians that can’t distinguish between what the New Age teaches and what the Bible teaches. But we have to be totally clear about the difference.

Geographically associated with the city of Rome (Rev. 17:9, 18)

Actually let me say this the right way. Throughout history, the Roman Catholic Church — this is not an attack — has coexisted with idolatrous pagan superstition, so that in many cases, people in it don’t know which is which. And much of the missionary activity has Christianized pagans without changing their hearts.

I hope you don’t think I’m critical but this is just a statement. It’s an indication that this is something that is happening in the church. The fact that people have certain supernatural abilities does not necessarily mean they are from God. That’s important.

I am saying things I didn’t plan to say, and I’m getting embarrassed but I’m going to trust the Lord.

The next statement I want to make should not be carried one inch further than what I actually say. But what I want to say is that geographically Babylon in these chapters is particularly associated with the city of Rome.

Looking in Revelation 17:9: “Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits.” Now historically all through classical literature, Rome has always been known as the City of Seven Hills.

And then yet further in verse 18: “The woman whom you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth.”

Now put yourself back in the time that those words were spoken, and they’re in the present tense, the time of John the Revelator. There was only one city in the world that answered to that description. One great city that ruled over the kings of the earth, and it was Rome, that’s right.

So why make a problem out of something that’s simple? There are lots of things in Revelation which are not necessarily easy, but where we get something very clear and simple, we’re foolish if we set it aside.

Spiritual descendant of Cain, a murderer of the righteous (Rev. 17:6; 18:20, 24)

And then this false church is the spiritual descendant of Cain. What was one of the marks of Cain? He was a murderer; that’s right. He murdered the righteous. This is brought out many times in this part of Revelation.

Revelation 17:6: “And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement.” That’s a very very strong phrase, isn’t it? The woman was drunk with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus; that’s not just an occasional person killed, that’s a massacre, a persistent ongoing massacre.

And then in Revelation 18 verse 20 and 24…

Revelation 18:20: When her judgment is declared, a voice from heaven says: “Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you holy apostles and prophets, for God has avenged you on her!” She was the persecutor of the apostles and the prophets.

And then in Revelation 18:24: one of the most amazing statements… “And in her (that’s this false religion, this evil whatever you call it)… in her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and of all who were slain on the earth.” Isn’t that an amazing statement? Prophets and saints, we can understand… but of all who were slain on the earth.

But I believe if you go back to the picture of the religion of Cain and Abel, you can get some understanding of it.

What was the cause of the first murder that took place? False religion. Cain murdered, because his religion was not acceptable to God, and he was jealous of his brother.

And what I understand the Bible is saying that if you trace all murder back to its source, it has only one source: false religion. I leave that with you; you may not feel that’s the correct interpretation. But it’s a statement that we need to take note of.

Her judgment: Sudden, complete, permanent (Rev. 18:8–10)—nuclear weapon

And then we look at the judgment of this evil religious system organization church, whatever you want to call it in Revelation 18 verses 8, 9, and 10.

Revelation 18:8: “Therefore her plagues will come in one day — death and mourning and famine. And she will be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her.”

Revelation 18:9-10: “And the kings of the earth who committed fornication and lived luxuriously with her will weep and lament for her, when they see the smoke of her burning,” Notice again the emphasis on her influence over kings, rulers and wealthy… “standing at a distance for fear of her torment, saying, ‘Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour your judgment has come.’”

So God is going to judge her finally, and totally, swiftly, in one act of judgment. And all those who were wealthy and influenced by her will stand a long way off and lament her judgment. And I just offer this to you as a thought: it emphasizes that they stand a long way away from her; they don’t want to come close.

And it seems to me that it could indicate the use of a nuclear weapon, and because of the danger of radiation, nobody will come near. Now that’s not a statement; it’s just something for you to consider.

God’s people warned to come out (Rev. 18:4)

And then we come to what is perhaps the most important of all the facts, which is Revelation 18 verse 4.

Revelation 18:4: “I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.”

So you see it’s going to be very important to discern the true from the false, because at whatever point in history this becomes applicable, God’s believing people are going to be warned to disassociate themselves totally with this false religious system.

Now I’m not giving an application, but I’m just pointing out to you it’s going to be important to be able to recognize the true from the false. And bear in mind the ultimate test is commitment to the Lord Jesus.

PICTURE OF THE TRUE CHURCH

All right, now let’s turn for the latter part of this session to picture of the true church and I’m going to try to pick out those aspects of the picture which particularly distinguish it from the false church.

Totally submitted to Christ (Eph. 5:22–24)

We’ll turn to Ephesians chapter 5. In a way it’s a relief to turn to this. I was finding the other a little depressing, but there are times when we have to go through; we have to face the facts.

All right. Now this is primarily teaching on the relationship between husbands and wives as Christians. But it’s also used by Paul to illustrate the relationship between Christ and His Church.

And let me say to married couples who are Christians: you can be prophetic. Have you ever considered that? Because your relationship should show everybody the kind of relationship that Jesus has with His Church. You don’t have to preach a sermon; you have to live Christian married life.

So there’s a challenge, and I’m married, so it applies to me too.

Let’s look then at what Paul says about this relationship. First of all, in Ephesians 5 verses 23 and 24.

Ephesians 5:22-23: “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.”

Now I know male preachers are very fond of that particular verse, and I’ve heard it many times somewhat abused. I’m not going to dwell on that; I’m simply going to point out that Christ is the head of the church and He has the same relationship to the church as a husband has to his wife, and that it’s the responsibility of the wife or the church to relate to Jesus as a good wife relates to her husband: which is love, honor, submission, faithfulness, loving service.

So you see the real point of distinction between the true and the false is the relationship with Jesus.

And then Paul goes on to describe the kind of church that will be produced by this relationship, verses 24 I should have read.

Ephesians 5:24: “Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.” The church is subject to Christ, in submission to Christ.

Cleansed and sanctified by God’s Word (rhema = spoken word) (Eph. 5:26–27)— glorious, without spot, or wrinkle, but holy, without blemish

And then he goes on, and again he’s talking to husbands. And let me suggest to you husbands that you focus on this verse, and not on verse 22. Let the wives focus on verse 22, and you focus on verse 25.

Ephesians 5:25-27: “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.”

So what is the true church going to look like? It’s going to be very beautiful, isn’t it? It’s going to be glorious; it’s going to be filled with the glory of God. The word glory denotes the presence of God in a form that is perceptible to human senses. So the true church is going to be permeated by the perceptible presence of God. It’s going to be glorious, it’s not going to have spot or wrinkle.

A spot, I would understand to be unconfessed sin and a wrinkle is some misformation of the church; it’s going to be without either. It’s going to be holy and without blemish.

How much preaching do you hear today about holiness? You hear a lot about success, prosperity, and healing, all of which are wonderful, and power. The Bible says: without holiness, no one will see the Lord. (Hebrews 12:14)

So if you have all the success, and all the health, and all the power, but you don’t have holiness, it’s all in vain. And this passage I believe indicates one main method by which God will produce holiness in the church: it’s by the washing of the water of His Word.

And the word for ‘word’ that’s used there — you know there are two words for word in Greek: logos, which means the word, the mind, the revelation. The Greek word logos, if you look it up in a Lexicon it has about half a page trying to explain what it means, and all of that is the logos.

But this ‘word’ is the other word which you’re familiar with rhema which means a spoken word. Faith comes by hearing the rhema, the spoken word. And so what’s going to cleanse the church is the spoken word of God. In other words, the preaching and the teaching of the Word of God.

And I don’t think 15-minute sermons are going to produce it. I think it’s going to demand situation in which people are so hungry for the word, that they’ll sit for two hours, and listen. Now you can’t make people hungry, and if they’re not hungry, it’s a waste of time giving them two hours.

But in many parts of the earth, and I know we have some brothers here from Ghana tonight — I’ve been in Ghana, you preach for three hours and they say why are you stopping?

They tell me in China, if a preacher arrives, they steal his luggage, or rather they hide his luggage, so that he can’t go again, and they’ll keep him preaching for 11 or 12 hours, put him to bed and say we will be up at 5:00 a.m. for a prayer meeting.

We spoke about the church in Hungary that grew out of one of my cassettes. Ruth and I visited to that church when it was still struggling and fighting a battle for existence. And they sat in a very small room, shut in, the windows covered, styrofoamed to keep any sound from going out to their neighbors, and first of all we were there for an hour, and they just worshiped. I mean they just worshipped for one hour, and my eyes were on a young woman, she never opened her eyes. I thought poor thing, she must be blind. But she just worshipped God with eyes closed for one hour and then she had perfect eyesight when she opened them.

They were sitting on narrow benches, not as wide as my Bible without any backs, and the heat was stifling, because they couldn’t open any of the windows. And I could have preached for three hours, and they would have said why are you stopping?

So what’s it with the church in the West? I believe that we have to have the cleansing, purifying, ministry of the taught Word of God. I travel widely and I notice that there’s a difference in the way groups worship. Charismatics basically are free in worship, but sometimes the freedom is very carnal, it’s very fleshly; it doesn’t have much anointing. Other times it’s pure and anointed, and it seems to take you up to the presence of God.

I’ve discovered in most cases, churches that have that kind of worship spend a lot of time in the Word. It’s the Word that purifies us, cleanses us, and makes us holy. And that’s part of the true church.

Ready for marriage (Rev. 19:8). Dressed in fine linen—each thread a righteous act

And then we look in Revelation 19 verse 8, a picture of the church ready to be married and notice all heaven is excited. I think heaven is much more excited than the church at the moment about the prospect of the marriage. It’s like all the relatives of the bride are excited and the bride is almost indifferent. Tragic!

Anyhow it says this:

Revelation 19:8: “To her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.”

You see when we receive Jesus as Savior, His righteousness is imputed to us. But this is not imputed righteousness, this is outworked righteousness. It’s the righteous acts of the saints.

I always think that our wedding garment is made up of many linen threads, and every thread is one righteous act that we’ve performed. Then I wonder to myself, whether some of us are going to have much material to make a wedding garment out of. I think some of you are pretty skimpy. If you don’t change, I think you’re going to be embarrassed.

Adorned with jewels—gifts of the Holy Spirit

And then the church is going to be beautifully adorned with jewels which are the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 1, Paul thanks God for the Corinthian church. Some people say the gifts of the Holy Spirit have been withdrawn, that wasn’t Paul’s thinking. Listen to what he says:

1 Corinthians 1:4-8: “I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance (that’s the gifts of utterance) and all knowledge (the revelatory gifts) even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you (through the gifts) so that you come short (or you are lacking) in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Notice they’re going to be adorned with the gifts while waiting for the appearance of Jesus. “who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Paul envisaged a church that was beautifully adorned with all the gifts the Holy Spirit, waiting for the return of the bridegroom.

Let me ask you this: a young man falls in love with a young lady, and we’ve just… Ruth and I’ve just had a letter from a young lady that’s very close to us to whom this has just happened. And she’s just accepted his proposal of marriage.

But generally speaking, if he really loves her, in our culture he’s going to buy an engagement ring. He’s to get some diamond or other stone, set it in gold and present it to her. Can you imagine the young lady saying, “George, I like you; I don’t think much of your ring; I don’t want it.”

Do you think they’d ever get married? And I don’t believe the church that says to Jesus, “I don’t want Your spiritual gifts” could ever become the bride of Christ. Totally contrary to all sense.

The bride adorned with jewels (Is. 61:10 [Gen. 24])

We need to put on all the gifts; we need to be fully equipped; we need to be beautifully adorned. Listen to what Isaiah says in Isaiah 61 verse 10, one of my favorite verses.

Isaiah 61:10: “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God, for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation…”, That’s wonderful but it’s not all. “He has covered me with the robe of righteousness…” Some Christians have got the garment of salvation on, they never put on the robe of righteousness. See, when you get saved, Jesus’ righteousness is imputed to you, and He covers you up with a robe of His righteousness. Now if you don’t get excited about that, there’s something wrong with you.

Then he continues: “As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.” So it’s expected of a bride that she will adorn herself with her jewels.

And if you’d like to look in Genesis 24 in your own time, you’ll find a beautiful parable of Abraham getting a bride for his son Isaac. And there are four main characters in there: Abraham who is a type of God the Father; Isaac who is a type of Jesus Christ the Son; and the bride who is a type of the church, and there’s one other main character: the servant who is a type of the Holy Spirit.

And if you notice it wasn’t the Father, and it wasn’t the Son that picked up the bride, it was the Holy Spirit. And when he arrived, he had with him ten camels laden with gifts, and brothers and sisters, I’ve lived in a country with camels… camels carry a lot. I mean he was not stingy, and when he taught that Rebekah was perhaps the right young lady, he said if she is, when I ask her to give me water to drink, she’ll give me water for my camels. Now that is faith and works, becausecamels drink 40 gallons, and he had 10 camels, that’s 400 gallons; you understand.

When she responded, he took out the first jewel and put it on her. And that marked her out as the chosen bride. From that moment she was set apart, then he gave her other jewels.

What would have happened if she’d refused that jewel? She would never have married Isaac. Once he put the jewels on her, he became responsible for her teaching, her guidance, and everything that followed. And she set out, woman of faith on a long journey to meet a man she’d never seen and marry him.

And all she ever knew about the man she was going to marry and his father, she learned from one source: the Holy Spirit. That’s the place of the Holy Spirit in the church, and finally we just have time to look at one other feature in Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 28.

Continually longing for the bridegroom (Heb. 9:28 [Tit. 2:11–13])

Hebrews 9:28: “so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, without sin, for salvation.”

For whom will He appear? I didn’t hear you… ‘for those who eagerly wait for Him…’ Can you imagine a bribe twiddling her thumbs and yawning when she hears the bridegroom is on the way? How eager are you in waiting for the bride? It’s an essential mark of the true church.

A friend of mine who is a preacher said “When Jesus comes back, you’ll expect to hear from the church something more than ‘nice to have You back’.”

There’s another passage in Titus chapter 2, it says the same thing: eagerly awaiting the appearing of the Lord.

Just for a moment ask yourself, do I bear the marks of the true church? Not just as an individual but am I part of the body that is the true church, or a part of the true church? It’s an important decision.

For Further Reading:

True And False Church (Part 1): Derek Prince Sermon (Transcript)

(Through The Bible) Genesis – Part 2: Zac Poonen (Transcript)

Zac Poonen Sermon: The Fear Of God And Humility (Transcript)

Who Has Bewitched You? (Part 1): Derek Prince (Transcript)

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