Ephesians chapter 5, the part that I want to focus on is toward the end of the chapter, beginning in verse number 23,
where the Bible talks about the husband, and the wife, and Christ, and the church, and...
I want to keep your finger here, if you would, and flip over to Matthew chapter 15.
So keep your finger in Ephesians chapter 5, and then flip over in your Bible to Matthew 15.
And I want to read another portion of scripture.
And the title of my sermon this morning is this, The Bride of Christ.
The Bride of Christ. Now that's something that you've probably heard talked about in churches,
and it's something that you'll hear mentioned a lot in churches, and people talking about the Bible,
and Bible doctrine in the church, and yet it's something that's mentioned very seldom in the Bible, in those words.
But we're going to look at it because there are a lot of misconceptions about it that we're going to clear up this morning.
And look at Matthew chapter 15, and I'm going to deal with this subject in great detail this morning,
but in Matthew 15 verse 1, the Bible reads,
Then came to Jesus, scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying,
Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders?
For they wash not their hands when they eat bread.
Okay, so here are Jesus' disciples. They eat a meal without washing their hands.
And the Pharisees are getting angry with them, saying,
Why are they eating without washing their hands? They're transgressing God's word? No.
They're transgressing the tradition of the elders, he said.
So watch what Jesus says in verse 3,
But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?
For God commanded, saying, Honor thy father and mother, and he that cursteth father and mother, let him die of the dead.
But he said, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother,
It is a gift by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me, and honor not his father or his mother, he shall be freed.
Thus have you made the commandments of God of none effect by your tradition, ye hypocrites.
Well the Desaias prophesied you, saying,
This people draw up nigh unto me with their mouth, and honored me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandment of men.
Now let me explain something to you. There are two kinds of people in this world.
There are those who base what they believe and live by on the commandments of God.
There are those who base what they believe and how they live on the traditions of man.
Now, a lot of people will add rules. Are you listening to me?
They'll add rules that God did not have, and they'll impress those rules upon other people and say,
You must live by my rules, you must live by my preaching, you must live by what I say, and those rules are not found in the Bible.
You say, Well is there anything wrong with living by rules that are not found in the Bible?
Well the problem is, the same people who try to add all these rules on that are not in the Bible,
they're the same people who will throw out other of God's rules out the back door.
See, that's who the Pharisees were. The Pharisees were not people who lived a strict life according to God's word.
They were people who lived a strict life according to their own rules and their own traditions, and they threw God's rules out.
They were not obeying God's laws. Jesus gives an example here.
And it's amazing how whenever you try to preach and teach God's laws from the Bible, you'll try to point to the law of the Lord,
where He states all through Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, He's teaching what's right and what's wrong.
And they'll say, Oh, that's the Old Testament. And you'll try to point out to them scriptures in the Bible like the one that talks about,
you know, a woman should not wear that which pertaineth to a man.
Neither shall a man put on a woman's garment, for all that do so are an abomination unto the Lord thy God.
God says it's a sin for a man to wear a woman's clothing, for a woman to wear a man's clothing.
And they'll say, Well, wait a minute. In the same chapter, it says to stone a rebellious child.
Right? And they'll say, Oh, it's the same with Deuteronomy 22.
But look here. Jesus is rebuking them for throwing out that commandment.
He says that if somebody curses their father or their mother, Jesus Christ, I mean, I just read it,
said that they should be killed for that. I mean, that's a wicked sin to damn your parents to hell.
You know, it's what he's saying, you know, to curse them and say that type of thing to them.
And Jesus here is rebuking them for throwing out God's word, for throwing out God's commandments,
and not living by every word of God. And so you see, there are two kinds of people,
those who make their own rules, their own laws, their own traditions,
and those who say the Bible is my authority, and what the Bible says goes.
If it says in the Bible, I believe it. I don't care what man says. I don't care what Pastor Anderson says.
I don't care what I learned growing up. God's word must reign supreme for what we believe,
for how we live, for what we do, not tradition, not man's rules.
And that's why, faithful Lord of Baptist Church, we have no rules.
We walk according to this rule. And it's preached from the pulpit, and it's enforced by God.
And we don't go around telling people what to do and how to act.
You know, I get up and preach the Bible. I expound it. I interpret it.
But I'm not going to come to you and tell you what to do.
I'm not going to make all these man-made rules and laws that are not found in the Bible.
Let me give you some examples. There are churches where, in order to be a member of the church,
you must sign a paper. I'll do this, and I won't do this, and I won't do that.
Who's ever had to sign something like that? Good night.
Who's ever heard of somebody signing something like that? You just heard me say it, right?
The point is, people sit there and sign on.
And it's funny because they'll sign one that says, like,
I will not drink alcohol, you know, I will not do this, I won't do this.
And one of them is, you know, I won't go to the movie house or something.
You know what I'm talking about. It's in there.
But the funny thing is, the same people who will teach a tradition of man and preach
it's a sin to go to the movie theater will then watch the exact same movie on their television screen.
Tell me, what's the difference? I mean, either make the tree good or corrupt,
make the tree corrupt, and is corrupt.
Either it's a sin to watch the movie period, or it's a sin whether you're watching it
standing on your head or on your couch at home or at the movie theater.
It's the movie that's the problem.
And see, this is what I'm talking about. People will have their traditions and their rules
and their little guidelines where you sign a paper to join the church.
The Bible doesn't say you have to sign a paper to join the church.
This is how you join the church. You're saved, and then you get baptized,
and then you're added to the church. I mean, that's it.
Oh, and you've got to fit these guidelines. You've got to go through a class.
Do you mean catechism? No, we're not Roman Catholics here. It's a Baptist church.
We don't have catechism or membership classes, which is catechism with a different name.
Do you hear me? That's what it is, okay? Baptism classes, which is catechism with another name.
We don't do that here because the Bible is our only authority, not some man-made tradition or set of theology.
And so we've got to be very careful as we go into this subject right now
to understand that the Bible must rule, not man's tradition or man's philosophies.
Look at what is written here in Ephesians 5, if you go back there.
The Bible reads,
For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church,
and he is the savior of the body.
Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.
Husbands, love your wives, even 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.
Now here God is using an illustration here between Jesus Christ and the church
as Jesus being the husband and the church being the wife. Do you see that?
Now here's the thing. Is there only one church in this world? No.
The Bible uses the word church as, plural, 37 times.
It talks about churches, because a church is a congregation, an assembly.
You're sitting in a church, not the building, but the people that are here make up a church.
There's not only one church. You say, well, but wait a minute, Pastor Anacin.
It says Christ is the head of the church. Well, but look at verse 23.
For the husband is the head of the wife. Is there only one husband in this world? No.
Is there only one wife? No, but every husband is supposed to be the head of his household.
Every husband is supposed to be the head of his household. I mean, that's what the Bible teaches.
And it says here that Christ is the head of every church. You have to use Christ as the head.
But look what it says here. Christ loved the church, gave himself for it. Look at verse 26.
That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.
Now watch verse 27. 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 limits.
Now let me ask something. Does this church have any faults? Of course it does, right?
Faithful about this church is made up of human beings. Pastor Anacin is a human being.
I'm a sinner. You're a sinner. And so this church that's being presented to Jesus Christ,
this is talking about Revelation 19 at the marriage supper of the Lamb.
When the church at the group there, the body of all believers is presented as the bride of Christ.
We're going to see that in a minute. Without spot, without wrinkle. Look at the flesh will be gone.
You know, this is after the rapture and after the flesh is dead. It's just the new body and everything like that, after the resurrection.
And so we see here that with this presentation of the church to Christ, it's talking about when it's perfect.
When it has no spot, no wrinkle. We're talking about in the future now, at the second coming of Jesus Christ.
And so it says here in verse 28,
So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
For no man have yet hated his own flesh, but nourished and cherished it, even as the Lord the church.
For we are members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones.
For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they too shall be one flesh.
This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
You see that? So this is a parable, right? This is an illustration here.
The husband's the head of the wife, Christ's the head of the church. The husband loves the wife.
You know, Christ loves the church. Nevertheless, let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself.
And the wife see that she referenced the second coming of God being respectful toward her husband.
Now turn, if you would, to Hebrews chapter 12.
Keep a finger in Ephesians 5, though, and turn to Hebrews chapter 12.
And here's the thing. Before I read for you Hebrews chapter 12,
I want to teach you the definition of a really difficult word, you know, for some people.
Now, for some people this word is very easy to understand. Other people just really struggle with this word.
Especially these guys that have like master's degrees and doctorates and these theologians that are in these cemeteries, I mean, seminaries,
and they're learning all this deep doctrine and they go down deep and stay down long and come up dry.
These guys have a real hard time with this English word. Now they know the Greek and the Hebrew, but they struggle with this English word.
I'm going to unlock the mysteries of this word today. And that word is the word and. A-N-D.
Now look at Ephesians 5. I mean, we're going deep here because this is a word, listen, this is a word that I sat and listened to Baptist with so many letters after their name,
it can almost make up the whole alphabet, and they did not understand this word. I'm going to show it to you this morning, and then we're going to give you a degree at the door as you walk out.
An honorary doctor from April without a surgeon. Look at Ephesians chapter 5, and this is going to shock you this morning, look at Ephesians 5.20.
We're going to learn that the word and has two meanings. You're not going to believe this. It can either mean two things that are different, or two things that are the same.
I've heard a preacher get up and say, oh see it says and, two different things. Well, ok, let's see, let's put that to the test. Look at Ephesians 5.20.
Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now be very careful now to separate God from the Father. See what I'm saying?
Doesn't make any sense, does it? No, because God is the same person. And is often used to restate the same thing, the same subject.
The word and in the Bible hundreds of times separates two things that are the same, hundreds of other times it separates two things that are different.
And see, if you study foreign languages, some other languages actually have two different words for it. One for things that are different, and one for things that are the same.
But in English it's just A and D. That's Ephesians 5, look at Colossians 1.3, just a few pages to the right of your Bible.
Colossians 1.3. We're trying to learn the definition, we're probing the Bible, finding the definition of the word and. Look at Colossians 1.3.
The Bible reads, we give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you.
Now according to these theologians, I guess God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ were two different people? Of course not.
He says we give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's the same thing, it's being restated.
Look at, now onto Colossians 3.17. Just a few pages, one page over your Bible, look at Colossians 3.17.
And whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
Are we talking about one person or two different people? The same person. God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Same person. Look at James 1.27. This is the last one I'll show you. But I could go on and on. I've made lists of just scores of examples of this all throughout the Bible.
And I'd like to say to these theologians, instead of trying to learn Greek and Hebrew and going down all these deep languages, maybe they ought to start by learning English.
I mean if they live in America and they're preaching to people, they're preaching to people who speak English, they're reading out of the English Bible, the King James Bible, maybe they should learn the English language and understand what it means.
Look at James 1.27. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this.
And look at another restatement. To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
Now look at James 12.22. I know I'm having you turn a lot, but just back up a few pages to James, I'm sorry, Hebrews 12.22.
The Bible says in Hebrews 12.22, but here come unto Mount Zion, that's where Jerusalem is located, and unto the city of the living God. Two different places? No. Same place.
You see what I'm saying about the word and? Here come unto Mount Zion, and it's also the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, these are all the same place, okay?
And to an innumerable company of angels, watch verse 23, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn. That's one item there.
The general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven. What does it mean to be written in heaven? Jesus said rejoice because your names are written in heaven.
That's talking about having your name in the Lamb's book of life. That means if you're saved and a child of God at this point, then your name is in the Lamb's book of life in heaven, in Hebrews 12.
He says, written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
So we see here that in heaven there's a church in heaven. Do you see that? Up in the heavenly Jerusalem right now, not the earthly Jerusalem, not the city that denies Christ,
not the physical city of Jerusalem where the Jews have rejected Christ and denied Christ, the city which is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt according to Revelation 11,
the city that is called Mount Sinai in Galatians 4, which generate the bondage, which is called Hagar, but the heavenly Jerusalem in heaven, Mount Zion, the church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven,
the general assembly up in heaven right now, there is a church of believers in heaven. Now listen, he says here that we are come unto Mount Zion, unto the city of the living God.
Now are we really there yet? No, but God sees all from an omni present, omniscient, he stands back and sees all of time, past, present, and future.
And one day we will be in heaven at this great church in heaven. After the rapture takes place and we're all up in heaven, all believers of all ages, all the way from Abel, all the way until the last believer of the New Testament,
I mean we will all be together in heaven in this great church service singing praises to God. It will be people of all nations, the Bible says, all languages, all peoples, all kindreds of the earth,
we'll all be joined together in that great assembly, the general assembly, the church of the firstborn in heaven singing praises to God one day.
And by the way, why are there churches that segregate by race and by nationality on this earth if the church in heaven is all nations?
Jesus said my house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations, and yet there are still churches that will segregate by race, believe it or not, in this country, that will segregate by nationality.
He says turn if you would to Revelation 21 now. Actually look at Revelation 19 and then we'll flip over to Revelation 21.
So we're trying to understand what is the bride of Christ. Now let me ask you something. When does a bride become a bride?
When she starts dating a guy, is she known as the bride? When they're engaged, is she now the bride?
No. When does she become the bride? On her wedding day. Isn't that the truth? I mean until then she might just be the fiance or the girlfriend,
but when she's the bride is on the wedding day, she is the bride. Correct? That's why the bride is not mentioned much throughout the Bible.
Because it talks about, you know, a parable about Christ, the head of the church, and the husband is the head of the wife,
but nowhere does it mention the word bride between John chapter 3, it mentions that one time in John chapter 3,
we're talking just in the New Testament the word bride, mentions it once in John chapter 3 and then it doesn't mention it again all the way until the end of the book of Revelation.
Let me show you why. Look at Revelation 19. And look at verse number...let me see here, I lost my place.
Revelation 9 verse 6. 19 verse 6, I'm sorry. The Bible says,
And I heard, as it were, the voice of great multitudes, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunder,
I heard him saying, Hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him,
for the marriage of the Lamb is come. Do you see that? And his wife had made herself ready.
And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints,
and he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb,
and he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.
So we see here that at the end of the book of Revelation, I mean we're talking about the very end,
right before the millennial reign of Christ, that's when the marriage supper of the Lamb takes place.
And that's when he said, okay, the bride has made herself ready. Jesus Christ is ready to receive his bride, which is what?
The faith-forward Baptist church? No. Which is what? All the independent Baptist churches in America? No.
Which is the church in heaven, perfect, without spot, without wrinkle, being presented to Jesus Christ.
I mean, look, I'm going to sin until I die. The Bible says if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
Everyone is a sinner. There's none righteous, no, not one, the Bible says.
But if we're saved, then one day when we breathe our last breath, the flesh will be gone,
and we will live in heaven perfectly without sinning ever again, once the flesh is gone.
And so this church, this bride of Christ that's being presented to Christ, is not any church that's on this earth today, or existing today,
or any denomination today, or any group of churches today, but a group that will be presented to Christ one day in Revelation 19.
Today, is there a bride of Christ? No. We're espoused to Christ, but we won't be the bride until Revelation 19,
when the bride makes herself ready, clothed in the righteousness of the saints, which is not having my own righteousness, which is of the law,
but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.
We will stand without spot, without blemish, and be presented to Christ as His bride.
Who will be in this assembly, is the question. Who will be in it?
Well, the obvious answer that you're probably thinking, why would you ask such a silly question?
Obviously, it's just every believer, everyone who's saved. But let me tell you something, there's a false doctrine out there that says it's not everybody who's saved.
And I'm going to disprove that right now, unequivocally, without a shadow of a doubt, you will see it in the Bible,
that this is every believer who has ever lived that will be a part of this group, the church, the bride of Christ.
There's these people that are called Baptist bride-ers. This guy, you know, one of our church members came to me and said to me this week,
what's a bride-er? I was like, what? He's like, bride or non-bride-er? I said, what are you talking about?
But then it clicked, I remember, because I hadn't heard about this in so many years, but I guess it's coming back in style among some people.
You know, it's kind of like, you know, like the trends from the 70s, like start to come back and people start wearing bell bogs again.
This is one of those things that like, I thought it had died, but now it's back in fashion, it's back in style.
And it's a false doctrine, I'll prove it to you false. And you know, if you want to go hang on to your tradition, then go right ahead.
But I don't know, I'm letting the Bible be my authority here. I'll show you what the truth is. I don't care what these false teachers say.
I don't care what Peter Ruckman says, who teaches his garbage. Peter Ruckman, who's been divorced twice, married through his third wife,
and yet he's still a pastor when the Bible says a pastor is supposed to be the husband of one wife.
And so I don't care what he says, I don't care what anybody says, except what Jesus says. That's all I care about.
And so let's see in the Bible, who makes up this group? You're saying, Pastor Anderson, come on, it's all believers.
But these Baptist writers, you know what they believe? It's only people who went to an independent Baptist church, longer than John the Sir.
Now the first thing I want to say is show me that in the Bible. They say, well, because it's the church, you had to be part of a church while you were on this earth.
And it had to be a church that's pastored by somebody, who was baptized by somebody, who was baptized by somebody,
all the way back to John the Baptist without a break in that chain. How could you even prove that? How did anybody even know that?
You see what I'm saying how bizarre this is? But they will stand up and say, and we were criticized this week,
they said, oh yeah, well, you know, they're trying to find something wrong with us because we win more souls than they won in the whole year.
We win that many in one week. And they say, oh man, that church is non-brighter.
Let me just explain something. If you have to come up with some cute little term to define what you believe, if it's brighter and non-brighter, it's probably wrong.
It's probably false, and it has such a dumb name. But look down at your Bible. I'm going to prove to you that this church in heaven,
and man, isn't it going to be great to be up there assembled with everybody who's been saved, all your loved ones that were believers,
who've already died and gone on before you, all the people that you won to Christ, you're going to be standing side by side with them,
singing the praise of God in a perfect place in heaven. Man, it's going to be great.
If you're one of the few. No, no. If you were saved, and I'll prove that to you.
Okay, who is it that's going to be there? Well, let's look at Revelation 21. Revelation chapter 21.
You say, oh man, it's kind of deep for a Sunday morning. I'm not going to get out here and just rattle my cage every Sunday morning.
You need to learn the Bible. We need to learn doctrine. We shouldn't let people say things to us and spin things on us, and we don't even know what they're talking about.
Let's know what we believe. If somebody tries to pull us on you, say, hey, show me the Bible that's brighter. I'll show you in the Bible where it's false, and let me show you right now.
It says in verse 1 of chapter 21, we're going to go through the whole chapter of Revelation 21.
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, and we're looking at every mention of the bride in the New Testament, by the way.
It says, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea.
By the way, the Jehovah's Witnesses believe that this world is going to be here forever. What does it say in verse 1?
The first heaven and the first earth were passed away. Jesus said, heaven and earth shall pass away.
The earth and all things therein shall be burned up, 2 Peter 3. This world's not going to be here forever.
It says the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea.
And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven.
So right now it's in heaven. One day it's going to descend to the new earth.
It says, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. So what's prepared as a bride?
The New Jerusalem descending down from heaven, right?
It says, and I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men,
and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their God.
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death,
neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away.
And he that sat upon the throne said, behold, I make all things new,
and he said unto me, write, for these words are true and faithful,
and he said unto me, it is done, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end,
I will give unto him that is a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely,
and he that overcometh shall inherit all things.
Who is that? The believer, 1 John 5, 4.
This is the victory that overcometh the world, even on our faith.
Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the son of God?
The witness, right.
And I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers,
and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake
which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second day.
And there came unto me one of the seven angels, which hath the seven vials,
full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither,
I will show thee the bride, the lamb's wife.
Now keep in mind, the only mentions of the bride in the entire New Testament
are John chapter 3, and the end of the book of Revelation,
in which we're reading all the verses.
We're not skipping anything, OK?
Tell me where you think they come up with this stuff.
It says that he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain.
Which mountain is that? Mount Zion, right?
We saw that in Hebrews 12.
And it showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem,
descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God.
And her light was lightened to a stone most precious,
even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.
And it had a wall of great and high, and had 12 gates.
And at the 12 gates, 12 angels, and names written thereon,
which are the names of the 12 tribes and the children of Israel,
on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates,
and on the west three gates.
And the wall of the city had 12 foundations,
and in them the name of the 12 apostles of the Lamb.
And he that talked with me had a golden reed,
to measure the city and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.
And the city lied foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth,
and he measured the city with the reed of 12,000 furlongs,
the length and the breadth and the height that are equal.
What is a furlong? Anybody know?
How many yards are in a furlong?
A furlong is an eighth of a mile, exactly.
So, if a furlong is an eighth of a mile, and it's 1,200 furlongs,
then, uh, I'm going to have my math genius here,
tell me, how many miles is that?
Twelve, I'm sorry, 12,000 furlongs, and a furlong is an eighth of a mile.
No.
1,500 miles.
You beat Susan Punch.
I've lost all faith in you.
So, we're talking about 1,500 miles.
The length and the breadth are equal.
It says, and he measured the wall thereof, 144 cubits,
according to the measure of a man that is an angel,
and the building of the wall that was jasper,
and the city was pure gold, like in the clear glass,
and the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished
with all manner of precious stones.
He lists the stones, I'll skip it for sake of time.
And the twelve gates were twelve pearls.
Every several gates was one pearl,
and the street of the city was pure gold,
as it were, of transparent glass.
That's where you get the streets of gold, right?
We talked about it in heaven.
And I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty
and the Lamb are the temple of it.
And the city had no need of the sun,
neither of the moon to shine in it,
for the glory of God did light it,
and the Lamb is the light thereof.
And the nations of them which are what?
Saved, shall walk in the light of it.
And the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it.
You say, now wait a minute.
That just says those that are saved will walk in the light of it.
But only those Baptist church members will be on the inside.
Well, let's keep reading.
And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day,
for there shall be no night there.
That's my kid's favorite verse in the whole Bible.
No night there.
Do your kids hate going to bed at night?
Every kid, it's like they think they're dying or something,
like they're just never going to wake up again.
You tell them it's time to go to bed.
Ooh, I put it up.
Ooh, it's a good night.
You're going to go to sleep in five seconds, it'll be morning.
But they hate going to bed.
No night there, kids, right?
He just said, I don't want night.
And so it says, and they shall bring the glory and honor
of the nations into it.
And it shall in no wise enter into anything that defileth,
neither whatsoever worketh abomination,
or maketh a lie.
So even a single lie excludes you.
But thanks be to God, all our sins are gone,
as far as the east is.
I mean, look, if one lie keeps you out of heaven,
nobody's going to heaven.
But you know what?
Thanks be to God.
Blessed is the man through whom the Lord will not obtain sin,
whom we have redemption through his blood,
even the forgiveness of sins.
But watch this.
Or whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie,
who's going to be in there?
Who's going to enter in?
Who will enter into the city?
They which are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.
Does it say them which are written in the rolls
of a Baptist church in the United States of America
or anywhere else?
It says those that will be a part of the bride of Christ,
those that will be in that great city
where the streets are of gold.
But you say, where does that church in heaven meet?
Where does the bride of Christ meet?
Where does that church meet?
It meets at Mount Zion in the heavenly Jerusalem
and everybody who is in the Lamb's Book of Life,
according to Revelation 21, 27,
will waltz through that door,
being justified freely by his grace
through the redemption of the Saint Christ Jesus.
You say, what if they haven't been baptized?
Their name is still in the Lamb's Book of Life.
What if they went to a church that was not independent Baptist?
Their name is still in the Lamb's Book of Life.
They are a believer.
Now, many of these other denominations, of course,
are unbelievers.
They are adding works.
I mean, the Catholics are adding works.
I mean, the Methodists are saying,
you can lose your salvation.
They are adding works.
The Presbyterians are adding works
with their perseverance of the saints.
If you didn't do the work, you weren't really saved.
But I'm going to tell you something.
Anybody who goes to any church or no church
been baptized or not baptized,
if they are a believer,
if their name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life,
they will be part of the Church in Heaven,
the Bride of Christ.
Call me what you want, non-brighter.
One of those non-brighter churches, OK?
Well, could that be any more clear?
We just read the whole chapter.
I didn't see anything mentioning
what church people went to or did not go to.
All I saw was those that are saved.
All I saw was the Lamb's Book of Life.
All I saw was people whose sins are forgiven.
They're going to walk through those gates into the city.
That's what it says.
Now, you say, wait a minute, Pastor Anderson.
Only those believers from the church age
make up the Bride of Christ.
Now, the briders are, that's a strange doctrine.
That's off the wall.
You say, I never even heard of that.
I've heard it many times.
But it's coming back in style, I guess.
It's been gone for a while.
I thought, I don't know, maybe somebody believed in someone.
But I'll tell you this.
I'll bet you that 95% to 99% of independent fundamental Baptist
will disagree with what I'm about to say right now.
But I'm going to prove it to you from the Bible right now.
You decide who you're going to believe, the crowd
or the Bible.
Oh, here's a great way to live your life, too.
If everybody's doing it, it's probably right.
That's not good.
You know what I mean?
Yeah, if everybody else is doing it, it's probably good.
The Bible says, no, that should not follow a multitude
of new people.
Look, just because everybody does it and everybody says it
doesn't make you right.
That's right.
When the Bible says it, that's what makes you right.
And so I'm going to disagree right now with 95% to 99%
of independent fundamental Baptist who would say,
only those believers from the church age
will be a part of this group and the bride of Christ.
Now, wait a minute.
What did the Bible say was the criteria
for being in this group?
Saved?
Were people in the Old Testament saved?
Absolutely.
What was the other criteria according to Revelation 21?
All saints must be forgiven because not even a liar could
enter it.
Well, didn't David say, blessed is the man whom the Lord will
not impute sin to the Old Testament saints?
And what was the third criteria is
that they had to have their name in the Lamb's Book of Life.
Guess what?
Old Testament saints had their names written
in the Lamb's Book of Life.
Jesus said his disciples had their names
written in the Lamb's Book of Life.
Before he died on the cross, let's bury Moses again.
Moses talked about the Lamb's Book of Life
in Exodus 32.
He said, blot out my name out of the Book of Life
if you're going to destroy this people.
God was unable to do that because Moses was saved.
He can't lose his salvation.
He said, I'll blot out those that have sinned against me.
And he said in Psalm, and this is Old Testament,
Psalm chapter 69, 27, add iniquity unto their iniquity
and let them not come into thy righteousness.
Let them be blotted out of the Book of the Living
and not be written with the righteous.
That's where the righteous are written, the Lamb's Book of Life.
Remember it said the church of the firstborn
which are written in heaven?
And so those who are written in the Book of Life,
Old Testament, New Testament,
the names of those who've been saved
have always been recorded in the Lamb's Book of Life.
You got Exodus 32, you got Psalm 69, Daniel 12, 1.
And at that time, shall Michael stand up,
the great prince which stand for the children of thy people,
and there shall be a time of trouble,
or tribulation is what that means,
such as never was since there was a nation
to that same time, and at that time,
thy people shall be delivered,
every one that shall be found written in the book.
Who's going to be in the rapture?
Everyone that's found written in the book, he said.
Everyone who's in the Lamb's Book of Life will be delivered.
Now look, don't tell me that, oh, this is the church age.
Really, can you show me that in the Bible, the church age?
Can you show me that?
Oh, you can show me in your theology book.
You can show me in your commentary.
I've shown you the chapter called the church age.
Oh, the age of grace and the age of love,
the age of innocence and the age of...
These are not terms found in the Bible.
I don't believe in seven dispensations.
I don't believe in any dispensations.
I'm not a dispensationalist.
You say, oh, I believe in the...
This is the only division I make.
Old Testament, New Testament.
That's the one that God makes.
There's no dispensations in the Bible.
You say, oh, prove it.
Okay, I'll prove everything to you.
Look, if you would, at Ephesians.
You say, well, I can't...
I'm trying to find the church age in the Bible.
Oh, wait, I found it.
Look at Ephesians chapter 3 verse 21.
I found it.
Ephesians chapter 3 verse 21.
Oh, you have to understand, Pastor Anderson,
it's only those believers from the church age
that will be a part of the bride of Christ.
Okay, well, let's look at Ephesians 3 21.
What does the Bible say in Ephesians 3 21?
This is the only time you'll find any mention
of the church age in the Bible.
It says, now unto...
I'm sorry, unto him be glory in the church
by Jesus Christ throughout all ages.
Amen.
You say, wait a minute.
How can Jesus Christ be glorified in the church
throughout all ages?
Because let me tell you something.
The church was around in the Old Testament.
Yes, it is.
Look at Acts 7 38.
Acts 7 38.
Oh, no, the church began with Pentecost.
Well, let's look at Acts.
Oh, the church began with John the Baptist.
The church didn't even begin with John the Baptist.
The church was around in the Old Testament, my friend.
Deal with it.
And Old Testament saints will be in the church in heaven
because their names are in the Book of Life,
because their sins are forgiven,
because they're saved, just like I'm saved.
But look, Acts 7 38.
Let's let the Bible be the authority.
This is he that was in the church in the wilderness.
Who was in the church in the wilderness?
Moses.
Who was the pastor of the church in the wilderness?
Moses.
And they were baptized unto Moses in the cloud
and in the sea.
1 Corinthians chapter 10.
Oh, there goes your church age,
because Moses was preaching to the church in the wilderness
with the angel which spake each day in the Mount Sinai
and with all fathers who received the light of the oracles
they give unto us.
You see, in Psalm 22 22,
and while you're reading this, turn to Exodus 33.
I'll show you the church in the Old Testament.
Look at Exodus 33.
In Psalm 22 22, the Bible reads,
I will declare thy name unto my brethren,
in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.
In the midst of the what?
Congregation, will I praise thee?
That verse is quoted in Hebrews 2 12 as saying,
I will declare thy name unto my brethren,
in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.
Those two words must be the same word.
In Greek, it's called a church.
In Hebrew, it's called a congregation.
They both mean the same thing,
which is why you'll never find the word church
in the Old Testament,
they'll only one time find the word congregation
in the New Testament,
but 99% of the time, it's called church.
And they even translate a verse from the Old Testament,
Psalm 22 22, into Hebrews 2 12 as church.
In the midst of the church, in the midst of the congregation,
the two were synonymous.
A church is an assembly, a congregation of people.
But look at this, where did I turn?
Exodus 33.
Look at verse 6.
And the children of Israel stripped themselves
of their ornaments by the Mount Horeb,
and Moses took the tabernacle and pitched it without the camp,
afar off from the camp,
and called it the tabernacle of what?
The congregation.
And it came to pass that everyone which sought the Lord
went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation,
which was without the camp.
The congregation in the Old Testament
was a place that was separate from the rest of the world,
separated, we believe in separation of the church,
separation where the people come out of the world,
out to God, without the camp, outside the crowd,
outside what's popular, outside the mainstream,
and they gathered themselves unto Moses
and they called it the congregation,
outside the camp, with Moses,
hearing preaching of God's Word.
Look, I'm not the one who called it the church.
That was Stephen.
Now, my name is Stephen too,
but don't confuse me with the Stephen in the Bible, okay?
What?
Stephen L. Anderson.
No, it was Stephen, whatever his last name was,
that made it up.
He's the one who stood up filled with the Holy Ghost
and said, Moses was with the church and the wilderness.
So I'm preaching the same thing
that my namesake of 2,000 years ago was preaching.
They stoned him for it.
I'm probably gonna be luckier.
I'm gonna go out to lunch after the service.
But I'm preaching the same thing.
It's the same teaching.
And so he said,
Moses was with the church and the wilderness,
unto him be glory to the church by Jesus Christ
throughout all ages, world without end.
Amen.
And so we see that the church is nothing new.
The church is something that's been an assembly of God's people
back in the Old Testament.
It's in the New Testament.
And there will be a church in heaven for all eternity.
World without end.
Amen.
There will be a new heaven and a new earth,
but the new earth is never gonna end.
And so we see it's pretty clear, isn't it?
I mean, it's pretty clear that every single believer
of all time will be in that group.
You can't show me one verse in the entire Bible
that says that anyone will be excluded from this.
Now, here's their big verse.
Now, I showed you some pretty clear verses, right?
Pretty conclusive that the people in the Old Testament
were in the book of life.
Pretty conclusive that everyone who's written in the book of life
is gonna be in that city.
It's amazing because the city where the church is being held,
did you notice that the gates
and the foundations are named after what?
Well, 12 of them are named after the apostles of the land,
and 12 of them are listed after the 12 tribes of Israel,
which is the Old Testament.
See what I'm saying?
So there's an Old Testament and a New Testament connotation
in that church building, okay?
And so there's no difference.
But look down into the wood at...
Did I tell you to turn it somewhere yet?
John chapter 3.
John chapter 3. I'm trying to hurry.
I don't want to go too long, but...
John chapter 3 is their big scripture.
This is it, guys.
This is the baby.
This is the one that teaches that
if you don't go to an independent,
fundamental Baptist church that was baptized
by somebody who was baptized by somebody...
The guy who baptized me, I don't even know who baptized him.
Let alone who baptized him or baptized him
or baptized him.
That's insane.
But this is the verse, guys,
that proves that if you weren't baptized
in an independent Baptist church,
you're gonna be left out in the cold.
You won't walk on the streets.
But now you get to go to heaven.
You're saved, but you're not part of the bride.
That's what they teach.
Based on this one verse.
Look at John chapter 3.
And this is it, guys.
Embrace yourself.
It says in John 3.27,
John answered and said this to John the Baptist,
A man can receive nothing
except to be given him from heaven.
Ye yourselves bear me witness that I said,
I'm not the Christ.
John the Baptist is saying,
Look, I'm not the Messiah.
I'm not the Christ.
But that I have sent before him.
He that hath the bride is the bridegroom.
But the friend of the bridegroom...
So John the Baptist is saying,
I'm the friend of the bridegroom.
But the friend of the bridegroom,
which standeth and heareth him,
rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice.
This my joy, therefore, is fulfilable.
He must increase, but I must decrease.
There you have it, folks.
The Baptist's bride.
You saw it, didn't you?
Well, I didn't see it either.
But this is their proof case.
This is it.
And this is their logic.
They say, Well, see?
John the Baptist was not part of the bride
because he was the friend of the bridegroom.
Therefore, all Old Testament saints are left out
and anybody who's not a member of a church
knows an independent Baptist.
Well, here's the problem with that.
Number one, wasn't his name John the Baptist?
So if he's left out,
you know what I mean?
It seems like it's this proof.
Number two, wasn't John the Baptist
a New Testament believer?
I think the book of Matthew is in the New Testament.
And Mark and Luke and John.
But you say, Well, that was before Jesus died.
Oh, really?
Jesus said, The law and the prophets were until John.
Until then is the kingdom of God
and every man presses into it.
So didn't John the Baptist mark
the beginning of the New Testament
according to Jesus Christ?
Here's what you have to understand.
John here is not talking about the church.
He's using an illustration.
He's saying, Look, I'm not the bridegroom.
I'm like the best man.
He's using a parable here saying,
It's not about me.
Now look, at a wedding, who's the main event?
The bride and the bridegroom is the main event.
Nobody gets all excited about the best man.
The best man doesn't invite all his relatives and friends
from all over to the wedding
because they're his friends and his friends.
Look, your best man, his immediate family
was not even at the wedding, right?
Your best man, I mean, his immediate family
was not able to make it.
So who was the main event?
Not the best man, but the bridegroom.
His, Brother Dave's friends and family
and everybody were there.
But his best man's friends and family
were not necessarily there.
John the Baptist is saying, It's not about me.
He must increase, I must decrease.
He said, Jesus is the bridegroom.
I'm sort of like the best man.
I'm introducing him.
I'm his forerunner.
But see, what happens is people take these parables
and they take them too far.
They start mixing parables together.
Like, I mean, think about it.
There's a parable where Jesus is sowing the Word.
Follow me carefully.
Jesus is sowing the Word.
Sowing the Word.
And, you know, some seed falls on the good ground.
Some fall.
What does the ground represent in that story?
You know, people who hear the Word of God.
People who are hearing the preaching.
He talks about the one where the enemy came
and sowed tares among the weak.
You remember that parable?
And the ground, what did the field represent?
The world.
Jesus said the field is the world.
The reapers are the angels.
The harvest is the end of the world.
So in that one, the field is the world.
Then he tells another parable
about how a man goes and finds in a field
a pearl of great price.
Right?
He finds the treasure.
He goes and sells all he has
and buys the field so he can have that pearl.
So what do you do?
I guess he's bought the whole world.
You see what I mean?
You can't mix together parables.
I mean, in one parable,
the field could represent one thing.
In another parable,
the field represents something else.
It's just an illustration, okay?
Just because he said the field is the world in that parable
doesn't mean the field is always the world.
And John the Baptist here
is using a totally different illustration.
He's just saying, look, it's not about me.
I'm not Christ.
The bridegroom is one thing.
The best man is something else.
John the Baptist is a part of the bride of Christ.
I'll prove it to you further.
In one illustration that Jesus did,
I'm skipping a whole page of my message here
for the sake of time.
So if you think I'm pretty too long,
there could have been a whole other page.
So in Matthew 22,
you don't have to turn there.
I'll just tell you for the sake of time.
In Matthew 22,
there's a story about the wedding feast, remember?
And they go out and invite everybody.
They go in the highways and hedges,
invite everybody to the marriage feast
and the marriage supper.
In that story,
the people who are saved are the guests at the wedding.
Remember? All the guests.
In Matthew 25,
those who are saved are the guests.
In Matthew 25,
those who are saved are the bridesmaids in the story,
who didn't take oil in their lives.
And so look,
in one illustration,
they're the guests.
In one illustration,
they're the bridesmaids.
And remember the guy who didn't have the wedding garment on?
He was the guest.
He is thrown out
because he didn't have that robe of righteousness
of Jesus Christ.
But yet,
when it talks about in Revelation,
the bride of Christ,
when it's referring to the church of the living God
in Hebrews chapter 12,
okay, that's talking about believers
who are the bride.
So to say,
well, no, John the Baptist...
I mean, look,
are you really going to base everything you believe
on John the Baptist saying
an illustration about a bride and a bridegroom,
which he never even mentions?
Any other details?
He just says,
well, the bridegroom is one thing,
and the friend of the bridegroom,
you know,
I'm the best man of Jesus.
I'm his best man.
And Jesus said he's the best man that ever lived.
Remember that?
Are you really going to let that negate
the clear teaching of the Bible everywhere else
that says if you're saved,
if you're named to the book of life,
if you're a believer,
you will be a part of that group in heaven?
When they're sitting there saying that this proves
that Old Testament believers are not part of it,
when John the Baptist is New Testament,
and when his name is the Baptist,
and they say you have to be a Baptist
to be up in this group,
and yet John the Baptist is not a part of the group?
Good night.
If there ever was a Baptist,
I guess it would be John the Baptist.
But he's going to be left out in the cold,
according to these people.
And so we see these strange doctrines.
The Bible says,
be not carried about,
listen to me,
with divers and strange doctrines.
It's a good thing that the heart be established with grace.
Let your heart be fixed and established
on what the Bible clearly says and teaches.
No mention in the Bible
of being a member of an independent Baptist church
puts you in a special group in heaven.
Now, if you're a member of an independent Baptist church,
it fits the right kind of church,
which is not a given,
since many independent Baptist churches
teach as much heresy as anybody else.
You know, you're going to learn how to win souls,
or you're going to be a better Christian,
you're going to hear better preaching.
But you know what?
No matter who you are,
if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
you will walk on the streets of gold,
and walk into the city,
and you will sit down in the church,
and come sit next to me
in that great assembly one day,
and we'll sing God's praises together.
That's what the Bible says.
Don't let your heart and mind
rest on man's teaching for what you believe.
So who is the bride?
Let's rebuke me.
Who is the bride of Christ?
Doesn't exist.
One day it will exist,
on the wedding day in Revelation 19.
The marriage supper of the lamb,
and who's going to be there?
Every believer from Abel, from Adam,
all the way to the last person
to get saved in this whole world,
that's who's going to be there.
Every believer.
Old Testament, New Testament,
people who never went to church,
people who never darkened the door of a church,