The Bride is Blessed with her Lord Jesus Christ

1. Read: Ephesians 1:20-23

2. About the Text:

1) The bride is blessed to have her Lord Jesus Christ.

2) The world does not have Christ.

3) Only the bride has access to the husband.

4) Who is Christ in relationship to the church?

5) What does the church receive in her relationship with Christ?

3. Ref. to S, T, P, O, and A.

1. He is the King.

1) “Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear” (Acts 2:33).

2) “And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS” (Revelation 19:16).

2. He is the Authority

1) “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18).

2) “For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man” (John 5:26-27).

3. He is the Husband

1) “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything” (Ephesians 5:22-24).

2) “Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God” (Romans 7:4).

1. “And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body” (Ephesians 1:22-23).

2. The church is the means of spiritual reproduction.

1) Christ does not reproduce without the church.

2) “Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God” (Romans 7:4).

3) “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen” (Matthew 28:19-20).

3. She is the caretaker of the saints.

1) “But if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15).

2) “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:1-2).

4. She is the doer of good in the world.

1) “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:9-10).

2) “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world” (James 1:27).

1. “Which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all” (Ephesians 1:23).

2. Christ’s work is accomplished in the church.

1) “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some [shepherds] and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-12).

2) “from [Christ] the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love” (Ephesians 4:16).

3. To have Christ without the church would be incomplete.

1) The husband is incomplete without the bride (Ephesians 5:22-33).

2) The head is incomplete without the body (Ephesians 1:22-23, Colossians 1:18).

3) The king is incomplete without citizens of the kingdom (Ephesians 2:19, Philippians 3:20).

4) The cornerstone is incomplete without the building (Ephesians 2:20-21, 1 Peter 2:6).

5) The foundation is incomplete without the edifice (1 Corinthians 3:11).

6) This is why the church is the fullness of Christ!

4. Christ’s purpose cannot be fulfilled without the church.

1) “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).

2) “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

3) “Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28).

4) “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:19-22).

1. The Bride is blessed with her Lord Jesus Christ because…

1) Christ is the Head of the Church

2) The Church is the Body of Christ

3) The Church is the Fullness of Christ

2. Invitation