Marks of the True Bride of Christ

Praise the Lord brothers and sisters. I want to first of all begin with the verse in Isaiah 55. Please turn in your Bibles.

It's good to always come to the meeting with a Bible. That's how we become familiar with God's Word and to turn to it every time we become very familiar with Scripture. That's how I became familiar with Scripture.

So here it says in Isaiah 55 verse 8 and 9, the Lord says, my thoughts are not your thoughts or what the Lord says is my way of thinking is not like your way of thinking. All of us got a human way of thinking. We think certain things are important, certain things are not important.

That's what I mean. What is valuable, what is not valuable. But God says my way is not your way of thinking.

And if you want to know how much different my way of thinking God says is from your way of thinking, it is as high as the heaven is above the earth. Verse 9, so are my ways higher than your ways and my way of thinking is as different from your way of thinking as the heaven is above the earth. Now if you take that word seriously, then there's a certain way of thinking we have as human beings.

We value certain things, we don't value certain other things and God's opinion of that may be completely opposite. He values certain things that we don't value. So how can we know God's way of about anything? If we are humble and that's a very important condition.

We will go to the Bible which I believe is the only book that is which I would call the Word of God. And I've read it for 65 years now and I proved it to be the Word of God. I'll tell you something else, there has never been a situation that I have faced as a Christian, as a born-again Christian in the last 65 years for which I found no answer in the Bible.

There was always an answer for every situation if I knew where to find it and I would not have known where to find it if I had not had the habit of reading the Bible every single day. That's how I began my life from the time I was born again. First thing in the morning, read the Bible.

Pray, read the Bible. Even if it's a short time or long time that depends on how much time we have in the morning. And because I consistently did that even in the years when I was in the Navy on a ship or on the naval base or later on in full-time Christian work, that changed my way of thinking completely about many many things in the world.

And the result was gradually I come to a place of a mind completely free from anxiety. Do you want such a mind? I wanted it because there are 101 things in the world that makes us anxious and worried and especially when we have little children and especially when jobs are uncertain and finances are limited. To know there is an answer for everything I would encourage you to read the Bible and I would say even this if you are a born-again Christian and you've been born again for at least three or four years, okay let's say five years, and you have not read through the whole Bible, you should go home today bow down before God and say Lord I'm thoroughly ashamed of myself because I've insulted you.

I call you my father but I've insulted you for five years by not taking your one letter you wrote to me seriously. I would also say that you don't love the Lord. Imagine if you were a bride waiting for your bridegroom to come from a distant land to conduct your to get married to him and he sends you a long letter.

You know how people are engaged and love each other sometimes write long letters and he writes a long letter maybe 20 pages or 25 pages. You've taken a lot of time to write it and you leave it lying in the in the drawer and pick up once in a while and read a few sentences. I don't really believe you love him.

Not at all. If you really loved your bridegroom you would read it you forget about all your meals and read that whole letter again and again and again and again. That is the mark of a bride.

Someone who doesn't do that I'd say she's fallen in love with somebody else that's why she doesn't care for this letter from a bridegroom and that is a picture of the Christian. The Bible speaks of a bride and a harlot. Turn with me to Revelation and chapter towards the end of the Bible.

In Revelation chapter 17 and verse 5 it speaks of Babylon the great the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth. Now Revelation is a book full of picture language but it's got a tremendous message and this is speaking about the end time where you read in a couple of chapters later how the devil is thrown into the lake of fire forever and how those who did not walk in obedience to the Lord are also thrown into that lake of fire but here it speaks towards the end of time of Babylon was called a harlot and then that is contrasted if you turn the page to Revelation chapter 19 sorry 21 Revelation 21 and verse 2 this is the opposite of the harlot. I saw the holy city New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven like a bride adorned for her husband.

So this is in the end of the Bible and these are the last chapters 17 to 22 of the last chapters of the Bible it speaks about a harlot and a bride. A harlot means a prostitute that is someone who claims like I said who claimed to be engaged to someone who's gone on a long journey and waiting to come back but doesn't bother to read his letters and has fallen in love with somebody else meanwhile and that somebody else is the world, is money, is all types of pornography, getting occupied with all that which means you're not loyal to your bridegroom who wants you to be pure so that's the harlot. So at the end these two big systems you know the harlot is called in verse 5 Babylon and the bride is called Jerusalem you see that in Revelation 21 verse 10 I saw the holy city the Jerusalem the spiritual Jerusalem coming down like from heaven like the bride.

So we need to understand which of these two systems are we getting involved in. The harlot is not false religion. False religion does not even claim to be married to Christ or engaged to Christ.

A harlot is one who claims to be engaged to Jesus Christ but does not is not loyal to Christ. If they are engaged to some other God you're not called a harlot okay they're married to some other God fine they're not even claimed to be Christ they probably think Christ is a deceiver and all that so they can't be part of the harlot but it's one who claims to say Christ is my bridegroom I'm waiting for him but meanwhile plays the fool with the world that is the harlot and it's very important to understand this because the Bible ends with these two and the harlot is called Babylon and the bride is called Jerusalem I mean these are symbolic words so finally Babylon is destroyed it says in chapter 18 towards the end of that city it says to end of that chapter verse 21 a strong angel revelation 18 21 took up a big millstone and threw it into the sea and said Babylon the great city will be thrown down and will not be found any longer so this whole religious system that calls itself Christian but is not loyal and faithful to Jesus Christ in their personal private life it consists of people this is they are not talk we are not talking about non-christians no no no they cannot be a part of Babylon because they don't even they don't even claim to have anything to do with Christ they they say Christ is a false teacher they don't consider Christ as God or any such thing it is those who claim that I'm a Christian I believe in Jesus Christ I love him and all that the right words and language and all maybe they go to some church as well but they are they don't have the attitude of intense loyalty to him like a faithful bride in their private life that is Babylon and it says here verse 21 is like a big millstone it is finally thrown into the sea and it will not be found any longer and when that happens you know what they say in heaven it says when this happens 19 chapter 19 verse 1 a loud voice from heaven said hallelujah salvation power belong to God because his judgment upon the harlot verse 2 has finally come many Christians say hallelujah we sing it in our song sometimes hallelujah hallelujah and again if you read the Bible you will discover something and if you don't know it yet let me tell you today in hallelujah comes many times in the Old Testament in the Psalms especially but listen to this the first time the word hallelujah comes in the New Testament you know when it is it's here when Babylon is destroyed it doesn't even come before that so I decided I want to follow the New Testament I'm not an Old Testament Jew I read the Old Testament but the Old Testament only got pictures of the New Testament I'm following Jesus and in the New Testament for myself anyway I see I say hallelujah to see Babylon destroyed and I'm wholeheartedly devoted to see that Babylon is destroyed and so when I say hallelujah I'm not just thinking of God on the throne yes certainly but the fact that this corrupt religious system which calls itself Christianity and is not true to the Lord Jesus is going to be destroyed one day and I say hallelujah I'm 100% for it and that is the basis on which we started the first CFC Church 50 years ago in Bangalore we said hallelujah Babylon is going to be destroyed we do not want to build another Babylon there are multitudes of churches which are part of Babylon so why is there this difference between the bride and the harlot in the Old Testament also if you read there are certain passages where the Lord speaks to Israel and says you're like my bride but you played the fool with other idols and following after Baal and other gods and how can you say you're my bride you're a harlot so we need to understand what is the difference because I don't certainly don't want to be a part of the harlot I want to be part of the bride in the final day when Christ comes again let me show you another verse in Revelation and chapter 19 and verse 7 this is speaking about the coming of Jesus Christ which everybody all Christians are waiting for Revelation 19 and verse 7 let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to God because the marriage of the Lamb has come the bride has been the harlot has been destroyed we just saw earlier in chapter 19 verse 2 the harlot has been destroyed hallelujah so that hallelujah is for the destruction of Babylon and here's another hallelujah in the last part of verse 6 19 6 hallelujah because now let us rejoice there it was let us rejoice that Babylon is destroyed but now it's let us rejoice verse 7 that the Lamb's marriage has come he's getting married to the bride and it was given her clothes to her clothes ourselves in little fine linen and the fine linen verse 8 is the righteous acts of the Saints it's a holy bride that Jesus is coming for not a Christian who plays the fool with sin and cheats and tells lies and keeps going back to the Lord I'm sorry Lord I cheated I cheated on taxes but please forgive me or I did this thing wrong I got a grudge against that person but that person so evil what to do I got a grudge against that person but please forgive me your blood cleanses me that's part of the harlot let me tell you that however much you may claim the blood of Christ that is the harlot the harlot is one who plays the fool with sin and takes advantage of God's goodness and says yeah it doesn't matter if I sin because the blood of Jesus is always there to cleanse me that is the spirit of the harlot it's like a married engaged girl saying yeah it doesn't matter my my bridegroom is so kind if I fool around with other men now and then and go and sleep with them now and then it doesn't matter my bridegroom loves me so much well I want to tell you and get a big surprise when Christ comes again it's my duty as a servant of the Lord to show the light make the light bright upon the truth and you know the early Apostles were not appreciated for that they got persecuted even many Christians did not were not very happy with the way they proclaimed the truth and even in the end of the first century when the book of Revelation was written we read of John the Apostle being asked by the Lord to write to seven churches these are churches of people who are they're not Jewish people their churches who started off with being born-again people it says for example the church in Ephesus was one where Paul started it and he was there for three years and it was a very good church when Paul was there he preserved it in purity when you have a man like Paul who's straightforward and speaks the truth he kept the church pure but in Acts chapter 20 he warned the church be careful because wolves are waiting to come in to grab you sheep and the same church 30 years later the same church in Ephesus Paul had died and about 30 years after Paul's death the Apostle John is still alive he writes to the same church in Revelation chapter 2 you have left your first love Revelation 2 verse 4 it had become a harlot what does he mean left your first love you were once upon a time you were in love with Jesus Christ now you're after somebody else therefore repent verse 5 repent means turn around I'll still forgive you the Lord says even though you fooled around with other men I'll forgive you if you repent and give up that come back to me see how good God is most men if they discover that the girl they were engaged to was fooling around with other men who say listen I don't want to have anything more to do with you I finished with you let's see how good the Lord Jesus is he said I'll give you one more chance turn back to me but they did not turn back and so what would have happened in Ephesus a small group would have come out and said you guys can go your way we're gonna maybe five or ten people came out and started another church who wanted to be devoted to Jesus Christ so how do we know which is this church that's going to fall and crash it says Babylon the greatest fallen like a big rock for like a big building falling down crashing down that's what we read in Revelation 18 a big building crashing down well there is a picture of that that Jesus gave then you'll understand it don't tomorrow Matthew chapter 7 when you compare scripture with scripture we discover what this Babylon is what is this big building that comes crashing down that we read in Revelation 18 here it is in Matthew 7 verse 24 to 28 24 to 27 here again you have Jerusalem and Babylon really and you know these are the last words of the Sermon on the Mount Sermon on the Mount begins in chapter 5 goes on through chapter 6 and 7 and at the end of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said now listen to this a contrast between two types of people one is called a wise man and the other is called a foolish man one is Jerusalem the other is Babylon one is the bride one is the harlot so what are the characteristics of the bride the one who hears these words of mine was Matthew 724 and does them not just hears now here all all of us are hearing but how many of you are going to go home and do it that's another issue all of us here we are hearing but here's one who hears and does that is the person who's wise man who built his house on a rock the rain fell the floods came the winds blew and slammed against the house it did not fall unshakable Jerusalem the bride on the other hand verse 26 here's a person who hears these words and does not do them now this is not referring to non-christians non-christians don't come to church and hear God's Word these are Christians who go to church regularly and hear my words they hear the words of Jesus from the pulpit or they read the Bible every day perhaps the only thing is they don't do them they read it to ease their conscience I read my Bible today he's my conscience I went to church on Sunday but they don't do what the Bible says the difference between the two is not that one went to church and one didn't go to church no both went to church it's not that one read the Bible the other didn't read the Bible both read the Bible it's not that one believed in Jesus the other didn't believe in Jesus both believed the only difference between these two people was one obeyed what he heard the other heard but did not obey and I believe in every meeting impossibly in this meeting I don't want to judge any of you I don't know you most of you and I don't know your private lives but in most congregations there are two groups of people all here some take it seriously go home and do what they heard others yeah I ease my conscience I heard it they've increased in knowledge they haven't obeyed that's the foolish man that's Babylon the harlot and then it says this man built a house on the road or on the sand and the rains and the floods came and the house fell and see the same expression as you read in Revelation 18 verse 27 great was its fall that's what's mentioned in Revelation 18 about Babylon great was the fall of Babylon so when you compare scripture with scripture you get the answer what Babylon is what is that Christian structure which is going to collapse people who hear the Word of God and go home and don't bother to obey it maybe in their family life if a husband does not seek to love his wife as the Bible says or a wife does not seek to submit to her husband as the Bible says or parents who don't bring up their children in the fear of God like the Bible says or children who don't bother to obey their parents like the Bible says they hear but they don't obey the house will fall one day now we may say well I don't think so well that's why I started with Isaiah 55 God says my thoughts are not your thoughts the way I think is different from your way of thinking so if you accept the Word of God the Bible is the Word of God you will take this very seriously so what is it that makes the difference let me show you another example of the difference in earlier on in chapter 7 in chapter 7 Jesus said in verse 13 enter through the narrow gate because the gate is wide and the broad that leads to destruction and many enter through it so that teaches us that most people in the world are headed towards destruction most Christians are headed towards destruction because it's a very narrow gate and I believe it's so narrow that only one person can go in at a time it's like these styles in the some airports where you go through one at a time and two people can't go you can't even take your wife or child through it you got to go one at a time Kingdom of God is like that you can tell people to follow you but they can't come with you they have to follow you and go through single file the ways the gate is narrow small narrow gate that leads to life and it's not only a gate it's not that I come through the gate and that's it no because life is at the end of the gate and the way Jesus said in verse 14 the gate is small and once you get through the gate what happens there's a way a narrow way you finally come to life so where is life life is not as you soon as you enter the gate life is as you enter the gate you're born again you accept Christ as your Savior you turn from sin and then you walk and you reach life is at the end of it now even though these words are so plain yet we find in Christendom it's hardly ever taught as it is and the result is so many people are living in a world of deception and I believe all the preachers are to blame really but then the people are also to blame because they've got a Bible as well why do they have to listen to the preachers they've got a Bible that is why I have often said that if you have a Bible and you can read and you don't read it now listen carefully you deserve to be deceived by the devil you deserve to be deceived by the devil if you have a Bible in your own language and you don't read it now somebody who doesn't have there are many languages in the world where there's no Bible for those people I can feel sorry and I don't believe God will judge them because God is a righteous God he won't ask that person who never had a Bible in his language why didn't you follow the Bible he'd say Lord I never had one nobody translated into my language but we are sitting here we can't say that to the Lord in the final day so it's a very serious thing when we have the Bible in our own language it's a big responsibility we have I think of it like if two people are working in a company and they are dealing with finances and one man is sent to the store to buy with ten rupees in his pocket and another man is got to go out and buy ten million rupees worth of stuff they both got to come back with different quantity of material to whom more is given more is required those are the words of Jesus and I believe that's one of the great dangers of coming to a church like this where we are constantly hearing God's Word in its entirety repeated again and again and again and we think we are blessed to hear it absolutely right you know blessed to hear the whole truth of God again and again and again but don't forget it's like you're accumulating more and more and more and more knowledge that you're going to have to answer to God more and more and more and more for all that you've heard it's a very serious thing it's a tremendous privilege I thank God for the privilege of knowing God's Word because it's straightened out my life it's straightened out my family life it's made me handle finances improperly it's kept me free from debt all my life and it's blessed me in a hundred and one ways I mean it's even given me health that my wife and I been married 56 years and never had to go once to a hospital with any type of sickness it's all God's goodness we obey God and it blesses us in a thousand and one ways but we don't take advantage of that if God's given us that life it is to live for him 100% so what I say is it's a very blessed life if you obey everything in Scripture it's a narrow way but it's a very blessed way because Jesus will walk along with you all along that way for me it's a very wonderful thing when I wake up in the morning first thing in the morning to be able to talk to my Savior first thing to talk to him face to face and to have his word coming into my heart this is the way life has changed for me and I want to encourage you to follow it so what is the reason why this difference has come between these two types of Christians some going through the wide gate some going through the narrow gate well let me try and explain to you when Jesus gave his commission to the disciples in the last days I mean sorry the last day of the last days of his life on earth he gave them a commission and you read that in the last four verses of Matthew's gospel turn to Matthew 28 and Jesus came the 11 disciples were 16 Matthew 28 the last five verses Matthew 20 and 16 the 11 disciples came to Galilee and they saw him were 17 and they worshipped him but some still doubted and now listen to this this is called the Great Commission the last words of giving a command to the disciples what they should do from now on before Jesus comes back this is what he had to do first of all he told them all authority verse 18 in heaven and earth has been given to me all my work for the Lord is based on that verse I'm serving someone who's got all authority in heaven and earth when I quit my job in the Navy when I was called to quit 60 years ago this is the verse I based my life on all authorities given to my Lord in heaven and earth I'm following one who's got all authority in heaven and on earth otherwise I'd be very insecure see so much of insecurity comes because I don't know can the Lord handle the situation I don't have money can the Lord handle that I'm out of a job can the Lord handle that I'm sick can I the Lord handle that so many problems in Christians lives because they don't believe that all authority in heaven and earth has been given to the Lord well if you don't believe it you don't get it it's like you somebody sends you a check for 10 million dollars that's a wonderful thing and you frame it up and hang it on your wall and admire it every day you can be as poor as any beggar you got it there and there is 10 million in that guy's account that's something like that all authorities heaven has given to me the Lord says and I'm your Savior you read that and frame it up and hang it on a wall and you live with all your problems and live in debt and fighting with people and strife and quarrels and all that why well you can't avoid other people coming and fighting with you but you don't have to fight with them many years ago the Lord told me that I must never fight with human beings never now I did not know that in the early part of my Christian life I was born again as I told you 65 years ago but I was ignorant I hadn't read the Bible I started reading the Bible after I was born again when the preachers who taught me in those early years did not teach me some things like I learned myself from the Bible for example never to fight with a human being no preacher told me that and so I would end up arguing and fighting with even believers like perhaps many of you do till one day I'll tell you what the Lord showed me nearly 50 years ago Ephesians 6 and verse 12 it's a great verse he says our fight is with whom our fight is not with human beings flesh and blood means human beings our struggle our fight is not with human beings but with these evil rulers and for this is talking about satanic demons and forces in the heavenly places spiritual wickedness in the heavenly places see there's an atmosphere is filled with demons under the control of Satan and you know that's that's how we get tempted and that's how people are possessed with demons even in Jesus time to be people possessed with demons would come screaming to him and Jesus would just tell them to get out of that person and the person would leave so he's the Lord showed me that my struggle was with demons not with human beings and I found in many places that I traveled in India particularly in the villages there were actually demon-possessed people just like in Jesus time and what they needed was not counseling you can't counsel a demon-possessed person what that person needed is deliverance there's a difference between counsel and the counseling is trying to explain scripture there's no use explaining scripture to a demon-possessed person waste of time there's a demon inside you got to cast out the demon first then explain the scripture to him so that's what I had to do I had to first cast out the demon from that person I remember once when I was speaking to a believer who had backslidden and they belong to an assembly the brethren assembly where they don't believe in casting out demons and this is one of their sisters married woman he's living next door to a temple and they I don't know whether she ate something from there or something but end result was she got a demon and so these brothers don't do casting out demons so they contacted me and say brother Zach can you come and please pray for this lady who's got a demon so I went there and I found some group of Christians yelling and screaming over there trying to and that's where some people try to cast out demons yell and scream I never see Jesus doing that so I told his brother I don't know who's got the demon here please ask these people to vacate before I before I deal with this person so they asked those people to leave then I was alone with this sister and this brother and I think her husband was there and I said to her ask Jesus to come into your heart and a voice comes out of her mouth saying tell her don't tell me there's a woman saying don't tell me it was another person inside her a demon and I realized that I said you demon get out in the name of Jesus Christ right now left not even one second okay then I said now sister ask Jesus to come into your heart he said Lord Jesus come into my heart changed completely immediately and years later I checked up how is she getting on she's getting on fine now any amount of counseling would not have helped that woman now that's just one case there are many other cases like that we became across I remember one somebody brought somebody to our house for prayer I thought one day want to accept Christ maybe an unbeliever so the sister brought this other sister sitting there and my wife and I were sitting there and I I said now accept Jesus into your heart and tell the devil you were defeated on the cross I tell people to say that so that they get embold against Satan and she turned and looked at me and said I have was not defeated on the cross oh-ho who is this talking now I was not defeated on the cross the devil himself speaking out of this woman I said you demon the devil was you were defeated on the cross get out of her right now in Jesus name left and I said to that one now say Lord Jesus come into my heart Satan you were defeated on the cross and she said it what she needed was not counseling but deliverance and the Lord said to me if you want to serve me in this land you have to stop fighting with human beings otherwise you will have no power against the devil that's from this verse our struggle is not against flesh and blood and the Lord said if you start fighting with other believers and start fighting with your relatives and start fighting with human beings when you confront those demons those demons will laugh at you you'll have no power over them I said Lord I give you my word I will never fight with human beings if they robbed me and they steal things and we've had people we know who came to enjoy in our churches and then finally got offended with what we thought and some of them were elders walked away with church money and walked away with church property two buildings that we built in India with church money they walked away with it the Lord said let them go don't fight with them this verse our struggle is not with flesh and blood I said take it I will not fight with you my fight is only with demons and the devil I will not fight with my relatives I will not fight over money I will not fight over property I will not fight if people insult me or tell all types of lies about me I'm not going to waste my time justifying myself no no no you're wrong I'm not a going to a court of law or anybody now the reason I say this my dear brothers and sisters is because ask yourself one question do you fight with human beings or not first of all begin at home do you fight with your wife you will not be able to fight with demons then forget it you spend your life fighting with your husband you fight with your husband or your wife you spend your life fighting with the wrong person and wake up in eternity when Christ comes back and find you're not with him for eternity this is serious business