In the sermon 'The Coming Of The Groom', Jason Dohm explores the supremacy of Jesus as the bridegroom, emphasizing His role in taking a bride and establishing a new covenant. The sermon discusses the conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees regarding fasting, explaining that Jesus' presence is a time for feasting, not fasting, as He is the bridegroom with His friends. Dohm highlights that while the Old Testament law included examples of fasting, it did not command it, and Jesus' actions are not anti-fasting or anti-prayer but reflect the newness He brings. The parable of the old and new wineskins illustrates the incompatibility of old practices with the new work Jesus is doing. The sermon concludes by affirming the intimate union between Jesus and believers, likening it to a marriage, and calling for believers to focus on Jesus, the true groom, who has come to claim His bride.

The title of the message this morning is, The Coming of the Groom. The text actually uses the word bridegroom. I always found that so confusing as a boy. Is it a bride or a groom? Why are you saying bridegroom?

If you're a child, it's the groom of the bride. So we're really talking about the man who's getting married. So I'll probably use groom sometimes, bride groom sometimes, but it's the same thing. It's the man who's getting married. This text is about the supremacy of Jesus.

Full stop. Jesus is the King of Kings. Jesus is the Lord of Lords. Also, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords has come to take a bride. So that's the sermon, that's the whole sermon.

Number one, Jesus is supreme. Number two, Jesus has come to take a bride. The whole text is about one of those things or the other. This text is also picking up midstream. Jeff read last week's text and this week's text and it's because all these things are happening at the same time.

This week's text is a continuation of the events from last week's text. So we've had a week in between, but they didn't have a week in between. They didn't have any time in between. This is one continuous dialogue, and it's a conflict over one thing, and now a conflict over another thing. So as we come to the text, let's ask God to help us.

God, I thank You for the help of Your Spirit, so now we cry out for it. God, please Let your spirit come and be the teacher. I want to stand here and serve this text. And I pray that your spirit would be helping me say the things that would be helpful and helping everyone who is listening to be able to understand clearly these things. Give ears to hear.

Pray in Jesus' name, Amen. Subdividing as always, I want to just begin with the first verse, verse 33. So hopefully your Bibles are open to Luke chapter 5. Follow along as I reread verse 33. Then they said to him, why did the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise prayers and likewise those of the Pharisees but yours eat and drink in this verse we have a second accusation cloaked in a question If you're taking notes on the handout, filling in the blanks, question fills in the blank.

A second accusation cloaked in a question. Now, who are they? Then They said to him, why do the disciples of John fast often? So we're in one continuous set of events. So we go up to verse 30.

Verse 30, we see this. And Their scribes and the Pharisees complained against his disciples saying, why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners? So it's the same they. It's the scribes and the Pharisees. They've already asked one question.

Only, Connor nailed it last week when he pointed out that this is no honest question. This is not information seeking. Jesus, we'd like to know the answer to this, so here's our question. It was an accusation disguised as a question. Why do you eat, you plural, eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners.

So it's really a statement disguised as a question. And the statement is an accusation. What are you doing eating with tax collectors and sinners? So really, the scribes and the Pharisees are doing the same thing here as they did there. They are saying, essentially, We fast and pray often.

John the Baptist's disciples fast and pray often. You and your disciples are wrong to eat and drink instead of fasting and praying often. Explain yourself if you dare, Jesus. Now, a couple of very important things to say. To the extent that we don't fully understand these couple of points, we are very vulnerable to misinterpreting today's entire text.

So I want to give these two things to you and say they're very important if you don't get them you might miss the text. Number one, We have already seen that Jesus fasts and Jesus prays often. Chapter 4, He fasted for 40 days. Take that! And We've already seen multiple occasions that he goes away to be with God alone.

He's doing that often. Any characterization of Jesus as anti-fasting or anti-praying is either ignorance or deceit. Meaning if you characterize Jesus, and they're characterizing Jesus as anti-fasting and anti-praying, if you characterize Him that way, Either you don't know you're an ignoramus, or you're lying. These are the options on the table for these people who are disguising their accusation in this question. So number one, we've already seen that Jesus fasts, he's not anti-fasting, and that Jesus prays often.

He's not anti-prayer. He's the opposite of these things. Number two, while there are examples of fasting in the Old Testament, there are no commands to fast in the Old Testament. Fasting is not embedded in Old Testament law. So you could find people fasting in the Old Testament, but they're not doing that in response to a commandment in the Old Testament law.

There is no requirement in the Old Testament law to fast. You can obey every Old Testament law all the time and never fast for a day in your life. Let me take you to a place that I think impacts what is really behind the question and accusation being asked or leveled against Jesus and his disciples. It's in Luke 18. Turn to Luke 18.

Conor had us here briefly last week too, so We're going back to Luke 18. This is a favorite because it's so helpful. It's a parable by Jesus about the Pharisees and the tax collectors. Sounds like our tax. We have a tax collector in our tax.

There was Levi. He's throwing a feast for his friends. Jesus is there. They're saying, why are you eating and drinking with these people? Let me read Luke 18 verses 9 through 12.

Also, he, Jesus, spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous. They trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself. God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.

I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I possess. God thank you that I'm not like these sleazebags. I got my list. And What does the list start with?

I fast twice a week. In Matthew chapter 6, Jesus talks about a certain kind of fasting, a fasting to be seen, a fasting for show. Jesus says when you fast, don't fast like that. Comb your hair. Make it look like you're not fasting because you're not fasting for the eyes of other people.

So don't give visible representations that you're depriving yourself. Don't fast for show. Yourself. Don't fast for show. So in Luke 18 in the parable, this Pharisee who trusts in himself that he's righteous has a list and the list starts with, I fast twice a week.

The Nelson study Bible has this note, the Pharisees fasted twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays. I'm fasting, it's just another Monday. I'm fasting. It's just another Thursday. The Pharisees did this week after week, fasting Monday after Monday after Monday, fasting Thursday after Thursday after Thursday.

The note continues in the Nelson Study Bible, as well as on the Day of Atonement. Add that day. They also fasted as an act of penitence and to recall four times a year the destruction of Jerusalem. So there were four other special fasts to remember the destruction of Jerusalem and to mourn over that. So in addition to Every week, Monday and Thursday, they had these other fasts that they added in in addition to them.

Why did they do that? Because that's what the righteous do. That's what those who are actually serious about their religion do. You're not like other men. I fast twice a week.

Because that's what the serious people do. They fast twice a week. You see immediately how this all ties to last week's text. Look back to verse 31. Jesus answered and said to them, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick, I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

We could actually say, I have not come to call the self-righteous those who trust in themselves that they are righteous, to pull in language from the parable in Luke chapter 18. I have come to call those who trust in themselves that they are righteous, come to call sinners to repent and be free from the weight of their guilt. These scribes and Pharisees are displaying exactly what Jesus was describing. He described it, now they display it. Conor last week took us to Revelation chapter 3 verse 17.

You say, I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing. And do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. Imagine being that devoted every Monday fasting, every Thursday fasting, the Day of Atonement fasting, four times a year to mourn over the destruction of Israel, fasting. That devoted, that religious, And so thinking that all is well, because I'm devoted. When really, you're wretched, miserable, poor, blind, naked.

You're doing all that, you think, I'm rich, I have need of nothing but you're wretched poor blind naked miserable. So that is verse 33 a second accusation disguised as a question. Jesus, we don't like who you eat with. Tax collectors, the sinners, why are you eating with these people? Why would you come around and have fellowship with the defiled?

And sometimes we don't like that you eat at all. We don't like you eat with and we don't like that you eat at all on Mondays and Thursdays. If you were serious, you would fast and pray often like we do. So, time to get with the program Jesus, time to conform yourself to us Jesus. We continue.

Verses 34 and 35. Follow along as I reread verses 34 and 35. And he, Jesus said to them, Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, then they will fast in those days. Here in these two verses we very simply have Jesus' response.

They've asked him to explain himself and now he's explaining himself. He responds. The point is simply this. Weddings are a time of joy and feasting, not a time of self-denial and fasting. Please come to my wedding.

We'll have a time of fasting afterwards. Don't invite me. Weddings are a time of joy and feasting, not a time of self-denial. Fasting, If you're on a diet, when a wedding day comes, you should probably appoint that day a cheat day. Dieters know what a cheat day is.

You're dieting, but there's a special day, so This is a keep out zone for the diet. That day, you're not going to, the day is leading up to, you're observing the diet, but that day, the diet is off. Then the days after that, you're going to get back to the diet. You said, that's a special day, so I'm not dieting on that day. Ecclesiastes 3-4 says that there is a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn, and a time to dance.

If you're a friend of the bridegroom, this is actually a technical term in the Greek. It's like King James, I think, renders it a son of the bride chamber. It's this group of special friends that have been specially named by the groom, and they're actually going to make sure that all the preparations for the wedding get done. It's actually a position of honor, but it's to make sure that everything's in place for this day of joy. Something close to a modern equivalent is a groomsman.

These men who will go stand up front with the groom as his special friends and witnesses to the vows that he's taking. If you're a friend of the bridegroom, then when the groom is present with you, it's a time to laugh and dance, not a time to weep and mourn, to put it in Ecclesiastes 3 language. We ought to be laughing and dancing when the groom is with us. Not weeping in the morning. It's a time to feast, not a time to fast.

A key point of fasting is to seek the Lord. What are you doing when you're fasting? If you're not doing it for show, Jesus said don't do it for show, then what are you doing it for? You're seeking the Lord. Fasting brings an extra intensity and earnestness to seeking the Lord.

You're sort of putting yourself on notice. This is critical to me at this moment in time. Extra intensity, extra earnestness in seeking the Lord. I think you can lay that aside for now if you're living with the Lord in the flesh. Thank you.

You can call off the fasting. If a key purpose of fasting is extra intensity and extra earnestness in seeking the Lord, I think you can just say, yeah we don't need that right now. Good morning Jesus. Good morning Matthew. What are you having for breakfast this morning Matthew?

You know Jesus, I'm really hoping to draw near to the Lord today, so I'm fasting. Yeah Matthew, go ahead and eat something. You're going to be with me all day. In Mark's account of the same circumstances, Jesus says, as long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. So Mark adds Jesus saying that in his account.

As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. Mark adds Jesus saying that in his account. As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. When the groom is with his special friends, They can't fast. Fasting is unthinkable for the groomsmen when the groom is with them.

It won't always be that way, of course. Jesus says, But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them. Then they will fast in those days. So again, not anti-fasting, certainly not anti-praying. There will be days for fasting, these aren't those days.

Days are coming when self-denial and fasting and seeking the Lord with extra intensity and earnestness will be absolutely necessary but those days are not yet. You go to Acts chapter 13, you find fasting, the disciples of Jesus fasting, believers fasting. You go to Acts 14, you find believers fasting. Those days are coming. Self-denial and fasting and seeking the Lord with extra intensity and earnest, or earnestness are absolutely necessary, but not when the groom is with you.

So given all that, Jesus says to the scribes and Pharisees, can you make the special friends of the groom fast? Can you make them fast? The groom doesn't want them to fast. Not while he's present. Can you make them fast?

Do you set the special agenda? Do you set the agenda for the special friends of the groom or does the groom? Is this your wedding or the groom's wedding? Are you going to be the head of this household or is the groom? One thing I haven't even mentioned yet, but I think it's important, and that is this.

A consideration of who Jesus is answering and the Old Testament backdrop. Who is Jesus answering? The scribes and the Pharisees. Scripture experts. What are they likely thinking of when Jesus so obviously makes himself the bridegroom in his response.

I'm thinking scripture experts are going to be thinking of Isaiah 54 verse 5. For your Maker is your husband. The Lord of hosts is his name. I'm thinking they're going to be thinking of Isaiah 62 verse 5. As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you." I'm thinking the scripture experts are thinking of Hosea chapter 2 verses 19 and 20.

I will betroth you to me forever. Yes, I will betroth you to me forever. Yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness, and justice, and loving kindness, and mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord. God is saying I'm entering into a promise to marry you in faithfulness, in justice, in righteousness, in loving kindness, in mercy.

I'm pledging myself to you forever. God is doing that. Now is it certain that these scripture experts made this connection? No, it's not certain. It's possible.

I would say it's probable, but not certain. But in any event, we can and should. Now we're looking back through the whole New Testament lenses and seeing God pledging himself to marry his people, to be the groom of his people. Certainly, if it wasn't obvious to them, it should certainly be obvious to us. We know at least one person at this time fully understood.

You can turn to John 3 if you want. If no one else understood, John the Baptist understood perfectly. This is wonderful actually. John 3 verses 27 through 29. The lead up to this is that Jesus had started to baptize.

Jesus and his disciples have started to baptize and instead of the crowds going to John the Baptist and his disciples, they're beginning to come to Jesus and his disciples and John the Baptist disciples come to him and saying everyone's going to Jesus. John the Baptist doesn't view that as a disaster at all. Here's what John the Baptist says in John 3, 27-29. John answered and said, A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.

He who has the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. Therefore, This joy of mine is fulfilled." So John the Baptist says, I'm the friend of the bridegroom, and I think it's exhilarating that the groom has come to claim his bride. And she's all his. I don't have any ownership there. I've played my part as the friend and now the groom is here.

So I have to decrease, he increases. That's verse 30. He must increase but I must decrease. John the Baptist saw him as simply the friend of the bridegroom, here to make things ready for the wedding. And now I step aside and Jesus takes the place of supremacy because the bride belongs to him, the bride doesn't belong to me.

So that is Jesus' response. So that is Jesus' response. The special friends of the groom take their cues from the groom. The special friends of the groom take their cues, all their cues, from the groom. Not from some outsiders who are nipping at their heels.

Why don't you do this? Why don't you do that? The groom. That's who they take their cues from. And now the groom is present.

So it would never occur to them to fast. We're with the groom. It's not the time for self-denial and fasting. It's the time for rejoicing and feasting. Verses 36 through 39.

We're back to our text. Verses 36 through 39. Then he, Jesus, spoke a parable to them. No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one. Otherwise the new mix a tear and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old.

No one puts new wine into old wine skins or else the new wine will burst the wine skins and be spilled and the wine skins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins and both are preserved. And no one having drunk old wine immediately desires the new, for he says the old is better. Fascinating. Fascinating stuff.

This is Jesus's explanation. He just gave his response, now he's explaining it. To explain it, he gives two situations for us to consider. Imagine this, a person has a well-worn garment that needs to be patched. That person has a new garment.

He takes the scissors and he's cutting out a piece of it out of the new garment as a patch. As a patch. Who does that? You're meant to imagine that and recoil. You want to intervene like he's going in with the scissors like no it's a new garment don't cut a piece out of the new garment.

We've read this so many times that you lose the impact because you're already trying to assign, like, what's what here, this represents that, this, no, no, no, forget that for a minute. And now you just have a real human going in with a real pair of scissors on a real new garment and you should probably say don't do it. But they do it. Snip, snip, snip, snip. Okay, they got a piece out of the new garment.

They're sewing, they're sewing it as a patch on the old garment. Now they wash it. The old garments been washed a hundred times, all the shrinkings done. The new garments never been washed. It shrinks for the first time and tears because you sewed it on the old garment and there's no margin left so it tears.

Status of the new garment ruined You cut a piece out of the new garment. Status of the old garment. No better off. Started needing a patch and Now you put this thing that doesn't match and shrank and tore away anyway. Bad for the old, bad for the new, bad idea.

So that's where we are so far. Now imagine this. Person has some new wine. Grown the grapes, they've pressed the grapes, and it's starting to ferment, becoming wine. The person thinks, I need a container for this.

Now, they've emptied containers and they have the empty containers. I'll use the emptied containers. I'll use the previously used wine skins. They're used, they're empty, but here's how this works. New wine is still fermenting, and fermenting puts off gases.

And so New wine skins are perfect for that because they're new, they're flexible, they stretch. You put it in and it expands because they're new and flexible. It expands. Then you empty it out and it's not new anymore, it's not flexible anymore, and you put new wine into it, but it's going to need to expand. It's going to expand.

It's going to expand. The old wine scams are going to rupture because they're not flexible. You use the flexibility on round one. So round two causes a rupture and the new wine spills out. Status of the new wine?

Spilled. Gone. Status of the old wine scan? Ruptured. You could have used it for water.

Water doesn't expand. The point is that old wine skins obviously do not exist to be containers for new wine. Wine people know that. Wine people would never do that. That is no good for either.

That is a recipe to ruin both. Doing that is a recipe to ruin both. You don't end up with the new wine and you rupture the old wineskins. So what do these two situations teach? Let's start here.

Jesus is explaining what he said about the groom and his friends in response to being questioned about why they eat and drink, about why they don't fast. So this explains that. Jesus is teaching that he has come to do something new. Jesus is not there just to perpetuate what has been in place. Given by God, good, amen to all that.

And This is not old bad, new good. That old has been given by God for a purpose, but now Jesus is the groom and He's come to do something new. New, the word new occurs seven times in this little text. New, new, new, new, new, new, new. That's a lot of new.

Jesus didn't come to perpetuate what has been in place for, I think, 1500 years. Could be wrong, I didn't double check that. I'm doing that from memory. He's come to do something new, and he can do that because he's the groom and the bride belongs to him. Who told you you could do something new?

Told me I'm the groom. Who told you you could set that there at the wedding reception? Nobody tells me, I'm the groom. I tell you. You set it right there at my wedding reception.

So, eyes on Jesus. So, eyes on Jesus. Yes, this thing has been given by God and perpetuated for all this time. But now the groom is here, the groom is present, it's not the time for fasting. Eyes on Jesus.

You'll know what to do if you look at Jesus. We're taking our cues from Him, We're taking all of our cues from Him now. He has come to usher in a new and everlasting kingdom. He's not perpetuating, just perpetuating all that was in place before then. He's come to usher in a new and everlasting kingdom.

This is no patch on the old. What Jesus has come to do, no patch on the old, and the old container can't contain it. You try to put all that Jesus has come to do in this old container and you're gonna rupture that container. It can't contain it. The old was meant to make ready for the new, and to point to the new, not to contain the new.

All that we've been perpetuating, given by God, good, all that we've been perpetuating, up till the coming of the bridegroom was meant to make ready for the new and point to the new, not to contain or limit the new. Think about how different the old and new covenants are. Even though there is so much continuity, this is not a new religion, This is but the fulfillment of the old pictures. Very different. Here's an example of that.

John chapter 4, the woman at the well. I'm gonna pick that account up in John chapter 4 verse 20. This woman says to Jesus, our fathers worshiped our my samaritan fathers. She's a samaritan. She's saying my samaritan fathers worshiped on this mountain and you Jews say that Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.

Jesus said to her, woman believe me the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father. You worship what you do not know, We worship what we know for salvation is of the Jews. So the Jews are worshiping rightly, and the Samaritans are worshiping wrongly. They're worshiping according to what they don't know. The Jews are worshiping according to what God has revealed.

But then Jesus says this, but the hour is coming and now is when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit and those who worship Him must worship in Spirit and truth. All that was perpetuated. Go to the temple, go to the temple, go to the temple, Go to the temple, go to the temple, go to the temple, go to the temple, go to the temple.

And it's not going to be that way going forward. Because the killing of lambs that made people ready for, taught about, pointed forward to, is going to give way to the fulfillment of that, and that's the death of Jesus for His people. The groom has the right to do all of this. He's the groom. The bride belongs to the groom.

The people of God belong to God. Jesus is God. The bride follows the groom. The coming of the groom to claim his bride is the hinge point of all of human history. Jesus coming, being who he is and coming to do what he came to do, is the climax of human history.

Till he returns. It will be a second mountain peak when he returns. Till then, that's the high point. It's the time when the shadow gives way to the substance. God gave them all these shadows that were figures of the realities.

But Jesus is the reality. So Jesus is saying, we're not just going to perpetuate the figures when the reality has come. I'm doing something new, very new. The point isn't that the old is bad. The point is that the old has served its purpose to point forward to and make ready for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who has come to claim a bride.

Its purpose was to make ready for Jesus to come and claim his bride. Now he's coming and claiming his bride. It has served his purpose. So it is about the old and new covenant, But it's about more than that. It's about the supremacy of Jesus Christ.

He is the groom. We take our cues from Him. These things serve a purpose to bring us to the time when the groom would come. That's really more fundamentally what it's about than old covenant and new covenant. The groom has come and is doing something new.

Eyes on him. All eyes on him. Jesus concludes by saying this, and no one having drunk old wine immediately desires new for he says the old is better. Summary, we are creatures of habit. We are naturally change resistant.

Change is hard for us. There are very few people who relish change. Change is hard for us. So, for Jews who grew up with the old, feeling the importance of perpetuating that, They are going to want to put what Jesus is doing as a patch on the old. See Acts 15, do you have to be circumcised to be saved?

So much of the book of Acts, Both the believing Jews and the unbelieving Jews is about this change resistance. Even among believing Jews, it's so hard for them. No, the bride belongs to the groom and Jesus is the groom. Eyes on Jesus, cues from Jesus. The scribes and the Pharisees are saying, Eyes on us Jesus, cues from us Jesus.

Jesus is saying, Oh no, I'm the groom. I'm the groom. The person walking around at the wedding reception picking up the empty punch cups Doesn't tell the groom where to go and what to do. That's not how weddings work. Take our cues from the groom.

Applications, I give you four. Number one, Let me just back up and summarize before I get to number one. Jesus is laying claim to the people of God, saying, the people of God belong to me in this text. It's wonderful. Applications number one.

External acts of religious devotion does not equal born-again. Are you with me? External acts of religious devotion fast every Monday, fast every Thursday. Let's add for the Day of Atonement. Let's have four other times to mourn that Jerusalem was destroyed.

Wow, that's a lot. You must really be devoted. That's not the same thing as being born again. You're not gonna be able to outdo these guys. Go hog wild with your acts of religious devotion.

My guess is you're still way behind the Pharisees and the scribes. Should we practice our faith and be devoted to it? Oh boy, we have a bee. Of course. Can you do all that but not be born again?

Our text says, of course. Of course. External acts of religious devotion does not equal being born again. You must be born again to be saved. Number two.

Eyes on Jesus. Cues from Jesus. To put it in the words of John the Baptist, he who has the bride is the bridegroom. We belong to him. Oh yeah.

By virtue of what? By virtue of Him buying us with His blood. Good enough for you, good enough for me. He bought us with His blood. Yeah, we belong to Him.

Eyes on Jesus, cues from Jesus. We should be mining out of scriptures anything and everything that pleases Him and giving ourselves to those things. Number three. We are actually in the time of fasting. Jesus said watch and pray.

This is the time of expectation where we fast and pray. Is there a law? Is there a certain rhythm? No. There wasn't in the Old Testament.

There's not in the New Testament. But we have examples of it in the Old Testament. We have examples of it in the New Testament. And Jesus said after I'm taken from my friends then they'll fast and pray. It is a way to pursue the Lord, seek the Lord with an intensity and earnestness that pays off.

We should know something of fasting and praying using that time to pray. Number four. Treasure Jesus' self-designation in this text. Treasure it. Somebody kill that thing.

Yeah. In this text. It's treasuring. Somebody killed that thing. Yeah.

Here's what J.C. Ryle says. This is worth the price of the sermon, so tune in. Don't think about wasps. Think about J.C.

Ryle's quote. Unless the wasp is near you, then think about the wasp. What are we going to do about the audio? The audio is suffering. Smack him down.

Is he dead? You got him? Okay. I know yeah yeah yeah Cut that and put it at the end. Yay, what a sermon.

There was actually no B, your mother just wanted to hit you. Alright. Here's what J.C. Ryle says, and it's so sweet. We should observe in these verses the name by which our Lord Jesus Christ speaks of himself.

Twice he calls himself the bridegroom. It teaches the deep and tender love with which Jesus regards all sinners of mankind who believe in him. Weak and unworthy and shortcoming as they are in themselves, he feels toward them a tender affection even as a husband does towards his wife. It teaches the close and intimate union which exists between Jesus and believers. It is something far nearer than the union of king and subject, master and servant, teacher and scholar, shepherd and sheep.

It is the closest of all unions, the union of husband and wife. The union of which it is written, what God has joined together, let no man put asunder. Above all, the name teaches that that entire participation of all that Jesus is and has, which is the privilege of every believer. Just as the husband gives to his wife his name, makes her partaker of his property, home and dignity, and undertakes all her debts and liabilities, so does Christ deal with all true Christians. You know, it's pretty great to be the special friend of the groom.

It's so much better to be the bride! What do you want to be on wedding day? Grooms have a certain kind of love for their special friends who stand with them on a special day. It is nothing that they feel about the bride. We should come to this text and ask, okay, so the groom's got special friends, that's neat.

Who gets to be the bride? The King of Kings and the Lord of Lords has come to take a bride for Himself. Who gets to be that? And the answer is, if you believe in Jesus Christ, it's you! He gives you His name.

He undertakes all of your debts and liabilities and gives you everything that belonged to Him, now belongs to you. Can you believe it? And you're the apple of his eye and the object of his affection. Can you believe it? Believe it.

Believe it. You have it on the authority of his word. Believe it. Be encouraged by it. Rejoice.

The wedding's coming. The wedding's coming. God, I thank you for this text. Thank you for the coming of the groom to do his work and claim his bride. Thank you that the bride is still being assembled from every nation, tribe, tongue, people.

How sweet it will be. Finally be at the marriage supper of the lamb thank you for coming to claim us. Praise your name. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.