The Psalmist tells us how the bride is going to be escorted by the bridegroom. To his father's house. I'm getting ready to shout because soon and very soon, and maybe sooner than you think. Whether we go to him first or he comes back to us first. Are you going to hear those words from his lips?
Welcome home.
Now enter into your Father's glory. Girls often dream about their wedding from the time they're in preschool. As young men grow up, they too envision their wedding and a beautiful bride walking down the aisle to greet them. But the truth is, the wedding is so much more than a ceremony. It is a picture of Jesus and his church.
Thank you for joining Dr. Michael Youssef for leading the way. And up next a look into Psalm forty five. and the powerful heavenly wedding picture that it provides. Please do remember that leading the way is listener supported.
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Listen now as Dr. Michael Youssef begins today's teaching. Everybody Love's a wedding. With some exceptions. I'm telling you, take it from me.
The weddings have become so expensive now That it is the father of the bride who cries at weddings. Back in two thousand and four I was speaking in a very large meetings In the Middle East. I was preaching. from the parable, Jesus' parable, on the wedding feast. And I explained to them that in the West, It's the father Of the bride Who cries at weddings?
Well, they really looked at me like a calf looking at a new gate. And they didn't, and I knew that. I was hooking them in, I knew what I was doing. Because another culture And so I went on to say, it is because in the West It's the father of the bride who pays for the wedding. Oh, they last and and they got it.
Because in the Middle East It's the father of the groom who pays for the wedding. And he's the one who cries at weddings. And in fact I'm going to show you in a minute. the incredible picture that the Bible gives us. of the wedding.
in a Jewish ancient Jewish culture and all the intricacies of it. But before I do that, I want you to turn with me to Psalm 45. It is an impossibility for you to understand. This psalm without understanding. all the intricacies of an ancient Jewish wedding.
Because that's really What it's all about. In fact, Psalm 45 really is the most unique Psalm in all of the Psalter, that's the book of Psalms. It's unique. There's no Psalm like it because it is written to symbolize the wedding feast of the king. With all of its splendor and with all of its beauty, with all of its sounds and sights and all of its emotions.
And that is why this psalm is considered to be a messianic psalm. What is a messianic psalm? It's a psalm that has prophesied about the Lord Jesus Christ and His coming. 1,000 years before he was born in Bethlehem. If you look at the Psalm, verses 6 and 7 of Psalm 45, those verses literally lifted out and applied to the Lord Jesus Christ in the epistle to the Hebrews chapter 1.
Your throne, O God, will last forever and ever. A sceptre of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom. You love righteousness and hate wickedness. Therefore God your God has set you above your companions by anointing you with oil of joy. You cannot really understand Psalm 45 without understanding an ancient Jewish wedding.
Let me tell you about the wedding. Marriage back then was very different from our day.
Someone was commenting the other day how younger people today are getting later and later in the marriage, and someone said a couple got. married so late that Medicare paid for their honeymoon. But in the ancient Jewish culture When the boy sees the girl from a distance, he goes home. Talks to his parents. Not to the girl.
And he would say, I want to marry her. And so the parents of the boy will go to the home of the parents of the girl. and they will sit together and they'll make an agreement. They agree on all kinds of details. I won't get into that.
and then followed by a betrothal ceremony. A betrothal ceremony was serious stuff. It was an important thing. It was more than just an engagement party. It's more than just wearing the ring and said, Hey, I'm engaged.
It was a legally binding covenant. In fact, breaking of that betrothal covenant. was as serious as divorce. And that betrothal ceremony The husband basically, during that moment, he will commit to a certain dowry. And depending on the wealth or the strength of his father financially, and depends on the length of the betrothal, because he's got to take time to come up with the dough before he marries her.
And finally, Comes the wedding day. during which she will be preparing And he will be preparing. And in the house of the bride. all of the bridesmaids and the cousins, female cousins and the relatives and everybody's in the neighborhood, all the women would gather to help the bride get ready. And there's a whole lot of commotion and a whole lot of excitement.
There is a bride preparing in the finest of clothes and jewelry and perfume, and she's getting ready for that big day. At the same time, in the groom's father's house, the groom would be preparing with his attendant, with his friends, and with his groomsman to go. and march through the city to go and fetch the bride. In this case, the case of Psalm 45. The groom is the king.
And therefore, he had to dress in his royal attire. And there He goes to the bride who has been prepared and being ready and waiting. And then, as he gets her out of her father's house, they are back on the street again. often making the rounds in the main part of town And there is music and dancing and singing and a much larger party because it's a groom's party and it's a bride's party and the relatives and the friends and everybody running around going over back to the groom's house. And when they reach the groom's house, There is a celebration.
of all celebrations begin to take place. The feasting begins to take place. And depending on the strength, financial strength of the father of the groom, those celebrations can last from three days to three weeks. And imagine feeding that crowd for three weeks. I mean, everybody who becomes your cousin at that point, you know, they all come to the wedding.
But in Psalm 45, this is the king's wedding. It's not just a person who's well off. This is the king's wedding. Therefore, this celebration is a celebration of all celebrations. This is the wedding of all weddings.
This is the wedding of all times. And before I get carried away, I want to give you an outline. Verses 1 to 9 of Psalm 45, you see the king is coming to his bride. Secondly, Verses 10 to 12, we see the bride's preparation. and readying of herself.
And in verses thirteen to fifteen, you see the bride's joy in encountering and entering into the king's palace. Her groom. Let me put it another way, for those of you who want to make it easier to remember, or those of you taking notes. The certainty of his coming. The conclusion of her waiting.
And the consummation of all things. The certainty Yeah. Beloved, the Bible teaches, the New Testament teaches. That Jesus Christ the Messiah is the bridegroom, and the bride is his church, that is made up of every nation and every generation, of all those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ alone for salvation. Psalm forty five is a prophecy about the coming of our groom, King Jesus.
And it's an anticipation. It's a picture of King Jesus preparing the place for the bride his bride to church, and then coming back to take her back to his father's house. And When the place is ready, He is not going to delay, not one second. He'll come back and he'll take us home. Listen to me.
In his first coming, Jesus betrothed every believer in him. On the cross of Calvary. In his first coming, He told everyone who belongs to him that I love you, that I died for you, that I've chosen you, that I've paid the heaviest of dowry that any man can pay for you, that I paid with my own precious blood for you, that I am betrothing you to myself. That I'm committed to you for every day of your life and all the way until I take you to my father's house. When Jesus Christ is your bridegroom, you can be absolutely sure that you can never doubt his word, that you can never doubt his truthfulness, that you can never doubt his keeping of his promises, that you can never doubt the rightness of his salvation to you, our groom King Jesus.
said to us When he walked the earth, that those whom the Father gives me, I lose none. He said that those whom I loved, I loved all the way to the end. He said that anyone who would come to me, I would never reject. He said that those who believe in me shall have everlasting life, and who begins here and now. He said that those who serve me, my Father honors.
This is our groom king, Jesus. And he's soon coming back to take us to his father's house. Listen. When our groomed king walked the earth, He spoke with power and with authority, so much so that even his enemies said, Who is that? He stilled the storm.
with the power of his word. He raised the dead by the power of His Word. He cast out demons by the power of His Word. He forgave sin to those who were chained into the slavery of sin by the power of His Word, and He still does the same today. All you need to do is come to him.
Is he your groom king? Is he your groom king? Or are you one of those spectators? and seeing. The wedding March going by.
If he's not, he can be today. He said, When you come to me, I'll never reject you. But you must understand the nature of his power. Otherwise you'll miss out. You must understand the nature of his power.
Look at verse 6. It says, Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. You see, our king does not just have a temporary authority and a temporary power. No, his power is forever. His power, the power of the groom, our groom King Jesus, is forever.
And ever, and ever, and ever, and ever, and ever, and ever, and ever. How many evers are these? Amen. Amen. Give him praise.
In fact, verses 6 and 7, as I told you, would not have made sense until you see them taken from that Psalm and is applied to the Lord Jesus Christ in Hebrews chapter 1, verses 8 and 9. Because only Jesus could have called God Father. the certainty of his coming, the conclusion of her waiting. Oh, what a glorious day that's going to be When the brides wait It's going to be over. It had anticipation of that knock on the door.
will be over. The Bible said there's going to be a trumpet playing and then there's going to be shouting. And the bride looked forward with expectations, being busy working and preparing and readying herself for him. As she waits, her wait comes to an end.
Somebody said the difference between the guests at the wedding and the bride is very significant. Because guests at the wedding, they looking in. But the bride is looking forward to her wedding. And let me ask you this: are you a guest? Or are you part of the bride of Christ?
Let me plead with you if you're not part of the bride of Christ that you'll be today. Versus 10. To 15, there's a very, very significant conversation going here. Don't miss it, underline it in your Bible, it's powerful. You see the bride Is torn.
She's excited, looking forward, wants to go and be with her groom. But also, she's leaving home, leaving her past behind her. And here's what the psalmist is saying. He said, don't look back. for what you have left behind.
Don't look back. Your future is in the palace of the king. Your future is in a place called heaven. Forget the past with all of its emotional entanglement. Forget the past with all of its allure.
Forget the past with all of its pull. Forget the past and remember your future. Remember who you are, and who you will be, and where you'll be for eternity. That is why our groom king Jesus said. that if you come to me You must never allow Anything.
Or anybody, or any relationship, even it's a family relationship, to restrain you from wholehearted commitment to me. That's our preparation for the wedding feast. Our groom king said, You must be busy working for that day. That's our preparation for the wedding feast that is coming. And here's the great news that the psalmist is saying here.
Look at his words. He says, The king is going. to do more. Then make up for for anything that you've sacrificed for him. He is saying that he will replace All of your temporary things that you have sacrificed for him.
He is saying that when you sat next to the king at the wedding feast in that palace of ivory laden with gold, you will wonder why did you even get worried about the rubbish of this world? Because you have a different perspective. Not only that, look at verse 11. He said, when you honor Your groom king in this life. When your life purpose is to please the groom King Jesus, when you look forward longingly for the return of your groom King Jesus, you will experience three things.
He said you're going to experience an overwhelming love of your King Jesus, you're going to experience unspeakable honor that He will bestow on you, and He will give you unspeakable joy. And this love, honour, and joy. We'll go on. Forever. And ever And ever Look at verse thirteen.
Fourteen and fifteen. The psalmist tells us how the bride is going to be escorted by the bridegroom. to his father's house. I'm getting ready to shout. Because soon and very soon, and maybe sooner than you think, Whether we go to him first or he comes back to us first.
Are you going to hear those words from his lips? Welcome home.
I have been waiting for you, I have been preparing my father's house for you. I loved you with everlasting love. I have shown you my love on the cross.
Now you can see it fully. I know that you have been faithful with little.
Now I'm going to give you much. Come inherit your father's kingdom. I know that you have waited longingly for me. But the wait is over. I know.
Now enter into your Father's glory. The certainty of his coming. the conclusion of her waiting finally the consummation of all things. The saddest thing to me personally is the thought. That somebody might never get to hear those precious words from the lips of Jesus.
Well done, good and faithful servant. That's the saddest thing. In my life. There may be someone here today. who's uncertain, unsure.
that if Jesus will come this afternoon, And that skies open and the angel will blow the trumpet and there'll be a shout, If you cannot be sure absolutely without a shadow of doubt that you're going to be with him. Today Make this day to be the day in which you receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your only Savior and Lord. If you have never accepted his invitation, If you're still living for self, If you still think that if you do some good somehow God is going to feel obligated to let you into His heaven. Listen to me. That's the teaching of Hollywood.
That's not the teaching of the Bible. The Bible said there is no other name under heaven by which men shall be saved. Only the name of Jesus, our bridegroom, king. Come to him. Come to him today.
Because you might never have. Another chance, and when you come to Him, you'll get to heaven based on His merit, not yours. Here's the truth. Listen carefully. In his first coming, King Jesus betrothed the believers to himself.
But in his second coming, He's going to come and take us to his father's palace. In his first coming, King Jesus made a betrothal covenant with us on the cross. But in his second coming, he's going to consummate all things and this covenant forever. In his first coming, Jesus said, In my father's house, there are many rooms. If it were not so, I would not have told you that when I'm ready, when they are ready, I'm going to come back and take you with me.
But in his second coming, he will do just that. In the book of Revelation. where John was privileged. to be taken into heaven, And he said, Behold, he's coming with clouds. Do you know in the Bible, whenever you see clouds, the word clouds doesn't mean the clouds that stop the sun from shining, it means people.
Whenever he says coming with the cloud, that means people. These are the ones. who loved him and gone ahead of us. Because the Bible said, Paul said, absence from the body is presence with the Lord. And he said, What does that mean?
Then the dead will rise first because we're going to see them. For those of us who bear here, to us, they're risen from the dead, but in reality, they're already in the presence of Jesus. He's going to come with a cloud and with a shout and the trumpet of the archangels. And the Bible said, Every eye is going to see him. The pagan eye is going to see him.
Those who have rejected him are going to see him. Those who denied him are going to see him. A lot of people or millions and billions of people are going to see him, but not everyone is going to be with him. Only his bride, only his church. those who waited for him, Only those who loved him with all their hearts, only those who have longed for his appearing, only those who loved his appearing.
Let me ask you again, will you be part of that bride? Will you be part of his bride? Or what are you one of those people? who will stand there and see it. and regret that you have never responded to his invitation.
That decision. is yours. He is calling you. He is inviting you. Will you come?
Dr. Michael Mussap describing the certainty of his coming. The conclusion of the bride's waiting and the consummation of all things. on this episode of Leading the Way. In Mark 16:15, Jesus said, go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.
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