Notice that the church enjoys the strength and protection of Christ. You think about the protection of the church. You think about the strength of the Lord. In the heart of every man, there ought to beat a dedication to see to the need, the well-being, the protection, of the family. It may be protection from the cold. It may be protection from hunger. It may be protection from some kind of physical difficulty or danger. Ultimately, the man who deserves the right to be a man will defend and uphold the family with all of his strength.

Now, Christ is far greater than any man could ever be, and He will not leave His church without protection, without care. He does not do that by sticks and stones and swords. He does that by instilling His Word into the hearts and lives of people who say, “Whatever happens, I…will…be…faithful to God and the church where I live and serve! I will do all I know to do to keep it pure and upright in the service of God. And should the time come when the church is no longer faithful to God, I will, with broken heart, walk away, and live and work among those who are loyal and faithful to God, whether the many or the few! And that many or few in the church will…be…victorious!” We never doubt that.

And finally, there is the rejoicing of the destiny of the people of God. We have two daughters, and when they were getting married, O, did we go through an awful lot of time and effort and drive here and there and… We would drive a hundred miles to get a piece of lace that long [he is indicating a rather short piece]. Now, if you haven’t had that joy, you don’t know what joy is. [Laughter] But what was in the heart of each of our daughters was in our hearts, and we would put any amount of time and effort and as much expense as we could, because we wanted the day to come when this girl that we loved with all of our hearts would have the destiny of that marriage. I still get teary-eyed when I think about it.

Now, you and I have a destiny with God. One of the worst things that Satan can do to us is to destroy that sense of destiny and make us forget that God is not merely aware of today. He is aware of eternity. And when we measure the difficulties of the present against the destiny of the people of God, however burdensome they may be, they’re light and they are easy. That’s our destiny. [Matthew 11:28-30: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Romans 8:18: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”]

And, in closing, there is no power on earth, there is no force of Satan or his angels, that can destroy that. There was every effort made to prevent the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It was beyond all human ability to occur. It was guaranteed by making it as sure as they [the Jews] could, but it was as if the tomb was sealed by cobwebs. When Jesus was to rise from the dead, there was no problem. He rose in spite of all the devil and the world could do. And when the time comes for the church faithful to unite with God eternally in heaven, there is nothing that the devil and his angels can do to stop it. They will be consigned to eternal hell, and the church will experience eternal life with God.

I do not know, my friend, whether I shall ever look into your faces again in this world. I hope I do. I really have come to love and care for you. But, whether I ever see you again, I want us to resolve tonight: When the time for the bride and the groom to be together comes, we’ll be in that number. If I go first, I’ll be looking for you. And, if you go first, I want you to look for me. It’s been a joy to be with you. I look forward to hearing of great works.

In the close, if you’re not a Christian, may you tonight make the decision that you want to be a member of the bride of Christ; you want to claim that destiny of someday living with God and His people. In order for that to be, you must believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, repent of sin, make the good confession, and be baptized into Christ for remission of sins.

If you are a Christian and have not lived as God teaches you to do, what a precious opportunity you have. Recognizing your need of turning from wrong, make the confession to God of your sin, and ask brethren who love you and are interested in you to pray with you and for you, that you may be forgiven.

On these terms, we invite you as we stand. May we sing.