Text: 2 Cor. 11:1-3; Rev. 19:7-9; 2 Corinthians 13:5: Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?
Intro: Our usefulness, happiness, activity, fruitfulness, growth and power all depend upon our obedience to the all things that our Lord commanded. There are no in-laws and stepchildren in God’s family. But there is a vast difference between those who are least and great, (Luke 14:11; Matt. 18:1-4). This is where obedience and loyalty come in.
There was a custom among the Greeks to have an officer whose business was to educate and prepare young women for marriage, and then to present them to those who were to be their husbands, and if this officer through negligence permitted them to be corrupted between the espousal and the consummation of the marriage, great blame would fall upon him."
Paul felt this responsibility to the church at Corinth.
    1. The relation of the church to Christ is often represented by marriage, (Eph. 5:25-27).
    2. The bride of Christ warned, (2 Corinthians 11:3). But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through
        his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
        a. Since Satan had seduced the first woman, Paul felt it is very possible that the church at Corinth may be in danger of
            being led astray by temptation.
        b. Special efforts are being made today through the persuasive arts of the false teachers; the power of philosophy; and
            the attractive and corrupting influence of the world, to lead the Lord’s churches astray.
    3. The bride of Christ defined. The bride of Christ is always a local visible congregation of Scripturally baptized believers
        covenanted together under New Testament law to carry out the commission as given by Christ, with an unbroken history
        from the days of Christ until this very moment.
I. It Requires Something To Be In the Bride of Christ
    A. It requires salvation, (Acts 2:47).
    B. It requires Scriptural baptism
        1. Scriptural baptism makes one eligible for church membership, (Acts 2:41).
        2. Church membership is necessary to being in the bride (Ephesians 5:27).
            That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be
            holy and without blemish.
    C. It requires separation, (Revelation 3:4, 21). 4: Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their
        garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.  21: To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me
        in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
    D. It requires steadfastness, (Matthew 10:37-38). 37: He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me:
        and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38: And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth
        after me, is not worthy of me. Luke 9:62 And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and
        looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.
        1. To put one's hand to a plow is a proverbial expression to signify undertaking any business.
        2. In order that a plowman may accomplish his work, he must look onward-to be intent on his employment-not to be
            looking back with regret that he undertook it.
        3. So in Christianity. He that enters into it must do it with his whole heart.
        4. He that comes still loving the world-still looking with regret on its pleasures, its wealth, and its honors, is not fit for the
            kingdom of God.
        5. It is dangerous to tamper with the world – to look at its pleasures or to seek its society.
        6. Christianity is everything or it is nothing at all.
        7. He that is not willing to sacrifice "everything" for the cause of God is really not willing to sacrifice anything.
        8. Deut. 13:6-10; Rev. 2:5; 3:16, 20-21
II. It Proves Something to be in the bride of Christ.
    A. It proves that spiritual things were valued above secular things, (Matt. 6:33).
    B. It proves that the Savior is esteemed above self, (Eph. 3:21).
    C. It proves that eternity was preferred over time.
III. It means Something to be in the Bride of Christ.
    A. It means being in His house during the ages to come, (John 14:1-3).
    B. It means enjoying the favored place by His side, (Revelation 3:21). To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in
        my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
        1. 1 Cor. 6:2-3; the saints mentioned in verse two were members of the local church at Corinth, (Psa. 149. 5-9).
    C. It means having lavish attention from the Groom, Jesus Christ.