+I. Christ's love of His Church.+--It was--1. Ancient. 2. Self-moved.
3. Active. 4. Effective.
+II. Christ's sacrifice of Himself as an exhibition of His
love.+--1. Himself. His life. What a life! 2. As a sacrifice. The
essence of it is vicarious suffering. 3. To all the suffering which
justice demanded.
+III. Christ's more immediate object in what He has
done.+--1. Sanctification. As essential as pardon. 2. By the agency
of the Holy Spirit. Signified by the washing of water. 3. Through the
instrumentality of the Word.
+IV. Christ's ultimate aim.+--1. To present His Church to Himself. A
nuptial figure. 2. Free from all imperfections. 3. Adorned with all
excellencies. (1) Our obligations to Christ. (2) The real value of
holiness. (3) The high destiny of believers.--_G. Brooks._
_The Future Glory of the Church._
+I. The future state of the Church.+--In describing the future
condition of the Church, the apostle has evidently in his mind two
previous states: her original state when lying dead in trespasses and
sins, and her subsequent earthly state when separated from the mass
of the ungodly and partially redeemed. We have the people of Christ
before us in three distinct points of view:--
1. _As wholly defiled._--Speaking of "sanctifying and cleansing" the
Church intimates her complete defilement.
2. _As in some measure cleansed._--Though sanctified and cleansed, we
read of spots still left on the Church.