I came across this while reading today and felt lead to share with you...

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(Eph. 5:27)

"In the future He will present it to Himself a glorious church, without a spot or wrinkle but holy and without blemish. No young man engaged to a young lady thinks that she ought to be put through the fires of persecution or the Great Tribulation before he marries her. That is unheard of. So imagine anyone saying that the church must go through the Great Tribulation! She is engaged to Him, and He is cleansing the church by the washing of the Word of God. Keep in mind that when we use the word church, we are not talking about an organization with a steeple, a pulpit, and an organ. We are talking about the body of true believers. This verse means that He is washing each believer, preparing each one for that great event. He is sanctifying the church with the washing of water by the Word. In the future the church will be presented to Him as a radiant bride with all sin removed. Then the church will be holy and unblamable."

--J. Vernon McGee, Thru the Bible Volume 5, pg. 269-270

Stephanie, {Keep in mind that when we use the word church, we are not talking about an organization with a steeple, a pulpit, and an organ. We are talking about the body of true believers.}

I love the message you posted. So many times I will read on other boards how Christ and the rapture is far into the future, because of the condition of the church. They are right when they say the church is not ready for his return-there not ready at all. Just by their fruits you can tell that.

BUT the true beleivers have made themselve ready and welcome his return.

The true believers have been sealed and indwelled by the Holy Spirit, and have been given new natures by God. Our new natures never want to stop following Christ, and when we're set free of our mortal bodies, our new natures will be all we have left, because our sin natures will be gone.

We have the assurance that Jesus has completed the work of salvation for us on the cross and will also complete our sanctification and HE will prepare us for Glory:

JUDE, verse 24:

24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,

yes, it is the power of Jesus that saves us, His blood being so precious that it covers all sin. Jesus said on the cross, "It is finished". Jesus wants us to believe Him, that He is God come to us to save us:

John 6:27 Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.

28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?

29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

It doesn't take the wrath of God for the bride of Christ to repent. The bride has already acknowledged her sin and asked Jesus for forgiveness. We are not cleansed by what we do, our works are like filthy rags compared to Jesus.
We are asked to believe in Jesus. The bride makes herself ready by believing the groom! that He loves her and she loves Him!

We love you Lord Jesus! Come quickly!

Amen, Regina and Texas Sue!

It is amazing to me through reading God's Word how we are saved. We are adopted into God's family and it was custom in the times the Bible was written that a parent could not disown an adopted son and if you study the original language and meanings, it tells us that we cannot be disowned (lose salvation) by God either. We will fall down but Jesus will help us back on our feet. We will not be sinless until we get rid of these old bodies but our sins are already covered by the blood of Jesus.

Jesus died almost 2,000 years ago for the sins of the people who were already dead then, for the people who were alive at the time, and for all future generations! It is finished. He has covered our past and future sins. That doesn't give us a license to sin though to live in the flesh freely. God will chastise his children when they sin but he won't chastise Satan's children. So if you are living in habitual sin with no guilt or discipline, you aren't and never were a child of God. When we turned to Jesus, we were born again and we will not be able to live comfortably in sin.

The good news is it's Jesus that gives us our new nature so if you're not accepting Him because you know you can't live the Christian life and you're struggling with sin, guess what?! We were just like you! We can't live sinless lives, only Jesus did and all you need is the desire to turn from your sin and Jesus will do the rest! He's amazing! There's nothing you have done that will make you any different than us after you're saved!