I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Ephesians chapter
5. Ephesians chapter 5. My heart was drawn back to this passage of
scripture. I'd like to look at verses 22
to 33. But the last few weeks, my heart
has truly been made to consider again this blessed passage of
Scripture that we've looked at before. And Lord willing, shall
again. Remembering the words of the
Apostle Paul to say the same things to you, to me is not grievous. He said, for you it's safe. We
need to hear God's Word over and over. Let's just read this
passage. Ephesians chapter 5 verse 22
to the end of the chapter. Wives, submit yourselves unto
your own husbands as unto the Lord. For the husband is the
head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church. and
He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject
unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even
as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it. that he might sanctify and cleanse
it with the washing of water by the word, 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. So ought men to love their wives
as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth
himself. For no man ever yet hated his
own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it even as the Lord
the church. For we're members of his body,
of his flesh, of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother and shall be joined unto his wife and they
too shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery, but
I speak concerning Christ and the Church. Nevertheless, let
every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself,
and the wife see that she reverence her husband." Now I'd like for
us to just take these passages of scripture again this morning
and consider the glorious institution of marriage. Marriage. An institution that was born,
not with man, but an institution, a union, that was born in the
heart of God Almighty. Genesis 2.24, Therefore shall
a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife,
and they shall be one flesh. Now the Lord declared that this
glorious bond of marriage, it speaks of honor and commitment,
oneness, peace, fellowship, and all that lends itself to being
settled. being born in the mind of Almighty
God according to His will and purpose. It's actually worship. It's worship. I do understand that not all
are married. I understand that. But for those
that are married, those that God does bring together, that
union is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and His bride. And their oneness. That oneness
that you and I cannot even enter into. One with Him. As He is, so are we in this world. So are we. One with Him. And when a man and a woman are
joined together in marriage according to the word of the Lord concerning,
and he was speaking back in Genesis of the Lord Jesus Christ being
one with His bride. It's not good. It's not good
that the man should be alone. I think, what wisdom. What majesty! He who is God Himself. Jehovah says it's not good that
he should be alone. I'm going to make him a help that is meet,
that is fit for him, to honor him. For him to love her, provide
for her. Worship. That's the institute
of Mary. Worship. Be obedient, prostrate
oneself to bow to, that's what worship means. To submit to,
to give homage to another. Worship, worship. First time,
Genesis 22, you've read this before, I have too, Genesis 22.
First time the word worship. I love this passage description.
Genesis 22, verses one to five. God had told Abraham, take your
son, He says in verse 1, Genesis 22, 1. It came to pass after
these things that God did tempt. We're going to prove to Abraham
God's faithfulness. That's where we're going. We're
going to tempt. Proved his faithfulness to Abraham. And said unto him,
Abraham, and he said unto him, behold, here I am. And he said, take now thy son,
thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest. and get thee into the
land of Moriah and offer him there for a burnt offering upon
one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. And Abraham rose
up early in the morning." I read that just a few minutes ago and
I thought, he got up real early in the morning. How much sleep
do you think he got that night? Abraham rose up early in the
morning. Saddled his ass, took two of his young men with him,
and Isaac, his son, claved the wood for the burnt offering,
rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. On
the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place
afar off. And Abraham said unto his young
men, Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad." Now here's
obedience, here's worship, obedience, and faith. Abraham knew. that God had promised that the
Messiah was going to come through Isaac. He's going to come through
the loins of Isaac, didn't he, Neil? He's going to come through
Isaac. That's what God told him. He's
going to come through Isaac. And he said, you take your son, your
only son, and you go offer him as a burnt offering unto me. Abide ye here with the ass, and
I and the lad will go yonder and worship. I'm going to do just exactly
what God told me to do. He told me to take my son, my
only son Isaac, and offer him unto the Lord as a burnt offering. And that's what I'm going to
do. We're going to go worship, but then he said, and come again
to you. He knew. God's Word is sure. He was assured. God raised him
up. But he was going to worship God. He was going to obey God.
So absolute worship is set forth in marriage. Worship, that's
what it is. Obedience to the Lord's command. That's the very heart of man's
worship. And this divine union, it's glorious
in its type of what is actually being set forth. We forget, we
forget, we forget how easily we forget Ephesians 5, we just
read this, 31-32. For this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother, they shall be joined unto his wife, and
they too shall be one flesh. And Paul said this is a great
mystery. Oh, if we would take into consideration
and be made to realize afresh, afresh, afresh. This union, this
marriage is a picture of Christ and His bride. Christ and the
Church. This is a great mystery. I speak concerning Christ and
the Church. Now, in the midst of this world's
vile disrespect and disobedience toward marriage, God has mercifully,
gloriously, graciously, He has set forth in His Word, His thoughts,
His will, His purpose concerning this marriage. He sat down. Whenever I, I've told many of
you, whenever I perform a wedding, I've had many of them, because
of the laws of the state, you have to go to marriage counseling. You have to go to marriage counseling,
you know. And people, you know, they'll ask me, you know, we
have to do marriage counseling. And I said, I know. And I said,
I'm going to tell you, and I'm going to take this passage right
here. And I said, there's only two rules. There's only two rules
to marriage. That's what we're going to look
at in just a few minutes. I said, you can go and listen
to all of these weeks of this book and stuff like this. I said,
God Almighty has set forth the foundation of marriage. That's what we'll look at. So
here, the believer, longs to know. They want to know. You
tell me again. I need to hear it again. You
tell me what God has to say concerning these things. So marriage is
an honorable institution. It is a picture of the Lord Jesus
Christ and His bride. And there's nothing in this world
that's more pleasant, more beautiful, more comforting than a settled
marriage. There's nothing more, more settling
to the heart. But oh, where these two rules
are not set forth and strive after, asking God, help me, help
me, Lord help me. When these two rules are disregarded,
it's chaos. Two rules, two rules only. Here's
rule number one. Verse 22 to 24. Wives, submit
yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. For the husband
is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the
church, and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, as the
church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their
own husbands Everything, as the church yields in subjection to the Lord Jesus
Christ heartily, sincerely, willingly. The wife is to subject herself,
the scripture says, to her husband in everything, everything. Now what does that mean, everything?
Everything lawful, everything consistent with God's Word. Now, people say, well, my husband
wants me to commit crimes. Now, you know better than that.
Everything set forth in God's Word concerning. The husband
is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church. I've
told people when I'm performing a wedding, somebody will have
to make a decision. I've told husbands, I said, listen
to what your wife has to say. Please don't go into this thing
bullheaded and thinking, you know, you're going to lay down
law. I'm getting ready to get to the man in just a few minutes
on loving his wife. Don't go in here with an iron
fist and say, woman, I'm telling you, old lady, she's not your
old lady. She's your wife. She's a picture of the bride
of Christ. She's a picture of that which the Lord Jesus Christ
everlastingly loved and gave himself for. She's your wife. But there's times, and I've told
them, I said, talk. Talk about it. But there's going
to be a time when a decision is going to have to be made. And I've told them both. I said,
listen to me. I said, God has established the
man to be the head of the wife. And whenever a decision has got
to be made, you talk about it, You listen to each other. But
if it comes to a stalemate, the man's going to have to make the
decision. God gave him that authority. But I'll tell the men, but you
live with it. You live with it. It is a responsibility. The man
is the head of the wife. So wives, submit yourselves to
your own husband. What do you mean? That means
look to him. Submit yourself to him. Respect him as the one that loves
you. We'll look at it in just a minute.
You cover his faults, you defend his character, you remember him
In your prayer, you strive to be obedient unto God, being obedient
and submissive unto your husband. Leave the management of the family
to the husband. Wives, submit yourself. How does
the bride of Christ think and act toward the Lord Jesus? How
does she do? She hears. She hears His Word.
She loves it. She respects Him. She bows to
Him. She thinks well of Him. She knows
that what He does, He does for her good. For her honor. God has ordained in that order
of a marriage that places a wife in the position of dependence. Husbands, you take care of your
wife. You take care of her. You respect
her and you watch over her. Why? Because the marriage is
a picture and type of the marriage between the Lord Jesus Christ
and His bride. Wives, God has given the man
the responsibility to be the head over the wife. That is God's Word. A wife is
not to try to usurp the authority or lord over. The Lord won't
bless that. Now listen men, verse 25. Husbands,
love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave
himself for it. as Christ took delight in his
bride. Take delight in your wife. You show her respect. You treat her with honor. Speak to her respectfully. I remember my mama saying, yeah,
I grew up listening to this. She said, it's not what you say. It's how you said it. Got a lot
of truth in that, don't it? Husbands, you seek her contentment. You treat her with kindness,
quietness, peace within the home. You strive after. making her
comfortable. Many of you have heard me say
this. You treat your wife as the queen of the house. Let me
tell you where that comes from. Hold your place right there.
Turn to Esther. If you turn to Psalms and you keep going, then
you are going to see Job. Esther is just before Job, I
can tell you right now. So if you see Job, you are getting
ready to hit Esther. Esther chapter 5. Esther chapter 5, verse 1 to
3. Esther 5, Now it came to pass
on the third day that Esther put on her royal apparel and
stood in the inner court of the king's house over against the
king's house. And the king sat upon his royal
throne in the royal house over against the gate of the house.
Now you think about this. Here's the king. He's the king. He's the king. This is Esther's
husband. Esther's husband. He's the king.
Who is she? She's the queen. In verse 2 it says, And it was so,
when the king saw Esther, the queen, standing in the court,
that she obtained favor in his sight. And the king held out
to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. So Esther
drew near and touched the top of the scepter. Oh, the picture
here between the Lord Jesus Christ and His mercy and compassion
extending to His people. His hand, His power, His acceptance
with her. He looked at her and that was
His queen. That was His wife. She was the
queen. Then in verse 3, Then said the
king unto her, What wilt thou? He didn't just say Esther, wife. What wilt thou, Queen Esther? And what is I request, it shall
be even given thee to the half of the kingdom." Oh, when God
gives a man a wife, treat her as the queen of the house. She's deserving. He said, but
I'm the head of the wife. I know that. You love her. She's
the weaker vessel. And you treat her with respect.
She came to Him and He looked at her. Like the Lord Jesus says
in Song of Solomon, you have ravished me with one of your
eyes. I still can't enter into the
depth of that. With one look of faith. That bride looks at her husband
The Lord, the husband says, you stole my heart. Now let me ask you this, what
wife is not going to submit herself to a husband that loves her, cares for her, treats her with
respect, has the best opinion of her, always seeking, endeavoring
to seek her physical and spiritual welfare. treating her with just
love and covering over her faults, stuff like that. Let me tell
you the most unlovely thing that you can hear is when you have
two people that are married and they're bringing up in open company,
don't even do it between you two, but in open company, making
fun of her or saying something that's going to be an embarrassment
to her. I told somebody, I said, listen, if she burns every pancake
that she ever makes you, nobody else has to know that. Nobody
has to know that. You cover her faults, you defend
her character, you lift her up and treat her with the respect
that she's due. She's given up her name. for you. And what a believer. We're called Christians. Christians. Sons of God. What a name. What
a name. What is the foundation of a believer
looking to the Lord in submission to Him? The love of Christ constraineth
us. Made willing in the day of His
power. Lord, as you say, it is. You love her husbands. The church
was defiled with original and actual sin, but because the Lord
loved her. He loved her. Scripture says
He gave Himself for her. A wife who has a husband that
gives Himself for her. completely, lovingly. I'm telling you, you take a man
that loves his wife, and I'm telling you, she'll submit herself
to him. Almighty God, our husband, took
us unto himself, gave himself that we should be holy. Unblameable,
unreprovable in His sight, gave Himself, lived for us, robed
us in His righteousness. I know as husbands we'll never
be able to do what the Lord has done for us, but I'm telling
you, the Scripture sets forth, husbands, you love your wife
even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it. And then look at verses 29 to
30. No man ever hated his own flesh. Now that's an amazing
thing. Two people are married. They're
one. Scripture says we're one. We're
one in heart. Two believers. One in love for
Christ. One in purpose to serve Him,
love each other, submit to each other. No man ever yet hated
his own flesh, but nourisheth, cherisheth it, Even as the Lord
of the church, do you realize that what we do for our spouse,
we're doing that to ourselves. Whatever we're doing for our
spouse is for us. We're members of His body, of
His flesh, and His bones. There's no part of the body that's
insignificant. A few years ago, I broke that
finger. That was still my finger. I had a neighbor. Probably told
you this. My neighbor told me, he said,
why don't you just cut it off? I said, because it's my finger.
And I want it. I said, that's mine. No man, no woman ever hated themselves. But they love, they nourish it,
cherish it. And that's what the Lord's done
for his church, his bride. As believing husbands and wives,
we're members. of His body, of His flesh, and
His bone. Verse 31, for this cause, shall
man leave his father and mother, they shall be joined unto his
wife, and they too shall be one flesh. I can't help but remember
that passage that we quote all the time here. When the Lord
said concerning His own, He said, I will never leave you. I will
never forsake you. I'll never, I'll never cast him
that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. 32, 33, this is a great mystery,
but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless,
in summation, let every one of you in particular so love his
wife, even as himself. And the wife, see that she reverence
her husband. You let the world say what it
will concerning marriage. What God has to say about it
is that this is a great mystery. This is a great, marvelous mystery. And what that means is that that
marriage reveals something. that is hidden to the natural
man, to the world. Marriage is the open declaration. The gospel is being preached
in every marriage. Two people that know God, the
gospel is being preached. That's why that institution,
it was not good that Christ should be alone. Marriage is holy. It's pure. It's a fit picture
of that union. Nevertheless, therefore, let
every one of us in particular love his wife as he loves himself
and wives reverence your husband. Like I said, a wife that submits
herself lovingly to her husband, and she does so because he's
doing all he can for her. He's doing everything he can
for her. It just works. It just mingles. Let me leave
us all with this thought. A man that loves his wife, treats
her as his wife. He's going to watch over her. He's going to pray for her. He's
going to take care of her. He's going to listen to her. He's going to do all
he can for her for the glory of God. Wives, submit yourselves. Listen. Leave the management
of the family to your husband. I've said before, you talk about
it. You talk about it. But leave the management. The
man is the head of the house. Wives submit. Husbands love. I pray God teach us something
fresh about marriage for Christ's sake and our good. Amen.