Turn with me to the book of Ephesians
chapter 5. Our Lord admonishes His people
here. church at Ephesus, and he says in verse 16 of this fifth
chapter, he talks about the church at Ephesus to redeem the time
because the days are evil, make the most of it. but understanding what the will
of the Lord is. Be not drunk with wine wherein
is excess, but rather be filled with the Spirit of God. Speaking
to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing
and making melody in your heart to the Lord. giving thanks always
for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of
God." Now he talks about the duties of wives and husbands
and children and servants. Wives, submit yourselves unto
your own husbands, as unto the Lord. In the same manner, degree,
that your submission is to him, submit yourselves unto your own husbands. For the
husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of
the church. He is the Savior of the body. Well, all believers in Christ
are members of his body, which comprises his church. The church
is the body of Christ. Christ is the head of the church.
And so he has a lot to say here about husbands and wives as it
relates to this called out body, the church. As husbands are to
act in love to their wives and their
wives are to love their husbands and submit to them That same
instruction applies to the Church, the Body of Christ. It says,
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 forth. Love
the church, that's the elect of God. God, in his sovereign
election, according to his good pleasure, put all of those that
were ordained to life in his church. before time ever was. He put them in Christ, who is
the head of the Church, and His people are the body, but He put
them in Christ, chose them in Christ. And Christ loved the Church and
gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify it and cleanse
it with the washing of water by the and 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,
the church, the body of Christ. So ought men to love their wives
as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth
himself. For no man ever hated his own
flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord, the Church,
nourisheth and cherisheth the Church. For we are members of
his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. And 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." Now, this
is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the Church,
a great mystery. Nevertheless, let every one of
you, in particular, so love his wife, even as himself, and the
wife see that she reverence her husband. Great mystery. We'll talk about that in a minute,
but let me read over here in the book of 1 Timothy another
mystery. Many mysteries in the Bible.
I think it's in the book of Timothy. In the third chapter of the book
of 1 Timothy. It has to do with the Church
again. In the 14th verse, the Apostle
tells Timothy, These things write I unto thee, Timothy, hoping
to come unto thee shortly. But in the providence of God,
I am hindered from coming. But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou
oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the
church of the living God." It's the pillar and the ground of
the truth, the body of Christ, the church. And he says, and without controversy,
is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the
Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up in glory.
The mystery of godliness is that God was manifest in the flesh,
that is, that in the Incarnation, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is
God, He's not God the Father, He's God the Son. But there's
not three separate units to the Trinity. There's not a unit here,
and a unit here, and a unit here. I can't explain it. It's a mystery.
But it's three in one. but not separate, distinct and
in unity, in agreement, God the Father, God the Son, and the
Lord Jesus Christ came down here. God, in the fall of man, when man
is all in the mind and purpose of God, created man out of the
dust of the earth, and man, the race, Adam's race, fell. And
even before they fell, in eternity past, God had in His mind, will,
and purpose foreseen the fall. He said, I've got to save some
out of that fallen race. And the only way he could save
anyone out of the fallen race, since it was a human being that
sinned, Adam, it must be a human being that comes down to be a
savior. So God become a man in the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ and was born of a woman. And as the
woman sinned. Great is this mystery that God
become a man. There's not many folks, actually
church folks, that have any light whatsoever in this great mystery
that God, that Jesus Christ is God. Whole denominations do not
believe that Jesus Christ is God Almighty in the flesh. That's
a great mystery. I don't understand it and I can't
solve the mystery, but I do believe it. And don't doubt it for a
second that the Son of God came down. God fashioned and formed
a body for it. And He took upon Himself
our humanity. And in our humanity, everything
that God required of us, our Lord Jesus Christ, the God-Man
accomplished. Whatever debts we owed, He paid. Our sins were laid on Him and
He paid for them. And He forgave us of all of our
sins. And He provided for us a righteousness
that would stand us forever faultless before the throne of God. That's
a great mystery, but that's the truth. in this book of Ephesians. Let me look at that again, the
book of Ephesians, that fifth chapter, the twenty-ninth verse. For no man ever hated his own
flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the Church."
Now, this mystery of the Church is somehow defined in the incarnation of the Lord Jesus
Christ and also in that situation with Adam and Eve. Now, this
mystery seems to me was displayed or exhibited by Eve's existing
in Adam before she was extracted from Adam. The Bible says about us that
our life is hid with Christ in God. It says something about
a new creation. If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creation. In Christ, a new creation. When Eve was taken out of Adam,
she was a, the Bible says, a help-meet formed for him. When she was taken out of Adam,
that rib that came out of Adam made a woman. Adam was taken, or Eve was taken
out of Adam. And when she was taken out, she
was a helpmate formed by God from Adam and formed for Adam
to be his helpmate. So are his people, or the Bible
refers to them as his elect. Most of the time, if we have
a mixed congregation of believers and unbelievers, preachers generally
don't use the word elect. They talk about His people, which
is all right. So are His elect, His people
created anew in Christ Jesus. Now, when He was formed, if you
remember right there 2nd or 3rd chapter of the book of Genesis. When Eve was formed, God brought
her to Adam. She didn't come on her own. God
formed her, extracted her out of Adam, and then God brought
her to Adam. So no man can come to Christ
except the Father draw him. God brought Eve to Adam. No man can come to Christ except
the Father draw him. Well, when she came to Adam. Adam received her as God's gift,
not as a payment. He received Eve, who was extracted
from him by God and brought to him by God to be his helpmate. He received her as a gift. And when we receive the Lord
Jesus Christ, it is as a gift. Eternal life is a gift of God,
not of works of righteousness which we have done, but according
to his mercy hath he saved us. He received her as God's gift. And so you and I, before time
ever was, if we be in Christ, was put in Christ by God before
the foundation of the world. The elect was put in Christ,
chosen in Christ before the world began. Adam and Eve are said to be one. So also they that are joined
to the Lord are one spirit. Those who are believers in God's
Christ are one with the Lord Jesus Christ. Adam said that
man shall leave his father and his mother and cleave to his
wife. Now, when some of the followers
of the Lord Jesus Christ ask or inquire of the Lord Jesus
at crucifixion, They said to him, Behold thy mother and thy brethren. He said they were out there in
that crowd. He said, Behold thy mother and
brethren. They stand out desiring to talk
with you. That's what they said to the
Lord Jesus. But he answered and said this in response to their
making the statement, your mother and your brethren. He said, who
is my mother and who is my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand
towards his disciples. And he said, Behold, my mother
and my brethren. So the Lord Jesus Christ left
his father and his mother and he claimed to his wife, which
is his bride, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's Christ
and his Well, Adam had but one wife, and God brought that one wife
to him, and no more. Adam only had one wife, no more. One love, one church, that's
all. One body of Christ. He loved
the church. and gave himself for it." Over
here is a verse in the book of the Song of Solomon. It's in
chapter 6 of the book. And the Song of Solomon is mostly
about the church, Christ and his church. And I said to you
here that Adam had but one wife and was brought to him by God
himself and he had no more. And in this ninth verse it says
this. They're talking about his church,
the beauty of his church, typified in a woman. He said in verse
9, My undefiled is but one. She is the only one. One wife. God brought to Adam
one wife and that's all. One church and one Savior. All right? When Eve fell, we're
generally mentioned when Adam fell. Well, that's right, because
Adam's the federal head of the race. He represented us all.
But it was Eve who fell first, wasn't it? It was Eve who believed
the lie of the devil. So when Eve fell, Adam was included
in the transgression. So when the church or God's elected
spouse fell, Christ was not deceived as Adam was not deceived. Adam
walked into it with his eyes wide open. But when the church
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the elect who were not yet called
in Adam, when they fell, The Lord Jesus Christ was not
deceived, yet the Bible says that he was made sin and was
numbered among the transgressors. Now, when Adam and Eve fell,
their marriage was not made void. There was no divorce. That didn't
nullify the relationship when they fell. wasn't made born. So in the fall of God's people,
God's elect people, those that he has ordained, those that he
has chosen and brought unto himself through the gospel, even those
many thousands and millions yet to be brought, So the fall of
his elect people did not break the bond of God's everlasting
covenant that he made with the Father and the Son and the Holy
Spirit. In John chapter 17, I think it says this, John 17. Maybe. He says in that ninth verse, well, the sixth verse, He says, I have
manifested thy name unto the man. Where did they come from? Which
thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they were. He chose them in Christ, gave
them to Christ before the world ever was. And so our Lord said,
I have manifested thy name unto the man which thou gavest me
out of the world. Thine they were. They were yours
first. And thou gavest them me, and
they have kept thy word. And so he goes on and mentions
them again. For I have given unto them the
words which thou gavest me, and they have received them, and
have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have
believed that thou didst send me. I pray for them, I pray not
for the world. but for them which thou hast
given me, for they are thine, and all mine are thine, and thine
are mine, and I am glorified in them." Talking about those
of his elect people that he chose before time ever was, before
the foundation of the world, that comprises this local visible
body called the church here in time. All of us are members of
his body. And he says, Husbands, love your
wives like Christ loves his church. Now, that ought to help us. We ought to love our wives, and
wives ought to love their husbands. like Christ loves his church. He loves his church, and I read
you that last verse, or the first verse and the last verse of the
book of Jude said that we are preserved in Christ. And at the
end, he is going to take his church and present them before
the throne of God, faultless. That's how much he loves us. faultless, without spot or without
wrinkle, faultless. That's the way we are in Christ. We're in Him. We've got to be
faultless. We've got to be without spot
and without wrinkle because we're in Him. And you remember, I told
you about that verse, to be sure and remember it, over there in
the book of 1 John, where it says, As He is, so are we. When in this world, Even now,
that's the way we are. Oh, what debtors we are to the
love of Almighty God, everlasting, eternal, never-ending love. Loves us and will never let us
go. Oh, my soul. Praise the Lord. Thank the Lord. Let's stand.
We'll go home.