Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter
7. I had said that the last message
I preached on marriage would be the last in that series on
marriage, but I want to preach at least one more important subject
for that series. Now, as I've said to you repeatedly,
I am not an expert on marriage. I've only been married 20 years
next month and I'm by no means an expert on marriage. But God
is. And I'm leaving my word out of
it and I'm preaching God's word on it. That's what we do in every
message we preach. We preach when we hear what God
says on the subject, not what we think or our opinion. Now,
our subject is maintain your first love. Maintain your first
love. Now, 1 Corinthians 7.3, it says,
Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence, and likewise
also the wife unto the husband. The wife hath not power of her
own body, but the husband. And likewise also the husband
hath not power of his own body, but the wife. Defraud ye not
one the other, it means rob ye not one the other, except it
be with mutual consent for a time, that you may give yourselves,
and he uses fasting here at but some say it was added. But the
key is here to worship God. It's giving yourself for a time
to worship God, to fast and pray, to worship God, and then come
together again that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency
or want of self-control. Now here's the point that the
Holy Spirit's making in this passage. Husbands and wives are
to maintain our first love to one another. We are to maintain
our first love to one another just as we are to maintain our
first love to Christ as believers. And the reason is because it
is their due. It's the husband's due from the
wife, the wife's due from the husband, just as it is every
believer's due toward Christ. So we're to maintain our first
love. Now, for our divisions, we're
going to see what it is that's included in due benevolence,
and then we're going to see several reasons why benevolence is to
be rendered. Why is it due? Now, first of
all, let's understand what's included in this word, due benevolence. Due benevolence. Now, in the
text, due benevolence means simply and specifically intimacy between
a husband and a wife in the marriage bed. It's called in Exodus, the
duty of marriage. And that is definitely what it
means. But there is a lot more that's
included in this thing of giving due benevolence. Turn over to
Revelation chapter 2. Now you know that the church
is the bride of Christ. That is, all those God the Father
chose by His grace to be saved by Christ. He gave them to Christ
before the world was made. That's the church. We read in
Ephesians 1, 3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places according as He chose us in Christ before the world
was made. not based on any good in us,
not according to our works. He chose His people by grace,
sovereign free grace, God's sovereign grace. And He blessed His people
with all spiritual blessings when He chose us in Christ. They
were guaranteed to His people when He chose us in Christ. And
the reason is because before the world was made, Christ entered
into a covenant just like a marriage covenant that a husband or a
wife enter into. Christ entered into a covenant
to save His bride, to do everything necessary to save His bride.
The whole purpose in salvation is to declare the glory of God
in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. The purpose is not for
you and me to have something of glory in. The purpose is not
for you and I to say what work we did to be saved. The purpose
is for God to boast in His Son and what His Son did, because
His Son did the whole work. Anybody who hates that message
hates for God to have the glory. And it's no wonder because when
we fell in Adam, we went from wanting God to have the glory
to wanting ourselves to have the glory that belongs to God.
But God's people want Him to have the glory. So Christ, you
can go and read Ephesians 5, I'm not going to turn there right
now, we will a little later, We've seen time and again in
this series on marriage, Christ is the husband and His church
is the bride. The wife is to submit herself
unto the husband as unto the Lord, even as the church submits
herself unto Christ. Because Christ is the husband.
The husband is to love the bride and give himself for her even
as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. Christ knew
who He was dying for. He died, laid down His life for
the church. That's His bride. Now, in Revelation 2, we read
this. Revelation 2, 1, unto the angel
of the church of Ephesus write. You see, this is unto the angel
of the church of Ephesus. These things saith he that holdeth
the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst
of the seven golden candlesticks. Who is this written to and who
is this saying this? This is Christ, the husband of
the church. And he is speaking this unto
the angel of the church of Ephesus, to her pastor. Remember how John
compared the pastor to the friend of the bridegroom? The pastor
is like the best man at the wedding. He's the friend of the bridegroom.
And Christ gives the message to the pastor and the pastor
is to give the message to the church. Here's the message that
Christ delivered. Now I want you to see this. Now
notice it appeared that the bride is giving the husband, Christ
the husband, due benevolence. It appears she's giving to Christ
the husband everything she ought to. Look here, Revelation 2 verse
2. I know thy works, the Lord said,
and thy labor. The bride, the church at Ephesus,
was serving Christ her husband. And it says, And I know thy patience.
That means she wasn't just getting a fit of religion every now and
then, and they weren't just coming to church here and there, and
they weren't just going out and doing a little service to Christ
here and there. They were patiently, steadfastly,
continually serving the Lord. Worshipping and serving the Lord.
And it says, And how thou canst not bear them which are evil. And thou hast tried them which
say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars.
She was faithful to Christ, faithful to the truth of Christ. When
she heard liars speaking lies against Christ and putting the
work in sinners' hands, he said, you hated the liars. You hated those that said they
were true apostles and are not. And verse 3 says, and you have
borne and have patience for my name's sake has labored and has
not fainted. That means they endured suffering.
They were persecuted and they continued in the work of preaching
Christ's name. They wouldn't back up from preaching
Christ's name. Now everything there involved
in that seems like the bride was giving to Christ her husband
that which was due. But something was missing. Look
in verse 4. Nevertheless, I have somewhat
against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. It doesn't mean that they had
fallen away in unbelief. It doesn't mean they had stopped
believing on the Lord. He just commended them for all
those things that they were doing in His name and for Him. Believers
have love because we're born of God, born again of the Spirit
of God and that's when the love of God is shed abroad in the
heart. That's when you discover Christ's love for you and when
you begin to love Christ. And that love is kept by the
love of Christ, keeping that love stirred up. So they didn't
fall away from the faith and they didn't cease to love Christ
and serve Him. The evidence that they hadn't
fallen away, that He keeps us, is the fact that He sent His
preacher with this Word to stir up that love in them. So He keeps
His people. That's not what it was. It's
simply this. They had left the love that they
had for Christ at the very first. That love they had at the first.
That they had shed abroad in their hearts at the very beginning.
They had left that first love. They had grown lukewarm in their
love for Him. You remember whenever the Lord
first called you and He made you to behold what He had done
for you. You know, you hated the message
of sovereign grace. You hated it. God said the carnal
mind is enmity against God, not subject to God's Word and can't
be subject to God's Word. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God because they are foolishness
to him, neither can he know them because they are spiritually
discerned." We hated the message of salvation being entirely of
the Lord. But when God made you to see
that though there was nothing good in you, Yet before the world
began of His own will, doing what He would with His own creation
that He would create, God the Father chose a multitude no man
can number. And when you began to love that
was when God made you to know He included you in that number.
When we are lost, you know what we do when we hear that message?
We say, I hate that message. You know why? We put ourselves
with the non-elect. But you know when you love it?
When God makes you put yourself with the elect. and makes you
see if He hadn't chosen you, you'd have never chosen God.
And love filled your heart when He gave you that message. And
He made you to see that because here's the love of God, that
when we didn't love God, when we were ungodly, when we were
dead in our sins, here's how the love of God was manifest.
Christ Jesus came forth and laid down His life for the ungodly. And by His blood, by His righteousness,
He made everybody for whom He died the righteousness and holiness
of God. And then He came to us dead in
our sins, dead in trespasses and in sins, and He made us to
behold the truth. He gave us a new heart. He gave
us faith to hear the gospel and believe the gospel in spirit
and in truth. And when He did this, He filled
your heart with love for Him because He made you see for the
first time what a dead, helpless sinner you are and what an entirely
able and entire Savior that He is. He does all the saving. Salvation is of the Lord, Jonah
said. What does that one simple phrase
mean? It means salvation beginning to end is of the Lord. Well,
what did I do? You sinned and died. And God does the saving. God
does the saving. And so you loved Him for the
first time. And when that first love filled
your heart, it made you willing for the first time ever to confess
Christ. It made you willing to publicly
take sides with God against yourself. It made you willing to publicly
confess Him in believer's baptism. It made you willing to unite
with His people under the sound of the preaching of the Gospel
and to like to do it. You wanted to do it. You wanted
to hear more about Christ who loved you and died for you. And
it made you It made you want to send this gospel forth because
you wanted others to hear it. It made you want to bring others
to hear it. It made you fall head over heels in love with
Christ. And over time, what happens is
we began to get used to coming and hearing the gospel preach.
We began to get used to hearing this message of free grace that
once just overwhelmed our hearts and ravished our hearts with
His love. We get used to doing the things that the church here
was doing for Christ. And outwardly it appears like
everything that is being done is rendering to Christ that which
is due unto Him, that first love that is due unto Him. But you
remember God looks on the heart. And Christ looked on the heart
here with these Ephesians. And he said, all these things
I commend, these things that men can behold outwardly, I commend
you for doing those things. You ought to do those things.
But there is something missing. That first love. That first love
that you had for me. You have left that first love.
And so Christ comes to us just like He did in the beginning
and He says what He said over in Joel 2.12. He says, Turn ye
even to Me with all your heart. He says, with fasting and with
weeping and with mourning, there be some things outward that you
can see. But He says, turn to Me with all your heart and rend
your heart. Rend your heart. Our text is
talking about rendering due benevolence. He says, rend your heart and
not your garments. God is not satisfied with outward
works. When Christ came to the Pharisees,
they were busy doing all these outward works. Religion today
is doing all these mighty, wonderful works. And God stood toe-to-toe
with them. The Lord Jesus Christ looked
them in the face and He said, you may clean the outside of
the cup, but inside is filthy. You've whitewashed the outside
like people down in New Orleans have whitewashed one of those
sepulchers on the outside. But inside it is still full of
dead men's bones. See, we have to be born of God
because God looks on the heart. We have to be given a new heart
because that is what God is looking on. Paul said we are constrained
by the love of Christ. Where is that in that new heart? That new spirit that God promised
to give? Because we thus judge, we have spiritual discernment
now, that if Christ died for all, then all for whom He died,
they are dead now. Our old man is dead now. So that
we should not henceforth serve our flesh anymore. But what should
we be serving? In that He arose, He rose. And
we arose in Him to newness of life, so we should be serving
Him. Not serving the church. What
I'm getting at is motive, heart motive. Where's the heart? What's
the motive of the heart? Am I doing what I'm doing because
I'm trying to get God indebted to me? Am I doing what I'm doing
because I just feel like I ought to do it? Am I doing what I'm
doing because I want everybody in the church to look at me?
Am I doing what I'm doing because I want people in my community
to think well of me? God said none of that matters
to Him. What matters to Him is that you are doing it from a
motive that you want Him to have all the glory. Simply because
your head over heels in love with Him. That's where He brings
you. And when we turn from that love,
He stirs that love up again. He sends a message just like
He sent in the night and He speaks this word in the heart and says,
turn to Me with your whole heart and rend Me your heart and not
the outward. The outward will follow. It must
follow because we're still in these bodies. So whatever we're
going to do for Christ from an inward motive is going to be
done outwardly. But the heart's got to be first.
The heart's got to be what the motive is. The heart's got to
be where the constraint is, that first love. So do benevolence
between a husband and a wife? Yes, it does include the intimacy
of the marriage bed. but it includes so much more
than that. It includes loving one another with the whole heart
like you did at the first. It includes rendering your attention
and your affection and your respect, and your admiration, and your
appreciation, and your encouragement to one another, and your sympathy
to one another, and your understanding to one another, and your tenderness
to one another, and your kindness to one another. All those things
that were involved when you love at the very beginning with your
whole heart. That's what's included. I can
remember early in our marriage, I can remember wondering how
is it, how is it that husbands and wives after 20 or 30 years
can just call it quits? I remember thinking that how
can that happen? Because as newlyweds, you don't
even understand why this exhortation has to be made. You don't even
understand why do you have to even tell anybody to render due
benevolence, to render first love to one another. Why do you
have to even tell anybody that? Because it's so good. But what
happens after 5 years, 10 years, and 20 years, when a bunch of
kids are involved that you got to feed, and there's a bunch
of bills that you got to pay, and the pressures of life are
taken up every hour of every day so that when you come home
you're just dead tired? What about then? What happens
then? If our first love for Christ
can grow lukewarm, our first love for our husband or our wife
can grow lukewarm. So maintain first love for Christ. Maintaining first love for Christ
requires some effort. And maintaining first love between
a husband and wife requires some effort. At first, you just put
it on autopilot because it's just all natural. But after 10
or 20 years, it's going to require some effort. That's true of faith
in Christ and that's true of husbands and wives. Therefore
the Lord says, let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence
and likewise also the wife unto the husband. Now, that's seeing
what due benevolence is. It's first love and everything
that goes with that whole heart love with which you love one
another at the beginning. Now, secondly, I want us to notice
in our text, back in 1 Corinthians 7, I want us to notice here why
it's called due benevolence. Why is it goodwill that is due? Verse 3, He says there, Let the
husband render unto the wife due benevolence, and likewise
also the wife unto the husband. It is first love, goodwill, kindness,
love that is due. Now, why is it due? Why is it
due? Well, first of all, it's due
because we need to be loved. It's due because we need to be
loved. In the beginning, whenever God
made Adam, the Scripture says, the Lord God said, it's not good
that the man should be alone. This is after He created Adam.
out of the dust. He said, it's not good that man
should be alone. I will make a help meet for him. Now God said that. So we know
it's true. God said it is not good that
man should be alone. Man has a need not only to love,
but to be loved. And a woman has a need not only
to love, but to be loved. So God made Adam a wife, a help,
meet, a help to meet that need, a help meet for that need. And so God by that ordained the
institution of marriage between a husband and a wife. And he
is telling us there, God made a wife to meet her husband's
need of of needing to know that his wife
reverences him and respects him and admires him in all that he
does. A husband needs that. Needs to
know the wife reverences him and know the wife respects him
and admires him. And God made a husband because
a wife needs to know that her husband adores her and admires
her and appreciates her in all that she does. We need this. God said it and it's so. And
Christ our husband, when He came into this world, the husband
of the church, He performed the most unselfish act this world
has ever known. The fulfillment of all righteousness,
the fulfillment of the law, the very essence of the law is this. He said to love God as yourself,
to love God and your neighbor as yourself. And Christ went
to the cross. And he loved God as himself and
he loved those God gave him to lay down his life for as himself. How much does that involve? He was willing to be forsaken
by God and by those he was saving. That's what was required to declare
God just. God had to forsake Him on the
cross. When He was made sin in place
of His people, God had to forsake Him because by forsaking Him,
God was forsaking His people. And God had to do that to be
just. And at the same time, God had to be the justifier for God
to get all the glory. And so Christ had to be forsaken
on that cross for God to be just and the justifier. And in doing
so, we see in Him the personification of righteousness. He is the righteousness
of His people. We don't go back to the Ten Commandments
to try to become righteous. We believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. And God imputes His righteousness
to His people because He made His people righteous. He is our
righteousness. Now that's the most unselfish
act ever performed in this world. And Christ did that to make His
people unselfish. He did it to make His people
unselfish. And that's what He does. Christ
our Husband creates His people anew and He makes us unselfish
so that true love in a believing husband and a believing wife
true love and a believing husband and a believing wife considers
it the others do for them to make them know how much they
love them. This is the difference between
a couple who doesn't know the Gospel, a husband and wife who
does not know the Gospel, and a husband and wife who have the
love of God in their heart. The couple that has the love
of God in their heart, the husband is trying to show the wife how
much he loves her because he feels like that's what's due
to her. And he hates the fact he can't do more to make her
know how much he loves her. And the wife is doing the same
thing to the husband. Selfishness in a husband or wife
makes everybody involved miserable. If I start thinking that I do
something and I'm not getting what I'm doing, that I'm owed
something and I'm not getting what I'm owed, I'm going to be
miserable and I'm going to make everybody else in the house miserable. True charity, Scripture says,
seeketh not her own. True love is not seeking something
to benefit self. True love is seeking to benefit
the other because you believe it's due to them. It's due to
them. That's the love of God in the
heart. That's why you want to marry a believer because an unbeliever
doesn't have that. An unbeliever doesn't have that.
Only the believer beholds Christ and how unselfishly He laid down
His life for us and it makes you want to lay down your life
for your bride. And it makes her want to lay
down her life for you. That's what God works in the
hearts of His people. Now another reason benevolence
is due to our spouse is because we're one. We're one flesh. He
says there in 1 Corinthians 7, verse 4, The wife hath not power
over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise, also the
husband hath not power over his own body, but the wife. Whenever
God made Adam, you know how He made a woman? After he said it's
not good for a woman to be alone, Genesis 2 says that he put Adam
in a deep sleep and he took a rib out of Adam's side and from that
rib he made a woman. And he brought that woman, he
closed up Adam's side and from that rib he made a woman and
he brought that woman and presented her to Adam. And you know what
Adam said? Listen to this. And Adam said,
this is now, bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh, she shall
be called woman because she was taken out of man. Therefore,
now listen to this, this is God's Word. Therefore shall a man leave
his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife and
they shall be one flesh. Go with me to Ephesians 5. The
Holy Spirit of God tells us plainly that that was to picture the
Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5 verse 30. It says, And first in verse 29, just so
you know it's talking about the Lord, it says, a man's to love
his wife as his own body because they're one. And it says, for
no man, verse 29, no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but
nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church.
The Lord nourished and cherished His own flesh. Who's He talking
about? Verse 29, verse 30, for we are
members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. Everybody Christ
died for, we've been in Christ from the beginning. 1 Corinthians
1.30 says, Of God are you in Christ? We've been in Christ
since God put us in Christ, made us in Christ, created us in Christ.
And in time, He reveals that we're in Christ. When of God,
Christ has made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. Now look what He says here. He
says, we are members of His body, of His flesh, and 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. When I am talking about His church
being one body, and one flesh, and one bone with Christ, I am
talking about Christ and the church. And He says here, nevertheless,
He says, Let every one of you in particular so love his wife
even as himself." Now what are we getting from this? Christ
so loved His bride that the Father gave to Him that He had no regard
for His own body and to spare His own body. He came and laid
down His own body because He considered her to be His own
body. He considered all those the Father
gave to Him, all those who are the church, to be His own flesh.
So He laid down His body on the cross for His bride, the church. And when He comes to you and
He makes you to know now that you are one in Christ, let me
show you what He teaches you. Go back to 1 Corinthians chapter
6 and look at verse 15. He teaches you and I this, verse
15. Know ye not that your bodies
are the members of Christ? Our bodies are the members of
Christ. Look down at verse 17. He that
is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. Look down at verse 19. What? Know ye not that your body
is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have
of God? God sent the Spirit into you,
and you are not your own? For we are bought with a price.
Therefore glorify God in your body, in your spirit, which are
God's. My body and my spirit is not
mine anymore. I have a new spirit given to
me of the Holy Spirit that was given to me of God because Christ
bought me by His own blood. I'm not my own. I'm bought with
the price of Christ's precious blood. And so is every true believer
born of the Spirit. The Holy Ghost dwells in us.
And so seeing now what Christ did for us in laying down His
body for us, He makes us want to lay down our bodies and no
longer concerned about self and what that used to be the number
one thing we're concerned about, number one. Now we're more concerned
about Christ's glory and the good of his people. And so when
you take a husband and a wife who understand this, been born
of God, they want to glorify that union of Christ and his
body and how they lay down their body for one another. and how
they want to do for one another and constantly provide for one
another. The wife knows she doesn't have
power of her own body, but the husband does. Just like a believer
doesn't have power over his own body, Christ does. Christ does. This is how Christ makes a happy
marriage. He makes a wife happily submit
to her husband when she knows that he loves her as Christ loves
the church. I can tell you this fellas, you
want a woman to submit to you, it's not going to come by you
saying, well the scripture says you ought to submit to me. That's
not going to work. It's going to come by you laying
down your life for her and making her see you love her. You love
her so much you're willing to lay down your own body for her.
And a husband will happily honor his wife and lay down his life
for her when he sees that she loves him so much that she will
submit to him and reverence him and honor him in all things.
This thing is a two-way street. You want to see her submit? Lay
down your life for her. You want to see her reverence?
You want to see him lay down his life for you? Submit to him.
This is what's involved in this thing of not anymore considering
our life and our body our own. But now, it belongs to the other. It belongs to the husband, it
belongs to the wife. And so you go the extra mile to render that
goodwill and that kindness and that love and that affection
that's due to the other. You might be tired, your body
might be worn out, but you say, my body is not mine, it's theirs. get up early and make some coffee
and make some breakfast and I will do it. I have to stay up late
to, you know, to go pick somebody up because they locked the keys
in the car two hours away, I will do it. Whatever it is they need,
you are willing to lay down your body to provide it. That is one
reason. Here is another reason we give
due benevolence. It is because we entered a marriage
covenant vowing that we would love each other come what may. Saturday, Rob and Christian are
going to say, they are going to say they vow to love each
other in good or bad, rich or poor, come what may. Come what may. And it's such a vow and it's
such a commitment that look what he calls it here in 1 Corinthians
7.5. He calls it defrauding one another. That's robbing one another. It's
to rob a husband and if a wife doesn't render this due benevolence
she vowed to and it's robbing the wife if the husband doesn't.
It's defrauding. For the foundation of the world,
when Christ was given this bride, this bride was espoused to Christ,
Christ entered a covenant espousing her to Himself, vowing that He
would go and lay down His life for her. He vowed He would love
her. And you know what He did? He honored His vow. He honored
His vow. He came forth and He did for
her what she couldn't do for herself. He made us the righteousness
of God in Him. And when He espouses us to Himself
through faith, He fulfills that covenant. He says to us what
Gomer said to Hosea. He said, Thou shalt abide for
me many days. Thou shalt not play the harlot.
Thou shalt not be for another man. So will I also be for thee. And has Christ ever diminished
any in His love for us? Has His love from the very first
ever diminished from the first day that He made you to know
that He loved you enough to lay down His life for you, believer?
Has He ever diminished His love for you one bit? Even when our
love diminished for Him, His love didn't diminish for us.
Well, she don't love me like she used to. So, where does that
enter into I do? You know what better or worse
mean? That's part of the worse. And
I agree. So what does that have to do
with anything? God loves us when we're not lovable. And He keeps loving us when we're
not lovable. So what does that have to do
with anything? Christ has not defrauded us once. And so knowing the love of Christ,
a believing husband and a wife consider it robbery to defraud
one another the love and affection that we promise to render each
other. Consider it robbery. That husband, he considers it
robbery if he doesn't exalt her as the love of his life. He considers
it robbery if he doesn't treat her the very best he can with
love and affection. He considers it... I'm talking
about a believing husband. It's robbery if he doesn't always
speak well of her in private and before their children and
in public. It's robbery for him if he ever
speaks of her shortcomings to anybody. So he don't do it. I'm talking about a true believing
husband because he doesn't want to rob her of that affection,
that love he promised her. and he believes it's her due.
Now let me give you this last reason. Another reason is told
here in our text is because it's for the safety of our marriage
union. He says there at the end of verse
5 that Satan tempts you not for your incontinency. God warns
us that if we become complacent in giving Christ the first love
which is His due, or in giving our spouse the first love which
is their due. If we become complacent, Satan
will tempt us wherever we're weakest in self-control. He knows your point of weakness
better than you know it. And he'll attack you wherever
you're weakest in self-control. If the wife is naturally weak
when it comes to suspicion, Satan will tempt her right there at
that point and make her jealous. over everything he does. Because
he hadn't rendered to her due benevolence and she thinks something's
up. And Satan will feed on that. He'll feed on that. If the husband
has a problem with anger, when he perceives that that due benevolence
is not coming his way, Satan will feed upon that and he'll
become angry and he won't communicate. And Satan's object in this is
to hinder your prayers, is to interrupt brotherly love in the
church and ultimately to separate you from Christ. That's His goal.
Have you ever seen that? I've seen professing believers
in the church first had a problem with their spouse, then the next
thing you know they had a problem with the church, and the next
thing you know they've left and they've got a problem with Christ.
They don't ever worship Him again. They don't ever come back. That
can only happen to those that we're never His to begin with.
God won't allow that to happen to His child. He'll come and
He'll tell you this like He's doing right now and stir up that
love in your heart for Christ and He'll do so for your spouse
too, if you're His. He'll use a word just like He
sent to Ephesus, just like He's sending you now to do it. So,
what I'm saying to you is we're in a very, very real warfare,
believers are. We don't wrestle against flesh
and blood. We wrestle against things we can't see. And Satan is much more wise than
you and I are, and God has given us a warning right here of how
to prevent it. Don't let anything give your
spouse the impression that your first love has grown lukewarm
at all. Keep it going. Now let me go with this now to
end with this. Go back to Revelation 2. What
does Christ tell us to do to maintain our first love for Him?
What did he tell the church back there in Revelation 2? Look at verse 5. Remember therefore
from whence thou art fallen. You see that? He said you've
left your first love. Now he tells them this. Remember
therefore from whence thou art fallen. He's saying remember
that first love when Christ first ravished your heart. Remember
that love. Meditate on that love. Think
on that. Think on what Christ has done
for you. Think on Him. And so a husband and a wife,
if that's what Christ says to do to rekindle that first love
for Him, then a husband and a wife should always remember their
first love for one another. Rob, I'm going to tell you what
you ought to do right now. I wish somebody told me this when I was about
to get married, two days before getting married. Write down and
keep some notes of everything that you do to show your love
to her that she loves, that she enjoys. And 20 years from now,
pull those out and start doing them again. surprise their widows again,
that you even remember. Because I guarantee you this,
in 20 years you are not going to remember it, if you don't write it down. Remember that first love. Remember
that first love. And look at this now, verse 5,
and repent and do the first works. Christ tells us not only to remember
the first love, but to turn from our lukewarmness and go and do
something about it. Now, it may be all the same things
that he said the church was doing there for him already. What will
be the difference now when she's repented and done the first work?
They'll do all the same things that he committed them for doing,
but now they're doing them from that heart that's set on Christ
and is doing it from that motive of love to Christ. That's all
the difference in the world right there. And that's the point I'm
trying to make to you. When husband and wife detect
this first love's growing lukewarm, The key is that the whole heart
needs to be involved. Can't you tell when you're just
going through the motions? Or your spouse is just going
through the motions? And don't it mean so much more to you when
you know it from the heart? Well, if that's what is the valuable
thing with our Lord, shouldn't it be the most valuable thing
with us? From the heart. From the heart. So you do something
about it. Do something to rekindle that
first love. I want to give you a lyric to
a song from a songwriter friend of mine that wrote this to his
wife. This is just good old hillbilly poetry right here. But it sums
it up perfect. If you want the song, I'll give
it to you. It's such a good melody. It's a classic melody. It's really
good. Listen to it. The flame is still
burning in both of our hearts, but lately it's been turned down
low. I know a place not very far where we can rekindle the
glow. At a table for two, just me and you, we'll let the memories
unwind. Let's slip back in time and sip
some honeymoon wine. If that's what the Lord says
that we need to do towards Him, that's what a husband and a wife
need to do to rekindle this first love. It's good now and then
to sip some honeymoon wine. All right, brethren.