Let's turn to Ephesians chapter
5. Last time we saw the wife's responsibility
to her husband. Today we pick up with the husband's
responsibility to the wife. Ephesians 5.25. Ephesians 5.25.
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 are members of his body,
of his flesh, and of his bones. For this call 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 we see from
Ephesians 5.32 that the focus of the thing spoken here is concerning
Christ and the church. All of these things that we read
about here are a great mystery, but he's speaking concerning
Christ and the church. The husband and the wife is patterned
after Christ and His bride. That's who an earthly husband
and wife, the institution of marriage is patterned by God
after Christ our husband and His bride. As we saw last time,
Christ and His bride came first. Before the foundation of the
world, God chose Christ and He betrothed His bride to Christ
in glory. That's why Isaiah 54 5 says,
Thy maker is thy husband. When you were made, he was already
the husband of his people. And the Lord of hosts is his
name. And thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. He's the God of
the whole earth. That's who he is. God made husband
and wife after the pattern of Christ and his bride, his church. Everything God made, everything
God made from creation and how He created the world, to all
things in it, in what we call nature, out in things you see,
to every office, everything God made, He made it to glorify His
Son. Everything. Colossians 1 tells
you that. He made it all to glorify Him.
Now, each member of Christ's bride, Every member that makes
up Christ's bride, the church, can see from our text how Christ
loves us. That's what we learn from this
text, is how Christ loves us. And then also, every husband,
every faithful, believing husband that has some spiritual discernment
can learn from this, looking at Christ, how we are to love
our bride. He says there, it's a tall order
for us husbands. He says there, husbands love
your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself
for it. First of all, Christ loves his
bride. Christ loves his bride. Back
up in verse 23 and 24, we saw that the husband is the head
of the wife. Because that was made after the
pattern. Even as Christ is the head of
the church. And he's the savior of the body.
Christ is. Therefore, as the church is subject
unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. The church is subject to Christ
in everything. Now, there's a lot of husbands
that'll read that, and they try to demand of their wife that
they be in subjection to them. But you see, whenever the husband's
taught how to be the head of the bride, even as Christ is
the head of the church, we're not taught to be the head of
our wife by trying to rule over her with some harsh, tyrant,
domineering demands. We're told to rule her by loving
her. That's how Christ rules His bride,
by loving His bride. He loves her. even as Christ
loved the church. Christ loves His bride because
she's His own body. From before the foundation of
the world, Christ's bride, every member in particular of His church,
has been mysteriously one with Christ. I can't explain that,
and I won't try to explain it, but I'll declare it to you because
it's so. We've been one with Christ from before the foundation
of the world as members of Christ's own body. Look at Ephesians 528. 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 cherishes it, even as the Lord
the Church. That's who he's speaking about
here, preeminently. For we're members of Christ's
body, of His flesh, and of His bones. Every member of Christ's
church, every individual believer is one with Christ as members
of Christ's own body, of His own flesh, and of His own bones.
You take a body, an earthly body. Why did God make an earthly body?
Why did He put the head at the top and the body and all its
members at the bottom? He glorified Christ. Christ is
the head. In His church, every member in
particular is His body. Look back at Ephesians 1.22 and
look at what it says here. Ephesians 1.22 says, God gave
Him to be head over all things to the church and it says that
the church is His body, the fullness of Him. the fullness of Him. That means Christ has so linked
Himself with His bride, with His wife, with His church, with
every member in particular, every individual child that makes up
His body, that until they're all in the body, called out of
death into life, out of darkness into light, out of the world
into His body, His church, His body will not be complete. Because every member makes up
the fullness of His body. This just came to my mind. But
you remember when you used to play hangman? And you draw a
member, and another member, and another member, and another member.
That's what's happening every time Christ calls out one of
His members into His body. He's adding another member to
His body. Another member to His body. And
He won't stop till His body's full. Because that every member
make up the fullness of his body. Listen to Romans 12, 4. As we
have many members in one body. Look at your human body. You
got many members in one body. He says then in verse 5. So we
being many are one body in Christ. We're each members, but we're
one body in Christ and everyone members one of another. That's
true of his church. And therefore, Christ loves each
member of his church, of his body as his own flesh, as an
extension of his own body. Because, as it says here, we're
of his own body, of his own flesh and of his own bones. And therefore,
when God made a wife for the first man, for Adam, and ordained
the office of husband and wife, when He ordained this institution
of marriage, God patterned this union between a husband and a
wife after Christ and His bride. Turn over to Genesis 2. God gave
us a great spiritual lesson here in the first creation. He made
every beast, even the first man. You know where He made them out
of? The ground. Out of the ground. Look here,
Genesis 2.19. It says, And out of the ground
the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every fowl of
the air and brought them unto Adam, to see what he would call
them, and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was
the name thereof." But notice there, out of the ground, the
Lord God formed every beast of the field, every fowl of the
air. He even made Adam out of the ground. So our first birth,
our first birth of Adam is of the earth of the cursed ground.
Paul said in Corinthians, we bore the image of the earthy.
that curse, that Adam. But now to the cleric that Christ's
bride is not made out of the curse. She's made out of Christ. Look where the first woman was
made. She was made out of the man. Look at Genesis 221. And
the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept. And he took one of his ribs,
and he closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the rib which the
Lord God had taken from man made he a woman. and brought her unto
the man. 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 shall a man leave his
father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they
shall be one flesh. You know what the Holy Spirit
tells us in our text? Go back to our text, Ephesians
5. The Holy Spirit declares here the reason why a husband shall
leave his father and his mother and shall be one flesh with his
wife is because that is patterned after Christ and His bride. That's
the reason. That's the reason. Look here.
He quotes from Genesis and he applies it to Christ and the
church. In Ephesians 5.30 at the end
he says, I'm sorry, in Ephesians 5.30 he says, We are members
of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones for this cause. Do you see that? But I thought
Adam said that. Who came first? Adam or Christ? Christ did. And Christ was the
one for which Adam was made and his bride was made so that Adam
said for this cause. Here's the reason though. It's
because it was patterned after Christ. For this cause shall
a man leave his father and his mother and shall be joined unto
his wife and they too shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery,
but I'm speaking concerning Christ and the church. And notice how
he says, nevertheless, that ever met one of you in particular,
so loved his wife even as himself. You see, more so than I'm hoping
a wife will ever be, Christ and His bride are one. This is really
true of Christ and His bride. Nevertheless, you husbands love
your bride as your own flesh. You see, we're one with our wives,
but that union's gonna be broken. That union's not eternal. That
union's not everlasting. But this union with Christ is
everlasting, eternal. It'll never be broken between
He and His bride. So first off, we see the way
in which Christ rules His bride, His head over her, is He loves
her. He loves His bride. She's His
own flesh. She's His own body. She's one
with Him. And so husbands, He tells us,
rule your wife by loving them even as yourself. Even as your
own body, as your own flesh, as your own bones. Secondly,
Christ loves His bride only. He loves His bride exclusively.
Look at verse 25. Husbands, love your wives, even
as Christ also loved the church. Does this text say, Husbands,
love your wives and also love all wives? No. It says, Husbands, love your
wives. You see, the husband is to love
his one wife only. Just his one wife only. And this
too is patterned after Christ to glorify Christ. Husbands,
love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave
himself for it. Now you think about this. Men,
think about this. Wives, think about this. You
that are members of this body, Christ's body, think of this.
If Christ's love was not particular for His one bride only. Instead, Christ's love was divided
between the false church and the true church. Instead, Christ's
love is divided between all sinners and those chosen of God. then to tell a husband to love
your wife even as Christ loved the church would be to teach
a husband to be unfaithful to his wife. Isn't that right? If Christ loved
his bride, but then he loved the harlot too, who's not his
bride, Then if I tell a husband, you love as Christ loves His
bride, I'd be telling you, you love your bride, but you can
cheat on her too. That's unfaithful. That's unfaithful. Or if I said to you, you love
Christ and believe on Christ, but now you got to go to the
law and add works of the law to it too. I'm telling you to
love Christ, your husband, and to love your old husband, the
law. That's adultery. That's what Scripture says. I'll
show you that in a minute. But following the pattern of
Christ and His bride, this is what we're told in 1 Corinthians
6.15. Know ye not that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall
I then take the members of Christ and make them the members of
a harlot? God forbid. Why? Why don't I do that? Christ
don't do that. Christ doesn't love His bride
that way. We don't love our bride that way. But 1 Corinthians 7
says to avoid fornication. Let every man have his own wife
and let every woman have her own husband. Why? That's how
Christ loves his bride. You see we follow Christ. The
example. Christ only has one bride. And
Christ only loves one bride. It's the church. It's the church. It's each individual person who
God chose in Christ. Who's Paul writing to? Go back
to Ephesians 1. This was our lesson Thursday
night. When you read a letter, you've got to see to whom it's
written, from whom it's written, and who's it about. Well, who's
this letter written to? It's written from Paul. He's
the pen God's using to write it. Paul, an apostle of Jesus
Christ. He's just writing what Christ
would have him write, by the will of God. And it's written,
to the saints, which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ
Jesus. There's the church. Who are they?
Verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us. with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as He hath
chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
behold Him without blame before Him in love, having predestinated
us into the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according
to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the blood. That's
who Christ's body is. That's who his bride is. That's
who his church is. That's when she was made one
with him in old eternity. Look here in Ephesians 2, 22.
Here's who his bride is. He dwells in his bride and his
bride dwells in him. They're one flesh, remember?
Look at Ephesians 2, 22. In whom you also are built together
for inhabitation of God through the Spirit. You dwell in him
and he dwells in you. Christ's bride or those Revelation
13, 8 says their names were written in the book of the lamb slain
from before the foundation of the world. The Lamb's book of
life. Why? Why are they described? Why is he described as the lamb
slain from the foundation of the world? If you get this, if
this, sinner, does this shut you out or does this shut you
in? If this shuts you in, you're going to rejoice in it from the
foundation of the world. When God gave each member to
Christ and Christ became surety for His bride, God never looked
to one member of that church to do one thing. He looked to
Christ alone. That's why when he became surety,
he became the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Because that's what he would do. That's what he would have
to do for his bride. God always looked to him. That's
how come we were accepted of God in the beloved. That's how come when Adam sinned
in the garden, God didn't wipe the whole human race off the
mount right then. Because he had a people in Christ
whom he would save and redeem. If it wasn't for God choosing
the people and giving them to Christ and Christ loving us,
brethren, we would just we come into this world hating this message.
We come into this world enmity against God in our minds. We
can't receive it. We won't receive it. And we would
have been there and left there if God hadn't come and given
us a will to believe him and trust him by his grace. It's
all by His grace, brethren. Here's the bride. Look at Ephesians
3, 17. This is the bride. It's the one
for whom Paul prayed. He called them the whole family
in heaven and earth. And he prayed for this for them,
that they might know this love. Look at verse 17. That Christ
may dwell in your hearts by faith, that you being rooted and grounded
in love. may be able to comprehend with
all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height
and to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge that you
might be filled with all the fullness of God. This is who
the bride is. It's this one bride, this church
made up of each elect member in particular that God gave to
Christ that Christ loved and He gave Himself for. Husbands
love your wives even as Christ loved the church. Well, what
about John 3.16? Does our text contradict that
verse? You know there's no contradiction in God's Word. God wrote it. He wouldn't contradict Himself.
Our text says Christ loved the Church. John 3.16 said God so
loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever
should believe on Him should not perish but have everlasting
life. Do those contradict one another? The world that God loved,
God the Father loved, and the church that God the Son loved
are the same. They're the very same. They have
to be. They're very same. Why did Christ
use the world when He was speaking in Nicodemus? He was talking
to Nicodemus, a natural son of Abraham, who believed that that
promised seed that God spoke about when He made that promise
to Abraham, He believed that promised seed was just those
in political Israel. Just those that were born of
Abraham. And Christ was showing him, no sir, my elect are in
all the world. They're scattered in all the
world. And that's who He loved. That's who He was coming to this
world to give His life for. Look over at John 17. I'm going
to show you this. Here's Christ. Here's the Lord's
Prayer. John 17. This is the high priestly
prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is who He interceded for.
This is who He laid down His life for. This is the world who
He loved. But it's not everybody in the
world. He didn't come to lay down His life for everybody in
the world. Look at this, John 17, verse 1. These words spake
Jesus, and lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said, Father,
the hour is come. Glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son
also may glorify Thee, as Thou hast given Him power over all
flesh. Now, if He came to save all flesh,
I expect if He's got power over all flesh, He could save all
flesh, couldn't He? Sure He could. And I'll read
on. That He should give eternal life to as many as thou hast
given Him. Let's look at down at verse 6. I have manifested thy name unto
the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Do you see
that? I manifest the name. I manifested
your name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they were, and thou gavest
them me, and they've kept thy word. Look at verse 9. I pray
for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine. Do you
see that? This is Christ speaking. Don't
get mad at me now. This is Christ speaking. I pray
for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine. He's
talking about those he called out of the world while he walked
this earth. Look at verse 20. Neither pray I for these alone,
but for them also which shall believe on me through their word.
That's who he prayed for. That's who he laid down his life
for. We preach this truth not to be offensive. It's offensive
in itself. We don't preach it to be offensive.
Why do you preach it then, preacher? Because it's God's word. And
because we want Christ to have the glory for coming and loving
His bride, loving the church, and giving Himself for the church,
and accomplishing the eternal redemption of the church, and
bringing all the church to glory with Him. If He did it for all
men, all sinners will be saved, because they're all justified,
and they all must be called to faith in Him. That's so, because
either Christ failed, or He succeeded. I say He succeeded. When He laid
down His life, He accomplished eternal redemption. He accomplished
it for His people. He put away their sin. That's
what He came to do. And that's what He did. We want
to declare His success, brethren. Now let me ask you another question.
When Christ walked this earth, when He walked this earth, was
Christ's love toward the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the Nicolaitans
who were not the elect church? Christ's love was manifest towards
His people. This what? He just said it. By
calling them out of the world. By calling them out of the harlot
religion. And giving them a will and faith
and life to be united with His elect, with His church, with
His bride, with His people, with Him. That's how He manifests
His love. If He had power to do it, and
was sent to do it for them, giving Him of the Father. That's how
He manifested His love. He called them out of the world.
He's never saved anybody and left them in the world. He calls
them out of the world. He doesn't call them and leave
them in the harlot bride. He calls them out of the harlot
bride, that harlot of religion. And that's what he did. But concerning
that harlot of self-righteous religion, the Pharisees, you
know what Christ said himself to his disciples about her? Listen
to this. Let them alone. They be blind
leaders of the blind. If the blind lead the blind,
both shall fall into the ditch. That's what he said. That's what
he said. You see, the love of God is only
in Christ Jesus. Read Romans 8, 29. He said, Nothing
is separated from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus
the Lord. That's where the love of God
is. In Christ Jesus. And Christ loved the bride of
the church who was chosen and given him of the Father. So first
of all, Christ rules this bride loving her. And secondly, Christ
loves only his bride. He loves her particularly. Now
get this believer. You know what that means for
you? Christ only has eyes for you, for His bride. He has eyes for His bride. He
loves His bride. And He says to you husbands now,
you follow my example. Don't you be looking at some
harlot. You love your bride. You love your bride. Love your
bride. All right, now, here's the third
thing. Christ loves His bride by giving
Himself for her. For her. You can tell when you
read this, you can tell by what Christ accomplished for His bride,
who His bride is. Now watch this, Ephesians 5.25,
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. Now, maybe there's
a husband and he says, well, my wife's not a believer. We
got married. We were both unbelievers. And
the Lord called me since we've been married. And I believe the
Lord, but my wife doesn't believe. So, does that exempt me from
loving my bride like this? She's filthy. She's unclean.
She hates God. She hates the Gospel. She hates
the Lord. Look at Christ. Look to Christ. Christ loved
His bride not because there was something in her to love. He didn't love his bride because
there was something in her to love. Oh, I love you unconditionally,
baby. No, you don't. You find you one
that's attractive to you, one that's got some good qualities
about her, one you think will treat you good and be a good
homekeeper and this and that. We don't love unconditionally.
Christ gave Himself to make His bride what she was not. That's
what the text says. Every one of us, each elect child
of God who make up Christ's bride, we played the harlot in Adam.
We played the harlot in Adam. Before the law, we all were unrighteous. Romans 3.10 says, as it is written,
there is none righteous, no not one. In our flesh, we were unholy. defile, full of spots and blemishes. The Scripture says, The natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they
are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they
are spiritually discerned. That's 1 Corinthians 2.14. A
natural man... What I'm preaching to a natural
man is foolishness. Foolishness. He wants to worship
the God who loves everybody but can't save anybody unless somebody
lets him. This is foolishness to him. He
can't believe this unless God gives him a new heart, makes
him holy and sanctified. But Christ loved his bride and
gave himself for that he might make her altogether lovely. Now, first of all, Christ gave
himself for his bride to justify us and make us righteous before
the law. That had to be taken care of
first. That is what he's speaking about here when he says Christ
gave himself for his bride. He gave Himself for His bride.
He left His Father. For this cause shall a man leave
father and mother and cleave unto his bride and there'll be
one flesh. Christ left His Father in glory and came to this earth
for this cause. He came to this earth to be made
one with her flesh. To be made under the law. To
redeem her from the curse of the law. That's why He came.
You reckon He did it? Did He accomplish it? That's
why he came to do it, to put her sin away. So that God will
say to her, your sin and iniquities I remember no more. That's why
he came. Did he accomplish it? Yes, he
accomplished it. He left his father and his mother
on this earth. We saw it the other day. They
went supposing he was with them and he left them. That's just
a small picture, but soon after that, he left them. Because he
had to be about his father's business. And his father's business
was that he take the form of a servant before God his father
and be joined to his bride. Representing his bride in this
earth. He gave himself to fulfill the law on behalf of his bride.
Each elect member in particular. He gave his body to bear our
sins in his own body on the tree. He gave his soul to make an offering
for sin. He gave His fleshly members to
bear all the punishment that His earthly members deserve.
He gave His whole self to the teeth of divine justice for His
bride. That's what He did. And by giving
the law... Now listen to this. Look at Romans
7. I want you to see this. By giving
the law everything the law demanded, He made our first husband, the
law, to be dead for us to be dead unto him, and for him, the
law, to be dead unto us. And that had to be taken care
of so that we might be lawfully married to our new husband, Christ
the Lord. Look at Romans 7. Know ye not,
brethren, for I speak to them that know the law, that the law
hath dominion over a man as long as he lives. That's all. That's all. As long as he lives.
For the woman which hath a husband is bound by the law to her husband
as long as he lives. But if the husband be dead, she's
loose from the law of her husband. So then, if while her husband
lives, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress. But if her husband be dead, she's
free from that law, so that she's no adulteress, though she be
married to another man. Most people, without spiritual
discernment, don't get past that right there. They get hung up
right there, oh, I'm an adulteress, or that one's an adulteress,
or whatever. Paul is, the Spirit of God's
using Paul to give that as an illustration. He gave that law
for this purpose, to show us what Christ accomplished for
his bride. That's what this law's for. And
this is what Christ accomplished for His bride. This is what He's
declaring here. Wherefore, my brethren, verse
4, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ,
that you should be married to another, even to him who's raised
from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. For
when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins which were by
the law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein
we were held, that we should serve in newness of spirit, not
in the oldness of the letter." Do you see that? Christ did that
by fulfilling the law. He didn't push the law out of
the way. He didn't sweep it under the rug. He gave the law everything
the law demanded of His bride. Righteousness and holiness. Righteousness
in deed, holiness in heart. He gave it everything it demanded.
Then He went to the cross and laid down His life and justified
her from all the demands of holy law. So that now the law says,
I'm satisfied. She's fulfilled the law completely.
And that old husband is dead to her and she's dead to that
old husband. And now it's lawful for her to
be married to Christ. That's true of everybody for
whom Christ died. That's true. But if you try to
come to Christ and that law, you could be in adultery. If
you try to come to Christ, our husband, and say He's your husband,
but yet you're clinging to that old husband, that's an adultery.
Trying to hang on to Christ and the law, that's an adultery.
Can't do that. We're married to Him alone. That's
amazing love, brethren. Greater love has no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Or as our
text says, lay down his life for his bride, for the church. It wasn't because there was something
lovely in his pride. God commended his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Here in his love, not that we loved God, and we'd have never
loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son, the propitiation
for our sin. Hereby perceive we the love of
God because he laid down his life for us. We ought to lay
down our lives for our brethren. And husbands, perceiving the
love of Christ for his bride, that he laid down his life for
the church, we ought to lay down our life for our bride. Lay down
our life for our bride. How do we do that? Well, next,
our text adds something of utmost importance. Back in Ephesians
5, Christ gave himself for her. He justified her. He made her
righteous by what he did. Hebrews 9 says He obtained eternal
redemption for us. Now, He did it for this reason. That. See that word? That. He gave Himself for her. That. He finished that work that He
might do this work. He gave Himself for her that
He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water
by the Word. Our husband gave himself for
his bride not only to sanctify us by justifying us before the
law. That's one aspect of sanctification.
But that he might sanctify and cleanse his bride with the gospel. With the gospel and regeneration
of the spirit. Now some have created a false
doctrine. Some have created a false doctrine.
There's a whole church that is made around this doctrine. And
they say that a sinner can be God's elect, and he can be redeemed
by Christ, but he doesn't ever have to hear the gospel or believe
on Christ, and yet he can still be saved. Our text abolishes
that doctrine. It just abolishes that doctrine.
Look here. Remember in Christ's high priestly
prayer? This is what he said over there
in John 17, verse 19. He said, For their sakes, for
those for whom he prayed, for those men that... the brethren
God gave him that he called out of the world while he walked
this earth, as well as those that would be called out through
the gospel, through their preaching. He said, for their sakes I sanctify
myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Now, when our text says Christ
gave himself for his bride, that's when Christ sanctified himself.
It doesn't mean that He made Himself holy. He didn't have
to do that. He is holy. What it means is, by giving Himself
on the cross for His bride, He sanctified His bride. Listen.
Hebrews 10.14. I want you to read that. Look
there with me. Hebrews 10.14. Just in case you're
not familiar with this. Hebrews 10.14. By one offering, He hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. Now that's what He meant when
He said, for their sakes I've sanctified myself. He separated
Himself, gave Himself to the cross, and by that one offering
He sanctified, He perfected forever His people. Now, but He finished
that work that He might also finish this other work, that
they might also be sanctified through the truth. Through the
truth. And our text puts it this way.
He gave Himself for us, that He might sanctify and cleanse
each member of His church by the washing of water by the Word.
And therefore, this is what He prayed for. I sanctify Myself,
Father, He said, glorify Thou me. that I might glorify thee. And he went to that cross and
laid down his life and because he prayed that they might be
sanctified through the truth, God is so pleased with what he
accomplished for his bride on the cross, he raised him and
gave him the glory to sanctify her through the gospel. He gave
him the glory and made him head over all things to the church
that he might fill all and all his bride. He did that. He raised
Him. And so Christ nourishes and cherishes
His bride as His own body, as His own flesh. How does He do
it? He sends her a gospel preacher.
He sends her the truth. He sends her the good news of
what He's done for her. That's what He does. Ephesians
4, we saw it all through Ephesians 4. We won't go back there, but
that's what He does. He sends her that and He's going
to keep doing it. He's going to keep sending it
to her until He's called every one of them to Himself. And as
we hear the gospel, Christ prays the Father. He said, I'll pray
the Father and He'll send you another comforter. And when He's
come, He'll reprove the world. All is elect wherever they are.
As they hear that gospel, He's praised the Father, and He sends
the Spirit, and He gives them life, and He convinces them of
sin, because they haven't believed on Christ. He convinces them
of righteousness, because Christ is seated at the right hand of
God. He convinces them of judgment, because Christ cast out the prince
of this world. And they realize salvation is
accomplished, and they believe on Him for the first time in
their life. That's what he does. It's these three things by which
he gave himself for his bride and by which his bride will be
called out. It's by the redemption he accomplished by his blood.
It's by his high priestly intercession. And it's by his glorious power
as our resurrected head to send the gospel to us. That assures
us that they'll all be called out and called to him. Husbands,
listen to this now. That's how he loves us. his bride. And the number one way that we
love our bride, that we love our wife is this. We give ourselves
to our occupations, our lawful occupations and the proper management
of our home so that we can have our wife seated under the sound
of the gospel all the time. That's the number one way you
love her. You see, we're not working our occupations and managing
our house so that we can just buy a bunch of stuff. We're doing
it so we can have our wife under the sound of this gospel, so
that she's constantly hearing about the redemption Christ accomplished
by His blood, so that she's constantly hearing about our advocate with
the Father, our intercessor, our righteousness at the right
hand of God, so that she's constantly hearing about Christ, who's the
head of His body, the fullness of Him, that's filling all in
all by sending her the Gospel and regenerating her and keeping
her through the Holy Spirit through His Gospel. That's what our text
says. Look. He says, Husbands, love
your wives even as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for
it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it by the washing of
water by the Word. That's exactly what he says to
her. Love her how? Give yourself for her. Make a
living, do whatever you got to do to lawfully make a living
and keep the house arranged and everything so that you can have
her under the gospel where Christ sanctifies her and cleanses her
by the washing of the Word. That's loving your bride. That's
loving your bride. If a man don't know Christ, he
can't love his bride as Christ says love her because he don't
know how Christ loves his bride. He don't have a heart true for
her alone. He just don't. It's just like last week when
we saw, you know, if the wife is in, if she's usurping authority
over the man, if the church is being taught, you can't, your
husband loves you, but he can't save you unless you let him.
If he's done all he can do, now it's up to you. That's a woman
usurping authority over the Christ, the husband. That's upside down. In the same token here, if a
husband don't see Christ as the head, and he loves his bride
particularly, only, and gave himself for her, and sanctifies
her, and does this whole work himself, he won't ever know how
to love his bride. It takes faith. It takes being
able to see Christ. We learn everything from Christ.
Everything. Well, here's the last thing.
Christ loves His bride by loving her until the end. By loving
her until the end. He did and He does all this for
this reason. Verse 27. That He might present
the church to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle
or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. You know whenever Christ quoted
our text, that portion that says there are no more two but one
flesh? Christ quoted that when He walked this earth. Some men
were asking Him about divorce and things. They were just trying
to entangle Him in their words. You know, religious folks don't
ever want to know, tell me what you've done. Tell me how you've
saved. Tell me how you get the glory
and you get the honor. They always came to Christ with
some scenario or some question that didn't amount to a hill
of beans. And that's what they did then. And Christ said this,
He said, there are no more two, but there are one flesh. And
He said, what therefore God hath joined together, let no man put
asunder. Why did God say that? He patterned
it after Christ and His bride. He patterned it after Christ
and His bride. Christ gave Himself on the cross and He cleansed
us with the Word for this end purpose, that He might present
it to Himself a glorious church. without a spot, without a wrinkle
or any such thing. You think Christ is going to
do that? You think something is going to prevent Him from
bringing every one of His members of His bride to that end? Well,
did anything stop Him from accomplishing our redemption? Nothing. He gave
Himself for us. Is anything preventing Him from
sending the Gospel to you in truth and calling you out by
the Holy Spirit? Nothing. He said, I know my sheep. And he said, I lay down my life
for my sheep. And he said, my sheep will hear
my voice, and they'll know me, and they'll follow me. And he
said, no man is able to pluck them out of my hand. And he said,
and my Father which gave them to me is greater than all, and
no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. God
hates putting away. He will bring us to that end.
Look here, Romans 8.35 will be done. Here's how I know He's
going to bring us to that end, brethren. He did it all. He did it all. Let me find it myself. This is how we know that everything
works together for the good of those that love God. who were
called according to His purpose. He foreknew us, He predestinated
us, He justified us, He called us, He glorified us. Look here
then, verse 31. What shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? Verse 32. He that spared not
His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not
with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather
that's risen again, who's even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from
the love of Christ? So tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword,
as it's written, for thy sake we're killed all the day long.
We're counted as sheep for the slaughter. We're just sheep. We don't have any power. No. In all these things, we're more
than conquerors. How? Through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the
love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. You know what
He said right before He went to the cross? He said, having
loved His own, He loved them to the end. He's going to present
every member of His body to Himself without spot and without blemish,
holy and without blame, because He can do it. Do you believe
the promise of God? It's yes and amen in Christ because
He's able. He's able. I pray God will make
it so for us husbands and our wives. Love them to the end. Love them only. Give yourself
for them. Love them to the end. Amen.