Alright, turn with me if you
would to Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter 5. We ended the Bible study last
week with verse 21 which says, submitting yourselves one to
another in the fear of God. Now let's read from 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 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. Nevertheless, let
every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself,
and the wife see that she reverence her husband." This portion of
scripture is usually quoted at a wedding ceremony. The reason
is because it declares God's order for a happy home. This is what will create a happy
home. This is what will create a happy
marriage. If we will follow the instruction
of the Lord, husbands and wives will live happy lives together. They will live very happy lives
together. But that is not the reason why
this portion of scripture was written. That's not the reason why the
apostle wrote this. That's not the reason why God
recorded this in his word. The Apostle said in verse 32,
I'm speaking of Christ and His church. He said, I'm speaking the mystery
that God has revealed concerning the relationship that has been
created between Christ and His church. What is that relationship? He married her. He married her. Christ joined
Himself to His church in holy matrimony. He gave her His name. You think about that. I'm sure
most of us have wondered, what will we be called in heaven?
Well, some portion of it is His name. He gave her His name. He gave her His love. He gave
her joint possession of all that He has. Everything he has. Most amazingly, he gave himself. He gave his own life to her. And the reason it's so amazing
is because of the kind of wife she was to him. That's why it's
so amazing. Turn with me over to Isaiah 54. Isaiah 54 verse four says, fear not for thou shalt not be
ashamed, neither be thou confounded for thou shalt not be put to
shame for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth and shalt
not remember the reproach of thy widowhood anymore for thy
maker is thine husband. The LORD of hosts is His name,
and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole
earth, shall He be called." He said, your maker is your husband.
No greater news could be told than that because look what He
said in Jeremiah 31. Turn with me over to one more
book over to Jeremiah 31. In Jeremiah 31 verse 31, it says,
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a
new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of
Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers
in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of
the land of Egypt which my covenant they break. Although I was in
husband unto them, sayeth the Lord, they broke the covenant.
I was a husband to them and they broke that, that covenant verse
33, but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house
of Israel. After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my
law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and
will be their God, and they shall be my people." I'm going to make
a vow to them, and I'm going to stay with them in spite of
them. They broke my covenant, but I'm
going to be their God. and they're going to be my people.
I'm going to draw them to myself. I'm going to put my law in their
inward parts. I'm going to write it on their
hearts. God told a man named Hosea, he
said, I want you to go marry that harlot. Go marry that forlorn
woman named Gomer. Well, she doesn't want to be
married to me. Marry her anyway. Love her anyway. Provide for
her anyway. That's Christ for his bride. That's Christ for his bride.
Look with me at Jeremiah chapter three. Jeremiah 3 verse 14 says, "'Turn,
O backsliding children,' saith the Lord, "'for I am married
unto you. "'And I will take you, one of
a city and two of a family, "'and I will bring you to Zion.'" The
goodness and the kindness and the tender love of the great
husband in spite of us, in spite of us. His home is a happy home. We need to expect when we finally
enter into His home, we need to expect a happy home. It's
a happy home. His marriage is a happy marriage. He's made it to be so. He's just
made it to be so. And I believe all of our desire,
I believe that every true believer's desire is to follow His example. I believe we have a heart to
follow His example, learn of Him, and have the same thing
in our home that He has in His home. All right, so now let's
go back to our text and see what He's written to us. Ephesians
5, verse 22, it says, Wives, submit yourselves unto your own
husbands. as unto the Lord. As we pointed
out last week, the word submit, submitting, true submission,
is subjecting one's self to. That's what true submission is. Subjecting one's own self to. It's yielding willingly to another. True submission is not something
you can force on a person. It's not something that you can
force a person into. You can force bondage on a person, but you cannot force true submission
because true submission is a desire in the heart. True submission
is a desire in the mind. to willingly yield to. To willingly and gladly yield
yourself to be subject to another. It's a desire that wants to be
subject to another. Now it is true, this is absolute
truth. All of God's people rebelled
against Him. In the flesh, by nature, all
of His people rejected Him. And in their hearts of stone,
they all cried, I will not have that man reign over me, all,
all. But after he performs an operation
on the heart, in spite of us, after he takes out our heart
of stone and he puts in a heart of flesh, you know what every
single one of his people cry. I will have that man reign over
me." Every one of them cried, I do. I do. Do you want this man to reign
over you from this day forward to have and to hold? I do. I do. Please come reign over
me. That's what God's people cry.
Please come reign over me. That's submission. That's something
in the heart. That's a willing yield to. That's what submission is. Our
Lord said in verse 22, Wives, submit yourselves unto your own
husbands as unto the Lord. In the same way that God has
given you a willing submission to the authority and the position
of Christ as the head over all of his people. From that same
heart, willingly submit yourselves to the position that Christ has
given to your husband. to be the loving head of the
home, the loving head of the house. Verse 23 says, 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 subject to
their own husbands in everything." God has ordained this order. He's ordained this order of the
relationship between a husband and a wife in the home to remind
us and to illustrate to us the order of the relationship between
Christ the husband and the church, the bride. He's the head of us. He's the head of us. And here's
the thing about it. We love it being so. I mean,
we love it. Not only are we willing to have
it that way, we prefer it that way. Does anybody want to be
the head over Christ or His church? No. Not one member of the spiritual
bride Not one member of God's true spiritual bride has a heart
to deny His authority. Not one member. Not one member of His bride has
a heart to rival His headship. Not one member. Not one true
member of the spiritual bride of Christ wants to wear the pants
in His family. Not one member has a heart to
run all over him. Not one member. At the thought of that, every
single one of them cried, blasphemy. Oh, that's blasphemy. David cried, search me, oh God,
and know my heart, and see if there be any wicked way in me,
and if there is, purge me. That's what I want. That's what
I want. That's my willing desire, I yield
to you, I yield to you. Verse 22 says, wives lovingly,
willingly yield yourselves to your own husbands as unto the
Lord. Know in your heart that yielding
to him, yielding to his leadership and his guidance is yielding
to the will of the Lord concerning you. All right, men, the only way that she is going
to physically be able to do that, the only way that she will at
all be able to do that is if you love her as Christ loved
his church. It's the only way. Verse 25 says,
husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church
and gave himself for it. He gave himself to her. He gave himself for her. There is no way. There is no
way. You cannot expect it from a woman
and there's no way she can. There is no way that a woman
can submit to a selfish man. If we're talking about true submission,
that willingness in the heart, that desire in the heart, there
is no way that a woman can submit to a selfish man. The bride of
the Lord Jesus Christ is submitting to the most selfless man on earth. The most selfless man. Though he thought it not robbery
to be equal with God, he made himself of no reputation and
took upon him the form of a servant. Does that not make you fall in
love with him? Though he was rich, Yet for his bride's sake,
he became poor, that she through his poverty might be made rich. Doesn't that make you willingly
fall in love with him? Though he never physically knew
one sin, he made himself to be the sin of his bride so that
she could be the righteousness of God. Selfless. Selfless. That causes me to willingly
yield to Him. Willingly. Verse 25 says, 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. He washed it in His blood and
cleansed her in His blood and He washes her through His Word. He sets her apart, sanctifies
her through the Word. Verse 27, that He might present
it to Himself a glorious church. This forlorn bride, this spiritual
harlot of a bride. A glorious church, not having
spot or wrinkle or any such thing, absolute holiness, righteousness,
perfection, that she 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
and of his flesh and of his bones. He loves us as he loves his own
body. That's how he loves us. as he
loves his own body. Verse 31 says, for this cause
shall a man leave his father and mother. That's what every
man in this room must do. That's what every man on earth
must do if he wants to have this happy marriage and happy relationship. Every word in the scripture is
necessary. Not one word is insignificant. A man must leave his father and
mother and cleave to his wife. That's what he must do. Cleave
to his wife. Verse 31, for this cause shall
a man leave his father and mother and shall be joined unto his
wife and they too, not they too and anybody else, 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." Wives, this would, This would help a marriage so
much. This right here would help a marriage so, so, so much. Wives, in the same way that you
would never speak slanderously about your Lord, don't ever speak slanderously
about your husband. You know how it is. As time goes
on, you meet each other and you fall in love and each other's
perfect. You never met somebody so perfect and you just have
to marry them. And then you start a life together
and you're working things out, but it's brand new. And then
you get settled in. And the next thing you know,
you start to get on each other's nerves because we're sinners. And then
it goes and goes and goes until you can't just get on each other's
nerves at home, then we gotta spread it to the world. We gotta
tell everybody, this is what he's doing, and this is why this.
And wives, in the same way that you would never speak slanderously
about your Lord, don't speak slanderously about your husband.
Don't do it. Not in private, especially not
in public. Don't do it in public. Don't
do it in public. Don't make fun of him. Do not
put him down. Do not lessen him in anyone's
eyes. Build him up. Build him up. He is the Lord's gift to you. Be thankful for him. Speak highly
of him in the same way you would your Lord, as unto the Lord.
Verse 22 says, Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands
as unto the Lord. Verse 25 says, Husbands, love
your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself
for it. Love her in a way that proves
to her that you love her. This is a husband's greatest
downfall. I'm speaking from experience. If we would like to have a happy
marriage and a happy home, and if we would like to heed the
Word of our Lord, Love her in a way that proves
to her that you love her. Prove to her that she can trust
you. Prove to her that she can count
on you and rely on you and rely on the word you tell her. Prove
it to her. Create faith in her toward you. That's what our Lord has done
for us. He has created faith in us toward Him. He made us believe Him. He made
us trust Him. And He did it by proving it to
us. He proved Himself. Love her in a way that makes
her want to subject herself to you. Love her in a way that is so
desirable to her, she wants nothing more than to willingly yield
to you. Make yourself lovely to her. Make yourself lovely in the words
you speak to her, in the promises you make to her. We all made
promises to our wives in our wedding vows. We promised to
be a true and devoted husband to her. We promised to love, honor, cherish,
protect her. Prove it to her. Prove it to
her. Some, I know I was there, I did
and some others have promised to leave all others and cleave
to her and her alone as long as you both shall live. Prove it to her. Prove your love
to her. Prove it through your actions.
Actions speak so much louder than words. Sometimes we men
are so good at words. Prove it through your actions.
Give her a good reason to want to draw nigh to you. That's what
our Lord has done for us. He made himself altogether lovely. Make yourself altogether lovely. for her. He has drawn us with
cords of love. He has whispered sweet promises
to our heart. He has comforted us with great
assurance in his love for us. You'll know what I mean by this,
but I almost blush to read what he has to say to us in Song of
Solomon. That's all I know to say about
it. He says to us over and over again,
He just keeps telling us and He just keeps telling us over
and over again, I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. Everything I have is yours. I
give my all to you." This is what we cry to Him. This is what
all of His bride cries to Him. You are all. Christ is all. You're all. You're all. This
is what He says to her. I give my all to you. I give it all to you. Who wouldn't
want to submit to that? Who would not want to submit
to that? It's easy to see why he has such a happy home. It's
easy to see how happy a marriage can be if we will all follow
this glorious, loving example that our Lord has given to us. Husbands, if it's been a while
since you've said that to your wives, and I speak to myself,
I wrote that this morning. I added that to my notes and
I had to immediately go tell my wife. If it's been a while
since you've said it, say it. Tell her, tell her over again,
I love you. I love you. That's a good exhortation right
there. That's a good exhortation. Verse 33, let every one of you
in particular so love his wife even as himself. How much do
you love yourself? Let every one of us So love our
wives as we love ourselves, and the wife see that she reverence
her husband. How much do we reverence our
Lord? May the wife reverence her husband. I pray the Lord
will allow us to do this. It'll be for the good of our
home and the good of our marriage and the glory of God. And most
importantly, the glory of our God. All right, you're dismissed. Okay.