Ephesians chapter 5. Thomas messages
the great mystery of marriage. The great mystery of marriage. Over the next couple of weeks,
if the Lord will be with us and allow it to happen, I want to
go through this latter part of chapter 5 and I want us to look
at the wife. Instruction to the wife. I want
us to look at the instruction to the husband. Briefly I want
us to look at the parent's instruction. Parents of those husbands and
wives, those in-laws, y'all got some instruction too. And then
to the children, and to the masters and servants. There have been
a whole lot of books written out of this chapter. It's so
simple. It's so simple what the Lord
gives us. How could somebody make books and volumes with this?
Here's how you live a Christian life as a wife. This is how you
live as a Christian husband. Wives, submit to your husbands
as unto the Lord. That's what you're supposed to
do and it's qualified as unto the Lord. Husbands, love your
wives as Christ loved the church. He brought these big old books
that thick on Christian finances. Pay your bills. Consume less or produce more
than you consume, pay your bills as unto the Lord. He gave it
to you. That's simple, isn't it? I pray as we go through this,
if the Lord would give us light, we can forget everything we know
about marriage, everything we've learned in books and magazines,
what grandma and grandpa told us and everything else. And that's
hard for me. Bob's been married to Vicki for
52 years. They've been married 11 years
the day I was born. What am I going to tell him about marriage? I
ain't going to tell him nothing about marriage. The Lord is. The Lord
has something to say about it, don't He? We ended last week
in verse 21, but there's no change in topic. A new paragraph hadn't
been started. Paul's beginning being used to
write to us and to this small gathering of believers at Ephesus.
They wouldn't, but the scholars wiser than I guesstimate between
maybe 30 and 60 people. And we have the book of Ephesians
2,000 years later. What a gift. This remnant in
Ephesus, this remnant in Hamel, California. And he's declaring
to us the salvation that is only found in Christ, that satisfactory
substitute. That's what this letter is about,
this book of Ephesians. He told us of the purpose of
the Father, His will to save a people, the purchase of the
Son, His blood that was shed for His people, and the power
of the Spirit to His people, in His people, and for God's
children, for His bride, for His people, and what glory He
deserves. what rejoicing we should have
in our hearts, God saved a sinner just like me." Individually. Now chapter 5, to the end of this chapter, in
the beginning of chapter 6, we're going to get some great spiritual
instructions for wives, for husbands, for parents, for children, for
servants, for masters. Our Lord gives us parables. Whenever
He was on this earth, teaching and preaching to his people,
calling his children out. He spoke in parables. I'm always
amazed at the wisdom of that. The wisdom of him speaking to
us in parables. To take the mystery of godliness,
the priceless hidden jewels of the gospel, this act of unimaginable
love for a hell-deserving people and to explain it in a way that
his children could understand. little children could understand.
That's a mastery of a topic. To understand something so thoroughly
you can explain it to a little child. How does that work? Come here, let me tell you. You've
got Hot Wheels. You've got some Lego blocks.
You can put it in terms that they can understand. Our Lord
gave us the gospel picture and these understandable, just day-to-day
activities to hit people where they live, to meet us where we
are. He didn't give a nine-fold presentation
on superlapsarianism or infralapsarianism, did He? No. He come to us and
he said, the kingdom of God is like a seed. You ever seen a
seed? You ever grow past a garden?
This is what the kingdom of God is like. It's like a seed. It's
like a hidden treasure in a field. You know what treasure is? You
ever seen a field? Let me explain this to you. It's like a net cast into the
sea. You ever been fishing? Like a landowner in a vineyard.
What if I'm not a farmer? What if I ain't a fisherman?
What if I ain't a landowner? I'm not a shepherd. How can I
learn about these sheep? I ain't never seen a sheep. I'm
not a shepherd. Ephesians 5. Almost everyone
is either a wife, a husband, a parent, a child, or a servant
or a master. If you was an orphan, you ended
up having a job sometime, didn't you? Or were familiar with these offices.
You see enough of it. The heading says in my Bible,
The analogy of the family and the church. The family is a husband
and a wife. A man told me this 20 years ago
and it stuck with me and boy it just keeps ringing more true.
A family is a husband and a wife. Children, they are add-ons. They
show up for a season and then they go away. And all that's
left, the husband and the wife. They come and go. Mommy and daddy,
the in-laws, in-laws and out-laws, they are add-ons. They are here
for a while, and then they go. A family is a husband and a wife. Many marriages have been harmed
greatly by building the home around the children, and then
the children leave, or being influenced by mommy and daddy
on either side. That's been a hindrance, greatly. I want us to see this title that
we have given it, Great Mystery of Marriage. Marriage is mysterious,
isn't it? It's a mystery. It says in verse
22, Ephesians 5, 22, Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands
as unto the Lord. In the same manner, in the same
love, in that same honor that you submit yourself to Christ,
submit yourselves to your own husbands. Not to every husband. I like this one on Tuesdays,
and he's speaking spiritually here. While I listen to this
pastor on Tuesdays, I listen to this one over here on Wednesdays,
while I listen to this Arminian and this Catholic on Fridays,
The Lord gave you one husband. We have one gospel we submit
to. And just as you submit to Him, that's the way you submit
physically to your husbands. Verse 23, 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. All believers in Christ are the
members of His body. This comprises His church. It's
His body. He's the head of it. What the
Lord is using Paul to tell us about physical husbands and wives,
it directly relates to that picture of Christ and His bride, His
body, His church. That's who He's speaking of.
As husbands are to love their wives, and the bride, the wife,
is to submit in love and honor, this applies the same way to
the church as a whole. The body of Christ is to submit
and be subject to Christ our husband. That's our pattern to
follow. What a good pattern. Look here
at verse 24. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ,
so let the wives be to their own husbands and everything.
Husbands don't get left out of this, do we? Husbands, love your
wives, even, here's the qualifier, as Christ also loved the church
and gave himself for it. The love to the church is what
is called in the Scriptures the foreknowledge. the foreknowledge,
those that the Father foreknew, those that He loved before. He
chose to put them in this body that Christ is the head of. Christ
loved this church, this bride, Not every bride. He loved this
bride. And he gave himself for her. He shed his blood for her.
Why did he do that? Verse 26. 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. I think it ought to be
this way. It ain't yours to present. It's His church, His body, He's
presenting it to Himself. Present it to Himself not having
spot, nor wrinkle, nor any such thing, but that it should be
holy and without blemish. How does He do that? By the sanctifying,
the setting apart, the making holy, and the cleansing of it
with the washing of the water by the Word. What Word is that? Christ the Word. The Word was
with God and the Word was God. He directed these Scriptures
to be written to us, didn't He? He came on this earth, accomplished
the Father's will, living perfectly for me. He ascended on high and He left
us this Word. And through this Word, the preaching
of the Word, we look to Christ the Word yet again. That's called
being the author and the finisher of your faith. It starts and
ends and continues with Him, doesn't it? It's his. Verse 28. 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 it 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 man leave
his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and
the two shall be one flesh. This is a great Mystery. This is mysterious. 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 is a great mystery. this union between a man and
a woman as a picture of that mysterious union between Christ
and His bride, His elect. This is a great mystery. Pay attention. Pay attention
to me. If you've never heard this before,
you listen to me. This is a great mystery. Well, he's just talking
about husbands and wives. There are people all over the
place. No, there ain't. There's a whole lot. There's more of
a remnant of husbands and wives on this earth. We'll get to this
in a couple weeks than you think there is. This is a great mystery. Pay attention to it. Turn over
to 1 Timothy chapter 3. 1 Timothy chapter 3. There are many things to you
and I, I hope they are, some people don't think so, there
are many things in these Scriptures that are mysterious. There's
a lot of mystery in the Scriptures and things we don't understand.
That's too big for me. Too big for me to understand.
There's a lot of mysteries in these Scriptures. Twice Paul,
moved by God the Holy Ghost, inspired him and given him the
words. Twice, Paul says, this is a great mystery. Here's the
second time it's called a great mystery. And it's concerning
Christ's church once again. Look here in 1 Timothy 3 verse
14. These things I write unto thee,
hoping to come unto thee shortly. 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, the pillar and
ground of the truth." He said, if in the Lord's providence I'm
not able to come see you in person quickly, I've given you this
instruction so that you know how to lead the body of believers,
which is the church of the living God. Sounds weighty, doesn't
it? It is. It is. Timothy is to care for the bride
of Christ as a husband protects his bride and looks after his
bride and cares for his bride. What about this bride? Oh, so
sweet. Ain't nothing worse than, and
we've heard this a lot, isn't it, than somebody acting submissive,
gritting their teeth. I submit to you. I love you. It don't sound like it, does
it? That's not attractive. What's these people, this bride
of Christ? Is this just, oh, just such sweet,
loving, clean folks that just squeaks whenever they smile?
Is that who they are? It's a mysterious thing. This
is a bunch of sinners, isn't it? What's the bride described
throughout these scriptures? Gomer. We spent a lot of time
going through that, didn't we? Was she on point? Did she do
everything right? Well, she had the right words,
didn't she? Well, she did. She's in somebody else's house. She's
gone. What about Moses' wife, Zipporah? She's so sweet, isn't
she? She threw that foreskin down
and said, you're a bloody husband to me. Job's wife, what an upstanding
Christian woman. She said, curse God and die.
I ain't just talking about women.
Who's the bride of Christ? If you're His bride, He's talking
about you, isn't He? And what we think is such wisdom is all
these knowledgeable people that just know so much, and oh, they're
enthralled with wisdom. And then there comes a harlot. Which one's the pillar and the
ground of truth? God says it's His people. That's
something, isn't it? Ain't what we think it is. If that ain't enough for you.
And, verse 16, without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness.
This marriage of Christ and His people is mysterious and great. Equally as such as great is the
mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. That's a great mystery. God Almighty. God of heaven and earth, of the
universe, who has no beginning and no end. became a man, just
like me, because I'm a man. He was justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto
the Gentiles. Well, we don't think that's a
privilege, do we? We can go home and download something and stay
at the house. I can pick and choose and cherry
pick whatever I want. The Gentiles have the gospel preached to them.
That's a big deal. For 4,000 years, that was a huge
deal. It was prophesied of old that this would happen. Poor
old Gentile like me, God would send a preacher to me. Believed
on in the world, that's a great mystery. Power of God for me to believe
and have faith in Him. Received up into glory. My propitiation, my substitute,
me. He became me. I became Him. He paid for it so fully, He rose. And I rose with Him. As He is,
so are we in this world. Great is the mystery. Mystery
of godliness. In the Incarnation, God the Son
was made a man. He's not God the Father. He's
God the Son. But there are not three separate
units in the Trinity. They're all three one. They're
one. I can't fully explain that. They are three distinct but they're not separate, in
full unity, in full agreement. But this God-man coming to be
born of woman, of her seed, is a great mystery. But it was greatly
needful. It was greatly needful for the
Father's glory, to honor the Father, for the Son's glory,
that He may be glorified, and for the saving of His people.
Sinners could be saved for Christ's coming. God Almighty took upon
Himself our humanity And in his body, everything required for
his bride, everything she needs, in his body, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the God-man accomplished it in perfection. It's done. Your husband's already did it.
That's a good news. I got a lot to do. It's done.
He did it for his bride. He said, baby, I'll do it all
for you. It's done. As our husband, any debts we
owe, he paid them. Our sin was laid on Him. And
He forgave us all our sins and then provided us His righteousness,
His holy nature. That's His. So we can stand faultless
for eternity before the Holy God. That's done. He did it all for
His people. Husbands, love your wives. Right
there is how you do it. Does that sound impossible? We
can't be wired that way. Can't do it? We've got to beg
God for mercy one more time, don't we? That's a great mystery.
In the mind and purpose of the Almighty God, before there was
ever a sinner that walked this earth, God declared a Savior.
A covenant was made between the Father and the Son, and those
that the Father had chosen. That's what Paul's been telling
us this whole book. Those that the Father chose, He put them
in Christ. They were made one with Christ,
before we were ever physically born, before we were ever made. That bride was of Him, in Him,
when this covenant was made, before we were made. I can show
it to you. This is as mysterious as the
triune God in Himself. Great is the mystery. Turn over
to Genesis chapter 1. Genesis chapter 1. Eve existed in Adam before she
was taken out of Adam, before she was extracted from Adam.
The Scriptures tell believers that our life is hid with Christ
in God. It tells us in 2 Corinthians, if
any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. He's a new creation.
Here in Genesis 1 verse 27. Genesis 1, verse 27. So God created man in his own
image. And the image of God created
he him. Male and female created he him.
And God blessed them. This union of Eve inside of Adam
before anyone else came on the scene is very wonderful. It's
very wonderful. What God has joined together,
let no man put asunder. It's what our Master said. It's
what my Lord told us. Look here in verse 31. And God
saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. This union, this picture he gave
us, it was good. This is a good picture. Now in
chapter 2, the Lord made Adam and had him dress the garden.
And he entered into a covenant with this first Adam. before
His bride was ever there, before His bride was born. Just as Christ,
the Lamb slain before the foundation of the earth, was made our husband,
we were made one with Him before we were ever made. Look here,
I'm sorry, Prophet Isaiah told us, for thy maker is thine husband,
to the child of God. The one that made you, that's
your husband. Wives, submit unto your own husbands, spiritually. That is to all of us that are
born of the Spirit. He's our husband. Christ's body,
His church. We're the bride. I could never
preach to wives without talking to every one of us. I'm a bride. In the kingdom of heaven, there's
no male or female. No Jew or Gentile. That's to every one
of us. So before Eve, The Lord made a covenant with Adam. He
says in verse 17, Genesis 2, 17. But of the tree of knowledge
of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day
that thou eatest of it, thou shalt surely die. And the Lord God said, it is not
good that man should be alone. I will make him a help meet for
him. I will make him a companion,
a help fit for him. meet for him. He made the covenant
and immediately said I'm gonna put a bride in him. I'm gonna
bring that bride out of him. It's not good for man to be alone.
I just want to have a little sidebar there. We are not to
be alone. Christ's bride is not to be alone.
Physically walking this earth, a couple of different times the
scripture says if you can possibly be like me and not have a wife,
you can serve the Lord better. That's fine. But if you just
can't keep from it, get married. But spiritually, we are not to
be alone. I wrote that last night. We ain't
supposed to be wandering off by ourselves. We need one another.
God says so. Why I don't like it? It don't
matter. Can I get a different one? Adam's about to complain
about his wife, isn't he? That's one the Lord gave you. Stick
with them. Verse 20, And Adam gave names to all the cattle
and the fowl, the air, and to every beast of the field. But
for Adam there was not found a help, meat for him, fit for
him. And the Lord God caused a deep
sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept. And he took one of
his ribs and closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the rib
which the Lord God had taken from man, made he woman and brought
her unto the man. Eve did not decide to come to
Adam. Eve did not decide to be born.
I'm going to go get saved and choose Adam her husband. Oh no. Eve was extracted From where? From the wounded side of Adam. She was given life and then she
was brought to her husband. Brought to Adam. This was the
first surgery, wasn't it? Who performed this surgery? The
great physician did. The great physician performed
this surgery. Was this declaring to us? Was this showing us Adam
going to sleep? ribbed, took out of Him, made
a bride, made Eve, brought to Him, that Christ had a bride
that was extracted out of His wounded side on Calvary, wasn't
it? And we are formed, we are given
life after this extraction and then we are drawn back by the
Father to Christ our Husband. Brought to Him. Carried to Him,
like Him little children this morning. They were brought, they
were carried They didn't come walking on their own. They wouldn't
have been little children. They'd have been grown-ups. They were carried. They were
brought. Our Lord said, no man can come
to me except the Father draw him. The Father must bring the
bride to the husband. When Eve was brought to Adam,
Adam received her as a gift from God. She was a help to him. She was fit for him. He said,
this is just right. Thank you, Lord. This is just
right. When we receive Christ, just as we've talked before about
this cup receiving water. If I pour water into it, the
cup received water. When Christ is revealed in us,
when He's poured into us, we're made known of it. We are forever
bound to Him. He ain't gonna leave us. He ain't
gonna forsake us. We're forever bound to Him. Eternal
life is the gift of God. Just as He was given to Adam,
we are given to Christ. He purchases us and Him to us. He's given to us. Not by works
of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy,
He saved us. According to His mercy, He gives
us this gift. Adam received Eve as the gift of God. So for you
and I, if we are Christ's bride, if we're His church, His wife,
we are putting Him by God before the world was made. Just as Eve
was. The elect were chosen and put
in Christ before time ever was. Adam and Eve are said to be one.
They are one. Those born of the Spirit, we
are one with the Lord Jesus Christ. One with Him. Joint heirs with
Him. That's unfathomable. To me, that's
a great mystery. I'm a joint heir with Christ.
Right now. Right now. Because of His Word.
That'll make you want to jump up and down on the wheel. We
weren't took out of his... Y'all probably heard that before.
Eve wasn't took out of Adam's head so she could rule over him.
She could use some authority over him. She wasn't took out
of his foot so he could trodden over her. She was took out of
his side so she could walk with him. If the Lord didn't tell us we
were joint heirs of Christ, I wouldn't dare say that. That's unimaginable. What sweetness. What love. What
grace. Was that earned? Boy, that sure
wasn't on my part, was it? It was on my husband's part.
Adam said here in verse 23, and Adam said, now this is bone of
my bone. Here comes Eve to him. The Lord
brought Eve to him. He said, this is bone of my bone
and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because
she was taken out of man. She's going to have my name.
That's what he says. Therefore shall man leave his
father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife and they
shall be one." What is Adam saying? Adam didn't have a mother, did
he? He had a heavenly father. Why
would he say something like that? They hadn't even had children
yet. Christ fulfilled all the scriptures, didn't He? In the
beginning God, Christ fulfilled that scripture. All the way to
the end. Turn over to Matthew chapter
12. Therefore shall a man leave his
father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife." Matthew chapter 12. Verse 46. Matthew 12, 46. This is Jesus' true family. Our Lord's
true family. While he yet talked with the
people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without desiring
to speak with him. Then one said unto him, Behold,
thy mother and thy brethren stand without desiring to speak with
thee. But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is
my mother and who are my brethren?" This physical mother and brethren
that stood out there. And he stretched forth his hands
toward his disciples and said, Behold, my mother, and my brethren."
This is my family. Right here is my bride. Christ
left His heavenly Father, came to this earth, and He cleaves
to His bride. He comes to her, and He cleaves
to her forever. To His one bride. That first
Adam, he had one bride, didn't he? The Lord only made one wife
for him. The second Adam, he has one wife,
one bride. God only brought him one bride,
one love, one church, one body of Christ. And he loved that
church and he gave himself for her. Gave himself for her. In Song of Solomon, he's mostly
speaking of the church, the bride of Christ. And it says, speaking
of the beauty of his church, my dove, my undefiled is but
one. One body. And she is the only
one of her mother. She is the choice one of her
that bear her. We're made one. The bride has
one husband. Wives submit to your own husbands
and that husband only has one bride. Adam was given one wife,
Christ was given one church, no more, no less. That's what
Hosea, we went through a couple months ago. Hosea 3.3 says, and
I said unto her, as Hosea is speaking to Gomer, thou shalt
abide for me many days, that's for eternity. Thou shalt not
play the harlot, thou shalt not be for another man. You got one
husband, Gomer, so will I be for thee. For each individual member of
that body and that body as a whole. This finger has a head. This
hand has a head. This liver has a head. One-on-one. When Eve and Adam
fell, there was no divorce. This bonding across the head
and his body is forever. Forever. It can't be undone.
And this happened a long time ago, didn't it? We were put in
Him before the world was. It won't ever change. It won't
be undone. Adam and Eve, both of them failed. Eve ate the fruit. She didn't
know she was naked. She usurped her authority over her husband.
Adam failed because he disobeyed God. He heeded his wife and didn't
heed the Lord. And then he blamed God. That's
how mad Adam was. He said, this is the wife's fault
that you gave me. That's from him though, wasn't
it? His body. You think that's good enough
reason to get a divorce in our fleshly minds? You cast all mankind
into damnation at enmity with God. The wife blaming the husband,
the husband blaming the wife. Well, you did it. Well, you gave
it to me. Well, yeah, but y'all wouldn't have done it if you
didn't. There was no separation there. In the fall of God's elect
people, those that are ordained before time, those chosen and
brought to Him, unto Himself by the preaching of the gospel,
the fall of this elect, put an atom, did not break that everlasting
covenant. that the Father had made with
the Son. That covenant of grace between the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit. Our fall didn't break it. Turn to John
17. I'm glad this is our scripture
reading for today. John 17. John 17, verse 6. I have manifested thy name unto
the men which thou gavest me out of the world." All these
that fail. These that are an inhabitation
of this world. Thine they were. Those given
to Christ before. They were the fathers. Thou gavest them me. Father, you put them in me. And
they have kept thy word. How did we keep his word? We
were in Christ. How did we live just and holy before God? We
were in Christ. In Him. Now they have known that all
things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. We know the Lord
the Father has done this, don't we? This ain't man's concoction.
This ain't our creation. I sit down and it's a good logical
deduction. This is of God. Salvation is of the Lord. For
I have given unto them the words which thou hast given Me, and
they have received them, and have known surely that I came
out from thee. They have believed that thou
didst send Me." I pray for them. Those who put Me before the foundation
of the world, 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. The Lord is speaking
of that first believer, and He's speaking of that last believer. Do you believe on Him today?
He's speaking about you. These words are to you. That is a prayer for you who
trust Christ, who have been born and brought to Him. What a thought!
He goes on. Verse 11, And now I am no more
in the world, that these are in the world. He's going to go
set it to the right hand of the Father, but we're still here,
aren't we? And I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine
own name, for your name's sake, those whom thou hast given me,
let's put it in before the time began, that they may be one as
we are. Just as God and the Father and
God the Son are one, God the Holy Spirit. Just as they are
one, this body of Christ that's married to Christ shall be one.
Keep them as one body together. That's mysterious, isn't it?
Just as we are one. You keep all those gomers. Talk
about herding cats. You keep all these gomers, all
these publicans, these fishermen with tattoos all over them and
scars. Oh, they cuss. They smell bad. I don't know how to take a shower.
They smell like fish and salt water, don't they? Ain't enough
lemon to get that off of them. It's in their skin. Deep. Keeping together as one. How? As we are one. That's not possible with man,
is it? But all things are possible with
God. He puts his family together. He puts his body together. He
brings his bride to himself that he made. He says, you're one. I'm back in our text. The whole
time, all that friction of being compacted, compacted together,
squeezed together, that body of Christ. This is for a husband
and wife at our home. That's where it starts. The Lord
shows us that. It shows us here at His local assembly. He's given
to me to be the under-shepherd of Him, as like a husband and
a wife. He teaches us here, as His believers
in this century, in this time frame, looking to Christ, trusting
Christ our Husband to do everything for us, and that His body throughout
time that's one. From that first believer to the
last, every one of us, He jointly fits us and frames us together. Knowing that Christ prayed for
His bride, to the Father. He's made one with them before
time that He stood as surety for them. His all-powerful hand
protects and guides His bride. His love constrains His bride.
His grace abounds in forever to His bride and none can remove
her from His hand. Knowing this, verse 22, with
this fresh in our minds, wives here on this earth, 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, after that manner, let wives be to their own husbands
in everything. Submit to your husbands as a
picture, and in the same manner you submit to Christ your heavenly
husband. Is that mean or is that a privilege? Is that mean or is that a privilege?
You trust Christ? You trust the Lord? He gave you
that husband. If He rules and reigns in the
heart of that husband, as He rules and reigns in you, you're
submitting to Christ anyway. That's a privilege. Experience
the strength of your husband. Husbands, verse 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,
that it should be holy and without blemish. Why? Verse 30, for we are members
of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. We're one with
Him. For this cause, the cause of
this, because we're one with Christ, shall a man leave his
father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and
the two shall become one flesh. Because of Christ, if His bride,
the eternal covenant of grace that the Father made with the
Son before time, putting His bride in Him, pulling her out
from His wounded side, giving her life, drawing her to Himself,
back to her husband. Because of this, man shall leave his father and
mother and shall be joined unto his wife, for the two shall become
one flesh. This is a great mystery. That's
why you want to get married? Here's why. Christ saved people. This is a great mystery, isn't
it? But I speak concerning Christ and the church. Physically, this
is a great mystery. You've been married, it's a mystery.
But he's speaking concerning Christ and the church. That's
the spiritual application. All these physical things, you'll
be fine. For the non-believer, spend less than you make, you'll
be alright financially. Do all these other things, you'll
be fine. The message is a spiritual message. See, in this spiritual
declaration of the love of Christ for His people, do we then neglect
our duties physically? The duties God's given us as
an example of His love in Christ for us. Of course we don't do
it. Although this has a spiritual application, I don't really have
to do this in the body. I can forego those things. Verse 33,
nevertheless. He's speaking of Christ and the
church. But nevertheless, let every one of you in particular
One on one, so love his wife even as himself and the wife
see that she reverence her husband. Here's the amazing thing to me.
As he is, our husband, Christ sitting on
his throne in glory. As he is, so are we, his bride,
right now. That's something to see, you
know. That's a great mystery. Every bit of it is, isn't it?
Where does the glory land in that? Where does the praise go? Do I, I did something good. 45 years, no, you look to Him
today. We look to Him today. Come to
Him today.