Thank you, John. Thank you, Sherry. Now, turn
with me to Ephesians 5. Ephesians chapter 5. I know I'm giving you a lot this
morning, but I just read Elihu, and I feel like him. He said,
I'm full of a matter. The Spirit within me constraineth
me. I hope, as I said, you parents, grandparents are glad I dealt
with what I did, the first part. I appreciate hearing from you.
And I hope you are glad we read Psalm 91. And I thought just a moment ago,
this sword of the Spirit, this Word of God, Not only our safety
and our protection and our offense slays the enemy around us, but
it also slays the enemy in us. And I need this enemy within
me slain, because he's going to kill me and he's going to
hurt a lot of other people around me. And there's only one thing that
will do it. One thing, I know it from experience, and I pray the Lord will use
this word this morning. You pray for me. If the Lord
blesses me, generally He'll bless you. Ephesians 5, read with me, verses
25 through 33. Husbands, love your wives. even as Christ also loved the
church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify, 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 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 bone. And for this cause shall a man
leave his father and mother, and shall be joined cleave unto
his wife, and they too shall be one flesh." This is a great
mystery. But I speak concerning Christ
and the church. Nevertheless, not only that,
but 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 addressed to husbands because they have the greater
responsibility to love as Christ loved the church.
Because Christ had total responsibility, didn't He, for His bride. He loved and gave Himself for
her. Now, love is of God. Love is God-given. You can't produce it. You don't
have it in you. You're not born with it. It is the first fruit of the
Spirit. It is the first fruit of the
Spirit. That is, He produces it. You
can't produce it. Love is a miracle of regeneration. Turn to Titus with me, the book
of Titus. Turn over there with me. Love
is a miracle of regeneration that is new life, spiritual life,
the life of God, the life of Christ, a new creature in the
image, character of Christ in a human being that doesn't have
this love. People God chose out of the world
to be like Christ. That's what salvation is. Chapter
2 of Titus verse 14 says, He gave Himself for us that He might
redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto Himself a peculiar
people, zealous of good works, a purchased people. And they are peculiar in this
sense. They're different. They actually love one another. Look down at chapter 3, verse
3 of Titus. We ourselves also were sometime
foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lust and pleasures,
living in malice and envy and hateful and hating. Hateful and
hating. But. After that, the kindness and
love of God our Savior toward man appeared. Oh, it's not by
works of righteousness, which we have done, but it's according
to His mercy He saved us, spared us, us hateful and hating people.
Our loving husband. By the washing of regeneration
and renewing, renewal of your mind, a new mind, created in
us, which was also in Christ Jesus. When He shed this on us
abundantly through Christ our Lord, justified by grace, heirs
according to the hope of eternal life. So, this is not something
we produce. It's a miracle. It's something
God does in all of His people. 1 John chapter 4. Look at 1 John chapter 4. This is something He does in
all of His people. You see, God is love. God is
love. And he that is born of God loves. Right? Just like if you're born
of your parents, whatever traits they have, you have them. You'll
always have them. And God is love. And this is
the first fruit. 1 John 4, look at verses 7 through
12. Beloved, let us love one another,
for love is of God. And everyone that loveth is born
of God and knoweth God. Loveth, it's continual, it doesn't
stop. He that loveth not knoweth not
God. For God is love. And this was
manifested, the love of God toward us, because God sent His only
begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. Herein
is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent
His Son to be a bloody sacrifice, a propitiation for our sin. Beloved,
if God so loved us, We ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth
in us, and His love is perfected in us. And another place it says,
Hereby we may know we have passed from death unto life. Love one
another. But he that loveth not, In that
same chapter, verse 20, if you're still there, it says, If any
man say, I love God, and hateth his brother or his wife... Now
everything I'm saying here, everything the Lord is saying here, doesn't
just apply to husbands. It applies to wives. It applies
to brothers and sisters. That man you're married to, that
woman you're married to, is your sister. And that's what he's saying.
If you don't love your sister, you don't know God. I didn't say that. And he said, if I say I love
God, verse 20, and hate my brother, I'm a liar. I'm a liar. It doesn't matter what I say.
So love is not natural. Love is supernatural. Love is
not produced. Love is given. There used to
be a song I used to like. I still kind of like it. I kind
of hate that I do like it. You know what I mean. These old
songs, you can't get them out of your head, can you? But it
says something like this. You can't make a heart love somebody. You can't make... I can't... Oh, here's what it is. That was
George Strait. This one is another one. It says,
I can't make you love me if you don't. Because you can't make
the heart feel something it won't. But God does. Yes, He does. He said, I will
break down the enmity. And this is exactly what the
Lord does. He said, I'm going to make you
love Me. He has to do this. I'm going
to make you love one another. You're going to see My love for
you in such a way that you'll think, why wouldn't I love them? Why would He love me like that?
And how could I not love my brother or sister like that? It's the
only thing that will do it. His love shed abroad in the heart
of His people. That's what the Scripture says.
That love is first love to God, or love to His Son. The love
of God shed abroad in His heart for His people. What is the love
of God? He loves His Son. He loves His Son. And He puts
that love in His people. Love to God. Love to Christ.
Love for the truth. Love for holiness. Love for the
brethren. God so loved His people out of
the world. Boy, if God loves them, how bad
are they? Love the brethren, love each
other. This love, it's either there or it's not. You know that? It's either there or it's not.
And if we don't know, if it is, I don't know if I love you. No,
it's not there. If we can't decide, it's already
been decided. Simon Peter, in spite of everything
he said and did and the way he acted like he didn't know the
Lord, He loved the Lord, didn't he? Yes, he did. And before his
denial, the Lord said, I'm leaving. And Simon said, I want to go.
And he said, you can't. He said, why not? I can have a child in it. I don't
want to stay. I'll die with you, he said. I'll
die with you. He meant it. The Lord loved that
in him. There was pride. There was, you
know, self-righteousness. He put himself over above his
brethren. And he couldn't go with them.
Christ had to go it alone, didn't He? And Peter had to see something
of his self. Peter had to see that it wasn't
his love for the Lord, that it's the Lord's love for him. Peter
had to see that it's not him fighting for the Lord, it's the
Lord fighting for him. He had to see that. He had to
bring it down, didn't He? I had to just break him completely
to see and feel like I don't deserve to be in this family
at all. But Christ died. He had not yet
seen Christ die for him. And after seeing Christ die,
love him in such a way. Boy, he's going to love now. He's going to love now. And so
the Lord, when His disciples were seated around that fire,
remember? Simon Peter, big talker. Simon, you son of Jonas, you sure did talk a lot, didn't
you? Now look what you did. No, he didn't say all that. But
he said it in a word, didn't he? Simon, son of Jonas. And
he asked him one question. Lovest thou me? And in spite
of what he had done, he didn't hesitate. He didn't
have to think about it. Ashamed as he was of himself,
he said, Yes, Lord. You know I do. You know I do. You know true love, you know
it. You know it. Simon Peter, oh
my, what a blessing. Husbands, love your wives as
Christ loved the church. Wives, love your husbands. Brethren,
love the brethren as Christ loved the church. And the reason this
is such a command, you know it was the last command before the
Lord went to the cross? Wasn't it His last command before
He went back to glory? Wasn't it? A new commandment
I give you. This is how I'm leaving with
you. Love one another as I've loved you. As I've loved you,
do this. And the reason it's such a command
and a constant command, we've come so far short of it. I think about that Scripture,
he that being often reproved and hardeneth his neck shall
be suddenly destroyed without remedy. No remedy. And you know,
some need reproving more often than others. Just don't harden your neck.
Just don't harden your neck. I need often reproving. Lord,
Lord, don't let me harden my neck. Let me bow the head. Let me love as thou hast loved.
Our Lord loved with perfect love. In 1 John 4, I should have told
you to stay there, but look at 1 John 4. He loved with a perfect
love. 1 John 4, verse 17. It says,
Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in
the day of judgment, because as He is, so are we in this world.
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear.
Fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect
in love. If someone doesn't love you,
you fear that they'll leave you. If someone doesn't love you,
you fear what they might do to you. You live in fear. Our Lord loved with a perfect
love. Perfect. Complete. Perfect means
complete. It means mature. It means a love
of full understanding. He loved his bride completely
understanding who it was that he married. Like Gomer. The Lord said, you
go love a woman of whoredom. Not a good woman. Not a sweet
woman. Not a kind woman. Not a woman
that loves you. Not a woman you can get something
out of. Not a woman that can do anything for you. You go love
her because she needs you. You go love her, though she's
unlovely. Set your love on her. Love her
freely, unconditionally, perfectly understanding what you're getting.
And love her to the end. And he said, I'll dirt my soul. My wife is lovely. My wife is
sweet. My wife is kind. My wife is like
Christ. What was I to him? I tell you the thing, and I'll
speak for myself here, and maybe for some of you other husbands,
I don't know why she married me! Anybody? Don't amen that to me. I mean,
for yourself. For yourself. Scott used to say
to those fellas, you outmarried yourself. He said that to every
fella, Sam. You outmarried yourself. You
think that was, Sam? I do. I know it's true to some
of you. It's not true of our Lord. In fact, our wives love us, and
I don't see why, how. I wonder why in the world would
she marry Him? I think the same thing now. The
way I treated her, I still treat her at times. Husbands, love
your wives. As Christ loved the church. And gave Himself for her. Not stuff. Himself. Perfect love is patient love. And today, if I holler a lot,
I'm not hollering at you, I'm hollering at me. Okay? I'm hollering
at me. It takes so long to learn anything.
Maybe a lifetime. But perfect love is patient love.
And again, I'm not just talking to the men, ladies, I'm talking
to you too. Brethren, brothers and sisters here, everything
applies to a husband for a wife, applies to a sister for her sister,
and a brother for her brother in Christ. Every one of us. Children for parent, parent for
children. Love, perfect love is patient
love. Our Lord said this, men, husbands, dwell well patiently
with your bride. Dwell in understanding them. Be not bitter against them. You
know why they married you? They need you. And they will make many demands
of you. But that's all right. That's
what it's all about. And we need them, don't we? Unlike
our Lord. We need them. We need each other
greatly. Our Lord said that. It's not
good for man to be alone. We need each other. But patience. We're going to look at that in
the book of James. One of these days we're going to look at James.
Patience. How patient is the Lord with
us? The Lord loved perfectly with
understanding, with patience. He loved perfectly with desire
and delight. Desire and delight is a perfect
love. You know, the older you get, the less activity you like to
do, the more you just like to sit. And if you love the one
you love, If you love your husband, you
just want to sit with him. You want to be with him. You
just want to be with him. When you're a young idiot, you're
out like a wild ass's coat. Go here and go there. That's
not love. His delights, Scripture says,
were with the sons of men. Rejoicing in the habitable parts
of the earth. He rejoiced. He said, there's
nothing I want more than to be with my bride always. In effect,
he said, Father, I will that she be with me forever. It's
as if you can't stand to be away from
her. That's love. Husbands, love your
wives. You know what she wants? You. What do we want? Him. His love is a sacrificial love. Ephesians 5 in our text here,
look at it. Sacrificial love. Ephesians 5, he presented himself
as an offering to God. Verse 2, walk in love as Christ
also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering,
sacrifice to God, a bloody sacrifice to God. He's talking about working
till he's sweat, blood, sweat and tears. We often complain about how hard
we work. Shoot. It's almost blasphemy. Oh, how he worked for them. In fact, His whole life was spent
for her. Every hour of every day, his
whole life was spent for her. And he didn't begrudge a moment
of it, didn't complain of a moment of it. When she's asking for
him, she needs him, she's calling on him at all times, and he was
never irritable, he was never aggravated, he was never put
out, he was never imposed upon. Darling, I'd just be delighted. That's why I'm here. That's why
I'm here. That's perfect love. You got
any of that? Well, it says, herein is our
love made perfect. How are we going to get there? By observing Him. I don't know
what. Sacrificial love. He that was
rich, Yet for our sakes He became poor. In health and sickness, He bore
our sicknesses, our sin. He became sinful. For sorrow, oh my, the Lord left
the land of happiness to come here for this forlorn woman and
to be a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief all his days. Why? To make her happy. This is unbelievable, isn't it?
You know, I'm telling you something that you don't believe, the old
man's telling it to you. It's so. Gave himself a ransom, his
life in service, feed, house, protect, lead, guide, make happy
all the days of his life. She's not worth it. He is. But yet he paid the price. And brethren, husbands, our wives
are worth it. Because they're daughters of
Abraham. Wives, your husbands are. They're sons of Abraham. Brethren, my, my. You say it's impossible. It's
not possible. Husbands, our Lord is not arguing
with potsherds here. He's not going to listen to that.
He says, like a father says to his son, you'd better do what
I say. Husbands, love your wives. As
I loved you. If you don't, I'm going to say this, and it's
because it's Scripture. Mercy is conditioned on one thing. You know that? Mercy is conditioned
on one thing. If we show mercy. Right? To the merciful, you show yourself
merciful. To the forward, you show yourself
forward. If you don't forgive your brethren
their trespasses, he said, neither will your heavenly Father forgive
yours. He's not arguing here. He says this is impossible. With the command comes the ability.
Peter couldn't walk on the water either could he? That's not possible. He did. The man with the withered
hand, he's born that way. He can't do anything about it.
The Lord said, stretch it out. Husbands, love your wife. As
Christ loved the church. But you don't know her. Yes, He does. And I tell you
what, you must not know yourself. And He knows you. Oh, my. Remember, this is to
all of us. Spurgeon said his love is a love
of choice. He chose whom he would. You know,
love, we don't do that. It just happens to us. We don't
choose our bride. We don't do it. It's chosen for
us. True love. Love is unselfish.
He said love is satisfied. How in the world would the Lord
be satisfied with me as His bride? He is. I'm not going to trade
men. Unbelievable. A love of sympathy. Nothing but complete, pure sympathy. Not hatred, not bitterness of any way. Sympathy. Communion. A love of communion. I'm the one that won't talk to
him. I'm the one Love of unity of heart, purpose,
love of constancy always. Our Lord, Proverbs 5. I've got
to hurry. Proverbs chapter 5. Turn over
there with me. His love is a particular love
and a faithful love. Proverbs chapter 5. I really
don't want to burden you with too much, but I've got to end
this where I want to end it. Proverbs chapter 5. His love
to us is a particular, special, and faithful love for his bride
that he chose before the world began. Proverbs 5 says he loves
his own. Proverbs 5, verse 1. My son,
attend to my wisdom. Bow thine ear to my understanding.
And he talks about verse 3, a lips of a strange woman. Verse 4,
her end is bitter wormwood. Her feet, verse 5, go down to
hell. Verse 8, remove thy way far from
her, come not nigh near the door of her house. You go down with her. But verse
15, drink waters out of thine own cistern, running waters out
of thine own well. This love that God has given,
the fountains. Verse 17, Let them be only thine
own, not a stranger's with thee. Let thy fountain be blessed and
rejoice with the wife of thy youth. You know, the Lord's loved
one woman all his life. He's been faithful to one bride. The wife of his youth, as it
were, from the beginning. Let her, verse 19, be as the
loving hind, the pleasant roe. Let her breast satisfy thee at
all times. Be thou ravished always with
her love. Why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman,
and embrace the bosom of a stranger? The ways of man are before the
eyes of the Lord. He pondereth all his goings.
His own iniquity shall take the wicked himself. He'll be holding
with the cords of his own sin. He'll die without instruction.
My son, listen to me now. Love your wives. Husband, love
your wives. Wives, your husband. Brethren,
our Lord is faithful. In our text in Ephesians 5 it
says He cherished her. Cherishes her. I wrote in my
wife's Bible when we got married that verse in Proverbs that says,
He that attaineth a wife attaineth a good thing and has favor of
the Lord. Remember that? And I still feel that way. Showing
great favor to give you a loving wife or husband or brother or
sister. Great grace. My, my. The Lord didn't get that kind
of bribe. Total commitment. His love toward us is total commitment. He gave Himself. That's total
commitment. When you're committed to something
or someone, you give your all. You give your all. You're committed.
to that person or that thing. And our Lord's Scripture says,
He gave Himself. It's a complete commitment. Look
at verse 31 and 32 here, Ephesians 5, For this cause shall a man
leave his father and mother, joined unto his wife, the two
will be one flesh. The great mystery. There's Christ
and His church, yet it's a husband and wife. It's a union. Two become
one, totally committed. The two don't become two individuals,
they become one. It's not she has her career and
I have my career and we're all seeking the things of the world.
We just meet every now and then to have some conjugal relationship
and then we'll go our way. That's what some people think
about religion. Christ is a big part of my life. Man, He's not
your life. If you're doing your thing and
every now and then you think of Him. Oh, I've got to go. That's not love. And you don't
know Christ. He's not in you. But the two become one. Right? You don't do anything. You don't
go anywhere. You think of them. That's where our Lord is with
us. That's where our Lord is with
us. Husband, love your wives. Oh, may the Lord put this within
us. Marriage begins with love, and
it takes a vow, doesn't it? Marriage takes a vow. A covenant. This is why this marriage thing,
I wish we preachers never started it. I can't tell you how many
times Dad has said that. I wish preachers had never started
doing that. I don't know where it started.
But because we're doing this before God, I'm taking these
vows before God and I'm in on it. And I say, son, I just don't
want to be a part of that. That's why I don't want to marry
an unbeliever with a believer. Two unbelievers. I won't do it.
I'm making this vow before God and
I take it seriously and so should we. Our Lord did. He made a covenant, didn't He,
before the world began. Will you take this one? You know
what you're getting? I do. Will you take her for your
lawfully wedded? In sickness or in health? For
richer or for poorer? Happiness or satisfaction? Will
you? He said, I will. For life! For life! Mine and
hers. I am come that she might have
life, and I will ever live to make intercession for her. Lord, this was a marriage made
in heaven. And we take these vows before
God. And God's hearing us. If you value that, if you believe
God, He'll hold you accountable for it. Wives, love your husband. Love your wives. Now, in closing,
What chapter would you go in the Bible that describes love
more than any other? Anybody? Somebody? 1 Corinthians
13. How does Christ love us? How
does Christ love His church? 1 Corinthians 13. Love is not
just saying it, but it's doing it. Here it is, 1 Corinthians
13, and here's what it begins with. Verse 1, Though I speak
with the tongue of men and of angels, and have not charity
or love, I am become as a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And
it's a noise in God's ears. Though I have the gift of prophecy
and understand all mystery, I know doctrine, I know the Bible. Oh,
do you now? And have not love, charity? I am nothing. Though I bestow all my goods
to feed the poor, look what I've done. Though I give my body to
be burned and have not love, it profiteth me nothing. Love
is not talk. In fact, our Lord didn't say
that very often, did He? Did He? Did He say to His disciples
all the time, did He say it all the time, I love you, I love
you, I love you? No, He didn't. But He sure did
show it. And there was no doubt in their
mind. He didn't have to say it. They knew it. He didn't have
to say it. Oh, we need to hear it. We need
to hear it. But if love's there, it's obvious. It did not talk. Talk's so cheap. Verse 4, charity, love, suffereth
long. Now think of this as Christ,
and this is also a command to us. Suffereth long. How long? Forever. Love is kind. Love envieth not, never envious,
but wants the best of the one it loves, rather than have the
best. Charity vaunteth not itself.
I'm something you need to serve me. Brethren, let this mind be
in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, took upon himself the
form of a servant, not puffed up. You know, you think about this.
Our Lord knew everything. What do you think that we say
that is foolish to Him? Do we ever say anything? Why? Does He ridicule us? Does He make fun of us? Does He belittle us? No. It's perfect love. And if we
do that to our own, you can count on it. He's going to do it to
you. Love doth not behave itself unseemly,
seeketh not her own. What's in it for me? That's not
love. It's not easily provoked, thinketh
no evil. Thinketh the best. She didn't
mean that. He didn't mean that. Rejoiceth not in iniquity. Did you hear what so-and-so did?
You don't do that. If you love somebody, you don't
do that. Love covereth. Love covereth. You don't want anybody else to
know about it. You want it put away. Have it
brought up again. Is that how the Lord lives in you? Rejoiceth in the truth.
We're going to get to the bottom of this. We're going to get to
the truth of this. I want to know the truth. Rejoiceth in the truth. Let the
truth come out. Beareth all things. Beareth all
things. Whatever comes because of love. Relieveth all things. Believeth
the best. Hopeth all things. Hopes for
the best. Endureth all things. Love never fails. Charity never
faileth. If you love somebody, you'll
never quit loving them. Our Lord loves His own to the end. There's
prophecies that will fail. Preaching will fail. Oh, how
mighty preaching, you know. Tongues, languages, they'll cease.
Knowledge, it's all going to vanish away. We know in part
anyway. We preach in part, rather than
everything I've said today is things too wonderful for me.
And I'm not saying it because I know it. I'm saying it because
I need it. I'm not saying it because I've arrived. I'm saying
it because I aspire to it. I'm not saying it because I'm
perfect. I'm saying it because I'm pressing toward it. Now when that, verse 10, has
come, perfect has come, what's that? Christ. and that which
is in part shall be done away with." I was a child. I spoke as a child. You know,
childish love is selfish love. It's all about yourself. Peevish
love. Poor me. Nobody loves me. I remember as a little boy, a
young boy, I'd get in the doghouse with my dog. I had a St. Bernard. It weighed nearly 200
pounds. I had a big house so I could
get in there. And I'd get in there with that
dog after Mom or Dad would scold me. And I deserved it. I'd get in that house with that
dog and I'd put my arm around him and I'd cry and I'd say,
nobody loves me like you love me. I'd say, Mom doesn't love
me. What a cry, baby! Huh? What a crybaby. Doesn't love you. He married
you, didn't he? She married you, didn't she?
Stuck with you this long, hadn't she? Nobody loves me. Why should they? Nobody listens to me. What have
you got to say? You've got something worth saying? God's in heaven, and He's here
in every word we say. Let your words be few. In fact,
don't say a thing. Do it. Don't be a hearer of the
Word. Do it. Do like I did, Christ
said. Don't just say it. Show it. Is
that too hard? It's truth. Husbands, love your
wives as Christ loved the church. When I became a man, he said
in verse 11, oh, I want to become a man, don't you, like Christ?
Don't you, Stan? I want to be a man like Jesus
Christ. I'm tired of this old man in
here. I want him gone. I don't want to be like any other
man, but Jesus Christ with me. Now, that's a man. And he served
his wife all his days. There's nothing in it for him. That's the man I want to be like.
I won't quit being a child. Verse 12, we see through a glass
darkly, but then face to face we know in part, but then we'll
know even as we've also been known. And now by the faith,
hope, and charity, these three, but what's the greatest? Oh,
I know the truth. I believe the truth. Do you now?
But what's the greatest? What's the greatest? Love. Love. Guilty. If I could ask for a
show of hands, every one of them ought to raise, right? Now, here's
the command. Love your wife. Love your husband. Love each other. Love each other
as I loved you, as I loved you. In closing, let's sing a hymn
that goes well with that, that I may love as thou hast loved
and do as thou dost do. What number? Seventy-three. Seventy-three. I'm sorry? No, that's not it. You say 173?
164. Okay. Thank you. 164. Yeah, that's it. 164. Now if you'll come up. Let's
sing verse 1 and 2. Okay? Stand. 164. Just the first
two verses. Alright.