My wife thinks that I acted suspiciously
nice and kind to her today. I told her what I was going to
preach on, and I tried to practice all day today what I'm going
to preach tonight. And she kind of looked at me
suspiciously. But I'm trying. I'm trying. The restraining grace of God
is what keeps this world and everyone in it from going stark
raving mad. Because of sin, we're all beasts
by natures, and were it not for God keeping us from ourselves
and barring the true expression of our natures, we would have
killed each other off a long time ago. God's restraining grace, especially
in this marriage relationship. You take two sinful, self-willed,
differently raised, different personalities and put them together
for 24 hours, eating, sleeping, waking up, looking at one another,
living together, it's a miracle. It's a miracle that any two people
stay together in marriage. It's a miracle. I'm not making
light of our nature, our wicked natures at all, nor am I excusing
our behavior. Not at all, but I'm just telling
it like it is. It's just the way it is. Mindy and I, personality-wise,
and I'm not going to use us as too many illustrations. That
would be dangerous. But personality-wise, we're a
great deal different. It's a miracle. It's a miracle
that two people stay together for any length of time, especially
throughout their lives. Marriage is truly made in heaven.
True marriage. True marriage, that is, the joining
of a man and a wife together, is truly made in heaven because
only God can hold it together. Only God can. In a day when almost
three out of five marriages end up in divorce, that's proof of
what I'm saying. that only God can hold a true
marriage together. Now, I'm not sure. I've said this before, and I've
thought about it. In reference to Romans chapter
8, verse 7, Paul said the carnal mind is enmity against God. And he says, he's talking about
the natural man. We quote that as being the natural
man. the enemy, enemies against God. But the rest of that verse
says this, for it is the carnal mind, the natural mind, the natural
man is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. And I've said this before, and
I've thought about it a great deal, and I don't want to make
an outlandish statement, but I'm not sure that God recognizes man's two-bit
ordinance of marriage. I'm just not sure he recognizes
it at all. It's a little two-bit ceremony
that men and women go through and make all these wild promises
before God, you know. Man makes these pitiful little,
in sickness or in health. Well, you let a man or a woman
get in a wheelchair or whatever, you see how long they stay together,
for richer or for poorer. Most, you know, most people have
houses and two cars and a boat and all that, and they get divorced
anyway. For better or for worse, till death do us part before God Almighty to make these
vows. You reckon God's paying any attention
to man's two-bit vows? You see what I'm getting at?
You reckon He's paying any attention to that? Now based upon that scripture
there, I don't believe God even ever recognizes Mary between
two hundred general people. That's what it says there. The
natural man is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed
can be. But for believers, for believers,
and I'm not saying both of them have to be, one or both, but
for one believer to make that vow before God before or after
conversion. It does not matter if you made
it before the Lord converted you. Now you are converted. Now
it's binding to you. Now you've still made it. You've
made it before God. As a believer, now you're bound
by this vow. And we're accountable to God,
each and every one of us, and to each other, not only to stay
together, Now look here in Ephesians chapter 5, this is our text,
Ephesians chapter 5. We're accountable to God and
to each other, not only to stay together, not just to stay together
for the sake of the kids or whatever, but in Ephesians 5 verse 21 he
says, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. We're to be in total submission
to one another. Total submission, that is, we're
to love, respect, serve, honor, and care for one another in the
fear of, or in the sight of, or under the watchful eye of,
and in respect of our Lord, as unto the Lord. Lord, I made this
vow. You gave me this husband or wife,
and I made this vow before you, and I'm accountable. I'm accountable. To love, respect, serve, honor,
and care for one another in the fear of the Lord. To submit ourselves
one to another in the fear of God. Verse 22. Now, wives, submit yourselves unto your own
husbands as unto the Lord. Now, this starts out with the
wife. It starts out with the wife because
of the divine order of things. Now, stay with me. Although husbands
have the first and greater responsibility, I would begin with husbands,
and that's not the way the Lord did it. He did it wisely because
this is the order of things. Listen to what I say very carefully
here. Order is heaven's first law. God Almighty, the Scripture says,
has ordered all things. And sure, God is a God of order,
order. He's done all things meticulously,
on purpose, with a purpose, in an order, in an exact order,
the way things ought to be. You talk about the laws of nature.
Well, there's nothing more than the laws of God, nothing less
than the laws of God himself, the laws of nature, the way it
is supposed to be. Now, the true glory—listen to
this carefully, listen to this statement very carefully—the
true glory and highest honor of all things is the accomplishment
of the end of its design. The true glory and highest honor
of all things is the accomplishment or the end of its design. In other words, to bring God
glory, to fulfill our design and our purpose, is the accomplishment
of that purpose wherein we're designed. Every portion of the
universe has its place. Everything throughout the universe
has its place. And when serving in that proper
place, there's harmony. There's harmony. Had Eve served
her proper place and not taken it upon herself to act, in other
words, if she'd consulted her husband rather than taking things
into her own hands, there may not have been a sin, a fault. Everything in its proper order,
only when in subordination, you've heard that word, Subordination,
insubordination. Only when that takes place is
there conflict and discord and strife. When you get out of your
place, that's when trouble starts. This is what I'm talking about
here. God has an order in this universe. When you leave that
order, whatever it may be, when you leave that proper order of
things, get out of your place, trouble starts. This is just
the divine order thing. You have it in the spiritual
kingdom, God. His angels, and when the angels,
you know the angels, they sought to be gods themselves. And Lucifer
said, I will exalt myself. Trouble. If they could just stay
right there, everything was fine. Peace, harmony, everything just
fine. Bliss, happiness. But one, one
angel, Lucifer, I don't like my position. Trouble. See what I'm saying? In the spiritual
kingdom you have that. In the animal kingdom, you have
that. In the plant kingdom, and especially
in humankind, all have order. Order. Listen to this. The order
of authority, the order of a leader, a ruler, a guide, protector,
provider, belongs to a male, right? The male. The male animal. It's that way even in the animal
kingdom, right? wise, intelligent creature that he is, he's getting
his thing all turned around, and we've got a mess on our hands,
don't we? Got a mess, especially in the
church. My soul. My soul. The servant, and you'll
see the true meaning of service here in a moment, ladies, but
the servant, the helpmate, the companion, the homekeeper, the
child-bearer, female. That's God's order. I hope you
like it that way. I hope you like everything God
has done. He's done it all well. He's done it all good. He's done
it all for our good. And I hope you don't sound like
that. But that's the way it is. That's the way it is all throughout
God's universe. Female. Female. Without one head, without
one authority, without one voice, there's confusion and strife. Yes, there is. Always is. Look
over at 1 Corinthians. Keep your place there in Ephesians
5. Look over at 1 Corinthians chapter 11. 1 Corinthians chapter 11. These
are the words from God himself through the Apostle Paul. And
you know liberal theologians and all that, effeminate liberal
theologians, have twisted this all around, say, well, he was
just one of these bachelors, you know. macho black bachelor
Paul was, and he wrote this in the flesh. Oh boy. If you place any question upon
any part of God's Word as being from a mere mortal man, then
you might as well throw the whole book away. 1 Corinthians 11,
look at verse 3. It says, I would have you know
that the head of every man is Christ and the head of the woman
is the man. That's what it says down there.
Nancy, you like that? Good. God gave you that spirit
of submission and subjection. That's good. That's good. I tell
you ladies, you really, I'm not sure you know how good you got
it. Having somebody else take all the worries and the responsibilities
and the care and the burden. You just say, he'll take care
of it. And I let him, I ain't worried about that. He'll do
it somehow. And he might not have the slightest idea how he's
going to do it, but he's not worried. He'll take care of it.
My husband will take care of it. I'll show you in a minute
how this applies to us in Christ. The head of the woman is the
man, the head of Christ is God. Well, look over at verse 8. The
man is not of the woman. That is, the man wasn't created
from the woman in the beginning, but the woman of the man. He
was taken out of Adam's side. She was created for Adam. Yes,
she was. Yes, she was. Wasn't she, Janette? Yes, she was. The man is not
of the woman, but the woman of the man. Neither was the man
created for the woman, but the woman for the man. That's what
it says. Now, yes, it does. And, you know,
God told the woman when she was deceived and fell and so forth,
He told her, now you're really going to be in submission to
Him, didn't you? Now, He said, your desire is
going to be totally toward him. This is the reason women are
so possessive of their husband. So possessive. And if I can use
the word jealous, you know, suspicious and all. Her desire is totally
toward her husband. She's possessive of him. That's
the result of the fall. There wouldn't be that suspicion
or jealousy or whatever. I had not seen come in. The man
created, wasn't created for the woman, but the woman for the
man. Look down at verse, let's see,
nevertheless, verse 11, is the woman without the, wait a minute,
nevertheless is the man without the woman, neither the woman
without the man. I meant to read that here in
a minute. Keep your place there, but turn back over to the text
there. No, stay there. Stay there. This is God's order of creation.
This is God's order. God is the head of both man and
woman. Man is the head of the woman,
and the woman is the servant and companion of man. Now, this
is not for the glory of man. This is not so that man can be
all puffed up and, see there, little wifey? No, that's not
it at all. That's not it at all, but this
is for the glory of God, and we're going to see that. We're
going to see how it glorifies God. But in Christ, look back
there, 1 Corinthians 11. In Christ, the Scripture says
there's neither male nor female. Nothing. In Christ. In the spiritual kingdom. That
is in level of importance. Take a seat, buddy. Right beside
your wife. You ain't no different than her.
In Christ. That's what it says there in
verse 11. Neither is the man without the woman, neither the
woman without the man, in the Lord. For as the woman is of
the man, even so is the man also by the woman." Now, we come from
women. We come from women. But all things of God. All things
of God. For Christ is all in this universal
kingdom. He's all. He has the preeminent. He must have the preeminent.
And for the purpose of peace, harmony, and order, and as a
figure and a symbol of Christ and his bride and his church,
man is the head of the one, to show us this relationship of
Christ and his bride. I'm not talking about so man
can boast of himself, but because Christ is the head of his bride,
the church, and is under subjection to him in all things, this is
a picture. of Christ for the glory of God.
It's a picture. Everything in this world is a
type, is a picture, is for the honor and the glory of our God.
And he created it not just for our sakes, but for his honor
and his glory. For him were all things created.
And this marriage relationship was created to show us that position,
those positions. Man is the head of the woman.
only for these reasons, but not for his glory, not for his boasting,
not to say a C, not to say that at all. This thing of machoism
is damnable pride. That's nothing more. That's nothing
more. Anytime we read over there a
while ago in 1 Peter that it's damnable to rail on somebody,
to rail on them and show your and so forth. It's damnable pride,
it's nothing less than damnable pride, and God will deal with
you on it, old man. But wives, now turn back to Ephesians
5, but to the wives, he says here this purpose of order, for
the purpose of order, for the purpose of peace, harmony, for
your good, according to God's wisdom, And chiefly because it's
the type of Christ in his church, the bride to send submission
to Christ, he says, Submit yourselves. Submit yourselves. Wives, submit
yourselves unto your own husband as unto the Lord. That is, submit
your whole being, yourself. Not feigned obedience either.
That won't work. But yourselves, all of yourselves. to your husband, your will. That's
what Christ did to his father, didn't he? My will be done, but
thy will be done, didn't it? Isn't that what the church is
supposed to do with Christ? Not my will be done, but thy will
be done, O Christ. It's what the wife is supposed
to do. Not my will be done, but your will be done, O husband.
This is a divine order thing. And this is what God's Word is
saying. You'll have peace and harmony if you do that. If you
do that. Submit your will, your freedom,
your life to your husbands, as if unto the Lord." Why? Verse
23, "...because the husband is the head of the wife, even as
Christ has a perfect picture of Christ being the head of the
church, and he is the Savior of the body. And your husband
is your head, and in a certain sense he is your Savior, especially
if he is a believing husband." That is, Paul told the women
in one place, if you learn anything, let them The women will learn
anything, let them ask of their husbands at home. He's a spiritual
leader. If he's a man at all, he'll be
the spiritual leader of his house. And he'll be the strong one spiritually,
and he'll be the instructor, not his wife, unless the Lord
just hasn't seen fit to save that man or to cause him to grow. But you wives, submit yourselves
to your husbands, to his leadership, to his care, to his provision,
to his will. to his love and his authority. Look at verse 24 again. Let the
wives be under subjection to their husbands, as Christ was
to the church. Let the wives be to their own husbands in... what's it say there? Everything? No questions asked? No questions asked. That's what it says. And if mistakes come and happen,
you'll be in the right, ladies. You'll be doing what's required
of you, and God will honor that and bless it. As long as it's
not against the Lord's laws, as long as it doesn't violate
God's laws, man, you're not going to be in trouble as long as it
does not violate God's laws. Because the church does not question
its Lord. Never! We don't question Him. You understand? When we start
questioning, that's when we get in trouble. Wait a minute, I
don't know if this is what... The church doesn't question its
Lord, do they? Peter started doing that one
time. No, wait a minute, Lord. No, no, you can't go to Jerusalem.
Oh, get thee behind me safe. And I'm telling you, ladies,
and I say this very carefully. This is the way in which Satan
works in your life. Yeah, he can. He can manipulate
you in such a way as to mess up this divine order and create
some real problems. And I'm not going to go into
that in detail, but I know what I'm speaking of. The Church does
not question its Lord, but bows to and submits to His will in
everything. Trust. Trust. Trust is a real
good word for love or definition of love. a trusting relationship. Ladies, you serve your husbands
as the head of your home, as your leader, as your guide, and
a figure of your Lord. A figure of your Lord. We read
over there where Sarah even called her husband Lord. Now, we're
not going to go that far. You don't have to just call him
Joe. That would be fine. But Sarah was under submission
and subjection to that man. God blessed her mildly. Mightily,
greatly, and even believing wise with unbelieving
husbands. We read it there, didn't we,
in 1 Peter chapter 3? You want to turn back there real
fast, refresh your memory? 1 Peter 3, verse 1, he said,
likewise ye wise, be in subjection to your own husband. If any obey,
if you have a husband that doesn't obey the word, that doesn't believe,
He might be won by your life, your conversation. That is, influenced
in such a way to see that God really has done something for
you today. In spite of me. He may do it. While they behold
your chaste conversation coupled with fear. You know, gentle obedience
and meekness can only bring about good. And he goes on to say that
there in 1 Peter. And perhaps it might win the
hardest heart. Gentle, loving obedience and
submission might just win the hardest heart. Like I was saying
a while ago, nobody, only an absolute lunatic and monster,
would keep on railing on somebody that just patiently took it in
meekness and tenderness. You know? It might soften the
even hardest heart. A soft, the scripture says, a
soft answer turneth away wrath. Let me say this, one more thing
to the ladies, a couple more things to the ladies, and then
I'm going to get to the pen. I want to spend more time on
the men. We need more time. I debated whether or not to get
in this or not. Maybe I shouldn't, but the scriptures deal with
it. Look over at 1 Corinthians chapter
7 and this thing of conjugal submission. You know what conjugation
is? Y'all know what conjugation is, don't you? OK. This is the
Marriage Act. In 1 Corinthians, chapter 7,
it's a fact that a man is physically stronger, and because of that,
he's more virile in strength and stronger and bigger and so
forth. It's just the fact that the passions
and desires and so forth are more frequent and a little You
have to acknowledge that. It's the way of flesh. It's the
way it is, even in the animal kingdom. But look here at 1 Corinthians,
chapter 7, for you wives. Now, concerning the things wherever
you wrote unto me, it's good for a man not to touch a woman. That is, to stay chaste and devote
himself to the Lord. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication,
let every man have his own wife. and let every woman have her
own husband. Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence
of kindness, tenderness, compassion, and likewise also the wife unto
the husband. Now, the wife hath not power
over her own body. No, when the Lord puts you two
together, your body's his. Yes, it is. And he is yours. But the husband, and likewise
also the husband, hath not power over his own body but the wife.
And he says here, defraud or deny you not one another. Under
no circumstances. Under no circumstances are you
to refuse your husband, except, he says here, it be with mutual
consent, that is, mutual consent on both parts. This thing is
not a serious thing unless there's a problem there. You know what
I'm saying. It's no big deal. It's nothing real serious unless
there's a problem. If there's a problem here, it's
real serious, isn't it? But he said, under no circumstances
defraud or deny you one another, except it be mutual consent for
a time, just for a little while, too, that you may give yourselves
to fasting and prayer. That seems to be the only reason,
but perhaps sickness or and not feeling well, and it said on
up there that the husband is to render due maneuverance and
kindness to her anyway, and vice versa. The person doesn't feel
well and all. But you have an obligation toward
your husband, and the wife, or the man toward the woman, in
this respect, to give yourself to them, and accept it be for
mutual consents, for fasting and prayer, and then quickly
come together again. See that, verse 5? that Satan
tempt you not to go out and find satisfaction elsewhere. That's
good advice, isn't it? Good advice. One final note to the wives.
Be a true helper and a supporter of your husband. Be a true helper
and supporter of your husband. as husband may not be any more
physically demanding than yours. Sometimes we husband think it
is, you know. We think, oh, we go out and we work so hard. That
little woman, she's working hard, too. I mean, real hard. I've,
uh, if any of you have done the washing, cooked, and the dishes,
and this, and cleaned the house and all, you know. It's just
as tough as going out and working an eight-hour day job. Yes, it,
yes, ma'am, it certainly is. And, uh, but his, ladies, his
role May not be any more physically demanding than yours, but the
psychological responsibilities of it are much greater. Much
greater. And they're great enough. These
responsibilities of a husband and care of a wife. Nobody wants
to be responsible for somebody else. I don't care how strong
he is, how virile or how confident in himself he is, or how talented
he is. I don't care who he is. Nobody
wants to be responsible for somebody else. They want to be responsible
for me. I don't want that responsibility.
And then a child comes along, and then you've got this double
responsibility, maybe two children, or three. You've got all these
people depending upon you. And that will break the strongest
man. It'll break him. So you need
to support him. Support him. He needs to know
that you appreciate his leadership, that you appreciate his responsibilities
and his care, his concern, his hard work. He needs to know that
you need to acknowledge the fact that he's supporting your family,
he's working. Even if you work, I don't care,
he's still probably carrying the brunt of it. And he needs
to know that you are thankful, appreciative of what he's doing.
You need to support him and encourage him. Yeah, you do. Now husbands. Husbands. Look back at the text
there. Verse 25. We have the greater
responsibility. And I'm going to spend more time
with a husband because of that very fact. Look at this. Verse
25 in Ephesians 5. Listen up, men. Very carefully. Husbands. Verse 25. Love your
wives. But Joe, ain't that sad that
he has to tell us to love our wife? That's about the most unbelievable
thing I can think of, that we have to be exhorted and admonished
to love this precious gift that God's given us. The Scripture
says, "...he that findeth a wife obtaineth good favor from the
Lord." Now, good wives are few and far between, buddy. And the sad fact that he had
to tell us to love our wives. My soul. Ed, that's the crux
of our depravity, isn't it? Now, Ed, you better love that
woman. Oh, boy. How we ought to esteem
our wives is the greatest gift that God has ever given us in
this site of salvation. How we ought to. Some of our
wives, perhaps, have been a great means of even our salvation. They're a gift. They are a gift
of God. How we ought to consider our
wives to be not only our lover, Our wives. Yeah, we ought to. Yeah, we ought
to. God has made the two of us wrong.
This is how we're to love them, too. He says, Husbands, love
your wives. Are you ready for this? How are
we supposed to love them? Just like Christ loved the church.
Man, will somebody else take over here? Stan, come on up here,
buddy, and take over. I can't handle this. Love that
woman like Christ loved the church. That'll do with this macho stuff,
won't it? That'll do with this, I'm the
head, you're the wife. Christ never did that, did he? Huh?
No, it says he became what? Servant. Watch this for you. My soul. How did Christ love
the church? Look at it. Verse 25. He gave
himself for it. Gave himself. Total sacrifice. How did he love the church? Total
sacrifice. Stay with me, men, please. Oh, I need this. I don't know
who else needs this. Maybe you got it all taken care
of. Maybe you do this. I don't. I
need this back. How did Christ love the church
and how we love our wives? He gave himself for her. Total
self-sacrifice. Now, you thought the ladies had
some serving to do, didn't you? You thought the ladies were to
be the servants. It's the other way around. We're to serve them
totally. Oh, wait a minute now. What Christ
did, what Christ did for the church, huh? He left His Father's
glory, His throne, to come down here and serve us maggots, and
even obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, to serve
His bride. And this tells us that the whole
of our lives, every fiber of our being, all of our resources,
all of our selves, all of our desires, all of our will, should
be for the good of that woman. That's what Christ did. His whole
will and body was taken up with the good of his church, his bride,
and gave himself for it, to make that little woman happy. That's what he did, you understand?
came down here to purchase for us eternal happiness and gave
himself for it. Father, just tell me what I need
to do for this bride, and I'll do it. Even the point of laying
down and dying and taking her, spitting in my face. We can't
take the little lady and question our judgment or authority for
30 seconds, can we? We spit in his face, and he took
it for the love. Our personal concerns, men, have
no place. Christ didn't. His personal concerns,
he never performed a miracle for himself, did he? Everything
he did while on this earth was for his bride. Everything. Not for himself. Charles what?
He didn't do a thing for himself. When he was hungry, hurting,
tired, he didn't do anything for himself. He did it all for
us. And that's what he says for us
to do. Rick is serious in it. And I don't fall so far short.
Lord help me. Our own personal concerns have
no place in a proper marriage. Our own desires are to be stifled
for her desires. Honey, what do you want? What
do you need? That's what Christ did for us.
Henry wasn't it? Yeah, it was. That's how he loved
us. This is how he loved us. He came
to serve. He said, the Son of Man's come
not to be ministered unto, although he deserved that life. He deserved
to be ministered unto. But he said, I didn't come for
that. I came to minister. He left his glory for the joy
of marrying this harlot. Scripture said he made himself
of no reputation and took upon himself the form of a servant.
You know what he did here? I thought about this. This is
great. He got a real lowly job to support his wife. He took
the lowest job he could possibly take to support his wife. Yeah, he did. And we ought to be willing to
do anything. for our wives. Yeah, we should.
That's what he did, didn't he? Took the lowest, left his throne
to come down here and wash, feed, and serve, and die an ignominious
death of a common thief. A lowly, lowly, lowly man to support his wife, to support
her, to bear her up on his wing in the heaven itself. He gave
everything to make her happy. He was rich. Oh, he was rich. But for her sake, he became poor. I used to have a lot of money
before I was married. A pocket full. You know, I could only
make, I remember making about three dollars an hour or something
and having a sports car and an apartment and bags full of money
and running out doing this and that and the other. How do you
do that? I don't understand how I did that. I didn't owe any
money. I wasn't in debt. But now, I don't have much money, and
this and that and the other, but I'd do it again in a minute. Yeah, I would. Sure would. But he was rich for our sakes.
He became poor. But man, you know, we have got
a lot. Mindy, we've got a lot. Good. That's great. Just me and Steve,
whatever, whoever. We've got we've got homes, we've
got cars, we've got cars. I mean, you've got I've got three
of us and Steve's got about 23. We've got homes. We've got cars,
we've got lands, we've got, just name it, we've got it. My soul. And the Lord, you know, has given
you a wife on top of that. We've got everything we could
possibly need. How could we ever, ever, ever complain about not
having anything because we have to give it all or do this and
that and the other for sacrifice? We've got everything we could
possibly ask for. and more. Our heart's desire. Love her. Love her, men. In a sense, there's a sense in
which Christ received greater honor and glory from coming down
here and marrying this bride. He did. He received some greater
honor and glory by coming down here and getting this bride and
this wife. It's not what she did for him,
though. It's what he did for her. What he did for her. And
how did Christ love his bride? He provided for her. He provided
everything, willingly. He never asked for anything in
return. Now, I'm going to do this. Now, you just better do
your part. You've got to do it whether she does hers or not.
What if Christ had said that about us? Huh? What if? He'd have said, Rick,
what if? He'd have said that. Now, I'm
going to do this. I'm going to take the first step.
This is what religion's saying in it. I'm going to take the
first step, and the rest is up to you, bud. Oh, I'm so glad
he didn't say that. Aren't you glad he said, I'm
going to come there, I'm going to do it all for you. You're not capable.
I'm going to take care of you, honey. I'll take care of you.
I'm going to do it all for you. And you're not even going to
be able to do anything for me. Really. We can't do anything
for him. We can't do nothing. We talk about serving him, and
we can't do anything. We can't add one speck to his glory and
his honor, really. He's got all glory and honor.
We can't do anything for him, but we want to out of love. But
the ladies, they can serve their husband. But Christ did it. He provides for her willingly,
his church, willingly, never asking anything but thanks and
praise. It's the same way with our children.
We don't ask anything of our children except that they acknowledge
us every now and then. Thank you, Mom. Thank you, Dad.
Appreciate it. That's enough, isn't it? What
else do you need? You need a car now? Money? Isn't that the way
it is? If they just say, Dad, thank
you. I appreciate what you're doing for me. Send me a school,
whatever, maybe. Yeah, sure, son. Anything. What
else? What else do you need? I'll get
three jobs. And that's the way Christ provides
for us. And just ask Him thanks in return. Demand Him thanks in return.
And pray. And He did this for His love
for the church. He does it all for love, not
for duty. And us men, we're not to do this
for duty's sake. Not because he says we're to
do it, but because we love her. And I hope you do. But Christ
provided for his church. He provided righteousness which
he could not come up with. This perfect righteousness that
God demanded of us. A holy life as a man. He provided
a sacrifice that God demanded that is We sinned and God demanded
that we die because of our sins and Christ died in our place.
He provided all this to purchase this bride, this church. And
how does Christ serve his church? How did he love her? He loves
her by preserving her and defending her. Wouldn't dare let anything hurt
her. Wouldn't dare let anything. He sure wouldn't hurt her. Would
he? Wouldn't dream of it. Wouldn't
think of hurting her, his bride, his wife. How about us men? Ah boy, sometimes we may gnash
our teeth and act like bears and My gracious, God ought to
kill us dead. Christ loved his church by instructing,
leading, and guiding her, not to prove his authority, not to
prove that he was Lord, although it did prove he was Lord. And
it does prove, but out of concern, out of concern for the weaker
vessel. We're the weaker vessel. We're totally weak. We're without
strength, without help. ungodly, Christ had to come down
and provide and instruct and lead and guide us all the way. Christ loved his church by delighting
in her presence. Listen to this, man. Listen to
this. You need this. I need this. He
left the father to dwell with his bride right in her midst. Left the father. Left doing,
Ricky. Left doing. If I could say this
in human terms, what He loved and delighted to do more than
anything else, be with His Father. He loved
it. He's in the bosom of the Father.
He said, I delight and do Thy will, O Father. I love the Father.
Perfect communion and love with the Father. That's what, if I
can speak in human language so we will understand it, He left
what He delighted to do to go be with Her. Now, men, are we
willing to give up anything, anything, to stay with that lady,
to be with her, anything, something we may like to do, something
we may be taken up with doing, with the guys or whoever, whatever,
anything, because a woman I don't know about you, but as a bride
of Christ, wife of Christ, I need his presence. I like to have
him near me. I feel miserable when he's not
around me. That song says, how tedious and
tasteless the hour is when Jesus is no longer I see. And if you
know anything about that, you know what he's saying there.
You need Christ's presence. You want his presence. This is
what we pray for. Be with us, Lord, be with us.
Oh, to win Christ and be found in Him, to know Him, to love
Him. And ladies are the same way.
These women, their desire is to their husband. Right, ladies?
You like having Him around, don't you? You like having Him with
you. You think about these ladies
who don't have a husband. They'd like to have 30 minutes. Just 30 minutes. How much time do we give them? There's a sense in which we ought
to prize that woman, too, for leaving her home and family to
live with us. I've drugged this girl all the
way down here to Rocky Mount, Virginia. away from her daddy
that dearly loves her. And you know, every one of us,
we pull these ladies away from a daddy. Now, you think about
it. If you have a daughter, Rick, you know how you love that little
girl, don't you? You think about the day when
she comes to get married or something. Some little jerk. And you know, for patience sake
and for your respect and Because your daughter loves him and is
just all googly-eyed with this little idiot, and he's going
to take her away from you and live with her in a two-lit dump
somewhere. And you have just bestowed everything
upon her, just loved her, just to no end. You'd give your life
for her, only to have this guy mistreat her and not provide
for her like you could. We could provide for her so much
better. And men, we've drugged, every one of us have drugged
these ladies away from a loving husband, a loving father. She
left that man and her mother and a happy home life and all
to come and live with me. Ed Ballard, what a man. What
he's done for you. Boy, you're rotten. I tell you, it's a great responsibility. It's a great responsibility.
I don't want to take it for granted what you've done in leaving your
home and family to come live with me. And you know, Christ
has promised us as his bride, you leave everything and come
follow me and I'll take care of you. And buddy, he does it. We live, we live, leave misery
though. We think we're happy. So we leave
all that and we find that man, oh man, look what he's given
us. We don't want to go back because
he never mistreats us, never leaves us. He says, I'll never
leave you. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church
and gave himself for it. Look down at verse 28. Men ought
to love their wives as their own bodies. Boy, we all love
our bodies, don't we? Yes, we do. Don't say you don't.
We love these bodies now. We take care of them. We nurture
them. We fret over them, fuss over
them. Just consume with these bodies,
with our pleasure, our senses, our appetites, everything. We
just want to feel this, just take care of this body. We love
our body. That's why he says, love our
wives. What do you need now? What can I do for you? Treat
her, love her. Boy, I tell you, this is something
else. Have you ever thought about this as serious as this is, what
it requires? The two of you are one flesh.
That's what it said in verse 31. Two shall be one flesh. He
says, Render unto her due benevolence, kindness, and duty. Treat her
as you would have her treat you. Verse 29. No man yet hath hated
his own flesh, but he nourishes it and cherishes it, even as
the Lord the Church. See how it all relates to Christ,
even as Christ relates to church. He took no thought for his own
body, did he? Oh, my, he cared for our body, his body. He called us his body, didn't
he? The two became one flesh, and we're his body. He's the
head. He says, "...nourish and cherish her as the Lord does
us. Consider her as a weaker vessel,
and treat her as such." Christ, listen men, listen, I'm just
about through. I've been weary of you long enough,
I guess. Christ does not berate us for
our disobedience. Woman, what is wrong with you? He doesn't do that, Doug, never.
Terry, that's what you were talking about in the study. He never
does that to us, Terry, never. He kindly and gently tenderly
entreats us. He had a right. See, look at
that old Peter. He had a right to take Peter. Peter, you ignorant
fool! You denied me? That's not the
way he did it, was it? Peter, do you love me? He'd go tell
my disciples, and he'd be sure to tell old Peter he needs to
hear from me right about now. He never berates us for our disobedience,
nor our mistakes. Christ, He doesn't berate us,
He doesn't jump on us for our weakness and our ignorance. Oh,
He could, couldn't He? Christ said He'd never leave
us. Never. And I've told, for all this is
worth, you know, I've told my wife, I said, divorce, this thing,
this word is, God, phew, God help me. But that's just not
my vocabulary. I, you get in a fit of anger,
I ain't even gonna mention the word. Just forget it. Forget
it. God help us. They're worried
I'm not to even ever be even mentioned. Not even thought about. Not even a separation. No, no,
no. He said, love her as if Christ
loved the church, and Christ would never, never leave us. He said he'd never leave us.
And Christ would never strike us in anger. Do I even need to
say anything about that? How could a big man? Wow. Christ never lashes out
at us either. Never. But you know, we deserve
all this. This is the thing about it. We
deserve it. We deserve Him to leave us forever,
Terry. Don't we? We deserve for Him
to strike us dead. Don't we? We deserve for Him to lash out
at us. You unbelieving fool! Go on to hell then! We deserve
for Him to do that. But He never does it. And us, and what he's saying
here, that woman is your equal. So that ought to never take place
in our lives. It ought to be unthinkable. She
is your equal in God's eyes, and she deserves only love and
care from you. Husbands, love your wives. Even
as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. Totally. One last note. I've got some
practical instructions here for you men, and I'll quit. You need to acknowledge that
woman. I need to acknowledge her, my wife. We need to acknowledge
her care for us. I tell you, I don't know where
this mentality came from. This thing of, you know, it's
just what I've got coming, a little lady ought to have a meal, and
she ought to. But my soul, we're guilty of
the most heinous crime of not thanking her for preparing our
food, washing our clothes. That's base ingratitude. God hates it. Even Christ said, well done now,
good and faithful servant. And we ain't done nothing anyway
for him. Nothing. Just take, take, take,
take, take. And he tells us, you've done
a good job. Goodness gracious. We need to acknowledge that,
lady. Thank her for cooking for us. Every time, without fail. Thank her for cleaning our clothes. Thanking her for mothering our
child. Compliment her. She dresses up for you. Tries
to make herself look nice and appealing to you. Compliment
her. Don't compliment other women. Compliment her. Honey, you look
nice. She tries, she really does. You ladies, now you dress for
your husbands, don't you? You really do. You want to please
them. And it can be such a bad idea for these men to, every
now and then, to get themselves a half foot, just at least smelling
right, for her sake. Maybe looking good. Appeal to
her a little bit. But we need to help ease her
load by providing everything material and emotional, all the
support she needs to do her job. And above all else, perhaps,
we ought to treat her like a lady. Treat her like a lady, loving
her and making her feel special. Special. Isn't that what Christ did to
us? Some day. It hath not yet appeared
unto us. the things that He's prepared
for them to love. Terry, you talk about feeling
special. One of these days it says He's going to parade us
down the aisle like a bride. And we're going to be special.
And the angels and the cherubims and so forth are going to serve
us. We're going to be like kings and priests sitting at the king's
table. Like special people. When we've been wiggling worthless
Wicked, maggots, rebels. Now these ladies haven't been
like that to us men, have they? No, they haven't. They've served
us well. And I'm thankful for my wife.
I hope you're thankful for yours. And I hope we can learn a lesson
here. Ladies and men, husbands and wives. Wives, submit yourselves
unto your husbands as unto the Lord. be in subjection to him. And husbands, love your wives
as Christ loved the church. This is good advice from God's
Word. And you'll be happy. You've got
God's Word on it. It's the bound order of things.
You've got His Word on it, you'll be happy ever after. Ever after. I'll just dismiss this, you know,
think about these things at another time. Stand with me and I'll
dismiss this in prayer. Our Father, we thank You for
this beautiful, beautiful picture of what Christ has done for His
bride, for His church. We can't really enter into it
as we should, and we're an unthankful and disobedient bride, We want
to do better. We want to love you like you
deserve to be loved and serve you like you deserve to be served.
Someday we will. But right now, bear with us a
little longer and mold us and make us conform us to your blessed
image. Grant that these ladies may submit
themselves to their husbands, be in disobjection to him Grant
them peace in their home because of that. if it can be for your will and
glory to save these husbands for your honor and glory for their good and grant that we husbands may
love our wives as they need to be loved as Christ loved the
church we thank you for this blessing
gifts of marriage. Teach us. Teach us. In Christ's name we
pray. Amen. You're dismissed.