Welcome to our program. Now today
I'm going to be preaching from Ephesians chapter 5. I'm going
to begin in verse 22 and the title of the message is Christ
and His Church. Christ and His Church. Now you
may think this is a strange title for this portion of scripture
because it starts off dealing with wives and then it goes to
husband and this is certainly instruction that the Apostle
Paul, as he was inspired by the Holy Spirit, instructions given
to husbands and wives in the sanctity, in the holiest state
of marriage, how wives are to be and how husbands are to be.
But there is a higher purpose here. Now, sometimes the scripture,
as one preacher said, is bifocal. You can look at it two ways,
but not two different ways, but from two perspectives. But the
reason I entitled this Christ and His Church is that the Apostle
Paul is not only giving instruction here on the marriage between
a man and a woman, he's also showing how marriage in its ultimate
highest spiritual goal is to be a reflection of the marriage
between Christ and His Church. And he even says that in verse
32 when he says, this is a great mystery but I speak concerning
Christ and the church. So he said that by the inspiration
of the Spirit. He says I'm speaking of Christ
and his church and I want you to see this. Now I'm going to
show you some instruction on marriage here but I don't want
you to miss the greater higher spiritual eternal purpose to
teach about Christ and his church. Now first of all let me say a
word about marriage. There's a movement in this country
and in in the world today to sanction, for the government,
to sanction same-sex marriages and such things as that. Well, first of all, that is not
marriage in the Scriptures. That is not biblical marriage.
Now, understand this. Marriage in the Scripture has
to do with one man and one woman coming together The Bible says,
leaving father and mother and cleaving to one another, whereas
they become one flesh. And that marriage, that marriage
is to be a reflection of the gospel of Christ and the relationship
of Christ and His church. The Bible teaches that Christ
is the bridegroom, or Christ is the groom and the church is
the bridegroom rather, or the bride rather. So you have Christ
the groom, or the bridegroom, and the church is the bride of
Christ. And then they come together in
marriage. And many times the scripture
speaks of that as the finalization of all things in glory. Whereas
Christ is the husband of the church and the church is the
wife. There are many things about the relationship between a husband
and wife. that typify and reflect the relationship
of Christ and his church. For example, back in the old
days there, the bride was betrothed to the groom, to the husband. And the church, which is made
up of individuals who are born again by the Spirit of God, but
who first have been redeemed by the blood of Christ, the church
has been betrothed to Christ. And Paul spoke of that in the
book of 2 Corinthians chapter 11, when he spoke of the church
at Corinth and how he had betrothed them, espoused them to one husband,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, when was our betrothal?
Well, God chose us before the foundation of the world, the
scripture says. Divine electing grace in the
eternal annals of the mind of God. This has always been so.
And the church was betrothed to Christ. And then the groom
became responsible for all the debt of his bride. And that's
what Christ did when he took upon himself the sins of his
people, his church, his bride, his sheep. And he paid her debt
to God's law and justice by the shedding of his blood at Calvary. In other words, everything that
she owed because of her sinfulness and because of her depravity,
Christ paid it in full and satisfied justice. And then, back then,
the groom would provide the bride with her wedding garment, or
the father of the groom. And this is what Christ did in
his righteousness. We put on the robe of righteousness,
the white robe that the bride of Christ, the book of Revelation
speaks of this, wears in the wedding feast. And that robe
of righteousness is the garment that Christ made by his obedience
unto death. So that our salvation, the salvation
of the church and the bride, is founded upon and based upon
the obedience and the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the
righteous robe of Christ put upon her, whereby her beauty
shines forth in his glory. And then the groom, the husband,
takes full responsibility for his bride. He's responsible to
redeem her, to pay off all her debts, as we said. He's responsible
to protect her. He's responsible to provide for
her, to keep her safe. He's responsible to defend her.
And that's what Christ is to the church. And one other thing
is when the bride marries the groom, she takes his name. And
there's two verses in the book of Jeremiah that beautifully
describe this. One's in Jeremiah 23, verses
5 through 6, which is a prophecy of Christ coming into the world,
and it identifies Him by this name. In the old Hebrew, it would
be Jehovah Sidkanu, which means the Lord, our righteousness.
And then over in Jeremiah chapter 33, I believe it's verses 15,
16, or 16 and 17, right around there, in Jeremiah 33, is speaking of the church and
it says, she shall be called Jehovah Sikhanou, the Lord our
righteousness. Now that doesn't mean that the
church is God. It means that the church as the
bride takes the name of Christ who is the groom. We take his
name. So all of that shows his authority,
shows his responsibility and my friend he loves his bride.
Christ loves his bride. And this is what Paul is going
to talk about here. Let's look at Ephesians 5 and verse 22. He starts off, he says, Wives,
submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. And what he's showing us here
is the order of authority in the home. The husband is the
head of the home. Now that may rub some people
wrong today because not only do we have rebelliousness within
us by nature, But that rebelliousness is condoned today. You can talk
about the women's movement and all that, whatever you want to
talk about. In the marriage relationship, if you want to follow the Word
of God, if you want to be in the revealed will of God, if
you want your marriage to be a reflection of the marriage
between Christ and His Church, He says, wives, submit yourselves
unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. So He speaks of submission. Now, submission is humility.
And it's unto the Lord. You wives, you've got to understand
that when you submit to your husbands, you're not just submitting
to your husbands, you're submitting to the Lord. And that's the issue
here. A rebellious wife is not only
a rebel against her husband, she's a rebel against the Lord. She's not only breaking man's
law, you see, and just getting at her husband, she's breaking
God's law. And that's the issue. Just like
the church. is to be submissive to Christ.
Now, somebody says, well, now, a husband looks around, he says,
when I'll say there, you're supposed to do whatever I say. That is
not what this verse is saying. This verse is saying, wives,
submit yourselves unto your own husbands, and husbands, listen
to this now, it says, as unto the Lord. The Lord never would
ask his bride to do anything wicked, anything evil or anything
that would harm her or humiliate her the Lord would never ask
her to do anything unreasonable or anything that would be selfish
towards him he gives himself to the church and he loves the
church and that's the way the husband we're going to get to
that in a moment that's the way the husband is to be to the wife
the husband is to be as loving and as kind and as gracious as
the Lord is towards his wife as the Lord is towards the church.
Now this submission here is the authority. The husband is to
be the authority of the home. That doesn't mean that he's not
to listen to his wife. Doesn't mean that he's not to
discuss things with her. Doesn't mean that he's to be
a tyrant. If he's a dictator and a tyrant, he's not acting
as unto the Lord. But it does mean he is the authority,
the head of the home. And let me tell you something,
husband. If you're not the spiritual head of your home, you're shirking
your responsibility. Now what that means is you're
responsible as the head of your home to get your wife and your
family into a place where the gospel of God's grace is preached
and be a worshiper. That's one of the main things
that a husband is to do. And that's one of the main things
that the wife is to be submissive unto the husband as unto the
Lord. You're to be the spiritual head of your family. Too many
husbands who are not. They're just tyrants and dictators,
just selfish oaks who just want to rule with an iron fist. And
that's not the case. That's not biblical. So wives,
submit yourselves unto your own husbands. Now look at verse 23.
It says, For the husband is the head of the wife. That's the
authority now. Even as Christ is the head of the church. and
he is the Savior of the body now what he's showing here is
the husband is the head of the wife not as a tyrant or a dictator
or some kind of a of a brutal, brutal Lord but he's the head
of the home as Christ is the head of the church and he goes
on to say and he is the Savior of the body, he's the Savior
of the church Christ's authority over the church has to do with
his redeeming love and grace he's the Savior of the church
What did he save us from? He saved us from our sins. He
saved us from Satan. He saved us from the burden and
the bondage of the law. He saved us from death and hell.
He's the Savior. And that's the way the husband
is to be to the wife and to his family. He's to be one who has
their welfare. Now, he's not saying here that
the husband can save his family from their sins. No, sir. The
only one who can save us from our sins is Christ. But what
he's saying is that the husband is to be a head of the home that
has the welfare and the happiness of his family in his heart, and
he's to love his wife and his children. Not hurt them, not
beat them, not lord it over them, you see, not be a dictator, but
he's to love them. Now love sometimes requires discipline
and chastisement, but it's love. The Bible teaches that Christ
loved his sheep, loved his church to the end, to the finishing
of the work. And in that love, he took all
responsibility for us and he did all that was required for
the salvation of his people, his church now. And that's all
who come to him by faith. Well, the husband is to care
for his wife as Christ cared for the church and take care
of her. And then he says in verse 24, therefore, as the church
is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands
in everything. Now that word everything, people
may, husbands, you may take that and take it too far. Everything
that is honoring to God. Everything that is good for her. You see what he's saying? See,
Christ is the key here. Husbands, love your wives even
as Christ. You say, love the church. And
that's what he's talking about. Wives, be subject unto your husbands
as the church is subject unto Christ. And so let the wives
be to their own husbands and everything. Now, what that means
is that whatever Christ says, we're to do, we're to follow.
And he's the redeemer of the church. Now, Christ would never
tell his bride to do anything that would be harmful to the
bride or to the family. and you see that he loved us
now verse 25 now here and listen to me very carefully here husbands
and wives here is the key to the authority to the husband's
authority right here right here in verse 25 this is the key to
the submission of the wife to her husband and it's one word
love and he says husbands love your wives even as Christ also
loved the church and gave himself for it Christ's love for the
church was not just a spoken love. Christ's love for the church
was not just a Hallmark card or a bouquet of flowers. A husband
can beat up on his wife one day and then bring her a bouquet
of flowers the next day. That's not love. Christ's love
for the church was shown in action. The Bible says in 1 John chapter
4 and verse 10, Herein is love. Not that we love God. but that
he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our
sins. God proved his love for his elect,
for his people, by sending his only begotten Son into the world
to redeem them from their sins. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever should believeth
in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3,
16. In other words, God proved his love by actions. Christ proved
his love for his bride by his actions. What did he do? He went
to the cross of Calvary and took the full responsibility for all
her sins upon himself. The Bible says he was bruised
for our transgressions. Christ, the husband of the church,
was bruised for the transgressions of his bride. They were charged
to him. They were legally imputed to
him so that when he died, he who is in himself perfect and
sinless died in the stead of his people, his bride, for her
sins. You see, she was a wicked bride
by nature. She was an unholy, unclean bride. But Christ cleaned her up. How? By the shedding of his blood.
The bride of Christ is washed in the blood of her husband.
the Lord Jesus Christ. And then he brought forth that
everlasting righteousness, that white robe of righteousness to
put upon her. And that's the basis upon which
God justifies and accepts and entitles her to all of spiritual
life. So when he says husbands, love
your wives, that's the key to her submission to your authority. It's not coming in and forcing
her. And this is the key here. You
see, this is not a submission of wives to husbands that's forced
by law. It's a submission of wives to
husbands that is motivated by love. Now, husbands love your
wife. How much should you love your
wife? Well, he says in verse 25, even as Christ also loved
the church and gave himself for it. There's no limit to it. There's
no limit to your love for your wife. And then he says in verse
26, he says, now the reason Christ did this for his bride is that
he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water
by the word. Now what he's talking about there
is the new birth, I believe. He says that Christ died for
the church to bring life and to bring a cleansing that comes
about by the word. Now that's by the power of the
Holy Spirit. And what he's saying here is in this relationship,
the bride is set apart. that he might sanctify, that
means set apart, that Christ might set her apart and cleanse
her by his word in the power of the Spirit. And I think about
that as far as husbands and wives on this earth are gone, is that
the husband will always speak well of his wife and cause her
to speak well of him, that they will always honor and respect
one another. When the Holy Spirit washes us
inwardly in regeneration by the water of the Word. He brings
us to a saving knowledge of Christ. He brings us to repentance of
our dead works and idolatry. And he causes us to honor and
respect and love, trust and follow the Lord Jesus Christ. And then
he says in verse 27, Christ did this that he might present it,
that is his church, to himself a glorious church. not having
spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and
without blemish." Now, first of all, the ultimate reason,
the ultimate goal of the redemption and the salvation of the Bride
of Christ, His Church, is that the Bride, each member of that
Church, the Bride, the whole Bride, might be glorified with
Him and be sinlessly perfect in herself. Now, right now, we
are sinlessly perfect in Christ. That is legally and objectively. In other words, I am right now
as holy as Christ is, not in myself, but in Him. I am right now as righteous before
the law of God as Christ is, not in myself, but in Him. but the goal of it all is that
one day I'm going to either I'll be resurrected out of the grave
or the Lord will come back but the church, his bride, will be
joined with him and will be given a new body, a glorious body,
a spotless, sinless body and we will be sinlessly perfect
within ourselves not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing
but that it should be holy and without blemish You see, right
now, I'm still a sinner. I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner saved
by grace. I'm a sinner who's been washed
from all his sins. I'm a sinner who's been justified.
I have a righteousness that answers the demands of God's law and
justice. Christ, it's Christ's righteousness. It resides in
heaven with Christ, my hope. It's been imputed or charged
to me. And as a result of that, the Holy Spirit has given me
life. I've been washed by the water of the word, the washing
of water by the word. And I look to him, but I'm a
sinner saved by grace. I have to fight the warfare of
the flesh and the spirit. I have to struggle with sin every
day of my life. And that'll be so until I leave
this world and go to be with him. But that's the goal. And
so in verse 28, he says, so ought men to love their wives as their
own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth
himself. Now that's interesting language,
isn't it? First of all, he says, so ought men ought to love their
wives as their own body. Husband, do you love yourself?
Well, we all do. The Bible says, love our neighbor
as we love ourselves. That's the perfection of love.
We don't do that. We fall short. But now your wife. You see, in the ceremony of marriage,
it's stated this way. that you become, that those who
were formerly two, two separate individuals, now they're joined
together and they become one flesh. That's what, back in Genesis,
that's the way it was stated. There'll be one flesh. And so
that when the wife is hurting, the husband will be hurting.
And when the husband is hurting, the wife will be hurting. When
the wife rejoices, the husband will rejoice. And when the husband
rejoices, the wife will rejoice. You see, one flesh. And it's
just like with Christ and His church. Over in Matthew chapter
25, when the Lord is teaching about the final judgment, He
speaks of separating the sheep from the goats, the sheep being
His bride, His church, believers, and the goats being those who
die in unbelief, the non-elect. And he gives evidence of who
the sheep are and who the goats are by their works. Now this
is evidence. This is not the foundation of
salvation for the sheep. It's the evidence. And here's
what he says. He looks at the sheep and he
says, now, when I was in prison, you visited me. When I was naked,
you clothed me. When I was hungry, you fed me.
All of these things. When I was sick, you visited
me. And the sheikh said, when did we do that? We don't remember
coming to the prison to visit you. And he said this, he said,
in that you have done it to the least of these my brethren, you've
done it unto me. In other words, Christ looked
upon it this way. The way you treat his bride,
the way you treat his sheep, the way you treat his redeemed
ones, his children, he took it personally. That's the way you
treat me. So that when you love the brethren, that's loving Christ. And when you hurt the brethren,
you're hurting Christ. One old preacher friend of mine
made this statement. He said, when you kick one of his children,
he feels it. And that's the way it is between
a husband and wife. When you come after my wife and
you kick her, you're kicking me. That's the way I feel. I
love my wife and she loves me. And when you hurt her, you hurt
me when when you hurt me you hurt her you can't go you see
it's one flesh and that's the way husbands ought to see this
thing because you love your own body and he that loveth his wife
loveth himself she's part of you you're one flesh and he says
in verse 29 for no man ever yet hated his own flesh but he nourishes
it and cherishes it even as the Lord the church you don't hate
your own body you nourish it you cherish it and just like
your wife He says in verse 30, for we are members of his body,
members of his flesh, and of his bones. When the church was
married to Christ, we become one. We're one in Christ, united
to him. He's the head, we're the body.
That's what the scripture teaches. And he says in verse 31, now
listen to this, he says, for this cause shall a man leave
his father, now notice this, for this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and
they too shall be one flesh." Man and a woman coming together,
leaving and cleaving together, one flesh. Not a man and a man,
not a woman and a woman. This is not same-sex marriage.
That's an abomination in the sight of God. That doesn't reflect
Christ and His church. That's satanic. It's worldly.
It's sinful. But this is one man and one woman
coming together. And Paul says in verse 32, this
is a great mystery. A mystery, remember, is not just
something you can't figure out. It's something that has to be
revealed. And the Holy Spirit here is revealing this. This
is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Christ and his church. So he
says in verse 33, nevertheless let every one of you in particular
so love his wife even as himself and the wife see that she reverence
or respect her husband. Now that's the plan for a happy
marriage right there. But even greater than that, that
is the marriage that reflects Christ and his church. Oh, that's
a marriage that reflects the grace of God towards his people,
the undeserved, unmerited grace, the love of God towards his people,
undeserved and unmerited love. Oh, it's a marriage that shows
the glory of Christ and his church when a husband loves his wife
and the wife loves her husband and is submissive to his authority.
Well, I hope that's been helpful to your understanding of this
scripture. And if you'd like to receive a copy of this message,
listen to the announcer as he gives you the details. The title
of this message is Christ and His Church. And I hope you'll
join us next week for another message from God's Word.