Good morning. Thank you for having
me. Frank had threatened to have
me preach the next time I was here for vacation Bible school.
I guess he decided to up his timetable. While you turn into Ephesians
chapter five, I bring greetings from Cross for Church and Donnie
and my parents and from the Kingsport congregation. I'll send their
greetings to you. I have. I've been spying on your
pastor. He told me when I was here for
vacation Bible school that he was thinking of doing a series
on the family and I was very much looking forward to hearing
it. and was glad when he started those messages. And the first
one that I heard, I think on the husbands, I think, reminded
me of this message I'm going to bring this morning. And I
thought it would go very well with what he's been studying
the past few weeks. And I enjoy this message and
pray the Lord will bless it to us one more time. Ephesians 5
verse 22. Wives, submit yourselves unto
your own husbands as unto the Lord. For the husband is the
head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and
he is the savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject
unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even
as Christ also loved the church and gave himself forth, that
he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water
by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church,
not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should
be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives
as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth
himself. For no man ever yet hated his
own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord
the Church. For we are members of his body,
of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and
they too shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery, but
I speak concerning Christ and the Church. Nevertheless, let
every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself
and the wife see that she reverence her husband. On the sixth day
of creation, man was created in the image and likeness of
God. And sometime after man was created, the Lord God made woman
from the rib of man. From that time till now, the
most beautiful relationship that the church of God has to the
son is as the bride of Christ. Being a son or daughter is a
wonderful relationship. The sons and daughters grow up,
they move on, and they have families of their own. The relationship
of the husband and wife is, as much as possible in this life,
eternal. It's everlasting for us. There's
no other relationship that allows two to be as one than the husband
and wife. As many of you know, when God
gives you a spouse as saved by grace, your marriage is indeed
blessed. For you can enter into that relationship
knowing that it shows forth the relationship of Christ to his
people. And the majority of this message,
we're going to examine the greatest love story that's ever been told.
But before we get there, I wanted us to review one more time the
responsibilities of the husband and wife. And looking around,
most of you have been married longer than I have. Probably
know much more about marriage than I do at this point. But when I was writing this message,
this is where I felt led to start. That's where I'll start. And
you'll forgive me if I say anything in ignorance. Wives, submit yourselves unto
your own husbands as unto the Lord. Isaac's over there thinking,
yay, I'm going to rule. And some of you wiser gentlemen
are wondering how I'm going to get out of this alive. Well,
as I still learn, and for your wiser, I'll answer you. I'm going to take my place as
I should as a wife. I am married to one husband,
my Lord. This scripture is written directly
to me in my relationship to my Lord. As his wife, I desire to
please him. I desire to be with him. I want his approval. Where he leads, that's where
I want to go. Is this easy for me to do? Of
course not. However, I do have an easier
job than you wives in here. My difficulty in following my
husband is my sin and my rebellion. You wives have your own sin and
rebellion and sometimes Every now and again, your husband just
might be wrong on which he's leading you. But my husband, oh my husband,
how I long to submit to him perfectly. Hold your place here and turn
over to Song of Solomon. Song of Solomon between Ecclesiastes
and Isaiah. Song of Solomon chapter 2, beginning
in verse 8. Song of Solomon 2 verse 8. The voice of my beloved. Behold,
he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. My beloved
is like a row or a young heart. Behold, he standeth behind our
wall. He looketh forth at the windows. Showing himself through the lattice. Don't we earn and long for that? A glimpse of Christ glory as
we read as we sit in services listening in every now and again
will get a Just a glimpse of his glory showing forth in this
world. Showing himself through the lattice. We can't see it fully, but we
get a sense of his glory. Verse 10. My beloved spake and
said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For
lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone, The flowers
appear on the earth. The time of the singing of birds
has come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.
The fig tree putteth forth her figs, and the vines with the
tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one,
and come away. Oh, my dove, thou art in the
clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs. Let me
see thy countenance. Let me hear thy voice. For sweet
is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely. Take us the foxes,
the little foxes, that spoil the vines, for our vines have
tender grapes. My beloved is mine, and I am
his, he feedeth among the lilies. He is altogether lovely. Back in Ephesians 5. Husbands, love your wives. That's a very simple command,
isn't it? I mean, we're always easy to love. Every one of us
is. We're just such easy people to
love and be around all the time. But there's more husbands love
your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself
for. This is a sacrificial love. How did Christ show his love
for the church? He left the father. He was made
in the likeness of sinful men. He left the praise of angels
to be ridiculed by man. He gave his back to be smitten,
his beard to be plucked out, his body to be hung upon a tree
by nails. His blood to flow and he laid
down his life for his bride. Husbands, we are to love sacrificing
ourselves for our wives. Song of Solomon 710, the bride
says, I am my beloved and his desire is toward me. In showing
my love to Stacia, my first responsibility to her is to provide for her
needs. And I learned this from my Lord.
He took upon the likeness of sinful man and he died the death
of the cross so that I could have life. He provided for my
necessities. He met my need and I was dead
and he gave me life. After providing for her necessities,
it's my delight to give her her wants, her desires. I want her
to be happy. I want her to be comfortable.
I want her to have all that she wants. And I learned this from
my Lord as well. Think of the blessings he bestows
upon his bride. He's given me life, but above
that, he's given me a family. A family in Crossville, Family
in Kingsport, Ashland, San Diego. Got family in France. John Claude
preaches all around the world. We can go. Never having met in person the
people that we go to see and we're made welcome. Thank you. Above that family, he's given
me comforts and peace in this world. He meets all our desires. Wives, submit yourselves unto
your own husbands, as unto the Lord. Husbands, love your wives,
even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. Now that we've briefly reviewed
our responsibilities, the husband and the wife. Let's look at this
love story. Turn with me to Genesis chapter
2. Genesis 2, and as we read this
account, bear in mind what our Lord told the Pharisees in John
5 39. Search the scriptures. For in them ye think ye have
eternal life, and they are they which testify of me." All the
scriptures testify of Christ. Let's begin reading at verse
16, Genesis chapter 2. And the Lord God commanded the
man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely
eat. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not
eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt
surely die. And the Lord God said, It is
not good that the man should be alone. I will make for him
and help meet for him. And out of the ground the Lord
God formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air
and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them.
And whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the
name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle,
and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field.
But for Adam there was not found and help meat for him. And the
Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept. And he took one of his ribs and
closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the rib, which the Lord God
had taken from the man, made he a woman and brought her unto
the man. And Adam said, This is now bone
of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because
she was taken out of man. Therefore shall a man leave his
father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife, and they
shall be one flesh. and they were both naked, the
man and his wife, and were not ashamed." I want to pause here
for just a moment to make sure we understand what's taking place.
God, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit
has created man and placed him in the garden, giving him dominion
over all of his creation with one commandment. God is sovereign
over Adam. At the time the commandment is
given, Eve had not been made. This commandment was given to
Adam alone. Adam is made after the likeness
of God. He is not God. Adam is wise,
but he is not all knowing. And Adam, before he fell, loved
Eve perfectly. He loved her as Christ loves
the church. And I believe that he taught
her. When she was brought to him, and we don't know how much
time passed from the creation of Adam until Eve was made. The text reads that Adam named
every creature before she was formed. That takes some time,
even if he didn't have to think between naming it. Then God made Eve and brought
her to Him. And He loved her at once. And when we go on a trip, particularly
if we go on a not work trip, and we don't get
to take our wife with us, when we come home, we want to tell
her all about our trip. everything that occurred because
we missed her during that trip. When Adam was presented with
Eden, don't you imagine he told her everything that had happened
up to that point. As he took her around the creation
and pointed out all that God had made, there's a rabble and
tells her how its beauty pales in comparison to others. And he told her the commandment
that God had given him as he understood it. Start reading
again in chapter three. Now the serpent was more subtle
than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made, And he
said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said you shall not eat of
every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent,
We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the
fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden. God
hath said you shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it
lest you die. We've heard I'm sure you've heard
I've heard. that Eve here added to the Word
of God. I don't think she did, at least
not in the way that we understand adding to the Word of God here. Adam teaching Eve, well, before
that even, God deals with men in one of two ways. He deals
with man in one of two ways. Either in Adam, or in Christ. 1 Corinthians 15.22 says, for
as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. Adam received the commandment
from God. We have no record of God ever
speaking to ye until after the fall. I think Adam taught Eve. And he taught her as he understood
the commandment. He taught her that the commandment
applied to her as well as to himself. Adam, as he's walking through
creation, shows Eve the tree. That's the
tree. You cannot eat of it. God has
commanded in the day we eat of it, we'll surely die. It's best to not even touch that
tree. Because although the law had
yet to be written, it was written in Adam's heart. And therefore
he concluded, he shall not tempt the Lord your God. Adam taught
her as he understood. Verse four. And the serpent said
unto the woman, he shall not surely die. For God doth know
that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened,
and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman
saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant
to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she
took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her
husband with her, and he did eat. We've heard this account
read many times, and we've been taught how by Adam's fall, sin
entered into the world. But what is it that caused Adam
to rebel against God? And more important, how is Christ
glorified in this passage of Scripture? Adam doesn't appear to be present
with you as the serpent spoke to him. Here was it. This is his love,
his beloved, and for some reason they're separated. Perhaps he was with Christ. Christ knowing that Adam would
soon fall and die is providing comforting words such as those
that he provided to Peter before he denied Christ. Simon, Simon,
behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you
as wheat. But I have prayed for thee that
thy faith fail not. That would be a good reason to
be departed from your beloved. At any rate, Adam doesn't appear
to be with Eve at this time, and as he comes back, understanding
that the command and the consequence thereof apply equally to him
and Eve as he returns to her side. And he sees her in the
distance. Why is she by that tree? And his pace quickens a little
bit. Why? What's she got in her hand? That's
for a few minutes. And he hurries a little more.
And he gets to her and he says, Eve, where have you gone? And
she replies, the serpent said I could eat, and look, nothing
has happened. At this point, Eve's still alive. Adam hasn't
eaten of the fruit. Now something that we cannot
even imagine, but Adam, had no idea what death was or what it
looked like. Adam says, you must have died.
For God said, in the day ye eat thereof, ye shall die. And he
responds, but nothing happens. I'm fine. You simply don't know
it yet. But you have to be dead. And I love you. I'm one with
you. And if you're dead, I'll be dead
with you. And in open rebellion to his
creator, he did it. Adam, in his limited understanding,
considered his bride to have died. And loving her, he left
his father and claimed to his wife. He died for his bride,
and they died. Now, am I justifying Adam's actions? In no way. Just as a starving
man, especially one with a family that is starving, goes and steals
from another man, doesn't justify his actions. His motive's in
the right place, but he's still broken the law. Adam sinned, he transgressed
the law of God, and the penalty of sin is death, regardless of
the motive. Through Adam, sin entered into
the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all
men, for that all have sinned. That is a sad ending for our
love story. In just a moment, Adam will stand
and point to the woman that he loves and say, she made me do
it. It has all the makings for a
Greek tragedy, and it would be a sad story. But our greatest
love story started before these events, and it has no end. Before the foundation of the
world was laid, God the Father purposed to provide a bride for
his son. God the Son loves his bride. He loved her then, he loves her
now, and he is the perfect husband to her. For a short time, she
communed with him on her own standing. But he, knowing that
she must die so that he could provide for her needs, left her
alone and she rebelled. Although she departed from him,
he never once stopped loving her. And in the fullness of time,
he left the presence of the Father and the Son of God became a man. It was man that offended God
and a man, the man, had to answer for that offense. What man can
answer for that offense? Any man that is born of Adam
is already guilty. I can't pay my own debts, much
less the debt of another." The Son of God became the seed of
woman and bore none of Adam's gift. As man, he could suffer
the penalty due his bride. As God, he was undefiled by the
sin that he bore. For love, Christ was forsaken
of his Father. God's judgment fell, his blood
was shed to atone for the sin of the bride. Christ, like Adam,
saw his bride in death. But, unlike Adam, he had the
power to raise her again to life. He suffered, died, and rose again,
and she lives in him. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
one. Ephesians 1 verse 3 Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him in love. having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according
to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of
his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved, in
whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins according to the riches of his grace, wherein he hath
abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known
unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure,
which he hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the
fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in
Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even
in him, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being
predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all
things after the counsel of his own will, that we should be to
the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ." Our love story is an everlasting
love story. it shall never end. As long as
God is on His throne, our story remains that in the ages to come,
He, the Father, might show the exceeding riches of His grace
in His kindness toward us in Jesus Christ. Throughout eternity,
God the Father is going to show forth the glory of God His Son
as seen in the redemption of the bride. God the Father has
purpose to give his Son a bride. God the Son loves that bride
and gave himself for her. And God the Holy Ghost calls
that bride, as in Song of Solomon 2.10, rise up, my love, my fair
one, and come away. One last scripture, Isaiah chapter
55. Have you heard his voice? Do
you desire your beloved, the husband who loved you and gave
himself for you? Can you say I am my beloved and
he is mine? I hope so. But if not, don't
you desire a husband like mine? If my beloved is not your beloved. Look at Isaiah 55. Verse six. Listen to what Isaiah said. Seek
ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is
near. Let the wicked. I am that wicked
without Christ. Let the wicked forsake his way
and the unrighteous man. There is none righteous, no,
not one. The unrighteous man forsake his
thoughts. And let him return. We left our
Lord in Adam. Let him return unto the Lord.
And why should we return? He will have mercy upon him. And let him return to our God. For why returned our God? He will abundantly. I've told you about my beloved.
I call you to him, but I can't give you a love for him. Only
he in power can create in you a spirit to call upon him. Seek
ye the Lord. Seek him in his word. Call upon
him to make himself known to you. When Christ is made known
to you, you'll know that when he cried out, it is finished. He declared, my bride, which
was dead, covered in filthy robes, is now made alive in me. She
who rebelled and I watched die is awakened in newness of life
to die, nevermore. For we are members of his body,
of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother, and they too shall be my refuge. Amen. Oh, blessed.