Let's turn back to Ephesians
chapter five. Verse 22. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto
the Lord. How would you submit to the Lord? That is how you're called upon
to submit to your husband. 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 under Christ, so let the wives be to their
own husbands in everything. Now, the wife is called upon
to willingly submit herself under her husband as her head just
as Christ is the head of the church. Turn with me for a moment
to 1 Corinthians chapter 11. Verse three. But I would have you know that
the head of every man is Christ. And the head of the woman is
the man. And the head of Christ is God. Question. Is Jesus Christ in
any way inferior to God the Father? The answer is no. Not in any
way. Now, we know from the Bible that
God is one God in three distinct persons. God the Father, God
the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Now, we would never know that
without the Bible. That's not something we can come
up with. This is the doctrine of divine revelation. And these
statements regarding submission or with regard to divine revelation,
and Christ is not in any way inferior to God to this extent. He is God. He is God. In him dwelleth, Colossians 2.9,
in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead. in a body. Now I want you to think of the
immensity of that statement with regard to the person of the Lord
Jesus Christ. All the fullness, fullness of
sovereignty, fullness of eternality, fullness of holiness, fullness
of power, fullness of omniscience, everything that God is dwells
in the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Philippians 2, we
read where he thought it not robbery. He thought it not to
be a thing to be grasped for, to be equal with God. Now, if I stood before you and
said to you, I'm equal with God, everybody in here knows what
a foolish lie that is. I'm just a sinful, weak, mutable,
changing man. And you'd know there's nothing
true about that. But when I say Jesus Christ is
equal to God, you know what every believer says? Amen. He is equal
to his father. Every second of his life as God's
equal was an act of submission to his father. Everything he
did was in submission to his father. He said, I came down
from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him that
sent me. He said, my meat and drink is
to do the will of him that sent me. He said, the words I speak
unto you. I speak not of myself, but the
father that dwelleth in me. He doeth the works. Every act
of the Lord Jesus, when He became flesh, that was an act of submission
to His Father. When He was nailed to the cross,
that was an act of submission to His Father. Everything He
did was an act of submission to His Father, and there's such
beauty in it. You see, when He submitted to His Father, He trusted
His Father completely. Me and you haven't done that. I mean, anything goes wrong and
we fly off the handle. What's going to happen? What's
happening to me? What? He trusted his father completely. He said, though he slay me. yet will I trust him. There was
never a moment of unbelief. There was never a moment of doubt.
There was the complete trust of his father. Whatever he does,
I trust him. Somebody had to believe God.
Me and you haven't done it. He did. That's why we're saved
by his faithfulness. He's the one who believed God
perfectly. And when he submitted to his
father, It was an act of trust and it was an act of spiritual
strength. What strength he demonstrated
in submitting to his father. What spiritual power, I don't
even know what word to use, but what glory, what infinite glory
he demonstrated in this act of submission to his father. It
was a thing of beauty and in a lesser manner, It's a thing
of trust, strength, and beauty when a woman willingly submits
herself to her husband. She's trusting the Lord. She's
not submitting herself because she trusts him. She's submitting
herself because she trusts the Lord. Whatever he does is right. Now, the church, notice what
it's called. Wives, submit 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. The church is the body of Christ. Now, here's another mystery we
would never have known had not the Bible made it known. I love
it when we looked this morning when the Lord said to the Apostle
Paul, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Well, he wasn't persecuting
him, he was at the right hand of the Father, ruling and reigning.
Yet when Saul was persecuting any church member, any true member
of his body, he was persecuting the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
You can't separate Christ and his body. The church, all of
the elect, every believer is the body of Christ, and Christ
is the head of that body. Now, when we speak of headship,
the first thing that comes to my mind is authority, absolute
authority. When a head of a company or a
business or organization is the CEO, what's that mean? He's the
authority. It means he's the decision maker.
He's the one who makes the decisions. Christ is the head of the church. Now, I realize that Roman Catholic
Church makes the pope the head of the church. How utterly ridiculous. A sinful, flawed, vile, evil
man, the head of the church of the living God. That is offensive. That's all it can be called,
offensive. Christ is the head of the church. What if I was the head of the
church? Well, we'd be in trouble. That'd be awful. There couldn't be anything
worse that happened. What if you were the head of the church?
Best person here would be the worst thing that ever happened.
We don't want anything like that. Christ is the head of the church. Now, what is a body without a
head? It's dead, isn't it? It's a dead body. Turn to Ephesians chapter one. Verse 20. Verse 19, let's start there.
What is the exceeding greatness of his power to us who believe?
According to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought
in Christ when he raised him from the dead. and set him at
his own right hand in the heavenly places far above all principality,
and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that's named,
not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and
hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the
head over all things, to the church which is his body, the
fullness of him that filleth all in. is the head of the church. Now, we gotta think about, for
a moment, what is a church? What's the Bible mean by this
term church? I mean, people meet together and assemble together. The word actually means a called-out
assembly. If you wanna know what a church
is, the word means simply a called-out assembly. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
chapter one. Now, for you to be a part of
the church, God's gonna call you. You don't think, well, I
think I'm gonna become a church member. I think I'm gonna become
religious. I'm gonna change my ways and
I'm gonna become part of a church. It doesn't work that way. It
doesn't work that way. If you're truly in the church,
you are called by God. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter
one, beginning in verse 22. For the Jews, the religious people,
require a sign. Show us something. We need to
see some kind of evidence, some kind of physical evidence that
God's done something. Show me something. Show me something
in your life that'll prove to me that God's done something
for you. I need a sign. I need something
visible that I can see. That's what the Jews want. Show
me a sign. Give me proof that God's with you. Give me proof.
The Jews require a sign. And the Greeks seek after wisdom,
the wisdom of this world. We preach Christ crucified. That's our only message. This
is who we preach. We preach Christ crucified. Now
what is meant by Christ crucified? Jesus Christ is the son of God.
He was crucified. Why was he crucified? Was he
a victim? No, he willingly laid down his life. He came as a representative
of those the father gave him. He took their sins upon himself
in his own body on the tree. He gave them his righteousness. And he's crucified because he's
guilty. Understand that. He wasn't a
victim. Somebody says, when bad things happen to good people,
well, If there was ever a time that happened, that would be
it. However, the Lord Jesus Christ died because he's guilty. My
sin became his sin. God's just. He's not gonna let
sin go unpunished. He was crucified because he's
guilty. The sins of God's elect became
his sins. And this is our message. The
only way God will save somebody like me or you is if Christ died
for your sins and gives his righteousness. That's plain enough, isn't it?
That's the gospel. We preach Christ crucified. And to the Jews, that's a stumbling
block. You know, religious people hear
that and they say, I can't have that. You saying my good works
count for nothing? You saying all my effort and
all my experience and all my religion counts for nothing?
Why? I can't go there. To the religious
folks, Christ crucified is a stumbling block. And unto the Greeks, the
worldly wise, why, that's foolishness. God became flesh. God was crucified
and died on a cross. You expect me to believe that?
Why, that's foolishness. I don't believe that. I know
you don't. But unto them which are called. There it is. To them which are
called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and
Christ, the wisdom of God. Now, you know, want me to tell
you how you can know if you've been called? If you've been called,
you see Christ as the very power of God for your salvation. He
did it all. and you see him as the wisdom
of God, how God is so wise that he's made a way that he can be
just and yet justify somebody ungodly like you. Now, those
are the people who have been called. They see Christ as the
power of God. They see Christ as the wisdom
of God. Do you see Christ as the power of God, wisdom of God?
God's called you. He's called you with a call of
invincible, irresistible grace. So the church is this called
without assembly. He called you by our gospel to
the obtaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, called
by God through the preaching of the gospel. Now, this word
church is used in two senses. It's used first in the sense
of a local church, Todd's Road Grace Church, and then the universal
church. Look in verse 25 of our text.
Ephesians, back to Ephesians chapter five. Husbands, love your wives even
as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. Now, a local church is a local
church. It's people gathered together,
a called out assembly, called by God to hear the gospel. That's a local church. Church
of Ephesus was a local church. The Church of Corinth was a local
church. The Church of Colossa was a local church. The Church
at Todd's Road in Lexington, Kentucky is a local church. And let me tell you something
about a local church. I want to be identified with this local
church. I wanna be a part of those folks who stand for his
gospel. That's critically important. This is my life. This is my life,
being a part of his church, hearing the gospel. But let me tell you
this about a local church. A local church is always a mixed assembly,
always. We have the parable that the
Lord gave of the tares and the wheat. And the enemy came and
sowed tares, and there was tares and wheat, both of them growing
together. There are unbelievers and there
are believers. There are the righteous and the
wicked in every local church. Well, why don't we get rid of
the wicked? Don't try. You know the Lord said they said
you wants to take get rid of these tears He said no you'll
end up tearing up the wheat, and I know that's exactly what
I do I can't figure out who's who is a believer who's not I
mean I like what John Newton said John Newton said when I
get to heaven There's gonna be three things that amaze me number
one there's gonna be people there that I knew wouldn't be there
and number two there's gonna be people that are not there
that I was sure would be there and But the biggest surprise
of all is that I'd be there. Every local assembly is wheat
and dares. We don't have a church membership.
Somebody says, do you all have a church role? No. No. How come? Well, where's that in the Bible?
Can you show me? There's not a record of anything
like that in the Bible. There is one church role I am
interested in being on. the General Assembly and Church
of the Firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. The Lamb's
Book of Life. Now, I want to be in that church
role. That's the universal church. And I'm desperately interested
in having my name there. And I've said this before. If
I had access to that book, you know whose name I'd be looking
for first? Mine. I might look for you afterwards,
but I first want to see if I'm there. I don't know what that's
supposed to mean. But the point is, there are local
churches. And we know many local churches
where the gospel is preached. And we love the association we
have with those churches. And you always feel at home.
You feel like you're with brethren, because you are with brethren
in a local assembly. I'm thankful for that. But you
also have the church universal, the church of which Christ said,
upon this rock, I will build my church. The only church that's
worth anything is the church that he builds. You know, if
a man builds a church, you know how much there is to it? Nothing.
Nothing. A lot of those, but there's nothing
to it. The church is the local church,
but it's also the church of God's elect, the church that Christ
gave himself for and loved. A local church is a group of
believers that assemble together to hear the gospel, and there's
two things that are necessary for something to be a true local
church, because there's a lot of religious organizations that
the Bible would not recognize as a true church. Number one,
the gospel must be preached. The gospel. The gospel that gives
God all the glory. The gospel that gives Christ
all the preeminence. The gospel declares election
of the Father, redemption by the Son, regeneration by the
Holy Spirit. The gospel that declares the
triune God and his character. If that's not preached, it ain't
a church. And there's gotta be believers
who believe that message. You know what the evidence of
being a believer is? You believe. I believe everything in this
book. I really do. I believe everything in this
book. I know this book is God's inspired
work. I believe the gospel. Somebody says, are you sure you're
saved? As soon as you ask me that, a little doubt will come
up. Maybe I'm not. Maybe I'm deceived. Maybe there
isn't a day that goes by when at some point I think, could
I possibly be saved and be the way I am? Not a day that goes
by when that doesn't happen at some point. But ask me if I believe
that Jesus is the Christ. Absolutely. He's the son of God. He's the creator. You see, you
believe him. It's not what you believe about
yourself. It's what you believe about him. So the church is this called
out assembly that he has built. And I want to be identified with
a local church that stands for the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And I want to be a member of the church universal. And
Christ is said to be the head of the church. We've already
said that means he's the authority. His word is his word. This is
the word of the Lord Jesus Christ written by his spirit. You don't
have to worry, well, I wonder if that guy's telling the truth.
Well, you got the Bible, see if I am. Aren't you thankful for that?
The holy word of God. Christ is the authority. But Christ is the head of the
church In this sense, and this is true, if I lift up my hand,
why do I do it? Because my head told me to. Any
move this body makes is under the direct authority of the head. Christ is the authority of the
church. Now, the head is the life of
the body. Now, I can lose a hand. I hope I don't. But I can lose
a hand, and I can still be alive. I can lose a leg. I don't want
to, but I can still lose a leg and still be alive. But I can't
live without my head, can I? If your head is cut off, there
is no life in the body. Christ literally is the life.
When you're saying he's the head, he's the life. Now, let me tell
you exactly what that means. The Lord said, I am the way,
the truth, and the life. Now, when I stand before God
in judgment, and my name is called and my life is examined, it's
going to be the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is my life before
God. Really? Really. Literally? when Christ our life shall appear. Colossians chapter three, verse
four. And that's why I have such confidence about judgment day.
I'm not worried about anything I've done because it's all been
wiped away by the blood of Christ and the life of Jesus Christ
is my life before God. That's why I can look forward
to judgment with boldness because his life is my life. He is my head. Christ is there. Head of the
church, it speaks of the intimate relation between him and the
church. Now, every part of my body is important to me, real
important. Well, it's just your finger that
got cut off. Oh, no, that's my finger. I love
my finger. I love my little toe. I am greatly
interested in every part of my body. or kidneys or heart going bad,
that's me going bad. You can't separate the head from
the body. He is the life. He is the intimacy of the body.
And he's the identity of the body. When you talk about Christ
being the head of the body, if I looked at a picture of you,
I said, give me a picture of yourself. And you gave me a picture
and there was your hand. Could I identify you? That's
all it was. Or maybe your foot. I've seen pictures of nothing
but feet. What about a body without a head? Can't really identify
them, can you? You're identified by the head. And Christ is my head, he's my
identity. That's exactly what Paul meant
when he said, oh, that I may win Christ and be found in him,
not having my own righteousness. I don't have anything to do with
that, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith
of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. My only identity, all I want
God to see when he looks at me is Jesus Christ. I don't want
him to look at my preaching. I don't want him to look at my
praying. I don't want him to look at my motives. I want him
to look at Jesus Christ only. Christ is my identity before
the Father. Christ is the beauty. Christ
is the glory of the church. He is the head of the church.
Now I've read, particularly in the Puritan writings, they talk
about Adam being the federal head of the race and Christ being
the federal head of the elect. And federal head means what our
president is our federal head. He's the executive federal head
and he's our representative. But you know what? He doesn't
know me. That doesn't really comfort me to think of a federal
head. He doesn't know me. I like this
better. Christ is the seminal head. Adam was the seminal head of
our race. That means everybody that was in him, he represented.
Everybody that was in his seed that would come from him, you're
going to have Adam is your great, great, great, great, great, great
grandfather. And he's your head, you came out of him. Well, Christ
is the seminal head of the elect. All the elect are his seed, united
eternally and vitally to him. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
four. Verse 15, but speaking the truth
of love may grow up into him in all things which is the head,
even Christ, from whom, from his headship, from whom the whole
body, fitly joined together and compacted by that which every
joint supplies according to the effectual working and the measure
of every part, may give increase of the body into the edifying
of itself in love, because Christ is her head. And I love to think
of, Any other head is a corrupt head. How many times have scandals
brought down heads of organizations? But he's the utterly perfect,
independent head who has no needs, no wants, and every believer
is complete in him, their head. Turn with me to Colossians 1. Verse 18, and he is the head
of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence.
Now let's see what led Paul to make that statement. Verse 14, in whom? In the Lord Jesus Christ,
we have. redemption through his blood,
even the forgiveness of sins. Who is, speaking of Christ, who
is the image of the invisible God? Now understand this, all
you're ever gonna see of God is Jesus Christ. He is the image
of the invisible God. He is the firstborn of every
creature. He's the eternal firstborn. It's not a beginning of time,
but it's a fact irrespective of time. He is the eternal firstborn
of every creature. For by him, Jesus Christ, for
by him were all things created that are in heaven, that are
in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers, all things were created by him
and for him. And he's before all things. That
means he's the cause of all things. He's before all things. By him,
all things consist. All things are held together.
That breath you just took, you know why you took it? Because
he willed it. And when he wills it, you will
not take the next breath. Everything, governments, people,
he's in control of everything. You know that scripture in Proverbs
16, verse 33, the lot is laid in the lap, that the whole disposing
thereof is of the Lord. You can say the Lord is laid
in the lap of the whole disposing thereof is of Jesus Christ. He
controls everything. By him, all things consist. And
he is the head of the body, the church, the mystical body of
Christ. Somebody says, explain that. You know, there's things that
you just believe. You just believe. You can't explain that. But I
know every member of the church is his body, the fullness of
him who fills all in all, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence.
Now, let me tell you this about the Lord Jesus Christ. This is
the Father's will. It says in verse 19, for please
the Father, that in him should all fullness dwell. Now, in the
church, Christ Jesus the Lord has the
preeminence in all things. He gets all the glory in salvation
and we love it that way. He has the preeminence in our
worship, we worship him. He has the preeminence in our
doctrine, it all speaks of him. in all things. He has a preeminence
in creation. He's the creator. He has a preeminence
in providence. He's the one controlling everything.
He has the preeminence in salvation. I mean, salvation is in his hand. It's not in yours. It's in his.
And the only way to respond to that is, Lord, have mercy on
me. Reveal yourself to me. Look in Colossians chapter two,
verse 10. And you, this is speaking of
every believer, you are complete in him. That means full. That
means you can't get any more saved. You can't get any more
justified. You can't get any more holy.
You can't become any more pleasing to God than you are right now. It don't get any better. You
can't improve your standing. you can't become more pleasing. You are complete. Isn't that joyous to know that?
You're complete. You know, the reason this gives
me such joy to know this is because most of the time I sure don't
feel complete. I sure feel lacking. But here God's word tells me
that I am complete in him, which is what? Verse 10, you're complete
in him which is the head of all principality and power. He controls everything and you
are complete in him. Now turn to Colossians chapter
two, verse 18. Let no man beguile you of your
reward in a voluntary humility. You know, if you volunteer to
be humble, what an act of pride. I don't think that anything can
be much more, let's be humble. Oh, you're just so puffed up
with pride, you don't even know what you're saying when you say
something like that. Me either. I'm going to take the low place. Well, oh, what an act of condescension. And this is what he is speaking
of when he talks about people who volunteer to be humble. I'm
going to volunteer to be humble. Oh, that's as wretchedly proud
as anything you can do. And that's what he's pointing
out. He said, let no man beguile you with your reward in a voluntary
humility, worshiping of angels, intruding into those things which
is not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind and not holding
the head. Not holding the head. Now, I think the best way I could
explain what it means to not hold the head. Christ is my only identity. He is my life. I hold on to that. And I don't
want to be anywhere any other way. And I'm going to hold on
to that. Just let me be seen in my head.
Make it to where all that God sees is Jesus Christ. I hold
on to that. And if I can let that go, I've
never held him in the first place. If you ever see that he is your
head, you desperately want it to be that way and no other way.
It's kind of like abiding in Christ. How do you abide in Christ?
Well, you stay there. If God's mercy is in this room
and outside of this room, there's nothing but wrath, you know what
I want to do? I want to stay in this room. I want to find everything
in this room. I don't want to go outside of
this room. where all God sees is Jesus Christ. And if this is something you
can let go, he's not your head in the first place. If he's your
head, you want him to be your only identity, your only life. You want him to, like the head
controls the body, you want him to control you. You want him
to cause you to do his will. You want him to, Tell you what
to do and what your body do and you do it. That's what your greatest
desire. I've had so many people say,
well, what you believe in, you make people into robots saying
God's absolutely sovereign and controls everything. Well, that's
making people robots. I'm not so sure that that's a
bad thing. I want to do what I do willingly,
really. He makes you both to will and to do His good pleasure.
But I want Him to make me to will and to do His good pleasure. I want to hold on to the head.
And you're holding on to the head when you say, I don't want
to be seen anywhere or looked upon in any way but in the Lord
Jesus Christ, where all God sees is Him. Do you hold to the head? Ephesians 5, I'll close with
this. Verse 22, wives, submit yourselves
unto your own husbands as unto the Lord, as the Lord submitted
to his Father. For the husband is the head of
the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church. And I love
this statement in verse 23. He is the Savior. of the body. And that's the church,
his body. Every single member, he is the
savior of the body. Now, this one who is the head
of the body is the savior of the body. Turn with me to Matthew
chapter 1. The word Jesus means savior. It's the Old Testament word,
Joshua. And this is so significant. Moses
couldn't bring the children of Israel into the promised land.
You know why? He represents the law. And there's
no way that me or you could enter the promised land, enter heaven
by our works. We couldn't do it. Joshua. who
brought the children of Israel into the promised land, Jesus.
That's the name of the Lord. Now look in verse 21. This is the angel speaking to
Mary. And she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus, Savior, for he shall save his people from their sins. He is the savior of the body. That one who is my head is my
savior. And I need to be saved. I hope
none of us ever will say things like, well, I got saved. Don't
say that. The Lord saved me. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for our
head, the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, how we thank you for our
security and our salvation in our head. And Lord, as we prepare
to observe thy table, enable us truly to do this in remembrance
of our head. In his blessed name we pray.