Husbands, Love Your Wives (Ephesians 5:25-33)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.719 Let's turn our attention then to Ephesians chapter five versus twenty five through thirty three. 2 00:00:05.759 --> 00:00:10.550 As I mentioned to you over the past a few times that we've been 3 00:00:10.589 --> 00:00:18.670 in this book on these are the sometimes called the household codes, the sections 4 00:00:19.550 --> 00:00:23.219 section one, of the sections in the New Testament letters that are devoted to 5 00:00:24.379 --> 00:00:28.739 God's instructions for how we are to live in our homes, in our households. 6 00:00:32.740 --> 00:00:38.689 Let's give our attention now to Ephesians five versus twenty five through thirty three. 7 00:00:39.609 --> 00:00:43.609 Having considered God's instructions to the wives, we now hear them to husband's, 8 00:00:43.649 --> 00:00:48.210 and then a summary of the commands to both at the end. Fusians 9 00:00:48.210 --> 00:00:55.079 Five, hundred and twenty five. Husband's love your wives as Christ loved the 10 00:00:55.079 --> 00:01:00.240 Church and gave himself up for her that he might sanctify her, having cleansed 11 00:01:00.280 --> 00:01:03.870 her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present 12 00:01:03.989 --> 00:01:08.950 the church to himself and splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, 13 00:01:10.750 --> 00:01:15.430 that she might be holly and without blemish. In the same way, 14 00:01:15.590 --> 00:01:21.379 husband should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife 15 00:01:22.099 --> 00:01:26.379 loves himself, for no one ever hated his own flesh but nourishes and cherish, 16 00:01:26.700 --> 00:01:32.340 is it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members 17 00:01:32.379 --> 00:01:37.370 of his body? Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and 18 00:01:37.969 --> 00:01:42.129 hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. It's 19 00:01:42.209 --> 00:01:47.439 mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the 20 00:01:47.519 --> 00:01:53.439 church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself and 21 00:01:53.599 --> 00:02:13.509 let the wife see that she respects her husband. Maybe seated well, I've 22 00:02:13.590 --> 00:02:17.979 considered it various times as we've gone through these particular sections, of spending a 23 00:02:19.020 --> 00:02:23.620 little time giving some various reasons as to why you ought to listen to this 24 00:02:24.060 --> 00:02:28.419 if you are not a wife, or if you are not a husband, 25 00:02:28.460 --> 00:02:30.569 or if you're not married, or if you're a child, or if you 26 00:02:30.650 --> 00:02:36.610 don't happen to fall into the category that this is directly addressed to. But 27 00:02:36.650 --> 00:02:38.849 I'm not going to do that again, as I've chosen not to do that 28 00:02:38.969 --> 00:02:43.289 before. I'm instead, what I'm going to ask you to do is for 29 00:02:43.449 --> 00:02:46.240 you to come up with those reasons why ought you to pay attention, for 30 00:02:46.360 --> 00:02:51.800 example, to these instructions to husbands, even if you're not a husband. 31 00:02:52.039 --> 00:02:57.680 So that's your assignment. You can submit them via email and I will read 32 00:02:57.680 --> 00:03:04.550 them and respond. All right, with that being said and the word being 33 00:03:04.669 --> 00:03:09.110 read, let us go now to hear God's Word and consider what these instructions 34 00:03:09.229 --> 00:03:15.539 mean. Husband's love your wives well as with God's instructions to wives. The 35 00:03:15.780 --> 00:03:23.419 instructions given here to husband's are clear, without covering every possible situation, and, 36 00:03:23.659 --> 00:03:27.569 as we've seen, this is a common feature of God's word, one 37 00:03:27.650 --> 00:03:31.009 that I think is often overlooked. But remember that it was only back in 38 00:03:31.129 --> 00:03:37.770 verse ten of this chapter that we read and try to discern what is pleasing 39 00:03:37.889 --> 00:03:43.280 to the Lord. This assumes something right. It assumes that God tells us 40 00:03:43.319 --> 00:03:46.199 things, that there are things that are pleasing to him and things that are 41 00:03:46.280 --> 00:03:53.000 not, and that God requires us to try to work to strive that discerning 42 00:03:53.120 --> 00:03:58.789 at coming to understand what is pleasing to him. So as it relates to 43 00:03:58.870 --> 00:04:03.669 our passage tonight, husband's love your wives a clear command that doesn't necessarily explain 44 00:04:03.710 --> 00:04:10.180 every single situation in which one might be required to do that or how one 45 00:04:10.340 --> 00:04:14.539 does that. Some people think that God has told us nothing and that we're 46 00:04:14.539 --> 00:04:17.899 left up to our own imaginations as to what pleases him. Of course, 47 00:04:18.019 --> 00:04:21.699 this is and so is our passage. Clearly says husband's love your wives, 48 00:04:21.740 --> 00:04:28.490 a clear command, but we also are called to strive to learn and to 49 00:04:28.649 --> 00:04:32.610 understand. You might think of it this way. Learning the will of God 50 00:04:32.850 --> 00:04:39.079 is kind of like learning a language. It's imperative that you learn certain specifics. 51 00:04:39.199 --> 00:04:43.240 This is a hat, this is a boat, but it's also imperative 52 00:04:43.279 --> 00:04:46.439 to learn the grammar of the language. There's an intuitive sense in which you 53 00:04:46.560 --> 00:04:51.279 want to gain and that comes through practice and example and modeling and studying both 54 00:04:51.360 --> 00:04:58.470 the details and and and and thinking through various contexts and all these kinds of 55 00:04:58.550 --> 00:05:02.230 things. The goal is to learn the language or, as I'm comparing it 56 00:05:02.310 --> 00:05:04.589 here, to the will of God, in such a way that you can 57 00:05:04.629 --> 00:05:10.379 sense something is wrong, even when maybe you haven't been told exactly what it 58 00:05:10.540 --> 00:05:15.899 is, or that a certain application of God's Word is right, even though 59 00:05:15.019 --> 00:05:19.620 you may not have a very particular proof text to prove it. Now there 60 00:05:19.660 --> 00:05:24.649 may be a proof text, there may be a way to make that argument 61 00:05:24.730 --> 00:05:29.089 biblically, and of course that's a good thing to do, but our goal 62 00:05:29.209 --> 00:05:33.370 is to discern the will of the Lord, to learn to sense the not 63 00:05:33.569 --> 00:05:39.720 just the details but the contours of what he says. The right of should 64 00:05:39.720 --> 00:05:45.399 say, not just certain specific things, but the patterns wisdom. Well, 65 00:05:45.439 --> 00:05:48.639 with that reminder them. Let's set ourselves, then, to internalize gods and 66 00:05:48.839 --> 00:05:55.230 intructions here to husband's in a way that begins with a clear command and a 67 00:05:55.269 --> 00:06:00.670 view towards various and specific applications in our lives, whether you are married or 68 00:06:00.750 --> 00:06:06.860 not. So I want to divide my sermon this evening into three sections. 69 00:06:08.860 --> 00:06:13.740 First, a clear command, second and unforgettable example and then finally, a 70 00:06:13.980 --> 00:06:20.089 deep intimacy. Let's consider each of these in turn. A clear command, 71 00:06:21.009 --> 00:06:27.089 right, the apostles rights husband's love your wives. And if that wasn't clear 72 00:06:27.129 --> 00:06:30.569 enough, he repeats it two more times in the same passage. And we 73 00:06:30.610 --> 00:06:32.720 can find other commands to it as well in scripture. But if you look, 74 00:06:32.759 --> 00:06:36.399 if you have your bibles open, you'll notice they're in verse Twenty Eight. 75 00:06:38.720 --> 00:06:41.839 In Verse Twenty eight he says it again in the same way. Husband 76 00:06:41.839 --> 00:06:45.920 should love their wives, and then again in verse thirty three. Let each 77 00:06:45.920 --> 00:06:51.470 one of you love his wife as himself. Good teaching requires a repetition, 78 00:06:51.550 --> 00:07:00.459 especially for sinners. Let me add this in case a Paul's writing feels a 79 00:07:02.339 --> 00:07:09.899 little pedantic. which husband, I'll ask you, which husband who has ever 80 00:07:10.019 --> 00:07:15.850 truly loved his wife, could say that he has ever advanced beyond needing or 81 00:07:15.930 --> 00:07:20.850 even wanting to hear this simple command to be reminded that God's commands him to 82 00:07:21.009 --> 00:07:26.329 love his wife. What husband who has truly loved his husband says? Well, 83 00:07:26.370 --> 00:07:28.930 I don't really need to know that any more. I really don't want 84 00:07:28.970 --> 00:07:33.120 to hear that anymore. Of course, none. And what husband who has 85 00:07:33.120 --> 00:07:36.680 ever truly loved his wife could say that he no longer wants to hear the 86 00:07:36.839 --> 00:07:42.600 command? The man who truly loves something will love to hear about it. 87 00:07:43.560 --> 00:07:46.470 Right. The man who loves wood working and spends his time with that. 88 00:07:46.629 --> 00:07:50.189 He doesn't stop thinking about wood working because now he loves it. Right. 89 00:07:50.230 --> 00:07:55.230 He buys magazines, he goes to the shop, he does things that think 90 00:07:55.269 --> 00:07:59.899 about it and meditate on it. A man who has a particular mission in 91 00:08:00.019 --> 00:08:03.860 a vocation and his fields dedicated towards that, he doesn't advance beyond it in 92 00:08:03.899 --> 00:08:07.379 a way that he doesn't care about it. That doesn't make sense. Right. 93 00:08:09.019 --> 00:08:11.220 What does he do? He thinks about it, he meditates on it, 94 00:08:11.339 --> 00:08:18.009 he goes back and he reviews that again and again and again. Why 95 00:08:18.050 --> 00:08:20.769 would the same not be true for a man who is called to love his 96 00:08:20.889 --> 00:08:24.209 wife? If this is his mission, if this is the command and his 97 00:08:24.410 --> 00:08:28.519 calling, will he will a man who truly is doing that and who truly 98 00:08:28.639 --> 00:08:33.120 wants that, advance beyond the command and say, well, I don't need 99 00:08:33.279 --> 00:08:37.440 to or I don't want to hear about that anymore? Of course not. 100 00:08:37.799 --> 00:08:41.269 If you are a husband and you are finding something in your heart that says, 101 00:08:41.509 --> 00:08:46.789 oh no, this again, then they're is probably a problem inside, 102 00:08:48.110 --> 00:08:54.789 to put it mildly. So a very clear command. To this very clear 103 00:08:54.909 --> 00:08:58.899 command, are the Apostle of God here, under the inspiration of the Holy 104 00:08:58.940 --> 00:09:07.019 Spirit, connects this to an unforgettable example to help us both remember and to 105 00:09:07.100 --> 00:09:13.289 understand God's command. He points us to this unforgettable example of love, the 106 00:09:13.450 --> 00:09:18.690 chief example of love of all love, the redemptive work of Christ for the 107 00:09:18.809 --> 00:09:22.690 Church. And that's what he says. He says husband's Love Your wives as 108 00:09:22.769 --> 00:09:28.039 Christ loved the church. And he tells US how Christ love the Church, 109 00:09:28.080 --> 00:09:33.080 Christ gave himself up for her and for any tells us what goal that he 110 00:09:33.120 --> 00:09:39.070 might sanctify her. This is this is the goal of the of our Lord 111 00:09:39.230 --> 00:09:43.230 in what he does for his church. He wants to set her apart, 112 00:09:43.429 --> 00:09:48.509 to make her holy. That's expanded on in Verse Twenty Seven, when he 113 00:09:48.549 --> 00:09:52.179 says so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot 114 00:09:52.340 --> 00:09:58.940 or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 115 00:10:01.139 --> 00:10:05.460 Now, Paul, in giving us this comparison between Christ and the Church, 116 00:10:05.500 --> 00:10:09.889 he does not saying that these two things are equal. Comparisons are never 117 00:10:09.049 --> 00:10:13.090 that way, but there is and equity, we might say, in it. 118 00:10:13.929 --> 00:10:20.490 You might remember in our confession it talks about, as we consider the 119 00:10:20.529 --> 00:10:24.519 laws of Moses, that though they are not commanded to us directly, there 120 00:10:24.559 --> 00:10:28.480 is a general equity, there is a basic principle in them that we can 121 00:10:28.559 --> 00:10:33.799 understand and ought to live by. A similar thing is going on here. 122 00:10:35.480 --> 00:10:41.149 Husband's are not the Christ, that should be plain. However, they are 123 00:10:41.350 --> 00:10:48.470 to see something in their Lord that gives them a model to follow. Let's 124 00:10:48.470 --> 00:10:52.740 explore this a little bit more in details, since, since Paul does, 125 00:10:54.019 --> 00:10:58.620 husband's Love Your wives as Christ love the church and gave himself up for her 126 00:11:00.740 --> 00:11:03.850 that he might sanctify her, having washed her by the washing of water with 127 00:11:05.009 --> 00:11:11.409 the word. So what does Christ do for the Church? Exactly? Ball 128 00:11:11.409 --> 00:11:16.009 appoints us to Christ purification of the church when he says that he gave himself 129 00:11:16.049 --> 00:11:20.000 up for her. You know, I hope, that this means and refers 130 00:11:20.039 --> 00:11:24.360 to, when Christ delivered himself up, even unto death, even death on 131 00:11:24.440 --> 00:11:30.759 a cross, in order that we might be saved. He laid down his 132 00:11:31.000 --> 00:11:37.509 life, if you remember God's Word in First John All, I want to 133 00:11:37.590 --> 00:11:43.269 read this to you and first John A, chapter four, verse seven. 134 00:11:45.710 --> 00:11:48.740 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and 135 00:11:48.779 --> 00:11:52.299 whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not 136 00:11:52.500 --> 00:11:58.419 love does not know God, because God is love. In this is the 137 00:11:58.500 --> 00:12:01.009 love of God. Or, sorry, in this the love of God was 138 00:12:01.129 --> 00:12:05.649 made manifest among us, that God sent his only son into the world so 139 00:12:05.809 --> 00:12:11.009 that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we 140 00:12:11.129 --> 00:12:16.840 have loved God, but that he loved US and sent his son to be 141 00:12:16.159 --> 00:12:22.039 the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we 142 00:12:22.080 --> 00:12:26.759 all also ought to love one another. So you can see that there's a 143 00:12:26.879 --> 00:12:33.309 similar command in First John for to all Christians that is given specifically here to 144 00:12:33.429 --> 00:12:39.549 husband's we all, as Christians, are called to consider the love of our 145 00:12:39.629 --> 00:12:43.820 Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself up, gave over his or or died, 146 00:12:43.940 --> 00:12:48.019 I should say, gave up his life, so that we might be 147 00:12:48.299 --> 00:12:56.700 cleansed of our sins, so that we might be purified made holy. When 148 00:12:56.700 --> 00:13:01.370 a couple is married today, you know that both the bride and the groom 149 00:13:01.649 --> 00:13:07.450 ready themselves for each other. Right. It would be a travis s tea 150 00:13:07.610 --> 00:13:11.490 and everyone would talk about it for a long time if one or the other 151 00:13:11.610 --> 00:13:16.840 of the couple showed up and just like their street clothes and hadn't bathed and, 152 00:13:16.240 --> 00:13:18.360 you know, in the others standing there, you know, let's say 153 00:13:18.399 --> 00:13:24.840 the wife and her or beautiful gown and she's smelling good and she's got flowers, 154 00:13:24.960 --> 00:13:28.110 of the guys standing there, you know, just off the street. 155 00:13:28.350 --> 00:13:31.629 Right, you would say, what's your problem? Right, they are? 156 00:13:31.750 --> 00:13:35.950 They ready themselves for each other. Right, they prepare each else, sells 157 00:13:35.990 --> 00:13:39.429 for each other. Well, if that's true, if we put make ourselves 158 00:13:39.509 --> 00:13:45.500 as best as we can be for our wedding days, how do how might 159 00:13:45.580 --> 00:13:50.500 we think about our marriage to Christ himself? Right, of course we would 160 00:13:50.539 --> 00:13:56.529 want to beat at our best. The problem is is that we are dead 161 00:13:56.570 --> 00:14:00.889 at our dress, passes and sins right. We are way worse than the 162 00:14:01.289 --> 00:14:05.009 than the slacker husband who walks off the street. It doesn't bother to bathe. 163 00:14:05.330 --> 00:14:11.120 We're in our graves and rotting and disgusting, not purified but putrified right, 164 00:14:11.440 --> 00:14:18.679 we are not in any state to a stand at the altar and say 165 00:14:18.840 --> 00:14:26.590 I do. So what happens? Well, Christ takes this extremely unlovely bride 166 00:14:26.710 --> 00:14:33.149 to be in all her sinful filth and makes her as lovely as himself, 167 00:14:35.870 --> 00:14:43.820 without any spot or wrinkle, holy, blameless springs him before him. He 168 00:14:43.019 --> 00:14:48.259 presents her to himself. A sort of a lot different, right you. 169 00:14:48.460 --> 00:14:52.889 And then in our weddings here, least the ones I've been to, usually 170 00:14:52.889 --> 00:14:58.090 the father of the bride right will present her, or there's something like that. 171 00:14:58.330 --> 00:15:03.450 Here, Christ goes and gets us for himself and takes us to himself 172 00:15:05.889 --> 00:15:11.159 by purifying us, but justifying us, by cleansing us, making us, 173 00:15:11.879 --> 00:15:16.720 making us holy. This purification that is talked about here, this washing, 174 00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:20.590 is our is our very justification before him, where we can stand before God 175 00:15:20.870 --> 00:15:26.590 even now, knowing that all our sins are forgiven from beginning to end. 176 00:15:28.870 --> 00:15:35.980 Now, if that's not love, there's no such thing as love. That 177 00:15:37.299 --> 00:15:39.059 is love right. This is the CH as I say, this is the 178 00:15:39.259 --> 00:15:45.620 best, chief, the highest example of love, not only because the the 179 00:15:46.259 --> 00:15:52.090 self sacrifice in the act was so great and the distance between the loveliness of 180 00:15:52.169 --> 00:15:58.090 Christ and the unloveliness of his bride was so far, but also because Christ 181 00:15:58.289 --> 00:16:07.200 did it perfectly, with perfect love. When we love each other as humans 182 00:16:07.240 --> 00:16:11.320 were, were two sinners, working our best to try and and and and 183 00:16:11.679 --> 00:16:18.710 and grow and grace. There's no growing in grace when it comes to Jesus. 184 00:16:18.750 --> 00:16:22.870 Jesus doesn't need grace, he doesn't need mercy, doesn't need forgiveness. 185 00:16:22.950 --> 00:16:27.309 He's perfect. His love is perfect inside up, as we read in First 186 00:16:27.350 --> 00:16:37.259 John, for God is love and this is how he loves us. This 187 00:16:37.539 --> 00:16:47.610 love is not only accomplished there on the cross, but it is applied to 188 00:16:47.809 --> 00:16:55.330 us in our baptisms. Paul remarkably says that he might sanctify or having cleansed 189 00:16:55.330 --> 00:17:03.759 her by the washing of water. With the word, Paul connects our purification, 190 00:17:03.200 --> 00:17:08.680 the the wiping away of our sins in our justification, with the washing 191 00:17:10.079 --> 00:17:15.750 of water. This is, of course, a reference to baptism, so 192 00:17:17.069 --> 00:17:22.589 as husbands and wives might wear a ring on their finger reminding them of the 193 00:17:22.829 --> 00:17:30.019 act of of marriage. We, as Christians who have been bad uptized, 194 00:17:30.220 --> 00:17:37.380 have this sign that has been placed on us by our husband, in which 195 00:17:37.619 --> 00:17:45.529 marks and signifies and seals to us that that that great sanctification. Consider some 196 00:17:45.609 --> 00:17:51.730 other verses in the New Testament concerning baptism. Act Two thousand, two hundred 197 00:17:51.730 --> 00:17:53.970 and sixteen. And now, why do you wait? Rise and be baptized 198 00:17:53.970 --> 00:18:00.640 and wash away your sins, calling on his name, or First Corinthians six 199 00:18:00.680 --> 00:18:03.599 hundred and eleven, and such and such were some of you, but you 200 00:18:03.759 --> 00:18:08.240 were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the 201 00:18:08.359 --> 00:18:15.390 Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our God, Hebrews ten twenty two. 202 00:18:15.670 --> 00:18:18.269 Let us now draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of 203 00:18:18.430 --> 00:18:26.420 faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed 204 00:18:27.180 --> 00:18:33.660 with pure water. The water, of course, is a simply an outward 205 00:18:33.859 --> 00:18:40.099 symbol, but in of an outward symbol of an internal reality, one that 206 00:18:40.220 --> 00:18:44.450 we grasp hold of unfit by faith, when we hear those promises proclaimed in 207 00:18:44.490 --> 00:18:48.170 our baptisms and we believe them and we say, I do belong to the 208 00:18:48.289 --> 00:18:56.200 Lord, for he has died for me, these verses tell us. But 209 00:18:56.400 --> 00:19:02.000 to consider it are our BAPTISMS, to consider what the Lord has done for 210 00:19:02.039 --> 00:19:07.160 us by washing us with water, a good reminder that baptisms are not, 211 00:19:07.680 --> 00:19:12.910 first and foremost, are profession to him, but his profession to us. 212 00:19:15.230 --> 00:19:22.390 He washed us with water, but it's not just water, as Paul himself 213 00:19:22.430 --> 00:19:26.140 here says, washing of water with the word, a word that preaches this 214 00:19:26.380 --> 00:19:32.619 good news about the Gospel, this good news that Jesus Christ gave himself up 215 00:19:33.059 --> 00:19:40.849 as a sacrifice for sins. Water alone cannot save the power of baptism is 216 00:19:40.890 --> 00:19:45.970 in God, who baptizes our faith, is in him, his word, 217 00:19:47.170 --> 00:19:53.079 his son, the proclamation of which we receive in the Gospel. You could 218 00:19:53.079 --> 00:20:00.519 put it this way. How did you become married to Christ, you who 219 00:20:00.559 --> 00:20:07.509 were sinful, unholy, unloving, undeserving? You could say I became married 220 00:20:07.549 --> 00:20:11.509 to Christ when he took away all my spots and wrinkles, when he made 221 00:20:11.509 --> 00:20:17.230 me beautiful, when he made me pure, first by washing me with the 222 00:20:17.349 --> 00:20:22.819 water and with water in the word. And one day my resurrected body to 223 00:20:22.900 --> 00:20:29.660 follow as well. Remember what Paul says an Ephesians, chapter one, verse 224 00:20:29.779 --> 00:20:33.819 three. Blessed be the God and father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, 225 00:20:34.700 --> 00:20:40.130 who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 226 00:20:40.970 --> 00:20:44.369 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that 227 00:20:44.529 --> 00:20:51.880 we should be holy and blameless before him. In love, he predestined us 228 00:20:51.920 --> 00:20:56.720 for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of 229 00:20:56.799 --> 00:21:00.079 his will, to the praise of his glorious grace which with which he has 230 00:21:00.160 --> 00:21:06.069 blessed us in the beloved. In Him, we have redemption through his blood, 231 00:21:06.470 --> 00:21:10.509 the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace which he 232 00:21:10.589 --> 00:21:14.349 lavished upon us, and all wisdom and insight, making known to us the 233 00:21:14.390 --> 00:21:18.980 mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ. 234 00:21:19.460 --> 00:21:22.940 You might think of this passage in a way as the Lord's wedding. 235 00:21:22.019 --> 00:21:26.779 Thou's are these are the things that he is promising to us as his bride. 236 00:21:27.660 --> 00:21:33.089 Why? Because he loves us. In love, he did these things. 237 00:21:33.410 --> 00:21:38.170 For Love, he did these things and now, having this redemption, 238 00:21:38.289 --> 00:21:44.089 we have access we come into our presence of our husband, beginning now and 239 00:21:44.289 --> 00:21:48.319 being brought into fullness later. Hebrews ten, nineteen through twenty two says. 240 00:21:48.359 --> 00:21:52.920 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the 241 00:21:52.960 --> 00:21:57.359 blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us 242 00:21:57.440 --> 00:22:00.279 through the curtain, that is, through the flesh, and since we have 243 00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:04.069 a great priest over the House of God, let us draw near with a 244 00:22:04.150 --> 00:22:08.589 true heart, in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from 245 00:22:08.589 --> 00:22:15.299 an evil conscience, in our bodies washed with pure water. Second Corinthians for 246 00:22:15.619 --> 00:22:21.059 fourteen. He who raised the Lord Jesus, will raise US also with Jesus, 247 00:22:21.339 --> 00:22:27.059 and bring with bring us with you, into his presence. This is 248 00:22:27.180 --> 00:22:37.210 how we come to this marriage with our savior. This is the love that 249 00:22:37.450 --> 00:22:49.480 he shows us, undeserving and yet so very great, and it's that kind 250 00:22:49.720 --> 00:23:00.509 of love that husbands are then to love their wives. This takes me to 251 00:23:02.069 --> 00:23:07.190 my last section of my sermon. There's this very deep intimacy, isn't there 252 00:23:08.109 --> 00:23:14.779 between us and our Savior? But before Paul gets to that, he talks 253 00:23:14.819 --> 00:23:19.779 about another kind of intimacy, one that we we have with our own bodies. 254 00:23:22.900 --> 00:23:26.779 In addition to giving us this example, this unforgettable example of Christ to 255 00:23:26.859 --> 00:23:32.009 follow, Paul also tells husbands to love their wives as a person nourishes and 256 00:23:32.210 --> 00:23:37.289 cares for their own body. The first argument here, or the first argument 257 00:23:37.410 --> 00:23:42.759 this unforgettable example I mentioned, is one that's drawn from special revelation. The 258 00:23:42.880 --> 00:23:48.519 second one is drawn from natural revelation. A natural law argument doesn't necessarily presume 259 00:23:48.720 --> 00:23:53.960 that every single person treats his body well, but it's generally understood to be 260 00:23:55.119 --> 00:23:59.069 true among mankind, and of course it is. People take care of their 261 00:23:59.150 --> 00:24:04.509 bodies right, if you think, if you think about your own body, 262 00:24:06.230 --> 00:24:10.980 right, when you stub your toe, you don't sort of decompartmentalize the toe 263 00:24:11.099 --> 00:24:12.980 and sort of movement. We might try, but most of US Holler first 264 00:24:14.019 --> 00:24:18.460 of all when your Sinus is finally clear up and you start cost stop coughing, 265 00:24:18.740 --> 00:24:22.180 go oh, I feel so much better. And until then, every 266 00:24:22.259 --> 00:24:26.450 cough, every moment, you're paying attention right to your body and how it's 267 00:24:26.490 --> 00:24:33.930 functioning. You are very connected with your body, as a extremely understated way 268 00:24:34.130 --> 00:24:38.559 to put it. Well, this comparison, this way that we pay attention 269 00:24:38.799 --> 00:24:42.279 to, we nourish, we cherish, our bodies. Is How paul talks 270 00:24:42.319 --> 00:24:48.759 about the way husbands are to care for their wives. Now this comparison, 271 00:24:48.839 --> 00:24:52.869 you remember, takes us back to the Metaphor Paul gave to wives right when 272 00:24:52.910 --> 00:24:56.549 he spoke to them. He said the husband is the head of the wife. 273 00:24:56.230 --> 00:25:00.349 Right, this sort of body immagery, this body language. Here the 274 00:25:00.430 --> 00:25:06.750 metaphor of body returns, but this time from the husband's perspective. Just as 275 00:25:06.789 --> 00:25:10.980 he does not neglect his own body, but nourishes and instead, so too, 276 00:25:11.500 --> 00:25:15.900 he ought to do so for his wife. Then Paul Strengthens this point 277 00:25:15.940 --> 00:25:22.809 even more and takes us to Christ again to consider how he nourishes and cares 278 00:25:22.890 --> 00:25:29.289 for his body, which is the church. How does Christ Nourish and care 279 00:25:29.450 --> 00:25:36.480 for his body in every way? There is nothing lacking in the way that 280 00:25:36.599 --> 00:25:41.839 he cares for us. There's not a single moment when he forgets or he 281 00:25:42.319 --> 00:25:47.720 doesn't do the things that he is committed himself to doing. There's not a 282 00:25:47.759 --> 00:25:52.750 single moment, a single instance, where our Lord ever gets tired or frustrated 283 00:25:52.910 --> 00:25:59.470 or just doesn't feel like doing it anymore. No, he always and perfectly 284 00:25:59.670 --> 00:26:04.779 cares for us in every way, and this is the ground for which husband's 285 00:26:04.819 --> 00:26:08.339 are ought to think, ought to think about the love for their wives. 286 00:26:11.059 --> 00:26:15.980 Interestingly, he grounds this divine marriage between Christ and his church on an institution 287 00:26:17.259 --> 00:26:22.930 God established back in creation. Notice what he says. He says for no 288 00:26:22.049 --> 00:26:26.809 one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes it and cherishes it then, 289 00:26:27.289 --> 00:26:32.130 just as Christ does for the church, because we are members of his body, 290 00:26:33.279 --> 00:26:38.279 therefore, or for this reason. And then he quotes Genesis to a 291 00:26:38.480 --> 00:26:45.640 man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to one flesh. If 292 00:26:45.720 --> 00:26:53.750 this quotation seems relevant but perhaps a little disjointed, a pain close attention to 293 00:26:53.910 --> 00:26:59.750 what he's saying here. He's saying that there is this deep intimacy that we 294 00:26:59.950 --> 00:27:03.220 all know that exists between a man and a woman who are married, and 295 00:27:03.420 --> 00:27:08.619 intimacy that God established from the very beginning of the world. But he's also 296 00:27:08.740 --> 00:27:15.180 saying that this into me is intimacy. This creation ordinance was built at the 297 00:27:15.299 --> 00:27:22.930 beginning to reflect Christ and his church. This was revealed at first or sorry, 298 00:27:23.009 --> 00:27:27.490 this fact, this organizing principle behind marriage, was not always known, 299 00:27:29.690 --> 00:27:33.200 but it was eventually revealed, and that's why Paul talks about this as a 300 00:27:33.359 --> 00:27:38.319 mystery, which is profound throughout the New Testament and in his letters he talks 301 00:27:38.359 --> 00:27:44.079 about a mystery, is something that was once hidden and then is revealed. 302 00:27:45.470 --> 00:27:48.589 He is revealing it here, but that doesn't mean we all of a sudden 303 00:27:48.589 --> 00:27:52.750 understand it. All right, it's still very profound. This mystery is profound, 304 00:27:55.069 --> 00:27:59.619 but it helps us to understand these things. He's helps us to connect 305 00:28:00.059 --> 00:28:04.500 this thing that we know just from creation itself to what Christ him, Christ 306 00:28:04.660 --> 00:28:12.890 has done with the church. Why does he do this? I think one 307 00:28:14.089 --> 00:28:18.569 reason is that because he wants every Christian husband to never forget that loving their 308 00:28:18.690 --> 00:28:25.250 wives as their own body is not a choice. It's not a choice you 309 00:28:25.369 --> 00:28:30.000 get to make and this occasion or that occasion. It is demanded at the 310 00:28:30.160 --> 00:28:36.279 core of your being as a person created in God's image, and it is 311 00:28:36.400 --> 00:28:41.319 demanded yet once again as a person who is a Christian, who is being 312 00:28:41.509 --> 00:28:51.990 remade into the image of Christ. Now this is quite countercultural, both in 313 00:28:52.190 --> 00:28:56.660 our times and in the ancient world, and the ancient world the love of 314 00:28:56.940 --> 00:29:03.500 ones wife was not something that was harolded very much. There are examples that 315 00:29:03.579 --> 00:29:10.289 we read in various authors that will talk all kinds of things about marriage and 316 00:29:10.369 --> 00:29:14.849 the husband's responsibility and love would just never comes up. In fact, in 317 00:29:14.970 --> 00:29:18.730 some instances it seems that husbands sometimes never even really talked to their wives very 318 00:29:18.809 --> 00:29:23.680 much. They just didn't know them very well. They they weren't really there, 319 00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:33.519 they weren't present. It's not all that different today. Today perhaps we 320 00:29:33.680 --> 00:29:38.390 talk a lot more more about love and in the relationship and in the institution 321 00:29:38.549 --> 00:29:44.150 of marriage, but a lot of times it's about when we feel like it, 322 00:29:45.230 --> 00:29:51.549 when we want to, when she deserves it. But this isn't the 323 00:29:51.670 --> 00:29:56.420 case. When we see the kind of love that Christ gives to his church, 324 00:29:57.220 --> 00:30:00.619 we see you that husbands are called to a very, very high calling 325 00:30:00.700 --> 00:30:06.900 and it's a calling that they can't a shirk off. It's a calling that 326 00:30:06.980 --> 00:30:11.769 they can't see is optional or when they feel like it. It's a part 327 00:30:11.809 --> 00:30:23.400 of creation itself, which points to something in new creation. With all this, 328 00:30:23.559 --> 00:30:30.359 Paul brings this section about husbands and wives to a close in verse thirty 329 00:30:30.440 --> 00:30:34.039 three, when he says, however, let each one of you love his 330 00:30:34.160 --> 00:30:38.430 wife as himself or love his own wife as himself, and let each wife 331 00:30:38.470 --> 00:30:45.710 see that she respects her husband's what we see in this and the way that 332 00:30:45.829 --> 00:30:51.539 Paul gives duty instructions to wives and instructions to husbands as they relate to one 333 00:30:51.579 --> 00:30:56.700 another, is that their relationship in a Christian household is to mirror what Christ 334 00:30:56.819 --> 00:31:03.140 is doing with the church. Husbands love their wives as Christ loved his body. 335 00:31:03.500 --> 00:31:07.690 Wives submit to their husbands as the Church submits to Christ their head. 336 00:31:08.250 --> 00:31:12.250 We do this not merely, as the ancients would say, to get along 337 00:31:12.410 --> 00:31:17.970 with each other, because it's really nice to not have constant conflict in your 338 00:31:18.009 --> 00:31:22.119 house, although that is true. It does have those benefits, but we 339 00:31:22.279 --> 00:31:29.720 do this as a demonstration of the new creation that has been inaugurated in Christ, 340 00:31:30.519 --> 00:31:34.789 a new creation that we belong to now. This, of course, 341 00:31:34.910 --> 00:31:40.390 is not true only of our relationships as husbands and wives, but parents and 342 00:31:40.549 --> 00:31:45.869 children and in every aspect of life. As Christians, we live as citizens 343 00:31:47.029 --> 00:31:51.660 of the Kingdom of Heaven, even though we are yet still pilgrims here in 344 00:31:51.740 --> 00:31:56.660 this world. We engage in the institutions, the God ordained institutions of this 345 00:31:56.819 --> 00:32:01.130 world, be they family or commerce or whatever else, but we do so 346 00:32:01.369 --> 00:32:07.009 in a way that reflects our citizenship in heaven, that has an eye to 347 00:32:07.130 --> 00:32:10.410 who Christ is and what he's done. For us. The love that we 348 00:32:10.529 --> 00:32:15.130 give to others is a love that is filled with grace, a love that 349 00:32:15.329 --> 00:32:24.599 is filled with compassion and mercy, both husbands and wives. As a Steve 350 00:32:24.720 --> 00:32:30.109 Baugh, whom I've learned much from this passage and many other places in his 351 00:32:30.269 --> 00:32:35.269 commentary, he writes, both husbands and wives mirror the most fundamental purpose in 352 00:32:35.430 --> 00:32:40.230 creational existence, to glorify God and to dwell in his presence and the full 353 00:32:40.269 --> 00:32:49.259 enjoyment of this self sacrificial love in Christ forever husband's. If you think you're 354 00:32:49.339 --> 00:32:53.779 going to accomplish this by all of a sudden becoming by becoming Jesus, you've 355 00:32:53.980 --> 00:33:05.690 really misheard me. We do this by putting our faith in Jesus so that 356 00:33:06.049 --> 00:33:10.170 we might be united to him and his love might be at work in US 357 00:33:10.730 --> 00:33:16.400 and shown through us. Husband's do you want to show forth the love of 358 00:33:16.599 --> 00:33:23.119 Christ to your wife? Well then draw close to him. Draw close to 359 00:33:23.160 --> 00:33:29.549 him and you'll draw closer to her. Let's pray and ask for the Lord 360 00:33:29.589 --> 00:33:30.069 to help us