Ephesians 5:25-33

We are indeed blessed with our musicians and

Roger Dell leading our worship.

You have your Bibles turned with me to Ephes

ians chapter number five, verse number 25.

Men, we've come to round two in our exposition

of these verses,

that the Word of God instructs us on how we

are to love our wives. And if you didn't see

last week,

I encourage you to go back so that you can get

the fullness of all both the messages together

.

A whole lot has been written about and I even

covered this in the two messages to the wives

about the tragic impact of the leftist

feminist movement of our society in our

society. It really

has in so many ways negatively impacted not

only marriages, it's devastated families,

it's really destroyed individual women. It's

created chaos in our land on both social and

moral

levels. It's clearly an assault on God's

design for the family and for the general

happiness and the

prosperity of mankind. It's one of the

strongest, most influential planks of the Marx

ist foundation

of the American political left. And yeah, I

say that straightforwardly because that's

where we're at.

Most of the preachers in our nation would

never even owe that sentence, but I will.

It's really impossible for me to speak too

strongly against the leftist feminist movement

in our land. But at the same time, while it is

good and it is right for me to point these

things out on the female side, we cannot

ignore, especially here in this current time

period,

the abject failure of men in our country. And

specifically what I'm referring to is the

failure

of men to follow and fulfill their

responsibility as God has designed their

responsibility

in His word. So many men in our society at

this time have become weak and soft and effem

inate.

Many pastors have as well across our land. And

I can tell you as a pastor, there is nothing

more

that makes me sick to my stomach to watch

these videos online of these weak, woke, soft,

effeminate

pastors. It makes me angry to watch them. They

're leading people so astray they should go do,

go sell insurance, go do, do anything else.

Don't do this is what I feel when I see that.

But

they have perverted really both in the pulpit

and out these men who are like this,

the role that God has intended for them as

laid out here in His word. You think about it

when

things go wrong on a football team. At some

point, what happens? The coach gets fired,

right?

Why? Well, because he's the leader. And

ultimately, ultimately, though everything

is in his fault, the success is his

responsibility. Why? Because he's the head

coach. When profits

drop seriously in a corporation, it might not

all be the CEO, but who ultimately gets

replaced?

The person at the top, that's the nature of

leadership. And when it goes in business,

even in the church, right? That is true. The

leader bears the responsibility more than

anyone else

for the success and the failure all throughout

society and for sure in the home. As we're

going

to learn today, the buck stops with the

husband. The buck stops with the father. And

by God's design

and by God's will, which is clearly laid out

in scripture, the man is the head of the

household.

He is the leader. He is ultimately the one who

is the most responsible for the success of the

marriage, for the success of the family, and

for the the well-being of everybody involved

in the

house. So for all the things that absolutely

must be said about the leftist feminist agenda

in our nation, we also cannot ignore the issue

of male irresponsibility and the failure of

men

to live up to their calling as the spiritual

heads of their households.

Where are the strong, masculine husbands today

in our nation? How in the world, as a dad,

do you show up to your daughter's soccer game?

And on the other team across the field

is a six-foot-tall mentally ill boy who is

pretending to be a girl and he's suited up

to get ready to play on the girl's team. And

how do you not, at that moment, as a dad,

get up out of your seat and go down on that

field and wreak so much havoc that the police

need to be called? How do you not do that as a

dad? Give me that opportunity and watch what

happens.

It's sickening. And time and time again in

recent years at athletic events all across our

country,

when that scenario has been played out, weak,

woke, pathetic, so-called men have sat in

their seats

and not said a word about it. It makes me

angry. They want to be nice. They don't want

to cause

trouble. But let me tell you, that's some

righteous trouble right there that needs to be

undertaken.

And so we have so-called men all over our

country

doing all that they can do to fight against

what I thank God that we have a strong

masculine president

who's done all that he can against this whole

agenda and men that are trying to stop it,

what he's doing. Where are the men who are the

backbone, the solid framework of structure

upon which you can build a solid marriage and

a solid family and a society? Well,

I can tell you this, a bright spot as of late.

One of the few places you will find this is in

the

Reformed churches in our land, not in the Re

formed churches that have gone woke, and there

have been

a number of those, sadly, but there has been a

resurgence in this understanding, and some

have

taken the lead on this. At our men's meeting

that we have once a month, I posted last time,

and I'm going to probably do this forever now,

making masculinity in the church great again.

That's what we're trying to do at our men's

meeting, because the church has been infected

with this weak, pathetic, effeminate kind of

bandhood, and it has to be reversed.

For the most part in the world, and even with

professing Christians,

the majority report for men in our society

finds men who have put at their highest

priority

their own personal agendas outside of the home

, their own personal goals, pursuing their own

achievements. Primarily, they live in a world

mostly that's isolated from time with their

families.

They spend way too much time out of the house,

way too overactive in pursuing their careers,

seeking promotion, seeking prestige, seeking

respect, really mainly from people who are

outside of their own home, and don't get me

wrong, a man needs to work. A man needs to

work hard.

If a man doesn't work hard, he ought not eat,

right? He needs to work in such a way with a

motivation as a Christian to bring glory to

God with his work. There's nothing wrong with

making

plenty of money if you're good at what you do.

That's part of your role, men, as to be a

provider

for the family, but when your relentless,

aggressive pursuit outside of the home of

worldly

success is coupled with inside the home being

passive, being indifferent and irresponsible

inside the home, that is where we run into

major problems in our families. I'm going to

read a

letter sent by a lady to John MacArthur, and I

'm not going to read all of it for time's sake,

but just enough for you to get a practical

example of what I'm talking about. She wrote

this,

"The kids are in bed. There's nothing on TV

tonight. I ask my husband if he minds if I

turn

off the tube. He grunts. As I walk to the set,

my mind is racing. Maybe, just maybe, tonight

we'll

talk. I may have a conversation that consists

of more than my usual question with his m

umbled one

word answer or more accurately. No answer at

all. May I interject something he dare not do

at work

if he wishes to climb the ladder of his

success?" She goes on, "Silence. I live in a

world with

continuous noise, but between him and me,

silence. Please, oh God, let him open up. I

initiate once

again for the thousandth time my heart pounds.

Oh, how can I word it this time? What can I

say

that will open the door to just talk?" I don't

have to have a deep, meaningful conversation,

just something. As I open my mouth, she goes

on, he gets up, goes to the bedroom. The door

closes

behind him. The light showing under the door

gives way to darkness, and so does my hope.

I sit alone on the couch. My heart begins to

ache. I'm tired of being alone. Hey, I've been

married

for years. Why do I sit alone? The sadness

undergoes a change slowly,

then with increased fervor, I get mad. I am

mad. I am sick and tired of living with a s

issy,

a wimp, a coward. You know he's afraid of me.

"Hasta, you say? You better believe it. I'm

sick

and tired of living in a world of passive men

." Then she continues in her letter, "My two

sons

like sports. They're pretty good. It could be

a lot better if their dad would take a little

of his

precious time and play catch with them. I'm

sorry, catch once a year at the church picnic

doesn't

quite make the boys into great ballplayers,

but dad's too busy. He's at work. He's at the

health

club. He's riding his four-wheeler. He's

working on the car. He's playing golf. He's

tired. He's

watching a movie. So who plays catch with the

boys? Me." My husband says, "You shouldn't be

playing men

sports, so who's going to do it?" He says he

will, but he doesn't. Remember, he's too busy

satisfying himself doing what he likes. So my

poor sons have to be second rate in sports.

It could have been good, really good. She goes

on. It's a lot longer, but you get the picture

, right?

Here's the killer in the letter. She writes, "

My husband's father did the same number on him.

Didn't hug him. Didn't take him to anything.

Let alone watch his baseball games.

And he hates his father. And now my husband's

doing the same thing."

That and scenarios very similar in varying

degrees are being played out

in millions of homes across our country right

now. Right this very second.

And we can give some explanations, both soci

ologically and even historically. And I went

and read up on all of that. And I debated

giving you those in this message, but for time

's sake,

I'm just going to get right down to the issue

of the explanation for the breakdown of male

leadership

in the home. And it is the fact that so many

men no longer obey the word of God. Period.

When this country was founded, and this is the

historical aspect,

90, over 90% of the men were Christians and

they did strive to live obediently,

the majority of them, to the word of God. My

health things have changed. Now men don't.

In fact, throughout our society, most men

right now have no idea what the word of God

says about

this. And when they do find out, they're not

interested in following it. There are so many

passive and indifferent and weak men in the

home who out there in the world, oh, they're

strong and

aggressive out there. But it would come to

their families. They have abandoned the

responsibility

to their wives. They have forfeited their

character and they have really forfeited what

true manhood actually is and so doing. They

have abandoned their role of leadership.

And what do you expect out of all that but

chaos and dysfunction in the family? What more

could

you expect? So what do we do about this

Christian man? To be the man of God that God

wants you to be,

you need to start with getting a grip on the

responsibility that you have for the physical,

emotional, and spiritual well-being of your

wife and of your family. That's where you

start.

And also added to that, the physical

protection, strength, life-long provision, and

support

that makes up all of this, what male headship

is all about. There's nothing mystical about

this.

This is very, very practical, real manhood,

real leadership for men has to start in the

home. This

is far more important in the big picture than

any measure of success that you might have in

your

career. Now let's go back to our text. Ephes

ians 5, 25. "Husbands love your wives." Ephes

ians 5, 28.

So husbands also to love their own wives as

their own bodies. Colossians 3, 19. "Husbands

love your

wives and do not be embittered against them."

Do you think the Apostle Paul is trying to

tell us

something, man? We talked about this last time

. You love them with no mixture of

disappointment,

frustration, or embitterment. Go back and

listen to that first sermon I did for the

details on that.

The word love, if you scan, if you've got your

Bible open, is used six times from verses 25

to

33. And that first statement gives us our

number one responsibility, men. Love your wife

.

And not the way the world loves. As we saw

last time, verse 25 gives us the how we are to

love

our wives as Christian men. Look at it again,

verse 25. "Just as Christ also loved the

church,"

and there's the important word, "gave himself

up for her." Also remember last time we

learned from

Peter that we are to love our wives in an

understanding way and grant her honor as

fellow

heirs with the grace of life. Go back and look

at that again for detail. Men, the most

important

reality here is Christ's example, right? How

did Christ love the church? He gave sacrific

ially.

That's how we are to love our wives. That was

point number one. Then we said our love for

our

wives number two is to be a purifying love.

And we saw again the greatest example of Jesus

looking

verses 26 to 27. So that he might sanctify her

, that means the church, for example, having

cleansed

her by the washing of water with the word that

he might present to himself the church in all

her

glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such

thing, but that she would be holy and blam

eless,

which is our example on leading our wives

spiritually in the same direction that we are

going in the Christian life. Growing in grace,

growing in spiritual maturity, growing in this

process of being conformed to the image of

Christ, the same thing that Christ is doing

with the church,

the same thing that He's doing with us is the

same thing that we are about to be doing

with our leading our wives spiritually. It all

works together. Now let's go to number three.

Our

love is to be a caring love. Verse 28. So

husbands ought also to love their own wives as

their own

bodies. Now, what does that mean? Well, it's

very simple, guys. We take care of our own

bodies,

right? I mean, you got up this morning and you

probably ate breakfast. And if you got here

early

and up, you ate some more breakfast and we're

so thankful to Christy and all you who

provided

the pastor appreciation brunch for us. You

brushed your teeth. I hope you did. You calmed

your hair.

You did all the things necessary, didn't you?

To yourself to get yourself ready to come to

church.

And so the issue here in verse 28 is to give

attention to meeting needs.

We are called to treat our wives with the same

preoccupation that we give to ourselves.

Look down at verse 31 real quick, which is a

quotation from Genesis chapter number two.

You need to know something, married man. When

you got married, you became one.

So in a sense, you are one body with your wife

. So when Paul says verse 28, husbands ought to

also love their own wives as their own bodies.

You want to remember this. When you got

married,

you became one body. And if her needs are met,

your needs are met. If her needs are not met,

believe me, it won't take you too long into a

marriage to realize that your needs won't be

met either. So you are to give her the same

care that you give to yourself. You take care

of her

as if she were you. Like you take care of

yourself because you are one in indivisible on

eness.

You are inseparable. The old sayings we repeat

all the time are true. Happy wife, happy life.

Right? If mom ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.

Right? You want to be a happy husband, men?

Have a happy wife. And we can really ramp this

up next to the most intense reality that we

have

to deal with. If your wife is a Christian,

guess what, man? She's not only one with you,

but she's also one with Christ as well. And in

light of that, you better be careful how you

treat her. Matthew 18, Jesus is talking about

how we handle one of the little ones. But in

context there, he's not just talking about

little children. He's talking about believers.

How do I

know that? Well, he says, unless you are

converted and become like children, then he

says you will

not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever hum

bles himself as this child, that's the context

there,

as this child like children. So that means if

you treat another believer wrong or cause them

to

stumble, he says, better for you to have a

millstone hanging around your neck and to be

drowned in the

depths of the sea. That's what Jesus says. And

that goes for your Christian wife, too, men.

She is also a child of the king. So you better

be careful how you treat her. You treat her

like you treat yourself. Verse 29, "For no one

ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes it and

cherishes it." Don't fall for humanistic

psychology that says your problem is you just

need to love

yourself. You just need to work on your self-

esteem. Just think about how right the Bible is

.

Our problem is not that we need to learn how

to love ourselves. Our problem is we love

ourselves

too much. That's our problem. It's the

complete opposite. We are naturally selfish

creatures

and self-loving. And the Bible comes against

that and says, no, you need to learn how to

die to

yourself is what you need to learn. You need

to learn how to kill that selfish, self-loving

bit that you have in your flesh. That's what

you need to work on. Complete opposite of

therapy

and psychology. That's why verse 29 says it, "

For no one ever hated his own flesh." What does

he do

with it? Nourishes it and cherishes it. That's

the right diagnosis. And then look next, just

as

Christ also does the church. Husbands, we are

to nourish and cherish our wives just like

Christ

does the church. You are one flesh with your

wife, husband, and you must take care of her

as you do

yourself. That's how Christ cares for the

church. You know what he does? He meets the

church's needs.

Look at Philippians 419, "And my God will

supply all your needs according to his riches

in glory in

Christ Jesus." God will meet all your needs in

Christ Jesus. Is there any Christian up in

this

room who can say, no, he doesn't. You'd be

lying if you said that. You know that.

And notice it doesn't say all our wants. Like

the pastor said, I just want a Cadillac

church. Can you get it for me? In Jesus' name.

No, it's all our needs.

What did Jesus say? "Seek ye first the kingdom

of God and all these things will be added unto

you."

That's needs that he's talking about. So if

you want your marriage to be blessed,

take care of your wife and meet her needs.

Something is seriously wrong when a man only

sees his wife as a cook, a housekeeper, a

housekeeper, a babysitter and a partner in the

bed.

Something is seriously wrong with that picture

. That attitude right there keeps a cauldron of

dysfunction bubbling up under the surface and

there are regular continual outbursts of

conflict

in that type of situation that's played out on

a regular basis. So the husband is to care for

the

wife as Christ care for the church. Verse 30,

"Because we are members of his body."

He does it because we are one with him. Men,

we need to do it with our wives because we are

one

with them. That's the point. 1 Corinthians 6-

17, "But the one who joins himself to the Lord

is one

spirit with him." And he cares for us because

we are one with him. That's the picture, man.

That's the beautiful picture of how we are to

care for our wives because they are one with

us.

Notice how God weaves all these pictures

together so perfectly in the Bible. To think

that man could

have put all this together in this book like

this, it's just pure folly to think that.

Where this is not being lived out, let me tell

you, it can make for quite a miserable

marriage

for sure. Number four, "This is an unbreakable

love." We're talking about verse 31, again a

quote

from Genesis 2-24, "For this reason a man

shall leave his father and mother and shall be

joined to

his wife and the two shall become one flesh."

Now, the primary reference of one flesh, of

course,

is to the physical, sexual union of husband

and wife. And it is that for sure, but beyond

the

intimacy of the physical relationship, it's

really, as I've been saying, it includes

everything

about our life together as a married couple,

being one in all things. God's design going

all the way

back to the beginning in Genesis, is that a

man and a woman leave their respective

families and

come together as one in every way that there

is to come together. They become one flesh and

they

cling to one another. This oneness is intimate

, it's unique in all relationships and it's

personal.

Individual identity is to be lost when we get

married. God's design is that you become a new

person co-mingled with your spouse. And as I

read at the weddings, every time I do a

wedding,

what God has joined together, let no man put a

son. That's why God hates divorce,

because divorce severs that indivisible

relationship that he designed from the very

beginning.

I told you last time I'm a pastor, but me and

Christie back there are a team at doing this

in every way possible that you can imagine.

When we are not at our day jobs, if you

followed us

around, not only would you be entertained most

of the time, you will rarely find us apart

from one

another outside when we're working our day job

. Where you see me most of the time, you're

going to see

her. Most of the time when you don't see me,

if you see her is when she is shopping.

Because I just can't wrap my mind around five

hours of walking around without a goal being

accomplished at all, like nothing, you didn't

get anything. And even when I try to go

shopping to

take her, it's not long before, I don't even

have to say a word, you're making me nervous.

I didn't even say anything, I'm just trying to

go along with this unaccomplishable goal that

we're trying to reach, right? But when you see

me, you're going to see her, we're a team,

we're together, we're inseparable in that way.

You'll notice the word leave in verse 31. It's

a

very intense word here, it means to leave

behind, to abandon, literally to leave. And

that's some advice that all young couples who

have need when they first get married,

they've started to cleave as the new King

James says, but they've forgotten to leave,

which is very helpful advice. The word joined,

cleave in the old King James, mean to be glued

to.

That's what you are supposed to be to your

wife, man. You come together to stick,

you come together in the oneness of physical

union, which incorporates oneness of mind,

oneness of purpose, oneness of heart, oneness

of emotion, and then you enter into the most

private, magnificent, intimate, personal

relationship that God has ever designed.

That is a husband and wife. And what if a

Christian man gets to the point of questioning

what would happen? I'm so sick of her if I

divorce my life without a biblical cause.

All the same thing that would happen with a

Christian woman. First, you'd be in direct

violation of the word of God. And that is not

a good place for a Christian to be,

because that invites the chastening hand of

God upon your life.

And if you would consider those two things and

you'd still pull that trigger, you know what

that tells me? You have reached a point where

you are either so sinful in your own life that

you

are the one at fault because you have alien

ated your spouse, or you have just ceased to

understand

how to forgive. We talked about that last time

. Let me tell you, if there is a regular

pattern of

unforgiveness in a marriage, it just accum

ulates, and accumulates, and accumulates, and

it builds,

and it builds up this wall of bitterness that

is built between the two spouses that is

really

extremely hard to break down, especially when

it's been done over years and years of time.

How many times a day does the Lord forgive you

, men, all day, every day? That's the answer.

And yet his love never changes, does it? It

never wanes. You're still his chosen. He's

still going

to bring you to glory when you die. How many

times are we to forgive each other? Peter

asked

that. He said, Lord, how many times do we

forgive? We forgive seven times? What did

Jesus say? Seventy

times seven. If you don't get used to

forgiving one another, let me tell you

something. Tough

sledding, your marriage is going to be real

tough sledding because we're sinners bumping

into one

another all the time regularly. So, men, you

love your life with a sacrificial love, a pur

ifying

love, a caring love that nourishes and cher

ishes her. You love your wife with an unbreak

able love

that just keeps forgiving and forgiving and

forgiving and forgiving. And here are some

advice for young people that you can pass on.

And really, this is a warning.

And most of us, we can pass this to many young

people that we come to or in our families or

in

our friends, really choose wisely who it is

you're going to marry. I heard Vodibachem,

God rest his soul, said to young ladies this,

"If you have not found a man whose godliness

is something that you want, shepherding your

children, do not marry him. No matter his

looks,

no matter his money, no matter his status."

And for sure, don't think you're going to

convert him

into being that kind of man. Consider no other

kind of man.

And you don't have to worry about that.

Consider no other kind of man other than a man

whose godliness

is already evidently, evidently very clearly

in place because only God converts sinners.

There's never any guarantees, never. And young

man, the same is true when considering a wife.

If she doesn't possess a godliness that you

want first and foremost and being a mother to

your

children, run. You know, I have anything to do

with her. You can pass that along. Most of us

are

not young in here anymore, right? So, I'm

giving you some advice to pass on. This has to

be far

in a way an absolute prerequisite or they

shouldn't even be considered spouses.

Now, next, let's talk about the motive, verse

32. This mystery is great, but I'm speaking

with

reference to Christ and the church. So, I mean

, why? Why should we love our wives like this,

sacrificially, purifying, caring, unbreakable,

relentlessly forgiving, never becoming emb

ittered?

The motive? It's because of the sacredness of

marriage. It's because of what marriage means

to God. Who it means so much to him. He instit

uted right there at the very beginning.

Marriage is

a mystery and a marriage among Christians.

What it is, is it's a picture of Christ and

the church

in the New Testament. What is a mystery? A

mystery identifies something hidden in the

past and

revealed in the New Testament age that's

revealed in the Scripture. And marriage is a

sacred reflection

of this magnificent mystery of the union

between Christ and his church, which was

completely

unknown in the Old Testament and not revealed

into the New Testament. And guess what? We

should be in

all of that mystery. And then one final word,

verse 33. And this really just reviews

everything.

Verse 33, "Nevertheless, each individual among

you also is to love his own wife, even as

himself,

and the wife must see to it that she respects

her husband." And as an aside, ladies, I'm

going to

tell you one way to cause absolute, sure

guarantee problems in your marriage is to

disrespect your

husband both in private and in public. I can

promise you that. And I'm telling you this

because it's

just the way that we are wired that a man

being disrespected, especially in public, is

such a

big deal to us. That's how we're wired. A lot

of marriages break up after the kids have left

the

house. A lot of us here in that situation

where the kids have long left the house, think

about it.

Just think about how it goes. All that energy,

all that time and sacrifice, all those years

that

you put into raising those kids, all those

challenging years, every one of the different

seasons of a child's life is very challenging

in its own ways. Infancy, toddler, elementary

school,

the dread of middle school and high school,

homework, all the things, all the weight of

the rent, running around like an Uber driver,

the sporting events, all of your energy

together and

focus so many years, pour it out on those kids

, trying your best to put them in the best

position

of possible for adulthood, the tears, the joys

, the hollering, the loving, the laughing. It's

just

all such a roller coaster and then one day all

of a sudden they're gone unless they come back

.

But at some point they're gone and it's just

you two and everything's quiet.

After all those challenging, insanely busy

years and what should be a second honeymoon,

many times results in complete collapse. You

know why? Because when it's just you two,

all those years you did it mostly your own way

. And now there's no foundation and the bond

has

real, really no strength to it because you

weren't doing it God's way between you two,

you were just doing everything for the kids.

But, for example, as we talked about last time

,

if you haven't kept that list of offenses that

we talked about,

if there is no such list of offenses between

you, if you are as good at forgetting sins and

failures

as God is as good at forgetting your sins and

failures, if you have cultivated men a sacr

ificial

love for your wife, purifying, caring, unbreak

able, guess what? In that moment when it's just

you

two, you will be rewarded. You've built a

solid foundation through the years while

dealing with

all the challenges of raising children and it

can be and it should be the best of times

because

that's how God designed it to be. It's really

sad when it declines like that. Listen to this

excerpt

from an old article. You remember the Saturday

evening post?

This article is called The Seven Stages of the

Married Cold. Stage one! First year of

marriage.

Sugar, I'm so worried about you. You've got a

sniffle and there's no telling about such

things.

I'm going to put you in the hospital today for

a general checkup and some rest. I know the

food's

lousy at the hospital, so I'll have your meals

catered and I've already enraged it with the

floor

superintendent. Year two. Listen, darling, I

just don't like the sound of that cough and I

called

Dr. Miller to rush over here. Now, you go to

bed like a good girl, please. Year three.

Maybe you

better lie down, honey. Nothing like a little

rest when you don't feel well. Have you got

any soup?

Year four. Look, dear. Be sensible. After you

feed the kids and get the dishes washed,

you better go there and lay down. Year five.

Why don't you get yourself a couple of aspirin

?

Year six. For Pete's sake, stop sneezing. You

're going to give me pneumonia.

Year seven. You know, if you just gargle, you

wouldn't be sitting around barking like a seal

up in here.

Now, look, it doesn't have to be that way. You

hear me? Not in God's plan.

The old preacher Billy Sunday once said,

gentlemen, try praising your wife even if it

frightens her.

For Christians, listen to me. It's never too

late to get this right,

to get this straight. And guess what, men? You

are the head of the household. So if you

don't have this straight, it's up to you to

take the lead. You take the lead in getting

this straight

if it's not straight right now. And that

starts, men, just as we have been learning

with loving

your lives sacrificially as Christ loved the

church. That is where you start right there.

But you have to be straight in your own

spiritual life before you can ever get there,

right?

But I promise you, I don't care where you're

at in your marriage or how long you've been

married,

you need to get this thing rebuilt. That's the

foundation of rebuilding the whole thing.

Love your wife as Christ loved the church. And

really again, it all comes down to this.

Period.

Are you going to do things God's way or are

you going to do things your way?

Which way Christian man? That's what it comes

down to. Never forget we have limited time to

get

this figured out. And the clock is ticking.

Let's pray. Amen. We thank you for this

instruction.

Indeed, no one is more convicted than me. We

should all stand convicted because we're all

sinners saved by grace, but sinners still. We

have peaks and valleys. We have successes and

we

have failures. And what I want to pray right

now for is especially for the husbands in this

room,

or wherever we are falling short and failing

in this area that what we've heard and learned

here

today from your Word would be used in such a

way that we would make application by

beginning to ramp

up with loving our wives as Christ loved the

church. And as we went through the thing with

the ladies in the previous verses, that they

would be subject to us just as they are to

Christ.

Well, this is practical instruction. You have

designed a way which is not the world's way.

It's completely opposite of the world's way.

It is never given in any type of

man-centered secular therapy, nor should it be

. It's your way. So help us, Lord, to be

convicted,

to do things your way. That our marriages,

though they never will be perfect in this life

,

will be the best that they can be, all to your

glory. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.