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Voddie Baucham - General Session 4 · Voddie Baucham Sermons

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Speaker 1: Open your Bibles if you have them with you to
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Speaker 1: Ephesians chapter 5. To Ephesians chapter 5. And I'll share
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Speaker 1: with you the message that Dr. MacArthur asked me to bring.
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Speaker 1: Talking about our leadership in our homes. This is a
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Speaker 1: seminal issue. You know, it's interesting. Several months ago, we
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Speaker 1: watched a tragedy unfold at Penn State University where an icon,
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Speaker 1: a hero, Joe Paterno, saw everything that he had worked
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Speaker 1: and lived for for more than four decades disintegrate right
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Speaker 1: before his eyes. And although, if you look at his
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Speaker 1: death certificate, it will say that he died of cancer,
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Speaker 1: I don't think anyone would argue that what happened to
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Speaker 1: him had nothing to do with it. The fact of
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Speaker 1: the matter is, it had to contribute to the abrupt
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Speaker 1: ending of the man's life. And what's astonishing about it
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Speaker 1: is how quickly it happened and how absolute the response was.
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Speaker 1: A man in his position should have known better, should
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Speaker 1: have done more, should have, just an absolute line in
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Speaker 1: the sand. You are disqualified. You lost this position. As
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Speaker 1: many would. in our day and age. But how many
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Speaker 1: of us believe that had he been discovered to be
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Speaker 1: an adulterer or an abusive husband or a derelict father
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Speaker 1: or an absentee father or an abusive father, that Penn
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Speaker 1: State would have said, you're disqualified. In fact, there is
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Speaker 1: no profession in our culture wherein a man would be
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Speaker 1: disqualified because of his failures as a husband and a father.
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Speaker 1: Except one. And that's ours. Doctors, lawyers, coaches, judges. There's
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Speaker 1: a man running for president right now who's on his
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Speaker 1: third wife. And regardless of your politics, the point I'm
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Speaker 1: making is, It's not a disqualifier. But for us, it is.
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Speaker 1: We are held to a different standard. But the question is, why? Well,
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Speaker 1: before we get to that, here's what I've been pondering.
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Speaker 1: Not only are we unique in the fact that being
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Speaker 1: derelict in those responsibilities would be a disqualifier. And that
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Speaker 1: separates us from everyone else in our culture. Everyone else
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Speaker 1: in our culture. There's no one who's held to that standard.
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Speaker 1: But it's even more significant than that. Not only is
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Speaker 1: it a disqualifier if we live our lives in that way,
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Speaker 1: but biblically it is a qualifier for us to be
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Speaker 1: exemplary as husbands and as fathers. So not only on
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Speaker 1: the negative side can we not just fail miserably in
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Speaker 1: that area and expect to stay in the positions that
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Speaker 1: we have, but from a biblical perspective, in order to
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Speaker 1: enter into these positions that we have, according to Titus
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Speaker 1: chapter 1 and verse 6, and according to 1 Timothy
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Speaker 1: chapter 3, verses 4 and 5, we're qualified for our
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Speaker 1: positions in Based upon being exemplary husbands and exemplary fathers.
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Speaker 1: Did I say perfect? Absolutely not. You can't be an
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Speaker 1: example if you're a perfect husband. Pastor, can you just
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Speaker 1: help me? I'm struggling with what to do. I blew
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Speaker 1: it with my wife, and I want to make that right.
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Speaker 1: Can you help me with that? Wow, I really wish
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Speaker 1: I could, but I have no idea what that looks like. Pastor,
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Speaker 1: can you just pray for me? Because my son, I
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Speaker 1: don't think he's going to make it. Is it a
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Speaker 1: terminal illness? No, but I don't think he's going to
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Speaker 1: make it. Cannot comprehend being that angry with a child,
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Speaker 1: but I'll try to pray for you. Not perfect, but exemplary. Again,
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Speaker 1: the question is, why? Why? Does God just throw this
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Speaker 1: standard out there? Absolutely not. And I believe if we
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Speaker 1: understand this picture here in the book of Ephesians, we'll
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Speaker 1: understand the significance of the marriage relationship in general and
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Speaker 1: the family in general, but also why it is so
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Speaker 1: significant for us. In order to understand this, I want
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Speaker 1: us to look briefly at this letter more carefully. Because
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Speaker 1: what I'm going to argue here is that the reason
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Speaker 1: that this is so important for us, not only a
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Speaker 1: disqualifier but a qualifier, is because of the gospel. Not
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Speaker 1: because the family is so important in and of itself,
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Speaker 1: and the family is important in and of itself, but
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Speaker 1: the government's important too in and of itself. But it's
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Speaker 1: important because of the gospel. This is about the gospel.
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Speaker 1: This is one of the many implications of the gospel.
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Speaker 1: This is a picture of the gospel. That is why
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Speaker 1: this is a non-negotiable for us. Not just because families
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Speaker 1: are in trouble in our day, and families are in
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Speaker 1: trouble in our day, but everybody's in trouble in our day.
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Speaker 1: Families have always been in trouble. I see so many
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Speaker 1: dysfunctional families around me. Really, you do? Because as far
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Speaker 1: as my theology goes, there's only been one non-dysfunctional family
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Speaker 1: in the history of the world, and they're the family
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Speaker 1: that invented dysfunction. To understand Ephesians chapter 5, we have
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Speaker 1: to understand Ephesians. This book divided perfectly in half. The
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Speaker 1: first three chapters of The book are about orthodoxy. The
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Speaker 1: last three about orthopraxy. The first three about right believing.
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Speaker 1: The last three about right behaving. The first three about
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Speaker 1: our calling. The last three about our conduct. The first
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Speaker 1: three about the indicatives. And the last three about the imperatives.
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Speaker 1: And we must grasp that if we're going to understand
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Speaker 1: the book of Ephesians. We have to understand the difference
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Speaker 1: between the indicatives. The indicatives, what Christ has accomplished on
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Speaker 1: our behalf to his father's glory through the cross. That's
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Speaker 1: what we find in the first half of the book.
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Speaker 1: What Christ has accomplished on our behalf to the father's
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Speaker 1: glory through the cross. Those are the indicatives. That's who
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Speaker 1: and what we are. In the second half, we see
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Speaker 1: the imperatives. And the imperatives are how we are called
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Speaker 1: and empowered and motivated to live as a direct result
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Speaker 1: of the person and work of Christ. So on the
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Speaker 1: one hand, we see who we are. In the second half,
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Speaker 1: we see who we're called, enabled, empowered, and motivated to be.
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Speaker 1: And if we just join these two, What we end
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Speaker 1: up doing is confusing what the gospel requires and what
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Speaker 1: the gospel produces. And that is no gospel at all.
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Speaker 1: You end up with works righteousness if you do that.
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Speaker 1: What the gospel requires is repentance and faith. What the
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Speaker 1: gospel produces is obedience. And so we have to keep
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Speaker 1: these things in view. We have to understand this if
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Speaker 1: we want to understand marriage in the fifth chapter here
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Speaker 1: of this letter. Now, not only do we have the
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Speaker 1: indicatives in the first half and the imperatives in the
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Speaker 1: second half. But we have what I call this sort
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Speaker 1: of grand indicative at the beginning of the book. Let
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Speaker 1: me give this to you. And then we'll look at
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Speaker 1: the major overarching indicatives in the first three chapters. That'll
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Speaker 1: take us to Ephesians chapter 5, and we can understand
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Speaker 1: why marriage has the significance that it does. Chapter 1,
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Speaker 1: beginning of verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
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Speaker 1: of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed blessed us
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Speaker 1: in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
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Speaker 1: even as he chose us in him before the foundation
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Speaker 1: of the world. that we should be holy and blameless
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Speaker 1: before him. In love, he predestined us for adoption as
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Speaker 1: sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will,
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Speaker 1: to the praise of his glorious grace with which he
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Speaker 1: blessed us in the beloved. In him, we have redemption
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Speaker 1: through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to
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Speaker 1: the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us
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Speaker 1: in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the
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Speaker 1: mystery of his will, according to the purpose which he
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Speaker 1: set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness
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Speaker 1: of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven,
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Speaker 1: things on earth. He blessed us. He chose us. He
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Speaker 1: predestined us. He blessed us. He lavished upon us. He
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Speaker 1: made known to us. What have you been told to do?
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Speaker 1: Absolutely nothing. What have you been told you can do?
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Speaker 1: Absolutely everything. But note these phrases. In Christ. In the beloved.
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Speaker 1: In him. Through Jesus Christ. in the beloved, in him,
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Speaker 1: through his blood, in Christ, in him. What Christ has
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Speaker 1: accomplished on our behalf to his Father's glory through the cross.
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Speaker 1: That's the grand indicative here. But then at the end
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Speaker 1: of each chapter, Paul gives us these overarching indicatives. And
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Speaker 1: they're the key to understanding the book of Ephesians. Look
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Speaker 1: at the end of chapter 1. In verse 22. And
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Speaker 1: he put all things under his feet and gave him
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Speaker 1: as head over all things to the church, which is
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Speaker 1: his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
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Speaker 1: The first grand indicative as we come to the end
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Speaker 1: of this chapter is Christ's headship over his body. That's
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Speaker 1: what this letter is about. It's about Christ's headship over
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Speaker 1: his body. There's a second grand indicative that comes at
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Speaker 1: the end of chapter 2. Look beginning in verse 19.
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Speaker 1: So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but
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Speaker 1: you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of
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Speaker 1: the household of God, built on the foundation of the
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Speaker 1: apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone. In
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Speaker 1: whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a
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Speaker 1: holy temple in the Lord. In him you are being
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Speaker 1: built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
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Speaker 1: So the first overarching indicative is Christ's headship over his body.
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Speaker 1: The second one, we heard about this on yesterday, is
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Speaker 1: unity in Christ's body. By the way, notice that in
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Speaker 1: that unity he uses these structural illustrations and they all
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Speaker 1: go to the idea of a household. They go from
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Speaker 1: the idea of a household to the idea of a temple.
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Speaker 1: That's important. Hold on to that. The third and final
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Speaker 1: overarching indicative here is found at the end of chapter three.
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Speaker 1: That's where we find the crescendo. And we know that
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Speaker 1: we've reached a turning point because we have a doxology
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Speaker 1: here and an amen. So look at chapter three, beginning
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Speaker 1: of verse 20. Now to him who is able to
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Speaker 1: do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think,
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Speaker 1: according to the power at work within us, to him
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Speaker 1: be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout
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Speaker 1: all generations forever and ever. Amen. The third overarching indicative
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Speaker 1: is the glory that the body gives to its head.
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Speaker 1: You want to understand the book of Ephesians, grab these
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Speaker 1: three things. Christ's headship over his body. Unity in Christ's body.
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Speaker 1: and the glory that the body gives to its head.
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Speaker 1: You get to the second half of this letter, and
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Speaker 1: you hear these things and see these things again and
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Speaker 1: again and again. Those are the indicatives. Those are the
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Speaker 1: things that empower us, equip us, and motivate us to
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Speaker 1: do all that we are commanded to do in the
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Speaker 1: second half of the book. We have to have that
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Speaker 1: in order. Now come with me to Ephesians chapter 5,
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Speaker 1: and let's begin at verse 22. Wives, submit to your
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Speaker 1: own husbands as to the Lord. Why? For the husband
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Speaker 1: is the head of the wife, even as Christ is
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Speaker 1: the head of the church, his body, and is himself
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Speaker 1: its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so
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Speaker 1: also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Does
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Speaker 1: this have anything to do with the superiority of men
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Speaker 1: over women? Absolutely not. This has everything to do with
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Speaker 1: Christ's headship over his body. Why is this significant? It's
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Speaker 1: significant because in the first half, in the indicatives, one
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Speaker 1: of the grand overarching indicatives of the entire book is
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Speaker 1: Christ's headship over his body. We see later on in
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Speaker 1: chapter 5 that marriage is a living, breathing picture, an illustration,
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Speaker 1: if you will, of the relationship between Christ and his church.
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Speaker 1: If this picture is going to be an accurate one
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Speaker 1: and not a blasphemous one, then just as the church
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Speaker 1: submits to Christ... The wife must submit to her husband.
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Speaker 1: Not because of social roles, norms, and mores. Not even
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Speaker 1: because of the success of society. But because of the gospel.
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Speaker 1: That's why it's significant. Now we get to the husband's part.
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Speaker 1: And here's where we're going to hang out for a minute. Husbands,
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Speaker 1: love your wives. Now he could stop there. But he doesn't.
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Speaker 1: And by the way, there's an imperative if I ever
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Speaker 1: saw one. Husbands, love your wives. How do you get
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Speaker 1: away from that one? Husbands, love your wives. I don't
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Speaker 1: want to. Yeah, but he commanded you to. You have
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Speaker 1: to love her. She's your wife. You don't understand how
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Speaker 1: bad it is, man. I don't even see her as
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Speaker 1: my wife anymore. Well, that's fine. Love your neighbor as yourself.
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Speaker 1: She's your closest neighbor. She's right there beside you in
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Speaker 1: the bed. You don't get more neighborly than that, all right? Brother,
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Speaker 1: we don't even sleep together anymore. I sleep on the couch. Oh, well,
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Speaker 1: that's cool because she's your sister in Christ. By this,
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Speaker 1: all men will know that you're my disciples, that you
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Speaker 1: have love one for another. All right. I don't even
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Speaker 1: know if I'm still a Christian. Okay, I'm a Christian,
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Speaker 1: but I don't think she's a Christian. That's fine. Love
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Speaker 1: your enemies. And that would be enough, would it not?
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Speaker 1: But I want you to grasp this. Husbands, love your
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Speaker 1: wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up
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Speaker 1: for her. Now watch what happens. And I don't think
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Speaker 1: we have to force this. That he might sanctify her,
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Speaker 1: having cleansed her by the washing of the water of
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Speaker 1: the word. What does it mean to sanctify her? It
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Speaker 1: means to set her apart as his own. That sounds
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Speaker 1: like Christ's headship over his church. Keep reading. So that
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Speaker 1: he might present the church to himself again. that he
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Speaker 1: might present the church to himself. Well, that sounds like
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Speaker 1: it might be shadows of the unity that we read
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Speaker 1: about earlier. And then, in splendor, without spot or wrinkle
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Speaker 1: or any such thing, that she might be holy and
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Speaker 1: without blemish, which would bring glory to her head. Love
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Speaker 1: your wife, not just because he told you to, but
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Speaker 1: love your wife because this is about Christ. What do
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Speaker 1: you mean this is about Christ? Listen to the picture
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Speaker 1: that was just painted. Your wife is a member of
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Speaker 1: the body of Christ. She belongs to Christ. You love
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Speaker 1: Christ with every fiber of your being. God has given
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Speaker 1: your wife to you that you might be a sanctifying
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Speaker 1: influence in her life so that she is more like
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Speaker 1: Christ and brings more glory to Christ as a result
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Speaker 1: of having been married to you than she would have
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Speaker 1: had she not. That's why you do it. It's about
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Speaker 1: the gospel. She belongs to him. You love him. God
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Speaker 1: gave her to you. And God is using you as
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Speaker 1: a sanctifying influence in her life. Sometimes just by how
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Speaker 1: hard it is to live with you. If you can't
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Speaker 1: say amen, you ought to say ouch. But men, does
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Speaker 1: that not change your perspective? Yes. God is not saying,
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Speaker 1: you know, reach way down deep and try to find
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Speaker 1: some overflowing emotion toward your wife. That's not what he's saying.
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Speaker 1: We should be emotional toward our wives, but that's not
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Speaker 1: what he's saying. This is about Christ. This is an
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Speaker 1: adopted daughter of the King of Kings and the Lord
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Speaker 1: of Lords. You have been united with her in a
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Speaker 1: covenant relationship through which God has designed to sanctify her.
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Speaker 1: That's just the whole of her sanctification. No, absolutely not.
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Speaker 1: It's not the whole of her sanctification. But you are
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Speaker 1: to be that kind of influence in her life. And
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Speaker 1: because you understand Christ's headship over his body, the unity
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Speaker 1: in Christ's body, and the glory that the body gives
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Speaker 1: to its head, What you do is not turn to
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Speaker 1: your wife in hopes that you can receive from her
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Speaker 1: some motivation to love her. But turn to the Lord. See,
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Speaker 1: this is not about me loving my wife so that
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Speaker 1: she can in turn give me what I want. That's selfish.
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Speaker 1: I'm loving you, baby. I'm loving you cuz cuz cuz
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Speaker 1: well really I'm loving you because I want you to
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Speaker 1: give me what I want but I'm loving you that's
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Speaker 1: idolatry pure and simple here's the other thing that won't
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Speaker 1: last I'm loving my wife so that she can satisfy me.
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Speaker 1: First of all, that's idolatry because she was never meant
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Speaker 1: to be my satisfaction. Christ is. But secondly, she's a frail, fragile,
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Speaker 1: flawed human being. And I'm going to be dissatisfied with her.
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Speaker 1: So if my only reason for loving her is to
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Speaker 1: increase my level of satisfaction because of how she responds,
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Speaker 1: eventually I will be frustrated with that and I'll come
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Speaker 1: to an end eventually. But if I view her as
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Speaker 1: a child of the king who's been entrusted to me
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Speaker 1: and my desire is that my love that overflows to
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Speaker 1: her would be a sanctifying influence in her life for
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Speaker 1: the love of Christ who loved me, I don't stop that.
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Speaker 1: If it is about Christ, you endure for Christ's sake.
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Speaker 1: Sounds really selfless, but he doesn't leave us there. In
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Speaker 1: the same way, this is good. Husbands should love their
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Speaker 1: wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife
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Speaker 1: loves himself, for no one ever hated his own flesh,
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Speaker 1: but nourishes and cherishes it. Just as Christ does the
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Speaker 1: church because we are members of his body. First of all,
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Speaker 1: I love my wife with this kind of love because
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Speaker 1: she's a member of Christ's body. But secondly, not only
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Speaker 1: is she a member of his body, she's a member
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Speaker 1: of mine. She's not just mine, she's me. Here's the picture. Lord,
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Speaker 1: you saved me. You redeemed me. You sustained me. I
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Speaker 1: love you. I'm grateful to you. You gave me this woman. Amen.
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Speaker 1: And a stewardship in her life. My desire is to
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Speaker 1: love her in a way that draws her closer to you.
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Speaker 1: Here she is, Lord. Here she is. Be satisfied. And
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Speaker 1: he looks to you and says, enjoy. I'm giving her
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Speaker 1: to you, Jesus. Yes. Enjoy. Enjoy. She is bone of
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Speaker 1: your bone, flesh of your flesh. Delight in the wife
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Speaker 1: of your youth. Drink deeply from your own cistern. Enjoy
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Speaker 1: as a gift from Christ himself. Now look at the
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Speaker 1: last part of this. Therefore, a man shall leave his
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Speaker 1: father and mother, hold fast to his wife, and the
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Speaker 1: two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound, and
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Speaker 1: I'm saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However,
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Speaker 1: let each one of you love his wife as himself,
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Speaker 1: and let the wife see to it that she respects
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Speaker 1: her husband. Now there's this picture of the one flesh union.
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Speaker 1: There's this sanctifying love. There's this love that God uses
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Speaker 1: in the life of a wife. It's mysterious here. Paul
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Speaker 1: says it. It's mysterious. I don't understand it. She's more
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Speaker 1: like him. Who do I love more than anything else
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Speaker 1: in the world? Christ. She becomes more radiant and more
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Speaker 1: like the one whom I love more than anything else
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Speaker 1: in the world. And he says to me, enjoy. Now
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Speaker 1: there's this picture of this one flesh union. This sexual
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Speaker 1: relationship between a man and his wife. And I know
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Speaker 1: there's a lot of talk going on about, you know,
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Speaker 1: books out there being written about sex and so on
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Speaker 1: and so forth. And the language that you use and
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Speaker 1: what you talk about, what you don't talk about. Let
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Speaker 1: me give you this picture. Because I don't think we
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Speaker 1: think enough of sex. I didn't say I don't think
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Speaker 1: we think of sex enough. That's not our problem. But
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Speaker 1: we don't think enough of sex. Marriage is this living,
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Speaker 1: breathing picture of the relationship between Christ and his church.
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Speaker 1: Do you know that the church is anxiously anticipating the
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Speaker 1: return of her Savior? You know that the church is
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Speaker 1: anxiously groaning and anticipating the consummation of all things, the
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Speaker 1: wedding feast of the Lamb, the union with the one
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Speaker 1: who saved us. We are anxiously anticipating that. We say,
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Speaker 1: come Lord Jesus. Newsflash, the sexual union between a man
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Speaker 1: and his wife is a living, breathing story. awe-inspiring expression
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Speaker 1: of the ecstasy of the union that the church awaits
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Speaker 1: you don't think highly enough of sex you don't respect
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Speaker 1: it enough you don't honor it enough there is a
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Speaker 1: beauty and a glory here that we have simply missed
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Speaker 1: Now you run and tell that to your kids. Don't
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Speaker 1: do that. Don't do that. Really, how come you don't
25:45
Speaker 1: want me to do that? Because obviously, you know, you
25:48
Speaker 1: did that. That's how we got here. So how come
25:52
Speaker 1: you don't want me to do that? Well, just don't
25:53
Speaker 1: do that because it's bad. It's bad, but I thought
25:56
Speaker 1: it was, I mean, that's how we got here. But
25:58
Speaker 1: just know because it's bad. It'll be good. But right
26:02
Speaker 1: now it's just bad. No. Listen to me, son. It
26:15
Speaker 1: is glorious. And it is a glorious manifestation of the
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Speaker 1: ecstasy which the church awaits as her head and her
26:25
Speaker 1: groom returns for her. Don't you dare make less of
26:32
Speaker 1: it than that. I don't want you to be afraid
26:35
Speaker 1: of it. I don't want you to look down on it.
26:37
Speaker 1: Don't you dare look down on it. It's awesome. We
26:41
Speaker 1: overuse that word awesome. And most of the stuff that
26:43
Speaker 1: we say is awesome is not. Son, this is awesome.
26:45
Speaker 1: I ain't lying, man. It is. But it's awesome because
26:53
Speaker 1: of this picture of Christ and his bride, the church.
26:56
Speaker 1: And you should no more illegitimately unite yourself physically with
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Speaker 1: a woman outside of marriage than Christ should unite himself
27:06
Speaker 1: with one who is not his own. Different answer. Last
27:15
Speaker 1: part of this. I have a couple minutes left. Listen,
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Speaker 1: it's chapter 6. Now, flowing from that, children, obey your
27:21
Speaker 1: parents in the Lord, for this is right. We're not
27:22
Speaker 1: just talking about marriage, but we're also talking about family
27:26
Speaker 1: and raising our children. Remember those qualifications that we have
27:29
Speaker 1: in Titus 1, 6 have to do with our children.
27:33
Speaker 1: In 1 Timothy chapter 3, verses 4 and 5, has
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Speaker 1: to do with our governance of our home. Children, obey
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Speaker 1: your parents and the Lord for this is right. Honor
27:41
Speaker 1: your father and mother. This is the first commandment with
27:45
Speaker 1: a promise. It's the only one with a promise. That
27:47
Speaker 1: it may go well with you and that you may
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Speaker 1: live long in the land. Fathers, do not provoke your
27:51
Speaker 1: children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline
27:54
Speaker 1: and instruction of the Lord. It flows naturally from the
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Speaker 1: marriage relationship and the one flesh union. What is produced
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Speaker 1: by the marriage relationship and the one flesh union? What
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Speaker 1: is produced by it is offspring. There's the picture. You
28:11
Speaker 1: go to Genesis chapter 2 and verse 18 and all
28:14
Speaker 1: of a sudden you've seen this pattern for six days
28:16
Speaker 1: of creation. Let there be than there was, it was good.
28:18
Speaker 1: Let there be than there was, it was good. Let
28:20
Speaker 1: there be than there was, it was good. Let there
28:21
Speaker 1: be than there was, it was good. You get used
28:23
Speaker 1: to that and you just kind of get into the
28:24
Speaker 1: rhythm of it. Now you get in chapter 2 and
28:26
Speaker 1: verse 18 and for the first time God says something
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Speaker 1: is not good. What's not good? Not good for the
28:34
Speaker 1: man to be alone. Really? Really? Does that mean that
28:37
Speaker 1: every man has to be married? No. It can't mean that.
28:40
Speaker 1: We know from 1 Corinthians chapter 7 and Matthew chapter
28:42
Speaker 1: 19 that it cannot mean that every man has to
28:44
Speaker 1: be married. What does it mean? That the triune God
28:48
Speaker 1: of the universe, the importance of the Trinity here, Makes
28:52
Speaker 1: man in his image and then says it's not good
28:56
Speaker 1: for the man to be alone. The God of the universe,
29:00
Speaker 1: the one true and living God who has existed eternally
29:04
Speaker 1: in three persons. The son eternally begotten of the father
29:08
Speaker 1: and the spirit eternally proceeding from the father and the son.
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Speaker 1: Makes man in his image and says that's not good.
29:15
Speaker 1: Then from the man he makes a woman and from
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Speaker 1: their union they produce offspring. Every time I talk about this,
29:28
Speaker 1: guys will go, well, wait a minute. Well, then a
29:31
Speaker 1: single guy doesn't have that picture. Yeah, absolutely he does. Yeah,
29:35
Speaker 1: but he doesn't have a wife and children. Yeah, but
29:36
Speaker 1: he is a child from a one-flesh union. Every human
29:42
Speaker 1: being reflects that triunity in God. And the offspring from
29:52
Speaker 1: our union reflects that. But more importantly than that, God
29:59
Speaker 1: sends to our home souls who do not know him.
30:09
Speaker 1: We say that God's called us to the gospel ministry
30:13
Speaker 1: so that we can preach the gospel to every creature.
30:15
Speaker 1: And God sends us souls in our home every day.
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Speaker 1: Not every day. Every day. That's beyond every day. who
30:31
Speaker 1: do not know him, listen to me. A man who
30:37
Speaker 1: does not take great care to nurture, evangelize, and disciple
30:43
Speaker 1: the children in his home has no business in pastoral ministry.
30:48
Speaker 1: He ought to be kept up at night over lost kids. Burdened.
31:02
Speaker 1: Over children who do not yet know him. Crying out
31:07
Speaker 1: to God on their behalf, what should weigh on you
31:12
Speaker 1: more than this? And yet, here's the irony. This is
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Speaker 1: supposed to be the only place where failure in this
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Speaker 1: area disqualifies you. And being exemplary in this area qualifies you.
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Speaker 1: overwhelming majority of churches that I'm aware of don't even
31:37
Speaker 1: ask a man about his marriage and his discipleship of
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Speaker 1: his children. We don't care. Do you know what's wrong
31:48
Speaker 1: with that? Here's what's wrong with that. This is about
31:51
Speaker 1: the gospel. This is about the Christ whom we say
31:55
Speaker 1: we love and we serve. And Christ who loves his church.
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Speaker 1: says through his apostles, when you consider a man, look
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Speaker 1: at how he shepherds his wife, look at how he
32:08
Speaker 1: shepherds his children, because if he's failing there, he's already
32:12
Speaker 1: told you he can't do this job. But what do
32:16
Speaker 1: we say? What does credentials look like? What does he
32:21
Speaker 1: sound like as a public speaker? Give us more men
32:31
Speaker 1: We're passionate for the souls of their children and passionate
32:37
Speaker 1: about the picture of the gospel that's being painted in
32:40
Speaker 1: their relationship with their wife. Give us more men like that. Folks,
32:44
Speaker 1: we got enough seminary men. I stand before you as
32:52
Speaker 1: a seminary man who had more degrees than a thermometer.
33:02
Speaker 1: But you and I both know that the world is
33:05
Speaker 1: filled with seminary men who shouldn't be allowed close to
33:10
Speaker 1: a pulpit. But this is the picture. This is significant.
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Speaker 1: And it's significant because of Christ's headship over his body
33:26
Speaker 1: that is pictured in the relationship between a husband and
33:29
Speaker 1: his wife as a wife lovingly submits to her husband
33:32
Speaker 1: as unto the Lord. It's a picture of the unity
33:37
Speaker 1: in Christ's body as husband and wife in spite of
33:42
Speaker 1: their sinfulness. Strive because of what Christ has accomplished on
33:49
Speaker 1: their behalf to the Father's glory. Strive, motivated by that
33:55
Speaker 1: and empowered by that to live with one another in
33:58
Speaker 1: that one flesh union in a God-honoring way. And as
34:04
Speaker 1: God blesses them with children, and they strive to present
34:11
Speaker 1: the gospel to them consistently and passionately with a view
34:18
Speaker 1: towards seeing them come to faith in Christ, that we
34:22
Speaker 1: might also say with our children here. Because I love
34:29
Speaker 1: you more than anything in the world. You gave them
34:31
Speaker 1: to me and I love them and I want them
34:33
Speaker 1: to be yours. This is not about the culture having
34:40
Speaker 1: better marriages. Though I'm all for that. This is not
34:49
Speaker 1: about the world thinking better of us. Though I'm all
34:55
Speaker 1: for that. This is about the gospel. Here's why this
34:59
Speaker 1: is important. And I'll close with this. Oftentimes when I
35:05
Speaker 1: talk about these issues of marriage and family, what I
35:08
Speaker 1: hear from men consistently is this. But you don't know
35:15
Speaker 1: how bad it is out there. And men have not
35:18
Speaker 1: seen examples. Therefore, they do not know how to be
35:22
Speaker 1: husbands and fathers. I don't do real well with that.
35:30
Speaker 1: I mean, really, I just don't. I don't do real
35:32
Speaker 1: well with that. I'll just be honest with you. I
35:34
Speaker 1: don't do real well with that. Pray for me. Because
35:36
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't do real well with that. For
35:40
Speaker 1: a couple of reasons. One, because I was raised not
35:43
Speaker 1: far from here in drug-infested, gang-infested, South Central Los Angeles, California,
35:49
Speaker 1: raised by a single teenage Buddhist mother. Never heard the
35:52
Speaker 1: gospel until my first year in college. My wife and I,
35:58
Speaker 1: who've been married for 23 years, On both sides of
36:01
Speaker 1: our family combined, there have been 25 marriages in the
36:05
Speaker 1: last two generations, 25 marriages and 22 divorces. I have
36:11
Speaker 1: 26 first cousins. There are two besides me currently married
36:14
Speaker 1: to and living with a spouse. My paternal grandmother and
36:18
Speaker 1: grandfather lived next door to each other, had three children,
36:23
Speaker 1: and were not married one day. That cannot be an
36:33
Speaker 1: excuse for me to fail as a father. Here's the
36:36
Speaker 1: second reason. I am a born-again, blood-washed follower of the
36:45
Speaker 1: Lord Jesus Christ who has given me the only perfect
36:52
Speaker 1: picture that any man has ever seen or ever needs
36:57
Speaker 1: to see. I do not need an imperfect human man
37:01
Speaker 1: to show me what it means to be a father
37:04
Speaker 1: because I have the perfect God man who not only
37:08
Speaker 1: shows me that, but lives inside of me and empowers
37:15
Speaker 1: me to be what he's called me to be. Am
37:18
Speaker 1: I that perfectly? No, I'm not that perfectly. Better today
37:24
Speaker 1: than yesterday. Okay. And better tomorrow than today, not because
37:28
Speaker 1: of pulling myself up by my own bootstraps, but because
37:32
Speaker 1: I am kept and sustained by Christ. I keep my
37:38
Speaker 1: face before him. And as his glorious radiance shines upon me,
37:45
Speaker 1: I see what it means to be a man, to
37:49
Speaker 1: be a husband, and to be a father. I recognize
37:53
Speaker 1: that I cannot do this in and of myself. but
37:58
Speaker 1: in Christ, in him, through him, by his blood, in him.
38:10
Speaker 1: There's nothing that he calls me to for which he
38:16
Speaker 1: will not equip me and through which he will not
38:19
Speaker 1: see me. My God is Abel.