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Voddie Baucham - The Centrality of the Gospel in the Christian Life Session 3 · Voddie Baucham Sermons

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: If you have your Bibles with you, open them to Ephesians,
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Ephesians chapter 5. In this session, we're looking at the
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: centrality of the gospel in the family. And just like,
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: you know, when we talk about the church, how it's built,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: why it's built, The same is true as it relates
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: to the family, how it's built and why it's built.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: And this is incredibly important in and for our day.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: The foundations of the family have been under attack for
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: a long time. And they've been under attack from many
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: different angles and in many different ways. I would argue
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: that what we're seeing now is a continuation. We start
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: with the feminist attack on the family. The feminist attack
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: on the family undermines the order within the home, the
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: biblical order, the biblical idea of male headship, for example.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: You move from the feminist attack to the attack from sodomy,
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: so-called same-sex marriage, another attack whose epicenter really as far
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: as American culture goes is somewhere right around where we're
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: sitting at this very moment as Hawaii was part of
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: the epicenter of the attack on marriage from the perspective
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: of same-sex marriage. Eventually, we get to Obergefell in 2015,
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: and in 2015, there's a declaration that God's wrong about marriage,
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: that marriage is not between a man and a woman.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: And now we've moved even beyond that to where we're
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: attacking the very foundation of our humanity and what it
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: means to be a man and what it means to
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: be a woman. There's arguments that were being made just
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: this week before the Supreme Court centering around whether or
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: not we're going to give puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: and so-called sexual reassignment surgeries to children in this country.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: All of these things are really spawned from the same foundations.
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  Speaker 1: It is another example of the serpent coming to us
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: and asking that question, hath God said? Right? Did he
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: really say that? Did he really mean that? And if
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: he did say that... Don't you know that he was
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: just saying that because he wants to stifle your pleasure?
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: He's just saying that because he doesn't want your eyes
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  Speaker 1: to be opened. And at the end of the day,
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: this is an attack on the gospel, and I'm not
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: just saying that. So I want to show you that
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: here in Ephesians chapter 5. In order to understand what's
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: happening in Ephesians chapter 5, you have to understand what's
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: happening in Ephesians. The book of Ephesians is divided right
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: down the middle. The first three chapters and then the
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  Speaker 1: second three chapters. The first three chapters are about our calling.
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  Speaker 1: The last three chapters are about our conduct. The first
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: three chapters are about what God has done on our
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  Speaker 1: behalf through the person and work of Christ. The last
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  Speaker 1: three chapters are the implications of that in our everyday lives.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: The first three chapters of Ephesians is all indicatives. And
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: the last three chapters are all imperatives. Now let me
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: explain that. An indicative indicates what something is, right? An indicative,
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: this is a microphone. Right? That's an indicative statement. An
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: imperative statement would be, speak into the microphone. Right? It's
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: telling you something to do. There are no imperatives in
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: the first three chapters of the book of Ephesians. None.
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: They're all indicatives. We only find imperatives in the second
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  Speaker 1: half of the book of Ephesians. But we don't just
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: find imperatives, we find indicatives and imperatives in the second
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  Speaker 1: half of the book of Ephesians. So, if there's only
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: indicatives in the first half, and if there are indicatives
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  Speaker 1: and imperatives in the second half, what do you think
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: Paul believes is more important, indicatives or imperatives? Indicatives. The
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: indicatives are more important than the imperatives. Because we can't
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  Speaker 1: achieve the imperatives apart from the indicatives. We can't do
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: what we're being called to do unless we have become
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: who we're called to become through the person and work
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: of Christ. Okay? So the quintessential teaching about marriage and family,
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  Speaker 1: the household codes, come here in Ephesians chapter 5. It's
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  Speaker 1: not the only place. We find them elsewhere, especially in
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  Speaker 1: Pauline writings. But the most comprehensive teaching on the subject
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  Speaker 1: comes here in Ephesians chapter 5, which is in the
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: second half, which means that we also have imperatives and indicatives. Now,
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: usually when we start talking about this, we start at
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  Speaker 1: Ephesians 5 what? Anybody? Anybody? Usually 22, right? Ephesians 5,
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  Speaker 1: 22 with instructions to wives, and then we go down
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  Speaker 1: to 25 and instructions to husbands. We usually don't get
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  Speaker 1: to 6-1 because we don't realize that that's connected as well,
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  Speaker 1: instructions to children. But there's a little bit of a
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  Speaker 1: problem when we start with 22. Wives, submit to your
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  Speaker 1: own husbands as to the Lord. The problem is with
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  Speaker 1: the verb. In the Greek text, we have wives to husbands.
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  Speaker 1: Why do we know that it's submit to your own husbands? Well,
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  Speaker 1: because of verse 21. So in order to understand verse 22,
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  Speaker 1: you've got to go back to verse 21. Problem. Verse
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  Speaker 1: 21 is the end of a paragraph. Just saying, right?
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  Speaker 1: So now we back up to verse 21, submitting to
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  Speaker 1: one another out of reverence for Christ. And we could
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: either just take verse 21 and then interpret verse 22
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  Speaker 1: in light of verse 21. But the problem with doing
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  Speaker 1: that is that we would be using the last line
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  Speaker 1: of a paragraph without putting the paragraph in its proper context.
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  Speaker 1: So you can't put verse 22 in its proper context
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  Speaker 1: by taking verse 21 out of its proper context. Are
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  Speaker 1: you smelling what I'm stepping in? Okay, all right. Now,
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  Speaker 1: when we do that, we get in trouble because people
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  Speaker 1: want to run to verse 21 and say, wait a minute,
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  Speaker 1: submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ, that
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  Speaker 1: means that Paul is calling for a mutual submission between
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  Speaker 1: husbands and wives. And all this, you know, Stuff from
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: the patriarchy is not patriarchy anymore. It's the patriarchy. Right?
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: It's the patriarchy. Worse than patriarchy. It's the patriarchy. Right?
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  Speaker 1: It's like the mafia. You know? The patriarchy. It's like
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  Speaker 1: this cabal out there. You know? And so people do.
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  Speaker 1: And you hear this all the time where people are like,
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: you know, you got to have verse, you know, 21. Well,
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  Speaker 1: There's a couple of problems with that when it comes
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  Speaker 1: to using verse 21 in that way. Problem number one
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  Speaker 1: is the word that's used here for submitting, the Greek
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  Speaker 1: word here. It's actually a military term. You guys, there's
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: military people around here, right? Just kidding. They're airwear. Right?
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  Speaker 1: And so, this word submission, it's a military term, and
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: submission in military terms only goes in one direction in
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  Speaker 1: the chain of command. Only one direction. You submit up
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  Speaker 1: the chain of command, not down the chain of command.
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  Speaker 1: There is no mutual submission in the military. Amen, somebody.
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  Speaker 1: There is no mutual submission in the military. It does
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  Speaker 1: not work like that, okay? It only works in one direction.
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  Speaker 1: So that's the first problem with people using verse 21
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: to argue that Paul's talking about mutual submission because the
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  Speaker 1: word that he's using here for mutual submission is a
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  Speaker 1: military term. It only works in one direction. The word
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  Speaker 1: itself cannot mean mutual submission. The second problem is that
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  Speaker 1: Paul actually discusses this in multiple places. And nowhere else
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  Speaker 1: does he have this idea of mutual submission in any
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: of those other places. There's a third problem. The third
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  Speaker 1: problem comes when you follow the fact that we've already raised,
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  Speaker 1: which is that verse 21 says, is the end of
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  Speaker 1: a paragraph, not the beginning of a paragraph, right? So
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  Speaker 1: where does the paragraph begin? Paragraph begins in verse 15, okay?
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  Speaker 1: So if we're gonna understand verse 22, we gotta understand
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  Speaker 1: verse 21. If we're gonna understand verse 21, we gotta
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  Speaker 1: go back to verse 15. You following so far? This
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  Speaker 1: is okay. I'm the one with the jet lag, okay?
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  Speaker 1: You guys got to... When we go there, something amazing
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  Speaker 1: happens when you go back to verse 15. You have
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  Speaker 1: these three comparisons and contrasts beginning at verse 15. Watch this.
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  Speaker 1: Look carefully, then, how you walk. Not as unwise, but
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  Speaker 1: as wise. Right? There's a contrast. Not this, but that.
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  Speaker 1: Not as unwise, but wise. That's number one, right? Making
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  Speaker 1: the best use of the time because the days are evil. Therefore,
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  Speaker 1: here comes the second one, do not be foolish, but
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  Speaker 1: understand what the will of the Lord is. There's a
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  Speaker 1: second contrast, right? Do not be foolish, but understand what
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  Speaker 1: the will of the Lord is. Verse 18, and do
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  Speaker 1: not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but
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  Speaker 1: be filled with the Spirit. There's the third contrast. Now,
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  Speaker 1: on the third contrast, you're going to get another three.
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  Speaker 1: How do you do it? Be filled with the Spirit.
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  Speaker 1: You got three commands coming up. Command number one, addressing
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  Speaker 1: one another with psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, singing and making
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  Speaker 1: melody to the Lord with all your heart. Right? Be
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  Speaker 1: filled with the Spirit. So be worshipful. Imagine someone, you know,
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  Speaker 1: telling you, I'm a Spirit-filled Christian. And you're like, that's awesome,
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  Speaker 1: Spirit-filled Christian. Let's worship. And they go, no, I'm not
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  Speaker 1: for all that worship stuff. I'm a spiritual Christian, but
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  Speaker 1: that worship stuff, that's not, it doesn't work, right? Here's
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  Speaker 1: the second command. Verse 20, giving thanks always and for
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  Speaker 1: everything to God the Father in the name of the
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  Speaker 1: Lord Jesus Christ. So now we're not only worshipful, we're prayerful. Again,
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  Speaker 1: imagine someone, you know, I'm filled with the Spirit. That's awesome,
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  Speaker 1: let's pray. No, I'm not much for that praying stuff.
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  Speaker 1: I'm filled with God's Spirit. But worship, uh-uh. Prayer, uh-uh.
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  Speaker 1: That doesn't work, right? That dog won't hunt, right? Then
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  Speaker 1: there's a third one. Now look at verse 21. Submitting
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  Speaker 1: to one another out of reverence for Christ. That's the
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  Speaker 1: third command. The third contrast ends with be filled with
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  Speaker 1: the Spirit. On the third contrast, you get three commands first.
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  Speaker 1: Related to being filled with the Spirit. The third one
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  Speaker 1: is submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. Right?
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  Speaker 1: A person who does not submit to the authorities that
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  Speaker 1: God places in their lives is a person who's not
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  Speaker 1: being filled with the Spirit. Okay? Now, on the third command,
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  Speaker 1: you get three contexts. So these are three threes. Three contrasts.
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  Speaker 1: On the third contrast, it opens up into three commands.
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  Speaker 1: On the third command, it opens up into three contexts.
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  Speaker 1: What are the three contexts? Verse 22, wives submit to
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  Speaker 1: your own husbands. Chapter six, verse one, children obey your parents.
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  Speaker 1: And chapter six, verse five, slaves obey your earthly masters.
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  Speaker 1: Those are the three contexts. So verse 21 is not
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  Speaker 1: an umbrella for verse 22. Verse 21 is an umbrella
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  Speaker 1: for 6-1 all the way down through 6-9. Okay? Is that,
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  Speaker 1: you with me? Okay. So, with that in mind, again,
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  Speaker 1: and this sort of deals with that first attack, right?
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  Speaker 1: The feminist attack, right? And I told you that this is,
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  Speaker 1: at the end of the day, all of these attacks,
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  Speaker 1: the feminist attack, the same-sex marriage attack, the transgender, we
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  Speaker 1: don't know what a man is, what a woman is, whatever.
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  Speaker 1: These attacks go to the heart of the gospel, which
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  Speaker 1: is the foundation upon which all of this is built. Now,
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  Speaker 1: I want to show you that here. Verse 22. Wives,
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  Speaker 1: submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. For
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  Speaker 1: the husband is the head of the wife, even as
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  Speaker 1: Christ is the head of the church, his body, and
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  Speaker 1: is himself its Savior. Now, as the church submits to Christ,
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  Speaker 1: so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
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  Speaker 1: Just leave all the triggering words for a minute, because
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  Speaker 1: I know we get triggered, you know, we get triggered
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  Speaker 1: by this. We just, you know, ladies get triggered by this,
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  Speaker 1: men get triggered by this, you know. We just, you know,
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  Speaker 1: some of y'all want a safe space right now that
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  Speaker 1: you can go to or whatever. You know, I think
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  Speaker 1: that was that corner back there that was. But before
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  Speaker 1: thinking about all the triggering stuff, and trust me, we'll
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  Speaker 1: get to that. Don't miss all the gospel stuff. There's
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  Speaker 1: a metaphor here. What's the metaphor? As to the Lord.
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  Speaker 1: And then, as Christ is head of the church, his body,
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  Speaker 1: and is himself its savior. Now, as the church. As
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  Speaker 1: to the Lord. As Christ. As the church. What is
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  Speaker 1: this about? This is about the relationship between the Lord
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  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ and his bride, the church. That's the metaphor here.
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  Speaker 1: Don't miss that, right? Because we can miss that because
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  Speaker 1: we've been absolutely convinced in our day, especially if you've
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  Speaker 1: been to college. If you've been to college, you're all
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  Speaker 1: messed up, right? Amen. And, you know, I've been to
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  Speaker 1: college many times. I teach college, you know, so I
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  Speaker 1: can say how college messes you up, okay? Okay. And
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  Speaker 1: we've been messed up in terms of our understanding of
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  Speaker 1: the patriarchy. This whole, you know, neo-Marxist, cultural Marxist idea
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  Speaker 1: and worldview that divides the world up into oppressors and
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: the oppressed. They've used everything through that lens. Everything is
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  Speaker 1: about power dynamics. You know, everything, I mean, it's just
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  Speaker 1: the water, it's just the water we swim in, right?
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  Speaker 1: But if you just look at the metaphor, this is
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  Speaker 1: about Christ and his relationship with his church. Why is
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: that important? Because if we reject the headship language, if
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  Speaker 1: we reject patriarchy, and if that language is here, because
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  Speaker 1: it's communicating to us something about the gospel and something
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  Speaker 1: about marriage as it relates to the gospel, then rejecting
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: that language leads to, in some way, a rejection of
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  Speaker 1: the essence of the gospel. Eventually the gospel becomes problematic.
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  Speaker 1: Eventually the gospel becomes problematic. Now am I saying that
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  Speaker 1: everyone who has these issues is rejecting the gospel and
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  Speaker 1: is not a Christian, you did not hear me say that. Amen?
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  Speaker 1: Don't go lying on me. People do that all the time. Well,
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  Speaker 1: you know what he said, right? And no, he didn't.
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  Speaker 1: What I said is, there's a metaphor here. And if,
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  Speaker 1: because of sort of, you know, Cultural, excuse me, if because,
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  Speaker 1: you know, these cultural norms that we've come to adopt,
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  Speaker 1: we reject part of this metaphor, then eventually it's going
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  Speaker 1: to lead to problems in the way that we understand
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  Speaker 1: the gospel. And it is. It is. So let's look
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  Speaker 1: at it here more carefully. Wives, submit to your own husbands.
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  Speaker 1: By the way, it does not say all women submit
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  Speaker 1: to all men. Amen? Wives, submit to your own husbands
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  Speaker 1: as to the Lord. This is not a statement about
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  Speaker 1: men and women in general. This is a statement about
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  Speaker 1: husbands and wives in particular. Wives, submit to your own husbands.
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  Speaker 1: If he's not your husband, it's not about you and him, right?
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  Speaker 1: If he's not your husband, it's not about you and him. Oh, well,
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  Speaker 1: what if he's my boyfriend? That's not your husband. That's
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  Speaker 1: not your husband. And a lot of times people freak out, right?
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  Speaker 1: They'd be just like, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute.
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  Speaker 1: Wait a minute. I mean, she's not my wife, but
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  Speaker 1: she's my girlfriend. And if she's not submitting to me,
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  Speaker 1: then how am I supposed to know if she's going
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  Speaker 1: to be submissive? So chapter 6, verse 1, remember there's
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: three contexts. Chapter 6, verse 1 says, children, obey your
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  Speaker 1: parents in the Lord, for this is right. Is she
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  Speaker 1: submissive to her father? She don't have to be submissive
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  Speaker 1: to you. She has to be submissive to her father.
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  Speaker 1: Is she submissive to her father? And if you start
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  Speaker 1: hemming and hawing on that, and if you start going, ah, yeah, well, but,
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  Speaker 1: you know, I mean, her father's kind of, you know, ah,
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  Speaker 1: her father, you know. So wait a minute. So her
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  Speaker 1: father's not the ideal father. Nah. So she doesn't submit
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  Speaker 1: to her father because her father's not the ideal father. Exactly.
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  Speaker 1: But you think you're going to be the ideal husband.
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  Speaker 1: And you think that if she doesn't submit to the
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  Speaker 1: guy who gave her life because he's less than ideal,
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  Speaker 1: she's going to submit to you who's less than ideal
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  Speaker 1: because you, what, cute? Not going to happen. Not going
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  Speaker 1: to happen. And remember, this is about the Spirit-filled life,
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  Speaker 1: yielding to the Spirit of God and submitting to the
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  Speaker 1: authority that Christ places in our life. Wives, submit to
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  Speaker 1: your own husbands as to the Lord. This is about
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: submitting to the Lord. If you have a problem, if
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: a woman has a problem submitting to her husband, ultimately
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  Speaker 1: She has a worship disorder because this is about submitting
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  Speaker 1: to the Lord. No, it's just that she's just a
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  Speaker 1: strong woman. She's just a, okay, cool. Hold that thought.
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  Speaker 1: Does she have a job? Yes. Does she have a boss? Yes.
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  Speaker 1: Does she have a problem submitting to her boss at work? No.
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  Speaker 1: How do I know that? Because she's still got a job.
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  Speaker 1: So if she can somehow find it in herself to
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  Speaker 1: submit to her boss at work, stop trying to tell
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  Speaker 1: me that she has a problem with submission. It's not
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: a problem with submission. It's a problem with biblical order
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  Speaker 1: in the home. It's a worship disorder. You can't say amen,
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  Speaker 1: you ought to say ouch. Ouch. Because ultimately, this is
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  Speaker 1: about the gospel. For the husband is the head of
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  Speaker 1: the wife. Christ is the head of the church, his body,
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  Speaker 1: and is himself its savior. Now as the church submits
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to
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  Speaker 1: their own husbands. Let me just deal with the objections
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  Speaker 1: here really quickly. Because, you know, people like to bring
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: up the objections and The objections can't just be brought
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: up generally. They have to be brought up particularly and dramatically.
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  Speaker 1: And so what I mean by that is people don't
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: just say, well, that in everything, does that include sort
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: of sinful things, which we know it wouldn't include. But
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: that's not the way the question is asked. The question
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: is always asked something like this. It's like, okay, okay,
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  Speaker 1: so I'm supposed to submit to my husband in everything.
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  Speaker 1: If my husband tells me put on a ski mask,
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  Speaker 1: to go rob a bank, kill everybody in the bank,
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: and then take the money from the robbery and buy
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: nuclear weapons and blow up all of Hawaii. Do I
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: have to do that? That's not always that dramatic, but
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: it's always some version, right? And so, That question comes,
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: and of course the answer to that is no. And
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: when you give the answer to no, you don't have
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: to get a ski mask, rob a bank, kill everybody
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: in there, buy a nuclear weapon, and blow up all
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: of Hawaii. They go, okay, so I don't have to submit.
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: Here's the simple way to think about this. No one
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: can command what God forbids or forbid what God commands. Amen?
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: No one can command what God forbids and forbid what
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: God commands. So no, this does not override that. It's
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: the same with children and parents. No one can command
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: what God forbids or forbid what God commands. We're not
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: obligated to be unrighteous, ever. Now, for all of the
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: triggering that we get over that, I want you to
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: measure in your Bibles How big that paragraph is. How big?
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: Show me. Show me how big that paragraph is in
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: your Bible. Now the next paragraph for husbands goes all
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: the way from 25 down to the end of the chapter.
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: Show me how big that paragraph is in your Bible.
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: So if you compare that paragraph to this paragraph, it
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: looks like that. So now let's look at the next
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: part of this. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: the church. Again, the first one, as to the Lord. Wives,
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: submit to your own husband as to the Lord. So
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: we're talking about the Lord. We're talking about the gospel.
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: We're talking about Christ and what Christ has done. And now, husbands,
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: himself up for her. that he might sanctify her, having
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: so that he might present the church to himself in splendor,
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: might be holy and without blemish. In the same way,
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: who loves his wife loves himself, for no one ever
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: as Christ does the church. And because we are members,
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: Because we are members of his body. Therefore, a man
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: to Christ and the church. However, let each one of
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: you love his wife as himself, and let the wife
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: see that she respects her husband. Notice that this went
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: all the way back to the garden. That's where we
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: first see this command. For this cause shall a man
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: leave his mother and father, and cleave to his wife.
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: This is about creation order and about the gospel. Remember
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: what I said? These three wars? First, the feminist war.
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: The feminist war. If we succumb to the feminist war,
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: all of a sudden, verses 22 to 24 says, lose
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: all their gospel significance, and we start down a very
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: bad path. Then there's the same-sex marriage war. That same-sex
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: marriage war really obliterates the idea of the relationship between
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: Christ and his bride, the church, this union between Christ
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: and his bride, the church, especially because, right, look at
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: verse 31. Therefore, man shall leave his father and mother
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  Speaker 1: and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: become one flesh. That one flesh union is spiritual, it's emotional,
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: and it's physical. And the physical fruit of that one
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: flesh union leads us to what happens in chapter 6. Children,
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: obey your parents. That's the fruit of the one flesh
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: union between a man and a woman. And you only
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: get that fruit if the union is between a man
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: and a woman. So that second war, the same-sex marriage war,
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: is a war against that. And then the last war,
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: it's a war against the very creation order itself. Made
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: in his image, made male and female, not assigned male
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: and female. Made male and female. Listen, I love doctors. Amen?
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: I do. I love doctors. Y'all know several years ago
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: some doctors said to cut my chest open and save
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: my life. Praise the Lord for doctors. But they don't
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: assign gender. Amen? There's a lot of stuff that they
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: can do. That's not one of them. Doctors do not
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: assign gender. They acknowledge they do not assign. Amen? Amen?
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: God does that. And he does it in the womb.
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: He does it at conception. The moment that egg is fertilized,
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: God assigns XX, XY. Male, female. So you see how
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: all three of those wars come together here. But why?
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: Why would this be such a battleground? And the answer
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: to that question is in this gospel-centered language. Look at
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: the language again as it relates to the husband. Husbands,
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: love your wives as Christ loved the church. Here's what's amazing.
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: We look at patriarchy, and again, as they say, the patriarchy,
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: and the idea is That it belittles women. The idea
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: that it holds women down. The idea is that it
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: makes women less than. Listen, there is a picture being
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: painted here. And in the picture being painted here, women
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: are the bride. The prized one. And men, we're the
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: one who gets crushed and killed. because of how much
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: you're worth. How is that belittling to women? It's not.
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: That is the exact opposite of the truth. It's a lie.
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: Love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: himself up for her. Again, does this sound like lording
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: it over? He gave himself up for her. Why? So
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: that he might present the church to himself in splendor
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. That he
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: might be holy, or that, I'm sorry, that she might
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: be holy and without blemish. Can I just say something
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: to this single person? Young ladies in here right now.
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: It's a little bit off the script. A little bit
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: off the script, but important. If a young man is
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: trying to pressure you toward impurity, if a young man
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: is trying to convince you that you need to prove
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: your love for him, by engaging in a premarital, unauthorized
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: sexual relationship with him, then what he's not doing is this.
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: Look at verse 27. So that he might present the
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: any such thing that she might be holy and without blemish.
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: He's trying to do the exact opposite of that. You
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: don't want a man who's going to fight against your purity.
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: You want a man who's going to fight for your purity.
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: A man whose desire is to present to himself a
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: bride without spot. or wrinkle or blemish. In the same way,
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. Oh,
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: this just sounds terrible, doesn't it? He who loves his
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: wife loves himself, for no one ever hated his own flesh,
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: but nourishes and cherishes it just as Christ does the church. Again,
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: as Christ loved the church. in the same way, just
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: as Christ loved the church, because we are members of
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: his body. Then you get the therefore clause, which takes
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: us back to Genesis, to creation. All of this is foundational.
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: Then you get 6.1. Our time is... Anyway, don't worry
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: about it. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: this is right. Honor your father and your mother. This
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: is the first commandment with a promise that it may
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: go well with you and that you may live long
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: in the land. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger,
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: the Lord. So now we have a man and a
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: woman who are united together in marriage. in this one
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: flesh union. This one flesh union that is designed to
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: be a living, breathing picture and reminder of the relationship
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: between Christ and his bride, the church. Of the gospel,
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: whereby Christ dies to redeem his bride. And in this
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: one flesh union produces fruit. The fruit of this union
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: is children whom this couple brings up in the discipline
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: and instruction of the Lord. What does that mean? This
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: means that they teach these children the truth of the
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: gospel and point them to the person and work of
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. This is gospel-made and gospel-saturated from beginning to end.
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: That's the foundation upon which all of it is built. Again,
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: I'll say it. The gospel is not just the front door.
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: It's the whole house. When it comes to the way
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: that we think about ourselves as individuals, when it comes
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: to the way that we think about the church, when
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: it comes to the way that we think about the family,
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: all of this, all of this, when it comes to
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: the way that we think about the state, what do
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: we pray for? We pray for kings and those in authority. Why?
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: So that we can live peaceable lives and communicate the
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: gospel and worship freely and raise our children in the
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: discipline and instruction of the Lord and advance the cause
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: of Christ through the free and open proclamation of the
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: gospel in a free society. Again, all of it comes
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: back to this. It's who we are. It's what we do.
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: It's what defines us. It's what shapes us. It's what
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: drives us. us. It's what informs us. And at the
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: end of the day, it's what separates us. Not just
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: from the world out there, but from what we were.
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: before we came to Christ, before we were transformed by
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: His grace, before we were made new creatures in Christ, behold,
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: if any man is in Christ, he's a new creation.
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: Old things have passed away. New things have come. He's
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: a new man, a new woman, a new husband, a
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: new wife, a new mother, a new father, a new son,
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: a new daughter, a new everything because of the gospel.
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: Let's pray. Father, we do indeed thank you and praise
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: you for this time that you've given us here together,
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: for these reminders Of the beauty and glory and centrality
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: of the gospel. Of the good news of the person
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the fruit
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: that that bears in our lives. Once again, Father, we
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: pray for those in our midst who perhaps have not
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: come to a saving knowledge of Christ. And we ask
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: that by your grace, you would remove the scales from
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: their eyes. Grant them sight that they might see. Call
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: them to yourself. And by your grace, save them from
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: their sin. And for every one of us, we pray
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: that the core and center of everything that we are
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: and everything that we do would be the person and
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: work of the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: pray and ask all these things. Amen.