The Center - Summary of Marriage

Well, I suppose it goes without saying that I'm emotional most of the time.

! And I guess today I'm emotional for several reasons. One is because I think about the Lord's

! and I'm thankful for the blessing of corporate worship. I listen to you sing, and I listen to

you sing, and I take pleasure in the joy you have in the Lord Jesus Christ. By the way,

good singing is not the result of good voices but a good God. Do you understand that? Do you

understand that? Good singing is a reflection of our thought of God. It's also the outcome of being

Spirit-filled. Would you agree with that? I mean, to kind of sit there, stoic, you know what I mean by

stoic? It's like, I mean, some people have a permanent grump, you know? I mean, it can't help,

but, you know, and they come to church, and they hear about the glory of Christ, and they still sit

there like, yeah, okay. But good singing happens when the Spirit of God gets a hold of the life of

a man or a woman and touches them with the glory of the cross, and then guess what we do? It says,

He has put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God. I love listening to you sing. I also like

watching the orchestra when they're not blowing on a horn or whatever. They're actually singing.

That's a good thing, right? And I enjoy the blessing of our singing together.

Father, I am also emotional this morning because I have this book, and this book is prized.

This book informs me. This book transforms me. And this morning, as we take this book in hand,

the thing that I want to be clearest in your thinking is the supremacy and the glory of Christ.

Christ. We've spent five weeks. I should say, yes, we have. This will be the fifth. We have spent

five weeks looking at the subject of Christian marriage. I trust that you have not missed

that Christian marriage is not the center and the be-all that ends-all in Christian living,

the center of all that we are and do, and the center of all of our relationships really is the

Lord Jesus Christ. Put it this way and have it stick in your mind. Christ is the center of the

Christian life, and when He is at the center, our thinking and our behavior reflects His grace and

power. Isn't that true? When He is at the center, the way we act, the things we think, the things we do,

do nothing other than reflect His centrality and His significance in our lives. And the moment that

we misplace Him or shove Him over to the side, our behavior then begins to devolve.

I begin this way because as we look at the closing passage in Ephesians chapter 5 that addresses the

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

Christian home, we read one of a sequence of statements in which the apostle, as he is teaching

about Christian marriage, keeps on coming back to the centrality of the Lord Jesus Christ. And let me

have you look with me, if you will, turn in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 5 and pick up there,

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

if you will, in verse 29, for no one ever hated his own flesh, talking about the relationship that a man

is to have to his wife, but nourishes and cherishes it just as Christ does the church,

because we are members of His body. I appreciated Amy's song that reminded us of the relationship

that Christ has with us. And then it says in verse 31,

therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become

one flesh. Now, when the apostle thinks one flesh, his thought is not just about the relationship

between a man and a woman. And we understand that because immediately after it, he says this,

this mystery is profound. And I'm saying that it refers to Christ and to the church.

So I want you to understand this morning that as we deal with the subject of marriage and we think

in particular about the relationship that God intends for a husband and a wife to have together,

we see that really underlying the relationship is to be our relationship with Christ. And that's the

thing that makes the Christian marriage different. It's not that we said a particular set of vows

or that we stood facing this way or that way. It is that Christ is at the center of our lives and

the way in which we act and live is nothing other than a reflection of the centrality of Christ.

And so let me put it this way so it's clear in your mind, union with Christ is the center

of a Christian marriage. And trouble in a marriage is not rooted in a misunderstanding of

the respective roles that God has assigned to a husband or a wife. And while Paul has reminded us

of the responsibilities that a husband has and a wife has, nevertheless, that's not the main problem.

Marriage that breaks apart is not something that happens simply because someone hasn't read Dennis

Rainey's book on the five love languages. And I got to tell you, you've never heard me up here doing

cartwheels over the five love languages because I'm not persuaded that the biggest issue in people's

marriages is the way in which they communicate their love. I got to tell you this, when a husband and a wife

do not stand in the shadow of the cross, a Christian marriage is not all that it can be.

And it has a high probability of devolving into something very messy and very ugly.

So let me begin by making this point undeniably clear, and we're going to see it woven through

the text. And it's going to be a recurring part of our theme today. And it should be a recurring

part of all of your thinking about what marriage really is. Christ is at the center.

Christ is at the center. Woven into this extended passage that we have studied over these last five

weeks is a number of references to Christ and His church. It's as though Paul, in teaching about

marriage, wants to remind us over and over again that the primary interest of the apostle is not that

we have good Christian homes, and he is interested in that, but that he helps us understand that Jesus

is the motive and the enabler and the key to our living the kind of lives that He wants us to live.

A wife's duty of submission was explained in the Scriptures using the example and relationship

between Christ and the church. A husband's responsibility of loving his wife is only compared

to the love that Christ has for the church, and his care for the body, for his wife, is explained

in the context of, well, this is how Jesus takes care of the church that He loves. And so in verse 30,

as we are working our way through, it says, we are members of His body. And then in 31, He speaks about

that passage in Genesis where it talks about a man leaving his father and mother, and He talks about

one flesh. But as soon as He talks about one flesh, guess what pops back into Paul's mind?

Ah, one flesh, He talks about the relationship we have with Christ.

Now, I want you to look at verse 31, 32 in particular. It says, this mystery is profound.

And I'm saying that it refers to Christ and the church. And when Paul talks about a mystery,

he's not talking about a mystery such as in our culture where we tend to think about mysteries.

Mysteries are something that you need to solve with clues. I know several weeks ago,

our college and career group played clue. And I understand they came dressed in costume and,

you know, whoever it is that does the murder, blah, blah, costumes and clues and all that kind

of stuff. Or we've read mystery novels. And I am one of those guys who just reads through it and

figures at the end, they'll tell me. Other people are kind of obsessive about guessing,

who is it? I don't care. Just get through the book. It'll come out eventually.

Yeah, a mystery is just, it'll be there. I'll understand it later. Mysteries in our culture

are something that's secret that you've got to figure out. Mysteries in the Bible are different.

A Bible mystery is a truth that we would not know without God telling us. And so when Paul says there

in verse 32, this mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church,

I want you to understand that while there are a number of Bible truths that are mysterious,

I think there are three in particular that stand out and really deserve our exceptional attention.

For one, it is a mystery that God is a triune God. We would not in any way imagine the Trinity,

the triunity of God, apart from the Scriptures telling us it's that way. Nobody in their right

mind would say, oh yeah, I understand that God is a triune person. No, we only understand that because

the Scriptures inform us and let us understand that. Secondly, no one would imagine the incarnation of

Christ whereby a mystery exists in that Christ is what? All man and all God. Now try to get your head

around that one. How can Christ be all man and all God? And that is one of the cardinal doctrines of our

faith. The very core, the very center is the idea that the Lord Jesus Christ is man and He's also God.

And then we come to the third mystery, and sometimes people have a tendency of looking at this passage and

saying, well, the real mystery is how a man and a woman become one flesh. And I got to tell you,

that is mysterious, but that's not the center of what Paul is interested in. His interest is in the

mystery of our relationship and our union with Christ. If you were to take the time in your own

private Bible study in the mornings when you're reading the Scriptures of just doing a little bit of

searching and reading through the many, many different passages where it talks about our being in

Christ, in Christ, in Christ, Paul talks about this union and relationship that we have with Him.

Christ in you, can anybody finish it? The hope of glory. He reminds us over and over again that we are

in this relationship with Christ, and it is a mystery and something that we would never comprehend apart

from grace how Christ is in union with His church. The thought's a little overwhelming.

Honestly, when we stop and think about it carefully, and I think it's appropriate given the fact that

Paul speaks here in this passage in verse 32, this mystery is profound. It's appropriate for us to kind

of dig into that a little bit, and what makes the mystery of His union with us profound? For one,

stop and think about your absolute anonymity and smallness in reality. Do you understand that?

That actually about a hundred years from now, nobody will ever know that you ever existed.

I mean, maybe on a high side, you may be, I'm supposing that Google will still be around,

but who is going to Google the fact that you existed 100 years from now? Do you think anybody's

going to care? Probably not. And 200, 300 years from now, you may be some little notation in somebody's

ancestry list, but other than that, guess what? You're not there. Insignificant. And yet the psalmist,

when he thinks about it, he recognizes that God thinks about us personally. I want you to think with

me just for a moment over to Psalm 8, verse 3 and 4, and I want you to turn there, if you will,

Psalms 8:3

just to kind of get the awe that the psalmist has as he thinks about God thinking about us personally.

Psalm 8, verse 3 and 4.

Psalms 8:3

While you're going there, I'm having hot flashes, so we're going to take this off.

Don't say anything.

And I'm going to turn the fan on. How's that?

Okay. I think I'm ready for another 40 minutes.

Did I say Psalm 8? That's where we're going?

You're already there.

Psalm 8.

Look at verse 3 and 4. It says,

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars which you have set in place.

I got to tell you, the other day I was walking with my grandchildren,

and Ivy Grace, we're trundling along, and it's at dusk, and she said,

I'm walking, I'm paying attention to cars, you know, important things that grandparents do,

and she's just strolling along, holding onto my hand,

and suddenly this little voice comes up from around my knee and says,

Moon.

Yeah, right.

She says, moon.

And then she says, sky.

She put it all together for me.

It's like, moon there, sky.

And here's the psalmist who thinks about this.

He says,

Man, look at the moon and the stars which you have set in place.

What is man?

That you are mindful of him.

And the son of man that you care about him.

I was thinking this morning as we were singing that song that I love, you know,

his love never quits, never gives up, you know.

And I was thinking about, I was kind of doing a little bit of a, did I get it wrong again, Tim?

I didn't call on you this time, though.

Tim is my stand-in, help me with bad words in songs person.

You know, I didn't get this one.

But anyway, I like that song.

Is that okay?

I don't have the words.

They're not on the board right now.

But when I was singing that song, and we were having a good time doing that,

I was thinking about a couple different passages.

I was thinking about Psalm 136.

Do you know what it says?

For his steadfast love, can anybody finish it?

He endures forever.

As I was singing that, I was reminding myself of Psalm 136.

And after I'd kind of worked my way through that, and I opened up the Scriptures,

and I could read the overhead and read the Bible, too, you know, back and forth,

I then thought about the passage in Ephesians chapter 3,

Ephesians 3 · chapter mention

where Paul talks about the width and height and the breadth and depth of the love of Christ.

And I also thought about that passage in Romans, where it says,

What shall separate us, right?

What shall separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus?

The psalmist, he stops and he ponders and he says,

Man, it's amazing that, God, you would choose to have communion with us.

And we understand that in the Garden of Eden, what happened is that in the cool of the day,

God would come and walk with man.

Isn't that sweet?

I believe it was a pre-incarnate Christ.

And he would come and manifest himself to Adam and to Eve and have communion with them.

And I got to tell you, when I stop and think about the joy and the blessing that that would have been during that time,

it must have been beyond imagination.

And yet, sin came into the garden.

Instead of desiring communion and fellowship, what did man do?

They hid.

They hid.

And in order to reconcile the relationship, God the Father sent his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ,

to die to pay for my sins and for your sins, that we who were afar off could be brought nigh.

That we could be reconciled to God.

And the theme goes on through Scripture as we see that God planned reconciliation through his Son,

that he sent to be the sacrifice for our sin.

And the New Testament revels in the wonder of how God would make a way of salvation and restored relationship,

not by putting this incredible burden of behavior on us,

in that, well, if you want to get to heaven, you need to do A, B, C, D, E, and so on.

And I bump into people all the time when you say,

and so, when you die, do you know where you're going?

Well, I don't know.

I'm not sure.

I don't know.

And you ask them, so, why would God let you into heaven?

Well, I've been a pretty good person.

I've never met a good person.

Do you understand that?

The Scripture tells us what?

There is none righteous, no, not one.

There's not a one of us that can claim the right of stepping in to the presence of the Father

on the basis of our own righteousness.

And yet God sent His Son to pay the penalty for our sins so that we who believe in Him might have Christ's righteousness placed on our account.

I think about the passage that we find elsewhere in the book of Ephesians where it says that you who were once far off are brought nigh.

And you and I, who were once terrified of judgment, are now in intimate union with the Lord Christ.

We are one with Him.

And there in Ephesians chapter 5, as Paul has been working his way through this extended passage about marriage,

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

in the middle of all of it, when he thinks about oneness, he can't step away from the significance of the union that the believer has with Christ.

He is our beloved, and we are His.

And His love for us is unfailing, and it is covenantal, and it will never change.

And this is the most significant truth in the believer's life.

I want you to understand this morning, there is no moment in the Christian life that is truly lived apart from the shadow of the cross and our union with Him.

And we are with Him and part of Him.

And we may drift, but guess what He does when we drift?

How many of you by experience can tell you He comes looking?

How many of you, as you grow older in the Lord and a little more experienced at the consequences of drifting left of center,

you begin thinking as you just kind of nudge over the line, you think, don't want to do that because I've been there before.

I am His, and He will search me out because we are in communion and union, and He is my Lord and my Savior.

The reason that our hearts are overwhelmed when we sing that song, your love never fails, it never gives up, it never runs out on me,

is because we know that.

We know that to be true.

So what does this mystery of the union with the church and Christ have to do with marriage?

Do you follow that question?

What does this really have to do with marriage?

Let me explain to you that Christian marriage really draws its distinct nature from Christ's love for us and His union with us.

Let me say that again slowly because it is at the very heart of what makes a Christian marriage what it is.

Christian marriage draws its distinct nature from Christ's love for us and His union with us.

I want you to understand that Paul could not imagine his life, his service, or marriage, or slavery apart from the glory and the power of being one with Christ.

And I think that is the thing that colors his counsel and his instructions to us is that woven throughout all of this passage

is this idea that your marriage really is a reflection of your relationship with Christ.

And when you have that relationship front and center, it dominates the way you behave.

Let me tell you something.

If your relationship with Christ does not grip your life, you will not have a marriage that displays Christ.

As I was thinking about this earlier in the week, I stopped to recognize that no unfaithful husband ever fell into lust first.

Let me say that carefully so you don't miss the point I'm making.

No unfaithful husband ever fell into lust first.

No dissatisfied wife ever drifted away first.

What happens in the life of a believer is that, first of all, the heart fails in its affection for Christ,

and then marriage is affected in proportion to the drifting away from Christ.

And when you have your heart right with Christ, your heart being right with Christ will influence the behavior of your relationship.

Is that clear?

Let's play it out in real time.

I shared with you that one of the struggles I have had for almost 44 years is moving furniture.

Do you follow that?

It's much easier to share from this pulpit than it is to live it.

And this morning, we're going to have family dinner.

And lo and behold, I was doing something profoundly spiritual like having devotions in prayer.

And my bride decided it was time to make the table larger, and it was time to get more chairs.

And guess what happened?

My theology had an opportunity to declare the supremacy of Christ.

And I've got to tell you, by the grace of God and the power of His Spirit this morning,

when she said, honey, would you help me with the table and we need more chairs,

I thought to myself, Tim, you're going to live it, and then you're going to preach it.

Let's get this clear.

What you believe about Christ shows up in the attitude you have towards your husband and towards your wife.

That's what it's all about.

And when Paul, in this passage, says, listen, I'm talking to you about this mystery,

this wonderful, marvelous, unbelievable truth that you and Christ are one.

He's saying, if you get it, it's okay.

All the other pieces are all right.

And it'll work out.

So as you sit here this morning and you think about marriage,

can I tell you marriage is not the most important thing?

Christ is.

And if you are sitting here and you're finding that your marriage is floundering

and you're kind of sitting there thinking, it's the woman who God gave me.

I mean, what a stupid thing to think.

You know, the problem is not the woman God gave you, but the problem is your attitude towards God.

And when you get that squared away, guess what's going to happen in the relationship?

It's going to be transformed.

It's going to be transformed by the reality, the fact, the truth,

that you are in this wonderful, undeserved, incredible relationship with the Lord Jesus.

And as a result of that never-failing, covenantal relationship,

your marriage is no more than a reflection of your relationship with Christ.

So with that understood, that my relationship with Christ controls my relationship with my bride,

let's come to the closing little summary that the apostle gives us in Ephesians 5, verse 32.

Ephesians 5:32

Now, before we actually take the passage, let me explain that this is an ancient sandwich.

You're thinking, what is this?

If you can remember a little bit, a fair part of the passage that we have studied

deals with two different people, husband and wife.

Do you follow that?

You have husband and wife at the beginning.

You have husband and wife at the end.

Guess what the real meat is in the middle?

Can anybody tell me?

This is where the Sunday school answer is appropriate.

Remember the story of the little boy, and he says,

I know it looks like a squirrel, but it must be Jesus.

This is where you can say it's Jesus.

The center of this whole lesson is not husband and wife.

It is Jesus.

Now we're at the end.

We're dealing with the other side of the bun, right?

This side, this side, the other piece of the bun.

And here we are.

He says, I want you to understand, let each one of you love his wife as himself.

He's closing it off.

He says, by the way, I have one last point.

If you get this relationship with Christ, you who are husbands, it's real simple.

All you got to do is what?

What?

What does a husband have to do?

Love her.

Love her.

By the way, does she want to be loved?

What's the answer?

You bet.

You bet.

And the apostle here, he puts it so simply, let each one of you love his wife as himself.

Now, when he says as himself, don't get caught up in that absolutely inane, ignorant thinking

that until you love yourself, you can't love your wife.

Let me put it this way.

Until you love Christ, you won't do a good job.

We are all hardwired to love who?

To love ourselves.

The other day, I was doing a little remodeling.

And by the way, you know that remodeling is a blood sport, do you not?

You know, hammers and nails and sheet metal and wire and, you know.

Anyway, I got a splinter in my finger.

Not real big.

I mean, it wasn't anything to stop a train or anything.

But the minute I got a splinter in my finger, guess what my body started saying to me?

Hey, it was saying, Tim, you love yourself.

Do something about that splinter.

That would be all right.

I'll take care.

Now, I immediately stopped, went in and got a pair of tweezers, and guess what I did?

I extracted.

You know what extraction means?

You got to kind of dig the flesh around away from where the splinter has buried itself in,

and you pick, pick, pick, pick, pick.

And does it feel good?

Well, not really, in case you're wondering.

I'll work on your finger next.

But why was I doing it?

I love my finger.

I don't want that piece of wood stuck in my finger for much longer than I can bear.

And so here I am, tweezers in hand, and when I pulled it out, guess what I immediately had?

I had relief.

I mean, it's like, yes, splinter gone, Tim happy, finger good.

You know, it's like, it's all about taking care of what belongs to me.

And Paul says, hey, listen, husband, love your wife.

I like you to take care of yourself.

Now, let me not miss this, because you need to get this.

The fact that the Bible tells us, men, that we need to love our wives is that we have a profound ability

to forget that we've been given that task and that responsibility.

And by the way, wives who are sitting here, please don't go home and make little three-by-five cards

to put around the house for your husband to remember this.

Oh, you're thinking about that, I know.

My suggestion is that you pray and that you do your part in this equation

and trust the Holy Spirit to put the smack down if he misses the lesson.

Husbands, love your wives.

And I want you to understand, husbands, that your love for your wife is simply a reflection

of what you understand about Christ's love for you.

Let me say it again slowly.

Your love for your wife is simply a reflection of what you understand about Christ's love for you.

So, when you are failing in loving your wife the way Christ loves you,

you are failing in appreciating the depth and the marvel and the richness of his love for you.

A godly husband who cares for his wife will be fundamental in his care for his wife,

even as he is for his own body.

And I want you to understand that, again, the way in which a Christian husband loves his bride

is nothing other than an admission, an acceptance,

that he basks in the central relationship of all eternity, namely with Christ,

and the way in which he treats his wife says,

I get it from Jesus.

I want you to understand also that as we look at this passage,

we recognize that it's not just about a husband loving his wife,

but it's also about a wife loving or respecting her husband.

Look at what it says there.

See, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

And if you're a wife, I want you to understand this,

that if you are gripped with the awe of his love and his grace,

your husband will know it.

Not because you learn a particular manipulative way in which you can get your way in a relationship.

No.

If you are affected by the glory of Christ and the significance that he has because of who he is,

your marriage and your relationship with your husband will reflect that.

Because Christ is your Lord, you will respect his appointed gift.

You will respect the man that he has given you.

You will pray for his progress and his development.

You'll be interested in him growing to be the man that God wants him to be.

And you will be all about helping him make that progress and that development.

Let me help you think with me just for a moment about the fact that what Paul is saying in this extended passage

is just merely a practical outworking of our being affected by our personal relationship with Christ.

Put it simply, if you are a believer and you are overwhelmed with the significance you have because of Christ,

it will show up in every area of your life.

So let me ask you, where did you start out?

Where did you start out?

What I mean by that is, how did your story begin?

Well, I grew up in a pretty good Christian home and I was a pretty good boy.

And, you know, I did well in school.

These are all lies.

Christian home was true.

But, you know, and I just was a pretty good guy.

Although, no, no, no, no, no.

How did it start out?

The Scriptures tell us,

all have sinned, and what?

And fallen short of the glory of God.

He found us, it tells us in Scriptures,

as abandoned outcasts,

and He has put His love over us,

and He has drawn us to the cross,

and He has gifted us with salvation.

And you know what?

As a result of what we have received by His grace,

we have the opportunity of living a life that says thank you every moment.

Judith and I are in our third iteration of Bichon Frisees.

Okay, they're little white dogs.

Last, was it last week we went to the men's conference,

and Byron Yawn said that men should never admit that they have dogs that are throw pillows?

I have one.

Truth of the matter is,

is that when I was in my first pastorate up in northeastern Ohio,

we had beagles.

Beagles.

All men have beagles.

And I love to hunt rabbits,

and we brought that beagle down here,

and it hunted rabbits until it met somebody on the road.

And then I got another beagle,

and it met somebody on the road.

And I got another beagle,

and it met somebody on the road.

And I said,

that's it.

My wife,

we had this discussion at home,

and I said,

go find a dog that doesn't meet people on the road.

So she went to a pet store.

People shouldn't buy dogs from pet stores.

I've got to tell you that.

We didn't know any better.

We just went and bought a dog from a pet store.

Judith,

very matter of fact,

she walks into the pet store and says,

all right,

I want a dog that stays inside the house and wants to stay around us.

Not a beagle.

You got that?

And they happened to have had a leftover little Bichon Frise that had been kind of stuck in this cage.

It was one of those puppy mill jobs.

You follow that?

Yeah.

And Judith,

in strange,

she says,

I want one of those right there,

and they're a little white fuzzball.

I've got to tell you,

when Judith brought her home,

I said,

that's not a dog.

That's not a dog.

We're very creative with names.

We had Casey,

we had Sophie,

and now we have Phoebe.

You got that?

I don't think we'll ever have another one,

but I'll tell you something about Casey.

She started life in a cage and nobody loved her.

And when we came into her life,

we just loved on her,

and she never got over being loved.

I'm wondering whether your marriage says,

I've never gotten over being loved.

Do you follow that?

That's where it's at.

The way in which your marriage plays out

is a reflection of how significant

Christ's love is in your life.

There's a reason

why the Psalms in particular

say it over and over and over again.

What am I talking about?

I'm talking about the fact

that in the Psalms,

I forget how many times it is,

over a hundred,

it talks about His covenant love,

His steadfast love,

His never failing love,

His love that never quits.

There's a reason why Paul,

when he is coming to the conclusion

of that great doctrinal argument

for the significance of God's work in salvation

and the certainty that His salvation is secure,

he ends it up by saying,

listen, what you need to get your hands around

is the love of Christ.

There's a reason why the apostle

in Ephesians chapter 3

Ephesians 3 · chapter mention

says that,

here's what I'm praying for,

that you

would be able to comprehend

with all the saints

what is the breadth and height

and the width and depth

of the love

of God in Christ Jesus.

Is there one thing you need?

Yeah.

It is the love of Christ.

And if you're sitting here today

and you do not know Christ

as your Savior,

let me tell you

that the certainty that I know is this,

is that you live in a very tenuous

and a very insecure place

because Christ,

who came into the world,

will be the judge of your life.

And that's a terrifying place to be

because Scripture says

there is none righteous,

no, not one.

You will not be able

to stand before Christ

and say,

hey, I've earned my right,

I've earned my way,

I have a right to eternity.

And you know what?

If there's anything we know today,

we live a moment from death.

I remember joking with Tom Parsons

on Tuesday

and the phone ringing

at 540 on Wednesday

and Kathy said to me,

my dad's gone.

I lived for days

in the shadow of that impact.

I have no doubt

that Linda, you will

for a long, long time.

Kathy,

Mandy,

Jenny.

Jenny.

But my appeal to you

is that you who sit here

and do not know Jesus Christ,

let me make this clear.

What it says in the Scriptures

is that he will be the one

who judges you.

God the Father

has handed judgment

over to Christ

and the one

who was willing

to die for your sins

is the one

that you have to say no to.

And I can tell you

if you say no to him,

it will be a terrifying prospect

for all eternity

to face the judgment of God.

And you who have come to Christ

and have received

the gift of salvation

because you've come unbroken

and said,

man, I'm a mess.

I don't need any more evidence.

I need Jesus.

Do you know what it says?

It says,

whosoever calls upon

the name of the Lord.

What?

Can you say it with me?

Shall be saved.

Isn't that amazing?

I'm into mysteries right now

because we're talking,

mystery is how can he

save a person like me?

He died for you.

He died for me.

And the Bible says this,

whosoever calls upon

the name of the Lord

shall be saved.

And if you're here today

and you need Christ,

this is the time

to trust him.

Let's close in prayer.

Our Father God,

Jesus will be the center

of our worship in eternity.

Jesus is the center

of the life of the believer.

Jesus is the center

of a Christian marriage.

And help us

who know Jesus

to never get over his love.

And we ask this

in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.