A Husband's Duty of Sacrificing

First, let me thank again all of those who have over the months memorized different parts

! of Ephesians and then have willingly come to the front here and with all humility recited

! for us. We have been blessed by the wide diversity of individuals that have tackled that

challenge. Agreed? And probably more than once, as others have done it, you've thought to yourself,

oh, I respect that, and I'm glad somebody else is doing it. I bring this up because we are,

I am going to encourage one more pass at the book of Ephesians, and I want you to know already

that Ephesians chapter 1 has been taken, and I understand that there is a small group that is

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

working behind the scenes to pull this off. Remember, you don't have to do it solo. We've

had a number of different groups do it different ways, and I appreciate the diversity, but we have

Ephesians chapter 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 that still remain to be taken for one last pass. And I bring

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

this up to encourage you to prayerfully think of whether or not this is something that you

can talk someone else into doing.

Do you follow me? So husbands could say to their wives, honey, I've been praying about this, and I

think it's a great idea for you. Ah, I'll be in trouble. But I'm just encouraging you, just giving

you a heads up that we're going to be looking for people that are willing to take, willing to give

their best and work at Ephesians chapter 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 in the last pass. And I trust that I will be

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

just absolutely swamped with volunteers so I don't have to ever bring it up again in the next week or

two. Now, that being said, I want you to turn in your Bibles this morning, but before you do,

I want you to hold it up like this. I want you to hold it. Some of you are holding up phones.

I saw a most touching video, little clip, this week. Someone posted it on Facebook

of believers in China receiving their first copy of the Scriptures.

came in a suitcase. And these believers opened up. They were waiting in this room,

and they opened up the suitcase, and they took out their Bibles for the first time, their own copy.

And some of them kissed the Bible and opened their Bible and wept.

Oh, how I love thy law. It is my meditation all the day.

Now, I don't know about you, but I can't help myself sometimes.

I kiss this book, not because I love this book, but because I love the Lord Jesus,

who this book is all about.

And this book has been one of the principal ways He has blessed me,

not only with salvation, but by progressive sanctification.

I want you to turn in your Bibles this morning to Ephesians chapter 5.

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

And we are going to be looking together at Ephesians chapter 5, verse 26 through 30.

Ephesians 5:26–30

Begin in 25, because that's actually where the thought picks up, but let me read it to you.

Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her,

that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word,

so that He might present the church to Himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing,

that she might be holy and without blemish.

In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies,

He who loves his wife loves himself.

For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it,

just as Christ does the church.

Because we are members of His body.

Father God, this morning,

we are blessed by the undeserved privilege of prayer.

And as the author of Hebrews instructs us,

we are to come boldly before the throne of grace,

that we may find help in time of need.

And we come this morning with humility,

confessing the frailty of our flesh,

the fickleness of our hearts,

the effect that the culture we live in has upon our thinking.

And we ask that Your Word would be opened unto us,

and that we would see the glory of Your wisdom,

and that we would know the power of Your grace,

and that we would grow in our walk

for the testimony and the glory of Christ.

And I am mindful, Father, this morning,

that preaching is not merely the exercise of a human heart and will,

but it is also a dependent discipline

upon the enabling of the Spirit of God.

And this morning, I need Your help.

And Your people need Your help.

And we plead with You to answer our prayer.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Let me start out by kind of getting to the end

and helping you see what is really going to be the heart of our lesson this morning.

I want you to put your finger,

or even if you are so bold,

go ahead and underline two little words.

They are in verse 29.

And they are translated various ways in the English.

Tish, I think she used the word feed.

In verse 29, feed and cherish.

In the ESV, it is translated as nourish and cherish.

And it is actually, I think, probably a more accurate rendition of the text.

And I'm in no way belittling the translators,

but the more accurate way to handle that word

is over in Ephesians 6, verse 4,

Ephesians 6:4

where it says,

Fathers, don't provoke your children to wrath.

But then it says,

But bring them up.

That translation, that word, bring them up in the Greek,

is the same word that is used over in 29,

where it says,

Nourish.

We'll get to that later.

So I want you to circle those two words,

Nourish and cherish.

And what I want to announce this morning

on the authority of the Word of God

is that a Christian husband is responsible

for the spiritual development of his wife.

In fact, God's intent

is that he

is to be the most significant instrument

apart or second to the Spirit of God.

And so,

if you are at the point

where you can nudge your husband

and say,

You've got this.

Let's go home.

Go ahead.

Or you may think,

Well, maybe a little refresher course.

I mean, I've got this.

It's basic.

But it's all right.

We'll sit and listen.

I want you to know that Satan's a liar.

And really,

he doesn't care

which lie

you are affected by

so long as

he can lead you away

from the wisdom

and the grace of God.

God intended from creation

that many of his blessings

should flow through marriage.

And through the respective roles

that he has appointed

for a husband and a wife,

and Satan,

knowing God's plan

and God's purpose,

has done his very level best

to lead men and women

away from God's wisdom

into their own inclinations

and into his lies.

I mention that

because what we're going to learn

this morning

from God's Word

about a husband's role

is really at odds

in a very sharp way

with our contemporary culture

and its virulent feminism.

But unless we get carried away

with the idea,

Well, things are a whole lot

worse today

than they used to be.

I want you to understand

that what is written here,

written almost 2,000 years ago,

was as much at odds

with the culture of that day

as it is on this day.

Guess what?

When Jeremiah penned the words

in 17.9

that the heart is deceitful

above all things

and desperately wicked,

he wasn't just talking

about ancient Israel.

He was talking about,

guess what?

Me, you.

We all struggle

with the reality

of our own heart.

And so while we

would have to confess

that the pendulum

has swung

from one extreme

to the other,

nevertheless,

it is not where

God wants

our thinking to be.

And so this morning,

we with humility

must take up the text

and say,

what is God saying

to us

that reflects

His wisdom

and His will

and His goodness?

The ancient world

often viewed women

as primarily valuable

for producing

legitimate offspring,

caring for domestic order,

or for man's

personal entertainment.

I'll put it

in a little more

crass vocabulary.

The idea was

that she's good

in the kitchen,

she's good

in the laundry room,

and she's good

in the bedroom.

That was the attitude

of the ancient world.

Now,

we'd have to say

that the modern world

may have made

some minor

amendations to that,

but the truth

of the matter is

is that the modern world

really has

not a radically

different view.

And so I want you

to imagine

just for a moment,

just stop and think

with me,

of how unbelievably

challenging it was

to become a Christian

as just a classic

pagan in the ancient world

and discover that God

had some pretty pointed

things to say

about your marriage.

I thought getting saved

was just about

going to heaven.

And here's God

telling me

as a Christian man

that I have some

profound responsibilities

in relationship

to the wife

that I have.

And so I want you

to understand

as we take up

this passage

that here is the point

that the Scriptures make.

It is made

on the authority

of the Word of God.

The Christian husband

is responsible

for his wife's

spiritual growth.

If the idea

was unusual

in the ancient world,

let me tell you,

it's unusual

in the modern world

as well.

I wouldn't deny

that there are men

who probably

have some idea

that they have

some responsibility,

but when it really

comes down

to the practice,

I don't see much

of it.

My experiences

in premarital counseling,

in being involved

in marital counseling

and just general ministry

for over 30 years

do not,

by any stretch

of the imagination,

provide a final authority

on the subject.

One of the things

I did this week

was I checked

with Amazon.

I mean,

that's the final authority

after all.

And I went to Amazon

and I checked

on how many books

have been printed

or have been authored

by Christian authors

about parenting.

And can I tell you

that, you know,

on the little scroll

down at the bottom

it says,

one, two, three,

dot, dot, dot,

and you know

how it goes on?

I got the read

from that

and I just kind of

paged down,

and you know

how it is.

I had a couple

extra minutes

and so I thought,

wow, there are people

that are cranking out books

on how to be a good mommy

and a daddy

by the bunches.

And a lot of women

have done a reasonably

decent job

about writing

how to be a good

godly wife.

Can I tell you

that the number

of books

that are written

about being

a godly husband,

in particular,

in relationship,

now track this,

to being the spiritual

leader of the home,

are not very many.

In my Sunday school class

several weeks ago,

I asked the question,

we have a well-informed

body of believers

for the most part.

I probably nag you

incessantly about

what does the Bible teach,

you know,

but for the most part,

pretty reasonably

informed scripturally.

And I remember asking

the question

in my Sunday school class,

how many of you men

in here

were trained explicitly,

you grew up

in a Christian home,

I said,

how many of you did?

The majority of the guys

in the class

grew up in a Christian home.

How many of you men

were trained explicitly

at the responsibilities

of being the spiritual head

and leader of your home,

not a one of the men

raised their hand,

oh yeah,

my dad worked at that.

So I want you

to understand that

while we've heard,

I'm not going to preach

a passage that you guys

have heard

for the first time

this morning.

You've heard it many times.

But I want you

to understand that

it is not a passage

that is applied

or practiced.

And God has a clear word

for us.

So let's take up

the text

and mark what it says

as I did in reading

that in verse 25

it says,

husbands,

love your wives.

Oh yeah,

right,

I do.

So,

well,

do it like Jesus.

Oh.

And Jesus in His love

for His wife,

He was willing,

as it says there,

to give Himself

for her.

And so what I would like

us to do this morning

is understand

the broad flow

of what Christ's model

in love looks like.

I mean,

when the Bible says,

husbands,

love your wives

like Jesus did,

if you're sitting there

and thinking that

Jesus is like the neighbor

next door,

you're thinking,

well,

I'm doing what He's doing.

In fact,

maybe I'm a little upstep

on Him.

I'm better.

Love your wife like,

we better know

what Jesus' love

is like.

So I want you to understand

that Christ's love

for the church

meant,

as we see in verse 25,

that He was willing

to die in her place.

He was willing

to die in her place.

He was willing

to take the wrath of God

and suffer the punishment

that we deserve

so that our defiled

and filthy lives

can be covered

and made clean

with His blood.

Man,

we are blessed

beyond our imagination

at the love of Christ

that was willing

to die

for our sins.

His love also

means,

as we find in the text,

that He set her apart

for a special purpose.

I like the passage

that John read earlier

where Jesus,

in His high priestly

prayer,

He commented

on the fact

that I sanctify myself

so that she might

be sanctified.

He was willing

to take upon Himself

a special purpose

for the sake

of the one

that He loved

to make her special.

I want you to understand

that to sanctify something

is to take something

that in Scripture

is really pretty common

and ordinary

and to set it apart,

particularly in the context

of the Bible,

for God's glory

and for His purposes.

So,

Christ's goal

in dying for the church,

in addition to our salvation,

was to make us special

for the sake of God,

to make us valuable

to the one that He

so dearly loves.

And He did this

with His own blood.

Now,

in verse 26,

it says that He,

let me read the passage,

He might sanctify,

having cleansed her

by the washing of water

with the Word.

And let me just kind of

give you the short story

on this one.

There are some

who look at this

and believe that it means

baptism.

I don't buy that at all.

And for several

different reasons.

For one,

I do not find in Scripture

that baptism

is something

that precedes conversion.

I had an individual

not long ago

who said,

would you baptize me?

I said,

absolutely.

Once you know Christ.

This morning,

after our sermon,

we are going to have

the privilege

of hearing one young lady

share her testimony

of faith

and then following that,

I'm going to baptize her.

It would be my privilege.

Her family is down here

somewhere near the front,

I think.

But that baptism

in the Scripture

follows.

It's like putting on

a wedding ring.

It's a declaration.

Hey,

I know Jesus!

It's what it is.

And I want you

to understand

that when it says here

the washing of the water

by the Word,

I believe what it's saying

there is that

the way in which

people come to Christ

is through the ministry

of the Word of God.

How shall they hear?

Paul asks

in Romans chapter 8

Romans 8 · chapter mention

unless,

actually it's 10,

how shall they hear

unless someone is sent?

How beautiful

are the feet?

The fact of the matter

is that our understanding

of the depravity

of our heart

and the desperate condition

of our soul

takes place

through the preaching

of the Word of God,

through the announcing,

here's what God says

about your condition

and here is the solution

in the blood of Christ

that's been shed for you.

to summarize then

what we see

in the Scripture

here in this passage

that he died

for the church

to save her

and to sanctify her.

Now woven into the text,

I believe in verse 25

and 26 in particular

is the idea

that his work

of sanctification

in part

is positional.

There is a sense

in which you and I

are never going to be

any holier

than we are

by virtue

of the blood of Christ.

Do you understand that?

We are declared,

we have,

get fancy here

with words,

but we are given

the righteousness

of Christ

and it is attached

to our account.

Do we earn it?

No,

we receive it

by faith

and so there is

a sense in which

his salvation

sets us apart

from the moment

of our salvation

and puts us

into this relationship

and puts us

into this state.

I do want you

to understand,

however,

that his salvation

also does a work

of sanctification

that is progressive.

In other words,

it continues

to move us forward

in spiritual development.

I love,

I love,

I love

being able

to say to people

when I'm sharing

the gospel,

I've got incredibly

good news for you

after I've announced

the fact

that they are condemned

in the eyes of God

for their own sin.

I say,

good news,

Jesus died

to pay the penalty

for your sins

and he is ready

to forgive you

for all of it.

And then I like

saying this,

and by the way,

you don't have to

stay the way you are.

I love that!

And the scriptures

make it clear

that one of the marks

of genuine conversion

is that we stop

the way we used to be

and we begin changing

to be more like Jesus.

Isn't that right?

One of the things

that I did this week

as I was studying

and praying for you,

I was reviewing my heart,

the lives of a number

of you who I have known

as a pastor

and as a shepherd

and one of the things

that I took comfort

and encouragement

was saying,

man,

I've seen that change.

I like that.

That makes sense,

doesn't it?

I think about the passage

over in Philippians 2,

Philippians 2:12

verse 12 and 13

where Paul says,

work out your salvation

with fear and trembling

for it's God.

What?

What?

It's God that works in you

both to will.

Do you know what changed

my want to?

It was Jesus.

Both to will

and do His good pleasure.

If you're sitting here

and there hasn't been

some touch to your will

and your doing,

you probably ought to

roll out the birth certificate

and double check.

Whoa, do I really know Jesus?

Because genuine conversion

brings a change.

And it's important

that we understand

here at the beginning

that Christ's work,

yes, it saves,

but it also brings about

progressive sanctification.

So, with that as background,

and I'm kind of pressing together

verses 25, 26,

and a little bit 27, okay?

Make holy and without blemish.

I want you to go now

to 28.

And in 28,

the apostle is just kind of

giving us some understanding,

some application,

moving it forward

so we can make the connection

for the real zinger.

Do you know what

a real zinger is?

It's a fast hardball

driven by the batter

right at the pitcher.

So, they're starting to wear

these dorky helmets.

Do you follow that?

I mean, they're not going

to wear them, trust me.

But anyway, here we go.

Let's look at the verse.

In the same way,

what's that saying?

That's saying,

hey, Bubba,

since you said I do,

you took on some responsibility

here, guy.

In the same way,

like Jesus,

husbands should love their wives

as their own bodies.

He who loves his wife

loves himself.

For no one ever hated

his flesh,

but nourishes and cherishes it

just as Christ

does the church.

Now,

woven into this whole thing

is the idea

that a Christian husband,

I'm not talking to people here

that don't know Christ.

I want you to know that.

This sermon is not

for any man

who is here

who doesn't know Jesus.

It just doesn't work.

First thing is,

come to Christ.

Not that I'm dismissing

the evangelical call

to a person's salvation,

but this is for Christians.

And by the way,

it's for Christians

who are filled with the Spirit.

Do you get that?

That's Ephesians 5.18.

Okay.

So let's understand

Christ's model.

Let's fit it in.

Verse 28 announces,

love your wives like Jesus.

That's in essence

what it's being said.

Follows along,

and we find in the passage,

care for your wife

like Jesus cares

for his own body.

It's very interesting.

The Holy Spirit

puts a great deal of emphasis

on this in verse 28 and 29

so as to dispel

the husband's natural tendency

of being self-deceived.

What do we mean by that?

You ask the average husband

in a Christian circle,

do you love your wife?

What is the Bible answer

supposed to be?

Yeah.

Duh.

I hired on for that job.

Yeah, I love her.

Do you really?

And what I want you to do

is ask yourself this question.

I want you to be honest

with the Lord.

Do you love your wife

like Christ loved the church?

Question.

The answer,

Christian man,

is found in whether or not

you fit this model

that we have in this passage.

Does that make sense?

That's what we're reading,

and that's what we're discovering.

Do I love my wife

like Christ loved the church?

And so we understand

that caring for your wife

is like Jesus cares

for his own body,

and he uses an analogy

from human life

that we all understand.

Look at that just for a little bit.

In the passage,

it says that,

sorry,

it says that a man

should love his wife

as his own body,

and by the way,

when you're cold,

what do you do,

man?

We have two choices.

We either turn the thermostat up,

and your wife says,

oh, it's awful hot in here,

you know,

but we either turn the thermostat up,

or what do we do?

We go get more clothes.

Am I right?

We're hard.

When you're hungry,

what do you do, guys?

I don't love my body.

You know,

just suffer.

I'm not eating.

I don't love my body.

No,

we take care of ourselves,

right?

Now,

kind of stretch this out a little bit.

I want you to understand

that loving your wife properly

is reasonable and rewarding,

and when you take care of your wife,

like you take care of your own body,

you're paying attention

to the things that are,

and follow this,

because this is tricky,

the most important,

okay?

It says here,

he who loves his wife

loves himself.

Now,

let me take a little bit

on this.

This passage,

because one of the things

I have,

now,

do you know what it means

to go apoplectic?

No,

you don't.

It means to get really

kind of irritated.

Now,

pastors aren't supposed

to do that.

You follow that?

I mean,

pastors are supposed

to be very calm

and kind of,

you know,

naturally sweet people.

That's not me,

but I'm trying.

I'm working at it.

So,

when I have people

in my office

and I say,

so what's your problem?

And they say to me,

well,

I don't love myself.

I say,

what?

Where did that come from?

I really don't get that animated,

but,

you know,

and the truth of the matter is

I've never had a person

in my office

that wasn't room temperature.

How many of you understand

what room temperature means?

Dead.

I have never had anybody

in my office

that wasn't room temperature

that really didn't love themselves.

Paul is using a comparison.

He's saying,

guys,

you're on it

when it comes to

taking care of yourself,

right?

What's the difference

between a man and a boy?

You know that answer?

Price of his

toys.

You knew that?

Guys,

take care of your wives

the way you take care of yourself.

And he says,

in verse 29,

he says,

for no one ever

hated his own flesh.

I mean,

you hit your thumb

with a hammer,

what do you do?

I mean,

everything in life

comes down to this

little index

or digit right there

and there you are.

Honey,

I hurt myself.

So,

I want you to understand

that

the practical part

of what Jesus

is saying here

and the Spirit

is saying is

when you give yourself

away for Christ,

you're blessed by Christ.

That's what it means

when it says,

husbands,

if you love yourself,

you're loving your wife.

It works out

that giving your love away

brings back benefit.

Now,

I want us to really focus

on how Christ loves

and a husband should love.

And so,

we come down

to verse 29

and this is

very,

very important.

How Christ loves

and a husband should love

really is focused in

on these two words,

to nourish

and to cherish.

Actually,

a more accurate

translation of the text

would be to say

bring up.

The Greek word,

I'll give the Greek

here to you,

but the Greek word

is only used twice

in the New Testament.

It's actually used

a number of different times

where the Greeks

translated the Hebrew

Old Testament

into Greek.

I'll get bored with that,

but the word

appears often

in the Old Testament

in the Greek rendition.

And it's a word

that speaks about

nurturing someone

on an upward path.

Okay?

That's the reason

in Ephesians chapter 6,

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

4,

it says that fathers

are to bring up

their children.

Now,

husband,

if you're hearing

from the Spirit of God

this morning,

what it's saying

is that as you're

driving home,

don't say to your wife,

hey,

I'm in this

to help you grow,

but think it.

In fact,

if you have the nerve,

go ahead and say it.

Here's what the Bible

is driving the point

towards.

The Christian husband

nurtures

when he cares

for the spiritual development

of his wife.

That's your job.

He has implemented

divine order

and he has charged

the man

with being

the spiritual head

of his home

and he is responsible

for the spiritual leadership

of the home

and the wife

that he gives,

that man.

The wife's principle

spiritual encouragement

and enrichment

should come first

and foremost

from her husband.

A pastor

should be a helper.

A godly woman

should be a helper.

And I've been here

long enough

that when women

in our church

call me

and ask me an opinion,

guess what I often do?

That first question is,

so,

have you talked

with your husband?

What are his thoughts?

I want to encourage

that mindset

which is biblical.

biblical.

I want you to understand

as you look

at this passage

that it is not

an exception

to a Bible rule.

There are two different

things that I bring

to your attention

that make it clear

in God's economy

and God's thinking

that the husband

is to be the spiritual

developer

of his wife.

Two passages

come to mind.

One is in Genesis

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2

where God

gave to Adam

instruction

that was literally

spiritual death

or life.

How many of you

are aware of that?

Eve was the one

who sinned

as it says

but Adam was the one

who received

the instruction

when God said

to Adam,

listen,

y'all don't be

eaten of that tree.

I mean,

he made the point,

don't do this.

Who did he tell?

He told Adam.

And when sin

came into the garden,

who did God address?

He addressed Adam.

There's another passage

I want you to take

a look at

just for a moment.

Turn over in your Bible

to 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 14:35

chapter 14

verse 35.

Now,

by the way,

hey,

everybody look up.

I'm just the mailman.

How many of you

understand what I just said?

What's my job?

Deliver the mail.

If it gets put

in your box,

somebody else sent it.

1 Corinthians 14

35,

look at the passage.

It says,

if there's anything

they desire to learn,

let them ask their husbands

where?

At home.

For it's shameful

for a woman

to speak in the church.

Now,

I believe that has

application in particular,

and we find other passages

in relationship

that's over in

1 Timothy chapter 2,

1 Timothy 2 · chapter mention

but I believe

that the particular

application is

characteristic

of the learning

style and structure

that took place

in the church.

And a lot

of the teaching

methodology

was more interaction,

Q&A,

and challenging.

Oh, yeah?

Where did you get

that idea from?

You know,

there's a pastor

up there teaching,

and, you know,

a woman raises her hand

in the church

and says,

hey,

where did you?

And Paul,

and by the way,

who told Paul

what to write?

Does anybody know?

Was it his culture

or was it the Holy Spirit?

What's the answer?

It was the Holy Spirit

that said,

hey,

you have a question,

ask your husband.

And by the way,

a lot of husbands,

including back then,

they'd come from

pagan backgrounds,

so when the husband

was asked the question

at home,

guess what he had to say?

Same thing that probably

some of you should be saying,

well,

let me do some research,

I'll get back to you.

I can tell you,

a lot of times

I don't have answers,

but I do know

the resource

to try to lie on.

And so,

here we have

the apostle saying,

hey, listen,

the husband is responsible

for the spiritual development

of his wife.

The second word

that is used there

says that he is

to cherish.

And that is

a very interesting word

that we probably

benefit from

just understanding.

It means to really,

to be affectionate

of her.

Can I say that again

slowly?

I just want the men

to look up.

Just the men.

To be affectionate

of her.

Well, I'm not really

into affection.

I'm not into

the warm fuzzies.

I want you to turn over.

Remember,

I'm delivering the mail.

That's what we're doing here.

1 Thessalonians 2,

1 Thessalonians 2:7

verse 7.

Actually,

this word cherish

that we find

in Ephesians 5,

29,

appears one other time

in 1 Thessalonians 2,

1 Thessalonians 2:7

verse 7,

where it says this,

Paul,

we were gentle

among you

like a nursing mother

taking care

of her own child.

Do you have any idea

what a nursing mother

is like?

Like,

they're all over it

when it comes

to that little child.

Am I right?

And having watched

my wife care

for four of our children

and nurse all four of them,

and I don't say that

because I'm a member

of La Leche League.

I just happened to say it.

But here's the deal.

I mean,

now I'll tell you,

cleaning bottoms,

that's one thing,

but nursing,

I mean,

that was a moment.

She had to have

a special place.

There's a lot

that went into that.

And she just loved,

loved, loved, loved,

loved that child.

Paul says,

hey, husbands,

you're responsible

for the spiritual upgrade

of your wife's life,

and you're responsible

to be affectionate,

to be,

man,

you're to wrap up in her.

I know one young man said,

well,

I'm afraid I love my wife

too much.

What?

How close are you

to doing it

like Jesus does?

Well,

I'm not there.

It's all right.

You've got room to go.

Go for it.

Okay?

Paul says,

look at the passage,

a husband is to care

for his wife tenderly.

So,

and I'll close with this,

if you're a Christian

husband today,

and the Holy Spirit

is speaking to your heart,

you understand that

he is not asking you

if you'd like to do this.

This is not a suggestion.

It's a command.

And it is one

that I find profoundly humbling

and drives me to prayer.

I,

Tim Kenoyer,

am responsible

for my bride's

ongoing

sanctification.

You,

husband,

are responsible

for your wife's

ongoing

sanctification.

salvation.

And all God's people

said,

amen.

Let's enjoy

our baptism.

And John,

come and lead.

Amen.