Our Father in Heaven, we thank You, Lord, that Your light has shined in the darkness. We thank You for the glory of Your revelation, for it teaches us who You are. And we pray that as we open Your Word this morning, we will do so with reverence and awe. We may seek to see Your teaching concerning marriage, and that through our reading, through our listening, through the preaching of the gospel, that, Lord, you will work in our hearts and lives. You will confess the sins of our heart, not pointing our finger to another, to our spouse, to our upbringing, but, Lord, recognizing the fact that we stand before you. We pray that you will grant us ears to hear. And, Fathers, as we look at Christian marriage, may we look at it in the light of Jesus Christ. Indeed, that great bridegroom. We pray, Father, that you will bless now the reading and the preaching of the Gospel with the praise and glory of your name and the strengthening of your people. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Congregation, let us turn in God's Word to Isaiah 54. We're also going to be turning to Ephesians chapter 5. Isaiah 54 is on page 1146. We're beginning a series of sermons on marriage and family. This will probably be a month-long short series. After that we'll go into an Advent series. In Isaiah 54, when the part of Isaiah, dealing with God's restoration, chapter 39 of Isaiah, he said, Babylon is going to take you into captivity. You have sinned against me. It's over. And if Isaiah ended at chapter 39, it would be a very sad, depressing book. But there's a promise of the suffering servant. and a restoration of that marriage relationship between God and His bride, Israel. Though they will go into captivity, He will bring them back. So these verses we're going to read point us ahead to the fulfillment of that promise, even in heaven. Isaiah 54, we're going to read just the first eight verses. This is the word of the Lord. Sing, O barren woman, You who never bore a child, burst into song, shout for joy. You who are never in labor, because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband, says the Lord. Enlarge the place of your tent. Stretch your tent curtains wide. Do not hold back. Lengthen your cords. Strengthen your stakes. For you will spread out to the right and to the left. Your descendants will dispossess nations. and settle in their desolate cities. Do not be afraid. You will not suffer shame. Do not fear disgrace. You will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood. For your maker is your husband. The Lord Almighty is his name. The Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer. He is called the God of all the earth. The Lord will call you back as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit, a wife who married young only to be rejected, says your God. For a brief moment, I abandon you, but with deep compassion, I will bring you back. In a surge of anger, I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness, I will have compassion on you, says the Lord, your Redeemer. There ends our reading from Isaiah 54. Let's turn over to Ephesians chapter 5. And it's going to be Ephesians that we're going to study for the next month, Lord willing. We're going to begin our reading in verse 21 of Ephesians 5, this is on page 1823. And we'll read to the end of the chapter, but our text this morning is just going to be simply verse 21. Once again, this is the very word of the Lord. Ephesians 5, verse 21. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now, as the Church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the Word, and to present her to Himself as a radiant Church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, Husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the Church, for we are members of his body. For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery, but I'm talking about Christ and the Church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband." There ends the reading of God's Holy Word. Once again, our text is going to be verse 21 of Ephesians chapter 5. Beloved congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, our news headlines for the last months now have been bombarded with updates on the ongoing soap opera known as the presidential election. It seems to be as interesting to Canadian media as it is to the U.S. And the two main players in this drama are Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. We don't need to rehash the scandals and indiscretions, if I could put it mildly, between these two. Both of their marriages have been plagued by infidelity, dishonesty, Trump is on his third marriage. And it's just a picture, not of politics, not of those who are ruling power, but it's a picture of our society. Our society is a mess. Marriage today is a mess. And the mess out there has impacted us in here. What's happened out there touches the church. bringing the discussion closer to home. The church has had to battle feminism in its various forms and it still must today. There are too many husbands, too many husbands who treat their wives like a doormat to be walked over. Too many wives show little respect for their husbands. It's vitally essential. to examine our hearts, to examine our lives, to put our marriages before the light of God's Holy Word. And for you who aren't married and desire to be married, to put your future spouse, your desire of a spouse, and yourself in light of God's Word. And you who have been married for a long time, 60 years of marriage, you've grown in love and devotion to each other, you still are not immune from the sins of the flesh. God's Word speaks to us all. Marriage and family is vital to the very foundation of society and life. Anything that happens politically, socially, etc. in a nation all begins in the family unit. Everyone who is in a position of power and authority was born was born to a woman. They were raised by somebody in some situation, in some setting. Marriage isn't just a relationship between two people who have common interests and say, we could put up with each other. We could probably make this work. We'll bear with each other. What we see from God's Word in Ephesians 5, and we hope Lord is willing to study this over the coming weeks, is that marriage becomes elevated. It becomes elevated to a point that now this becomes a picture, a holy picture, a living reality of another marriage. A marriage that isn't yet complete. A marriage that's in the process. Engagement language is what's used. And that marriage is between Jesus Christ and His bride, the Church, who is not that beautiful in herself, but Jesus Christ makes her beautiful. Jesus Christ gives her the white, beautiful wedding gown of His own righteousness. And so we see marriage in that light, in the light of Christ and His Church, that we see most clearly today the beauty of marriage. This morning, we're going to be asked to look in the mirror of that glorious relationship and evaluate our own lives. This understanding must guide young people as they look for a future spouse. This must guide those who are married in service to God. This must be impressed upon the minds of those who are single. For from Ephesians 5, we learn much about God. the nature about God and what He is to us. As an introduction to marriage, we looked this morning then at Ephesians 5 verse 21. Our theme is, marriage is built upon the principle of submission to the will of God. Marriage is built upon the principle of submission to the will of God. That's for husbands and wives. So submission to marriage this morning is for husband, and submission to marriage this morning is for wife. We'll see this in light of the past, in the present, and with an eye to the future. So first, in the past. We're going to spend, Lord willing, the next few weeks looking at Ephesians 5. Well, what's taking place in Ephesians 5? The Apostle Paul is writing this letter to the church in Ephesus. And it's one of the more theological letters. similar to Romans, but in these last couple chapters of Ephesians 5, he applies, just like Romans, what it means to live in light of what Jesus Christ has done. Before we get into the meat and potatoes of our application, turn in your Bibles, if you have them open, back to Ephesians chapter 2. I encourage you to follow along in your Bibles. Ephesians chapter 2. And the reason why we have to start back there is the same reason why the Apostle did. Because if you can't identify yourself in Jesus Christ, don't expect an enjoyable marriage, a fulfilling marriage. Marriage must flow forth from the true spring of the Gospel. And we see this in Ephesians 2. As for you, this is verse 1, you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit that was not at work in those who were disobedient. All of us lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature, following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. That's where we are by nature. But by supernature, supernatural work of God, verse four, but because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive. He made us alive with Christ. Even when we were dead in transgressions, it is by grace we have been saved. Down to verse eight. It's by grace you've been saved through faith. It's not from yourselves. It is the gift of God. Now if that's true, if you have been saved by grace through faith, if you have embraced as your Savior, as your Lord, as the King of your marriage, Jesus Christ, then your marriage becomes defined in a completely different way. Because Jesus Christ has accomplished for you all that you could not do, and that each time in marriage you say something hurtful to your spouse, and you do something hurtful, and you have a snide remark, or a glancing blow, that I have disdained, and you repent of your sins, you recognize the fact that you were found in Jesus Christ. And this is how marriage can work. Repentance and faith, repentance and faith. Confession, acceptance, reconciliation daily in marriage. Then what happens for us who believe, chapter 4, Ephesians 4, look at verse 22, You were taught with regard to your former way of life to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires, to be made new in the attitude of your minds, to put on a new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Let's skip down to verse 32. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you. Be imitators of God, therefore dearly loved children. This begins to talk about walking in light. Walking in light. What that means is to put off the old self and to put on the new self. So that it's not okay in marriage and family to speak harshly, to speak rudely, to lack love and lack respect and say, sorry, I'm a sinner. It happens. No. It's to put off the old self. And though we will not do this perfectly, we will have to confess our sins. We must not, therefore, think liberty is a license to sin. It is not. Ask yourself today, in your own mind, in your own heart, if you are called to walk in the light, and the Word of God is that light, what things in your marriage have you not given over to the light? What things in your marriage, in your family, still like to hang out in the shadows? Right? It's safe in the shadows, safe in the dark. But once the light is exposed, all the cobwebs are seen for what they are, the skeletons of the closet become a living reality. What is happening in your marriage? In your family? And you need to take those things, those sins, Those areas of great weakness, you need to confess them. You need to give them over to God. Over the next couple of weeks, consider this marriage counseling for each of us. But don't depend on the counselor to do it. Let the Holy Spirit work in your hearts, work in your lives, work in your marriages. These sermons are not about looking and saying, That marriage, that's messed up. That guy, he's rude. I bet he treats his wife poorly. This isn't about that guy and that lady. It's about you, and your heart, and your life, and your home, and your marriage, or your future marriage. You must resolve now to stop those behaviors that you know are contrary to God's design of marriage. The fact of the matter is, brothers and sisters, there are some here this morning who are in the midst of great marriage struggles. Maybe nobody even knows about it. There are some here who are preparing for marriage. Some here who desire to be married. Some whose marriages have already been broken. But what I proclaim to you today is that there is hope for broken marriages. Just as there's hope for broken people. And frankly, if we're honest with ourselves, we're all broken people. There is hope. When your heart is connected to God's Word and will, and committed to dealing with issues God's way, there is much hope. As we look at God's Word this morning, We find a principle laid out in verse 21 that will be carried out throughout the rest of this letter to the Ephesians. Our text says simply, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. What we have in this sentence is the main thought that's going to be weaved through this application. The main verb of the rest of this chapter is this word, submit. Submit. To submit means to place oneself under or subject oneself to something. Submission will be shown in what follows, marriage, children, employees, etc. But for marriage now, submission in marriage is oftentimes thought simply as, oh, that's what the wife does to the husband. She places herself under her husband. She lets her husband rule over her. But that's not what verse 21 says. Verse 22 will say that. But we're not up to verse 22 yet. We're on verse 21. Submit to one another. Husbands, submit to your wives. Wives, submit to your husbands. And what we'll see most clearly, couple, submit to the will of God. Submit to the will of God. Marriage itself is developed under the principle of submission. Verse 21 is extremely important. It's the foundation we must build upon. It's going to say, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. It must flow out of the gospel. We've seen that. We must be reminded of that continually. But it's one of submission. This isn't a new idea. This has always been the case. When God made Adam and Eve, He brought them together in the garden as husband and wife. Turn over to Genesis chapter 2. Genesis 2 and 3 are extremely important in terms of marriage. Look at verse 22 of Genesis 2. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib He had taken out of the man, and He brought her to the man. The man said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman, for she was taken out of man. That's the first wedding ceremony. God brought them together. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. God brought Eve to Adam, who said, this is my wife. In verse 24 there, it speaks of the two becoming one flesh. There's an emotional, a spiritual, a physical aspect inside to this. They would live as husband and wife, Adam and Eve, in intimacy with each other, in love with each other, having no shame, having no selfishness, being in submission to God as one flesh. There is an aspect of submission to God and to each other that each, husband and wife, are made for each other. They live for each other. Adam needed help. He couldn't do it on his own. There was no helper fit for him or comparable to him. So God provided the helper. Eve came to help Adam in his calling in the cultural mandate to fill the earth and subdue it. to be a companion, to love her husband. They lived together in a beautiful fellowship, fulfilling each other's needs, wills, desires as husband and wife. They would have been free from the greatest evil that plagues our marriages today. The greatest evil that plagues our marriages today is selfishness. It's the cause of all sin in marriage. If Adam and Eve had not fallen into sin in Genesis 3, they would have grown as a family and had children. They would have done what God told them to do, filled the earth and subdued it. God told Adam this back in Genesis 1.28. They would have developed culture and they'd be the very foundation of society. This is the calling that God gave to Adam and Eve. This is how He made them. He didn't give the animals this calling to fill the earth and subdue it, to develop. to raise families and culture in a society. There's no society in the plant world. There's no society in the animal world. Dogs today don't have a greater understanding of the laws of nature than they did 3,000 years ago. They're not rational, moral beings the way that human beings are. Man, as the crown of God's creation, is given this unique place as head over creation. And in the fact that God made Eve out of Adam, Eve becomes identified with her husband. Even before the fall, she was taken out of him by way of a rib and a deep sleep. She is subject to him and she will serve and submit to him as they jointly serve and submit to God. They did all of this sinlessly in the garden. But something happened. Boys and girls, do you know what happened? to that beautiful marriage? Sin. They fell into sin. You know what they did? They ate the fruit that God told them not to eat. This is sin in the present, or marriage in the present. As a result of that fall into sin, Adam and Eve received a curse from the Lord. Look over at Genesis 3.15. Three parties are cursed. The first curse goes to the serpent. which is the glorious promise of the Messiah. It's the most wonderful curse in the scriptures, Genesis 3.15. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and hers. He will crush your head and you will strike his heel. The first curse is given to the serpent. It's the promise of the Messiah. And that enmity would continue to be a war that wages on and on until the coming of Jesus, the second coming of Jesus Christ. And then we see Eve's punishment, verse 16. And her punishment, notice this as I read it, her punishment comes in the context of family. Her punishment comes in the context of home. It's different than the man's. To the woman, he said, verse 16, I will greatly increase your pains and childbearing. With pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you. She'll have pain in childbirth, her desire will be for her husband, and he will rule over her. Three things. And all of those three things are a result of the fall. All three of them are true in marriage. We'll talk about them more in the sermons to come, Lord willing, but realize, as we will next week, the ruling over the woman and her submission to him is something that changed in the fall. So though Eve was submissive to Adam before the fall, after the fall, that relationship changed. Something changed. The man's curse, at least as it's said to him, involves work. Difficult work until you die. But there's something more. Because the woman's plight affects the man. What it means for the woman whose desire will be for her husband is that his wife will desire him. This means that the woman would need him and pursue him in a way that she did not before. And I think, hold on, this doesn't sound right. Isn't it the man that's supposed to pursue the woman? Well, kind of, until women start to talk to each other. And you're like, they desire for the man to pursue them. That's the woman's desire for the man. And it's not just a, gotcha, all right, let's get married. It's not just that type of pursuit. It is throughout the whole entire state of marriage. A woman will need from her husband a special care. A wife will need to know that she is loved by her husband, that she is important, that she is needed. And there is submission to the will of God for the husband as well. We've called these things curses in Genesis 3. The fall resulted in curses, but realizing grace, those curses become callings. The curses become callings. Sin will want us to throw these things off. And we see it all over the world today, in our society today, and as I mentioned in the beginning, the problem is, is that what the world is saying to us, and what we're hearing, and what we're seeing, and our neighbors are saying to us, in this politically correct culture, that affects us. We start to listen. We don't want to look different. We don't want to look strange. Who wants to have a weird-looking marriage to their neighbor? But as time goes on, your marriage, if it's biblical and glorifying to God, will look more and more different than marriage in this world. It will be completely counter-cultural. We see this today. If God tells Eve that her desire will be for her husband, what did the sinful feminist movement say? A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle. A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle. Throw it off. We don't need him. If God tells Eve that her husband will rule over her, what does sin say? Marriage is not necessary. And if you want to be a happy husband, You'd better let your wife rule over you. Happy wife, happy life, right? What do you think about that phrase? It could be true. Could be true. But it could also be sinful. Depends what you mean by the phrase. What will make our wives happy? Biblically, this will make your wife happy. And then you can say, happy wife, happy life. If what fulfills a wife and brings to her happiness in this life is loving and godly leadership, support, care, love, intimacy, then the wife will be happy and the husband. But if it means to spoil, permit sin, let woman rule over the man as the head of the home, then it's not pleasing to God. Then it won't be true happiness and it won't be true fulfillment. But there's something more. When we turn back to our text, Ephesians chapter 5, it doesn't take very long for the comparison to arise between marriage and this mysterious relationship between Christ and His Church, between the bridegroom and the bride. According to the illustration, husbands, you are to represent Christ. There should be some fear or foreboding in each of your hearts to even hear that truth. You are a representative of Jesus Christ in your marriage. Live like it. That's a bit scary. Everyone ought to admit that. And wives are to represent the church. This relationship between the church and Christ, when we think about it deeply, could be troubling. How can we possibly ever live up? Men, how could we ever possibly measure up to that standard? After all, we're sinners. I tell couples in premarital counseling, but you don't have to be married very long to recognize the fact that you married a sinner. Matter of fact, head over heels in love, and you're going to realize, wow, this person is actually a sinner. They're kind of selfish sometimes. They kind of don't give like I thought they'd give all the time. They're a sinner, just like you are. So what exactly does this comparison mean? One thing it does not mean in our context is that we are people who first and foremost must exercise our rights. Right? That's what society tells you today. In fact, her text says nothing about our rights in marriage. What it tells us, what it points us to, is it points us back to Jesus Christ. That He is our all, He is our everything, not only in life, but also in marriage. So what did Christ do for His church? What did Christ do for His bride? Realize He did it so that she may become His bride. Well, He died for her. He redeemed her. He lived perfectly obedient for her. And He still governs her by His Word and Spirit. Christ, the great King of kings and Lord of lords, continuing His work according to our catechism, gathering, defending, and preserving her, beautifying her. Christ was perfectly obedient to the will of God And therefore, as verse 23 says of Ephesians 5, He's the head of the body of which He is the Savior. Verse 25, Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her. Jesus took the sins of the people. Jesus became the atoning sacrifice. He was crucified, not because of His own wrongdoing, but because of yours. Jesus Christ went to the cross, first and foremost, to save you from your sins. And without Jesus Christ, you have no forgiveness of sins. You need to back up to square one. How are you right before God? Are you right before God? Because if not, if not, the redemption of marriage and God's grace is meaningless. It's meaningless. That's why it's so difficult to work in marriage counseling when one person is committed to the Lord and the other is not. How is this marriage going to work? There's a reason why God forbid that marriage. God forbids the marriage between a believer and an unbeliever. There's a reason why. It doesn't work. And anytime it ever possibly does work, it is by defaulted hardship. Think of 1 Corinthians 7. Jesus Christ gave himself. He is our salvation. He's done this. He's accomplished this. He's gone to the cross. But our text doesn't just look backwards. As in marriage, there is always a present and a future orientation to it. In marriages, in the time of the writing of this letter, there is a period of preparation that took place. We have something similar to this now. We get engaged. Right? You get engaged six months before you get married, or however many, and he announces it to the church, and your friends and family are like, yay, you're getting married, and you plan, and you prepare, and you find a minister, and you find a hall, and you do all the things you do. It gets stressful toward the end, maybe, for many. In the Bible, there's something called a betrothal. It's a little bit more official. than an engagement. Remember, Joseph was betrothed to Mary, and then when she got pregnant by the Holy Spirit, what did Joseph, what was he going to do? He was going to divorce her quietly. Hold on, why would he have to divorce her? He wasn't even married to her. Because betrothal was an official binding contract, would have to also be officially broken. And so they became betrothed. After betrothal, this period of waiting, there's a meeting together of witnesses, the terms of the vows of marriage are accepted, and from that day forward they are legally bound to each other as husband and wife. This is even before the marriage ceremony, the marriage feast. Then comes the beautiful time between the betrothal and the wedding feast. This is often times used for man to pay the dowry, to give to his father-in-law, future father-in-law. Then there's the preparation and the procession of the marriage feast. They would walk. A man would walk with all of his friends, with his family, and they would parade through the streets. It was a joyous celebration. And their groom proceeds with his family and friends, singing, and they go to the home of the woman and the man officially receives his wife, they proceed together to the place of the wedding feast, and then the wedding feast and the banquet are celebrated, and that usually lasted one week, maybe two weeks. There was something of an interval between betrothal and the wedding feast. That's the time period right now Christ is dealing with the Church. The marriage hasn't officially happened. The wedding feast, the wedding banquet is something that is to come. And yet, official betrothal has taken place through the blood of Christ, which is what we see in the future. Third point. Scripture often describes God's relationship with his people as that between a bride and a bridegroom. We're not going to look at all the passages, but if you want to write them down, you can look at them later. A few of them are Psalm 45, Isaiah 50, verse 1. We read from Isaiah 54. Right at the end there, Jeremiah 2.23, Matthew 9.15, many of the places. In our scripture reading from Isaiah 54, what we see is a recommitting taking place. After the fact that there was a separation, Israel had sinned, God is going to take back this wife. Take her for his own, redeem her from slavery. It's a picture of the future glory of Zion. William Hendrickson says in his commentary in this chapter, quote, the church is betrothed to Christ. Christ has paid the dowry for her. Christ has paid the dowry for her. He bought the one who is essentially to be with a view to the end, his bride. The interval of separation has arrived. We're living there. We're living in the time just before the wedding feast. We're living in the day where the bride must make herself ready. That's what she's doing. What is she doing when the groom is coming with his family and they're marching through the street? She's readying herself for this wedding feast. That's the place that we're in. Look at verse 27 of Ephesians 5. And to present her to himself as a radiant church radiant bride without stain, or wrinkle, or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this marriage, it is actually Christ who adorns the bride, who readies the bride, as the church awaits the final wedding feast to begin when Christ returns upon the clouds. And this is a marvelous passage with such clear imagery about the work of our kinsman-redeemer, our Lord Jesus Christ. As we look at this over the coming weeks, we should conclude with, what a God we serve. What a glorious Savior and Redeemer, that He would love us in this way. Though we are sinful, unlovable, unfaithful, complainers, selfish, and yet, He calls us His own. is bride. Marriage, brothers and sisters, is something that cannot be taken lightly. In fact, the person you marry is the most important decision you will ever make in your entire life. The person you marry is the most important decision you will ever make in your entire life. It's already assumed that we're referring to believers. We are to marry in the Lord. But for our spouses, for the unmarried, for possible future spouses. Since the seriousness of marriage is recognized, we must be in prayer. Be praying for your future spouse. Be praying now for your spouse. Uphold them in prayer. God brings two together in a mysterious way. This union has always had wonderment attached to it, even from the beginning, even from the institution of marriage. Think, once again, back to Genesis 2.24. Two flesh shall become one. It's quoted again in Ephesians 5.31. This is God's design for marriage between one man and one woman. There's no room for polygamy, no room for same-sex marriage. These contradict this teaching. There's a reference to the sexual aspect of this union. The two become one. And brothers and sisters, take this in light of our opening verse. We must conclude that husband and wife are to live for each other. For each other. For the other member of the marriage relationship. Right? They are to live for the other member of the marriage relationship. They are to put the other's needs above their own. And I think, well, if I do that, who's going to take care of me? The other will. That's the point. That's why marriage works when two people are working at it. Marriage breaks down when it's only coming from one side. That always becomes a problem. One person always takes, the other receives nothing. But when they're giving of each other, when a man realizes that he is to be a leader by sacrificing himself. That a woman is to support by respecting her husband and building him up and encouraging him. Marriage becomes a beautiful relationship. A husband and wife know each other better than anyone else and they must be attentive to the specific situation. May we never, may husband and wife never, ever, ever use God's Word as a tool to twist God's intention of marriage. If you men are in the custom of quoting Ephesians 5.22, Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. Maybe you actually looked at the sermon title this morning, Submission to Marriage. Honey, this one's for you. Without also reading verse 25, Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. We'll zip it pretty quick. You live for the other, and this is how marriage becomes fulfilling, God-pleasing, and frankly, to speak socially, a beautiful picture in our society of what God's grace can do. Never twist God's word. the two become one. When both members of a marriage realize this and live this, there's a wonderful purpose, a united purpose, goal, emotion, desire, service, that we are a couple who are here to serve. We serve each other, we serve God, and we serve our neighbor as a couple. It's not about your rights, It's about your service for your lifelong compliment. You lack something. If you're married, you lack something, and God has given you what you lack. You compliment, you fulfill each other. God brings two sinners together in this most beautiful of earthly unions, which is to reflect this glorious relationship of Jesus Christ's love for His church. of the church's devotion to Jesus Christ. Marriage is designed by God to fill the earth, to produce joy, to keep humans from burning with passion. But these are not just physical purposes. They are spiritual, and they're forward-looking as well. Our marriages on earth Our marriages on earth leave us longing for the great marriage that is to come in heaven. Though our marriages are to reflect the glorious, mysterious relationship, we are those who must look to God for guidance, for answers, and for help. We are those who must live in marriage in God's ways, or our marriages will not be that enjoyable. not be fulfilling and not be pleasing to the Lord. Don't look at how the world defines marriage and sexuality and relationships and me first-ism. But look to God's Word and submit to Him. Only by doing so will we be able to live and to say, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. May the Lord bless His word to our hearts. Amen. Let us pray. Father Almighty, we thank You for Jesus Christ. And we thank You that because of Jesus Christ, because of Your grace, the Christian marriage is pleasing in Your sight. and that we can be reminded to live for You in service to each other. Bless our marriages, and Lord, over the coming month, may we examine our marriages. Give us the strength, and especially for us men, give us the strength to sit down with our wives and to talk about our marriage in ways that we are being joyously fulfilled in service to each other, but also concerns that we have, that we may speak openly and honestly as brothers and sisters in the Lord. And Father, where there is need for repentance, bring us to repentance, and build us up more and more. We confess, Lord, that each one of us is a work in progress. We need your help. Sanctify us, Lord, by your Word and Spirit, and bless your Word to our hearts. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. We now worship the Lord our God with the giving of our offering. The first offering is for the budget. The second offering is for Shalom Manor. And after the offering we're going to sing from our supplemental songbook.