With the communion service, we know that time runs on, and so we're just coming now to the reading of the word. We'll stand for prayer whenever that is done, and then we'll preach the word that God has given for this service. And so we're in Genesis chapter two today, and we're reading from the verse 15 of the chapter. Genesis chapter two and the verse 15. And the Lord took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him an help, meet for him. And out of the ground the Lord formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air, and brought them on to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept, and he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the rib which the Lord God had taken from man made he a woman and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. Amen, and we end our reading at the end of the chapter two of Genesis. And let's now unite in prayer. Let's stand briefly for a word of prayer together. Our loving Father, we commit, O God, families, to thee who have experienced bereavement in a week that has passed. Lord, we pray that thou will draw near to such. We think of those who are not saved within those family circles, as they have stood at the grave of loved ones. May they understand that they too must die. We must all needs die. water that is spilt on the ground that cannot be gathered up again. So is man. O God, we therefore commit such to Thee. And in the quietness of their minds may they consider their latter end. May they come to a saving knowledge of their own sins forgiven. Bless us now as we meet around Thy Word. Come by Thy Spirit, minister to our souls, we pray. Help this preacher Preach the word. We now offer prayer in and through the Savior's precious and worthy name. Amen and amen. You may be seated. Having dealt with the matter of singleness last Lord's Day, I want to turn our attention to the matter of marriage today. Now marriage is a topic that has been extensively written about and spoken upon, but as with any subject matter, it is that which we must come to consider biblically, if we are to consider it correctly. We must consider any subject matter biblically if we are to consider it correctly. You see there are some of our young people and they are coming to that stage in their lives when marriage is very much on their radar. And so it is a matter that I want their thinking to be aligned with scripture for if it is not they will make shipwreck of their lives. That is not an overstatement. That is a fact. To get it wrong with regard to this subject of marriage will mean that you will make shipwreck off your life. You know, there is a saying out there that goes like this, love is blind. Well, let me say that you don't want to go into marriage blind. Rather you want to go into the marriage union with your eyes wide open. Now whatever society around us says about marriage, the union between a husband and a wife is still the key cornerstone of any civilized society. When marriages break down, the whole civilization crumbles and collapses in upon itself. And we're seeing that happening in our own society in real time today. Marriages collapsing and as a result civilization collapsing in upon itself. What does the Bible then say about marriage? Well let me say that it has much to say about this subject matter, so much so that we'll not be able to say everything that I want to say about marriage today in one message. So today I want to speak on three matters concerning and relating to marriage. I want to speak first of all about the primacy of marriage. And then I want to make some comments on the purpose of marriage, and then I want to conclude the message with some thoughts about the price of marriage. The primacy of marriage, the purpose of marriage, and then the price of marriage. Now firstly, the Word of God speaks to us about the primacy of marriage. You know, marriage did not spring up arbitrarily out of social conventions or out of human taboos, as some evolutionists would suggest. Rather, marriage was planned, it was ordained, and it was instituted by God. Marriage was the very first institution that God ordained after He created the world. Before the church was instituted, before national government was instituted, before worship was instituted, even before the Sabbath day was instituted, God instituted the sacred institution of marriage. Aware of Adam's loneliness in Eden's paradise, God said, it is not good that man should be alone. And as a result, he determined to make him and help meet for him. In other words, a suitable helper to assist and to help Adam in the unfallen world in which he was then living in. And so we see in Genesis chapter 2 in the verses 22 through to 25 how God did exactly that, how God formed a woman from the rib of Adam. God brought then that woman on to Adam. Notice what it says there in the verse number 22. And the rib which the Lord God had taken from man made he a woman and brought her on to the man. God brought her to the man. God brought her. One Christian writer said, no man nor angel brought the wife to the husband. But God himself, so marriage hath more honor of God in this than all other ordinances of God beside, because he solemnized it himself. This divinely ordained bringing together of a man and of a woman in marriage, at the commencement of human civilization shows to me the primacy that God places on marriage. It is one of the very first things that we encounter when we open the Scriptures. Marriage. God places it there at the very beginning of the divine record and the divine revelation. So important is this matter. that God makes sure that He brings to our attention at the very commencement of the record of Scripture, the institution of marriage. It reveals to me the primacy that God places upon this divinely ordained institution. Primacy of marriage is not only shown in the precedence given to marriage by God at the beginning of human history, but it is also shown in the Savior's own teaching on the subject within the New Testament. God's order In marriage, this lifelong union between a man and a woman was something that the Son of God spoke about and endorsed when he was here on earth. If you want to turn to Matthew chapter 19, and we find now the Savior answering a question there in Matthew chapter 19 about the putting away of one's wife, The Savior replied these words in the verse number four, and he answered and said unto them, unto the Pharisees, Matthew 19, verse four, have you not read that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female? And said, for this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh. Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. The Lord Jesus Christ goes back to creation. He goes back to the Garden of Eden. He goes back to this event in Genesis chapter 2, and he reveals to us that God joined them together. Christ, in his teaching, proves that God was the one who instituted marriage. This was not Adam's idea. This was not Eve's idea. This was God's purpose. for Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The leaving of parents, the joining together of a man and a woman in what is known as, what people would say, holy matrimony. The primacy of marriage is not only highlighted by what we have in Genesis and also the teaching of Jesus Christ, but also with regard to the teaching, I am the example of the apostles. I think of Peter. Peter was a married man. Rome would say that he was the first Pope. Well, he mustn't have believed in celibacy then if he was the first Pope because Peter was a married man. We read about Peter's wife's mother in Mark 1, verse 30. Remember Christ went into the home. She was a lady who had a fever and Christ raised her up from her sickbed. Peter had a wife. He had a mother-in-law and he had a wife. Not only that, but Peter also gave counsel within his letter there in 1 Peter 3 verses 1 to 7. He gave counsel to both husbands and wives within his letter. is another apostle who spoke extensively on the subject matter of marriage. I suppose the most familiar passage is Ephesians and the chapter number five. And there he takes the marriage union to be the illustration, to be the picture of Christ's union with his church. However, there are other passages of scripture in which Paul speaks about marriage. We read one last week. 1 Corinthians in the chapter 7, but there's also references there in 1 Corinthians, in the chapter 11, in the verse 11, 1 Timothy 3, verse 2, 1 Timothy 4, verses 1 and 3, Titus 1, verse 6, Hebrews chapter 13, in the verse number 4. And so throughout the record of Scripture, by way of example, by way of exhortation, we have this primacy placed on marriage. And beloved, whenever God places emphasis in His Word upon a particular matter, then we need to take notice of it. Marriage has been the bedrock upon which any civilized society has been built upon and has been maintained. And thus, when marriage is distorted, When marriage is defamed, when marriage is denigrated, it is a sign that the society is turning away from God's order. And it is going its own way. And that will lead to dire consequences within that society. And thereby we are seeing it happening in real time. This attack on marriage, biblical marriage, it is an evidence that society is turning its back on God. So we must place primacy where God places the primacy, the emphasis, God places it on marriage. Now let's move to a second consideration, and that is the purpose of marriage, the purpose of marriage. Now the Westminster divines, when they gathered together to draw up the Westminster Confession of Faith, as well as the larger and shorter catechisms, they devoted a chapter within the confession to marriage and to divorce. It is the chapter number 24, And it would do well for us to read it and to take counsel from it. Let me just quote in what they affirmed that the teaching of Scripture sanctioned with regard to the purpose of marriage. And I quote, marriage was ordained for. And so they're going to give what marriage was ordained for. They're going to give some purposes. Following on from the word for marriage was ordained for the mutual help of husband and wife, number one. Secondly, for the increase of mankind with legitimate issue and of the church with unholy seed, number two. And thirdly, for the preventing off uncleanness, number three. Taking then that statement as but a synopsis of the teaching of Scripture itself, we then see that marriage was ordained by God, purposed by God for the following specific reasons. Firstly, God instituted marriage for partnership or companionship. That's how I have put it. The divines put it for the mutual help of husband and wife. There's partnership, there's companionship in marriage. Whenever God made all things by his creative decree, he pronounced that all was good. All was good. After each day, you'll find that statement in Genesis chapter one, that all was good. And yet when he came to consider Adam's state as a lone man in Eden's paradise, he concluded this, it is not good. it is not good that man should be alone. God looked and saw something that was not good when he had just created Adam. As Adam was placed in Eden's paradise as a lone singleton, he said, it is not good that Adam or man should be alone. Now I want you to notice, I want you to note that to remedy Adam's loneliness, God did not give Adam another man. He didn't give him another man in order to have fellowship, in order to have companionship with in the Garden of Eden. God did not give Adam another man, but rather He formed and he created a completely new being called woman. And he brought her to Adam to become his lifelong companion and helper. A helper, a suitable help that was made for Adam. When Adam and Eve came together, their marriage formed a partnership in which Eve complimented her husband. She complimented her husband. Two single, unfallen entities now find companionship in each other in the paradise of God. And that's what happens in marriage. In marriage, there is the formation of a partnership between two single entities that then, as a result of that union, they become, as the Bible says, one flesh. And within that partnership there is fellowship, there is friendship, there is communion, and there is intimacy that is not found in any other human relationship. It's not found in a relationship between a parent and a child or between two friends. But rather this communion, this fellowship, this intimacy is only found within the marriage union. The Puritan Richard Baxter wrote the following about the companionship that accompanies marriage. This is what he said, he said, it is a mercy. It is a mercy to have a faithful friend that loveth you entirely, to whom you may open your mind and communicate your affairs. And it is a mercy to have so near a friend to be a helper to your soul and to stir up in you the grace of God. Now, although not specifically speaking about marriage, there is a portion of God's Word that we often think about. when we talk about companionship and friendship. It's found over there in the book of Ecclesiastes. I'll read it to you. You can look there if you so desire. Ecclesiastes chapter four, the verses nine through to 12. It really speaks to us of the benefits of companionship, of partnership. We find that sometimes with regard to our friends, but we also find this benefit coming to us when we become a married man or woman. Let me read what it says there. Ecclesiastes 4, verse 9 and 10. Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him that is alone when he falleth, for he hath not another to help him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have heat. How can one be warm alone? If one prevail against him, two shall withstand him, and a threefold cord is not quickly broken. Marriage brings companionship. It brings partnership. It is for the mutual help of husband and wife. And we have found that to be so. Those of us who are married, we thank God for our husbands. We thank God for our wives. whatever marital state you're in today, you should, the companionship that it has brought you, the friendship that has brought into your life. And so this is the first purpose for marriage. The second purpose why God instituted marriage was for purity. Purity, that's how I have termed it, purity. The Bible is very clear in its teaching regarding And my language, I trust, is measured today. But it is very clear in this teaching regarding the intimacy that is to take place between a man and a woman. Such is only ever to take place within the confines of marriage. Hebrews 13, verse 4, marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled, but Whoremongers and idolaters, or adulterers, God will judge. God could be no clearer, no clearer on this issue. Marriage is the only setting in which intimacy between a male and a female is to be expressed. The only setting. God designed marriage to enable a person possessed with natural passions and desires to remain pure and not to be guilty of committing the sin of fornication. We only have to look at God's order here in the book of Genesis, Genesis chapter 2 and the verse 4 to see that God intended such intimacy between a man and woman that that intimacy would only take place within the confines of the marriage union. You see, in Genesis chapter 2, God formed Eve. We've thought about that. And we've also thought about how God brought Eve to Adam, and they became husband and wife. Notice how Eve is termed at the end of Genesis chapter 2. And they were both naked, the man and his wife. And they were not ashamed. And so there has been this marriage has taken place. A man and a woman have come together and they are now husband and they are now wife. And having become husband and wife then, only after becoming husband and wife, only then do they have children. Look what it says in Genesis chapter 4. And Adam knew Eve his what? His wife, his wife. And she conceived and bare Cain and said, I have gotten a man off the Lord. Brethren and sisters, Adam and Eve did not cohabit for a period of time and of some kind of trial run of things. before they married, before they had children. They didn't cohabit. They didn't have children and then decide to formally cement a relationship to each other by then marrying and then becoming husband and wife. No, they were first united as husband and wife and then they had children. That's God's order. That's God's order. Genesis chapter 2 and Genesis chapter 4. That's God's order. Marriage, then intimacy, and then children if God wills it. If God wills it. Purity before marriage is what God teaches in his word. The keeping of oneself pure. Now such is laughed at by the world, such as mocked by many as being outdated and outfashioned high and even within the church of Jesus Christ. Brethren and sisters, this is God's order. This is God's counsel. This is God's directive. This is God's purpose. I, and it's better to follow God, the one who created us, the one who knows best for us, it is better to follow God's direction on this matter in order that the guilt and the shame associated with such sin is not felt by its perpetrator. That is not to say That is not to say that a person who has entered this forbidden territory, that is not to say that they cannot know the forgiveness of God. Think of the people. We thought about them last Lord's Day evening. Think of the people that experienced the power of God and the gospel there in the city of Corinth. I'll read then those verses that are so familiar to us, 1 Corinthians 6, verse 9, be not deceived, neither fornicators." There it is, the very first individuals heading up the list, well after the unrighteous. But Paul, he expands. What does he mean by the unrighteous? The ungodly. He speaks about fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind. Do you notice that many of the sins are those of the intimate nature? nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you, but ye are washed, and ye are sanctified, and ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of God." Among the list we find fornicators mentioned These people who stepped over the boundary before entering the marriage union, that's who we're speaking about here, and yet we find that they're washed in the blood of Christ, they're sanctified, and they're justified. The sin of fornication can be forgiven. The blood of Christ still cleanses from all sin. Marriage prevents the committing of sexual sins. It is the best and it is the most and it is the only sanctified solution for the temptation of the sin of fornication. Let me put it like this, to maintain our purity and avoid immorality, we ought to enter into matrimony. I repeat that again, in order to maintain our purity and avoid immorality, we ought to enter in to matrimony. The problem is that our culture has removed the boundaries that God has set in place for intimate expression. God's instruction on this issue is not intended to spoil our enjoyment, but rather to protect us from the consequences of unbridled passion. Purity. That's why then Paul says, that it would be better for a man to marry than for him to commit the sins that he was planning to commit as an unmarried individual. Purity. And then thirdly, God instituted marriage for procreation. Procreation. If you go back to Genesis chapter one and man, the account there, of man's creation. You have two accounts of man's creation in Genesis. You have Genesis chapter one, and then Genesis chapter two, it sort of expands all that happened with regard to the creation of man. But if you go back to Genesis one's account of the creation of man, let's read verse 27 and 28. So God created man in his own image, and the image of God created him. Male and female created he them, and God blessed them, and God said unto them, Notice they are brought together in this collective word here, this pronoun them. He blessed them as a couple, as a married couple. He said unto them, and this is what he said, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. God said be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. That could only ever be accomplished through Adam and Eve coming together as husband and wife and having children, and that's what happened. First Cain and then Abel were born into the home. It seems to be that there was also at least a daughter or daughters were born into the home before Seth comes onto the scene. for Cain has a wife. We can only but assume then that in those days it was permissible. It was permissible for a brother to marry a sister. No longer permissible. That will be dealt with later on in Scripture, but at that time permissible for that to happen. And so we find then that there's Abel and there's Cain, and Cain is a wife, and then we have Seth, and then we have in Genesis chapter five and the verse four, we read these words, Genesis five and the verse number four, and the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were 800 years, and he, speaking of Adam, begets sons and daughters. And so the marriage was was added to, a husband and wife they were added to with regard to children. Procreation, the having of children, it is a purpose of marriage. The word of God teaches us that marriage is the best place to have and to bring up children. Even secular studies have proven that marriage is the ideal environment for children. Let me quote from a command paper by the United Kingdom government in 2012, The command paper quoted evidence showing that, and I quote, children tend to enjoy better life outcomes when the same two parents give them support and protection. Children who have experienced the breakdown of their parents' relationships are, and again I quote, more likely to have poor cognitive development and education and employment outcomes than those who have lived with both birth parents. That's secular society. only by backing up the teaching of Scripture. And so marriage, the purpose of marriage is for procreation, the having of children. But let me add this little side note. And I do this tenderly. I make this side note with those who intend to marry with regard to this matter of procreation. And I say to those who intend to marry, you need to be aware that not all couples have children. To marry for the purpose of simply having miniatures of you running about a home is no reason for you to marry. You need to marry because you love your future husband. You need to marry because you love your future wife. And you need to marry with the intent that you will be quite content to live within the home with only you two in the home, as with regard to just a husband and a wife. To go into marriage thinking that you're going to automatically have children is naive. It is naive for you to think that, that you're just going to have children. That's so naive of you. You need to have that conversation with your future partner about the having of children, that you'll be happy enough to live the rest of your life with that man, that woman that you join in marriage and having no children, if that is God's will for your life. If God does give you children in your marriage, then you need to then take Seriously, the responsibility of raising those children and the nurture and the admonition of the Lord. You need to have them in God's house and you need to be with them in God's house. Husband, wife, father, mother, children in the house of God. When others around you who have no children, And they look on at you, at your disrespect and your lack of interest with regard to the spiritual well-being of the children. It is a terrible slight on you as a parent who have been given the responsibility of having children in your home. I'm not here today to make enemies, but let me say that there needs to be that recommitment by parents with regard to the spiritual well-being of their children. And if there has been neglect, then there needs to be repentance and a turning back to God Not a running away from God and not a running away from the church and say, well, the preacher was at me today and I'm never going back again. Let me say, this isn't the preacher saying this. This is what God gave today. Take it on board, brother. Take it on board, sister. But don't you think of going into marriage just to have little ewes running about. You may never bear children. You may never be able to have children. But there is another reason I believe God instituted marriage, and we need to go quickly. We've thought about this idea of partnership and purity and procreation. But the fourth reason why God instituted marriage is the reason I have termed portrayal, portrayal. You see, the marriage union between a Christian man and a Christian woman is to be a portrayal, is to be a picture of Christ's union with his church. This is what Paul expresses in Ephesians chapter 5, the verse 30 through to 32. For we are members of his body, and of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they too shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning what? Concerning marriage? No! I'm speaking about Christ and the church. I'm speaking about Christ and the church. As the unbelieving world looks into a Christian marriage, they should be able to see in that marriage a reflection of all that happens between Christ and His bride. As Christ is the head of the church, so a husband is to be the head of the wife and of the home. That's what the ungodly should see when they look into a Christian marriage. Is that what they see, brother? Are you the head of the home? leading the home spiritually. Yes, as Christ loved his church absolutely and purposefully and sacrificially, so the husband is to love his wife in the same way, absolutely, with only affection to her and to her alone, and purposefully and sacrificially. As Christ cares for the church, so the husband is to care for his wife. As Christ is united exclusively to his church, so the husband is to be united exclusively to his wife. And as the church submits to Christ, so the wife is to submit to her husband. It's to be a picture. It's to be a portrayal of Christ's union with his church. That's what a marriage is. Your marriage is to be a reflection of Christ and His church. And so to be an un-dutiful, unloving, uncaring, unfaithful husband reflects a picture of Christ to an unbelieving world that is not deserving of Him. And to be an unsubmissive, unfaithful, unloving wife is to place the church in a very poor light in the eyes of the unbelieving world marriage exists to display the covenant keeping love between Christ and his church. That's Paul's teaching in Ephesians chapter 5. Having thought about the primacy of marriage, the purpose, let me quickly end with the price of marriage. You know there is a price to pay when a man and a woman get married and I'm not speaking about the financial costs of buying an engagement ring or having a wedding day or setting up a marital home. There's a price to pay, firstly, in getting married. A price to pay in getting married. You know, when we get married, we forfeit our independent way of living. As it's put in Genesis chapter two, the husband and the wife, they become one flesh. Marriage sees to it that two become one. This freedom to do one's own thing, this freedom to please one's own self, is no longer possible when the marriage takes place. That's part of the price we pay when we stop living as a singleton and become a married man and become a married woman. I can no longer do as I please. Paul writes of that. We thought about it last week in 1 Corinthians 7. You see, what's the husband concerned about now? Now that he's married, he's concerned about how he may please his wife. Aye, and what's the wife concerned about? How she may please her husband. There's a price to pay. We also pay the price of leaving the family home. That's a price to pay. Especially if we've been brought up in a home where we've been loved and cared for by great parents. Genesis 2, 24, therefore shall a man leave his father and mother and shall cleave on to his wife and the two and they shall be one flesh. In marriage there is a leaving of father and mother, but in that leaving, in the leaving, that leaving is compensated by cleaving, by cleaving on to one's wife. You'll have to leave mom and dad. That's a price to pay whenever you marry. That is not to say that you do not interact with your parents, no. You continue to honor them and care for them as we are commanded in Scripture, but you leave them. You set up your own home, husband and wife. It's the price of getting married. Not only is there a price in getting married, there's a price to pay in staying married. In God's Word, or in God's will next week, we'll think about this. We'll deal with the permanence of marriage. You know, but it does require effort on our part to stay married. Living in a fallen world, populated by fallen creatures, will inevitably mean that problems will arise from time to time within a marriage. Remember what I said last week? At best, your husband, your wife, is a failing, imperfect, defective sinner, just like you. Just like you. And so the unavoidable outcome of putting two sinners in such close contact with each other is that there's going to be trouble, there will be problems, there will be disagreements. There will be. As perfect as you think you are, let me inform you that you will get on your spouse's nerves. Those annoying habits of yours that you don't even think are annoying, they are going to annoy your husband and wife. And then you're gonna have problems relating to limited finances, maybe problems that will arise because of infertility, maybe sickness, maybe whether that be physical, whether that be mental, there'll be problems with regard to work, with regard to children, with regard to family disputes. And all of these things will rock and threaten to sink the marital boat. And so staying married is going to cost you. Marriage takes time and effort. Every marriage must be worked on if it becomes what God intended it to be. A husband must work on his love for his wife. That's why Paul says, husbands, love your wife. Love your wife. Work on it. Work on loving her. And the wife must work on her being voluntarily submissive to her husband. Wives, you're going to have to work on it. This is not the natural tendency. The natural tendency for man is to love himself. But husbands, you're going to have to love your wife as you love your own self. And you wives, this natural tendency to be independent, no, you're going to have to voluntarily submit yourself to your husband. You're going to have to work on it. A happy marriage, a biblical marriage, requires selflessness, humility, service, love, and forgiveness to be exhibited by both parties when difficulties arise. The price to pay in marriage, in getting married and staying married. But let me end today by quoting what Martin Luther said about marriage. He said this, he said, there is no more lovely friendly or charming relationship, communion or company than a good marriage. There is no more lovely, friendly or charming relationship, communion or company than a good marriage. May God give us good marriages in this fellowship of believers. Marriages that are based on the Bible. Marriages that are shielded from the attacks of the wicked one. marriages that are blessed of God, marriages that are in the will of God. And so in the will of God next week, we'll return to the subject matter. The Bible's teaching on marriage, but for now, may God be pleased to bless His Word even to all of our souls, for Christ's sake and glory. Amen. Let's bow in prayer together. Our loving Father, we thank Thee for Thy dear Son. We thank Thee for the heavenly bridegroom who came and died for His bride. We think of the words of the hymn writer, from heaven He came and sought her to be His holy bride, and with His blood He bought her. and with his life, and for her life he died. We rejoice, Lord, in the union that is between Christ and his church. It is pictured for us within the marital union. Though as the ungodly world looks into our Christian homes, may they see a reflection of Christ's love for his church, his church's submission, to the head Christ when they look at a husband's love for his wife and as a wife's submission to her husband. Oh, answer prayer. Whatever the master has said today, may we willingly submit ourselves to his instruction, to his teaching. May matters be put right, all things put in order, that we might please our God and Savior. For we pray these, our prayers in Jesus' precious name. Amen and amen. Let's turn to Him, Eddie.