Well, Ezekiel 16 is that passage that we are probably less familiar, I'm going to guess that you're more familiar with Ephesians 5, 25, about husbands loving their wives just as Christ loved the church, more so than this in Ezekiel. I want us to see as we read here that there are really two engagements. One is when God comes and, in the illustration, Israel is like a little child. The cord's not even cut properly yet, and there's a tension then. And then by the time we come to verse 8, it's God looking on this poor child of Israel, this poor unloved child of Israel, and it's now when she is the time to marry, and this is God taking preparations for that. Ezekiel 16, beginning at verse 1. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations, and say, Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem, Your origin and your birth are from the land of the Canaanite, your father was an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite. As for your birth on the day you were born, your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water for cleansing. You were not rubbed with salt or even wrapped in cloths. No eye looked with pity on you to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you. Rather, you were thrown out into the open field, for you were abhorred on the day you were born. When I passed by you and saw you squirming in your blood, I said to you while you were in your blood, live. Yes, I said to you while you were in your blood, live. I made you numerous like plants of the field. Then you grew up, became tall, and reached the age for fine ornaments. Your breasts were formed and your hair had grown, yet you were naked and bare. Then I passed by you and saw you and behold you were at the time for love, so I spread my skirt over you and covered your nakedness. I also swore to you and entered into a covenant with you so that you became mine, declares the Lord God. Then I bathed you with water, washed off your blood from you, and anointed you with oil. I also clothed you with embroidered cloth and put sandals of porpoise skin on your feet, and I wrapped you with fine linen and covered you with silk. I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your hands, and a necklace around your neck. I also put a ring in your nostril, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. Thus, you were adorned with gold and silver, and your dress was of fine linen, silk, embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour, honey, and oil, so you were exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. Then your fame went forth among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was perfect because of my splendor, which I bestowed on you, declares the Lord God. And now for the more familiar passage, Ephesians 5 and verse 25. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for her, so that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that he might present to himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she would be holy and blameless. So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own body. Well, let's come to consider this portion of the Word of God. If you're looking at your handout sheet, you'll notice Roman numeral one, the pinnacle expression of Christ's love. As we come to the table of remembrance there is in this passage an interplay. Part of the time Paul is talking about husbands and how they are to be exemplary in their love. And part of the time, he's simply holding out Christ as the great example of a committed, loving husband in agape love. So we begin with Roman number one, the pinnacle expression of Christ's love. And this comes in the latter part of verse 25. And there is an explicit comparison to Christ's love. Husbands, love your wives. Just as, just as Christ also loved the church, this is what the husband is to do. He is to give himself in the agape love, that other oriented love that Christ exemplified in giving himself for the church. So he gives a direction to the husband, love your wife, and then immediately he reaches for the example of the Lord Jesus and brings our Lord into the picture just as Christ also loved the church. Secondly, B, the exclusive saving object of Christ's love. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved the church. There is one bride for this husband. There is one bride for the Lord Jesus Christ. And who is it who is the recipient of Christ's love? He loved the church and he gave himself for her. And what was her condition when Christ initiated his love? Well, if we let ourselves go back in our minds to Ezekiel 16, there is this needy, needy, needy child who's not even had the basic medical attention that is necessary, and God shows his love and God gives his care, and then if we fast forward to when she is older, there's still tremendous need. on the part of this young woman, and yet God says, I want to care for you, I want to make you to be my own. So there is this exclusive saving love that the Lord Jesus has. But then thirdly, C, the disposition of his love. The disposition, the prevailing mood, or the inclination. What is his love like? Well, it is that agape love. It is his love of the will where he is looking as God does on that needy one of Ezekiel 16 and shows kindness. Dr. Ferguson writes, the love in view is sacrificial and cross-shaped. It will not stop short at absorbing pain and even dying for the loved one. It is also a love that has sanctification as its goal. Just as Christ died to sanctify the church, cleansing it from all impurities, so there is that ongoing love of the Lord Jesus in the sanctifying process. So it's not that we think of the Lord Jesus that he gave himself in his death, to provide a justification for her, to win the ability to transform her life, but there is that ongoing patience as Jesus deals with us as believers as very imperfect who need to go through the process of change and transformation. Fourthly, D, the self-sacrificing activity of his love. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her. Gave himself for her. We're familiar with the words. but may God help us to enter into their meaning yet again. There are a couple of other passages that have very similar language of loving and giving. One of these is Galatians 2 and verse 20. The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me, and gave himself for me. We have it in Revelation 1 and verse 5. And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead and the ruler over the kings of the earth, to him who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. and has made us kings and priests to his God and Father. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever." How did the Lord Jesus give himself? Well, he gave himself in the death of the cross. But there were a number of things that he had to go through before he was in a position to give himself on the cross. Jesus gave himself in his incarnation, being willing as a second person of the Trinity to become man, to be humbled, to be humiliated. where he would be willing to be a little baby born of the Virgin. He gave himself in his boyhood submission to his earthly parents, the second person of the Trinity, joined to true humanity. His name was Jesus. but he was yet the eternal son of God and yet he demonstrated righteousness in showing respect to those parents. It is putting up with hunger and thirst here in the world. in his willingness to be despised by the religious and political leaders of his time. Impatiently enduring the slowness of the disciples, the immaturity of the disciples, Jesus showed his love. He gave himself in the agony of Gethsemane, where in the end, He embraced God's will for him, and he was willing to be made sin in our behalf. He gave himself in accepting the betrayal kiss from his supposed friend. The mock trials, the beatings, the crown of thorns, he gave himself in his actual crucifixion and death. Well, so much then for the pinnacle expression of Christ's love. Let's come to Roman numeral 2, the immediate saving goal of Christ's love. According to this passage, What was it that he was wanting to do? And of course, what Jesus wants to do is what he actually does. The latter part are there in verse 26, that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of the water by the word. And it may be that Jesus is using the language here in picking up that which would be very common from both a Jewish and Greek culture, or so it seems. that there would be in the Greek culture where oftentimes at least a young woman who is being married, she would go to the river and there's this special ceremonial bath that she takes before she gets all adorned for the wedding. There seems to be something of this in the Ezekiel 16 passage where God, Jehovah, looks on Israel as this needy young woman and says, okay, this is what I'm going to do for you, I need to close, but we're going to start out with this bath, perhaps this ceremonial bath. And what we find is we ask several questions. We'll begin with A, why? Why did Jesus give himself as a sacrifice? Why did he love and give himself there on the cross? Well, here in verse 26, in order that he might sanctify. The purpose clause begins it, it goes on that he might sanctify, and it's likely here speaking of definitive sanctification. Do you know what that one is? Well, there are three parts of the overall process of sanctification, and it seems that this is that first point where in the early days of conversion when we're regenerated there is a marked change that is in our lives and then the up and down process begins. But it seems that this cleansing bath for the young woman being married would be more equivalent to this special setting apart. and cleanse, that he might cleanse her and sanctify her and cleanse her. It's perhaps too difficult for us to nail this down and say, okay, this is sanctification and this is justification. It's perhaps better to take this cleansing in a broader sense that Jesus died on the cross to win the right to forgive her, to win the right to definitively sanctify her at the beginning and to carry that process on along in life and then to close it out. This is very likely to that first century mind. would have them thinking of this ceremonial bath that prepares a young woman for her marriage. Secondly, the second question, how? How did Jesus sanctify and cleanse? Verse 26, And interesting to us, it is not so much with his blood. Of course, his blood must be shed for her justification. But here it is a washing of the water by the Word, that prenuptial ceremonial bath is still in view. This washing of water may refer to the young bride as she is preparing herself to get dressed for this special day. But notice that when it speaks of the washing of the Word, It's not the word that is logos, but the word that is rhema. Logos may point more to the Lord Jesus Christ, but rhema points more to the actual words of the text. There's a passage like Ephesians 6 and verse 17, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, the rhema of God. There's power in the words of scripture. John 15 and verse 7, if you abide in me, and my words abide in you, my rhema, those particular words that are on the page of the text, if they abide in you, there is power that is conveyed by them. Or John 17 and verse 8, for I have given to them, Jesus praying to his Father, I have given to them the words, the rhema, that you have given to me, and they have received them, and they have known surely that I came forth from you, and they have believed that you sent me." Third question, what does this sanctifying and cleansing, this washing by the water with the word, have to do with you and me? Well, Jesus died for his people, He shed his blood for their forgiveness, but there is also this ongoing process where we have the truth of the words on the page of Scripture that come across our minds, show us our areas of weakness and deficiency, and by the grace of the Holy Spirit, we resolve that we will do better. we resolve that we will turn away from this and that behavior that are defined by the words of Scripture. Do you know something of this? But it's not only just as a Christian, but as we come to the table of remembrance, It's a process where God expects us to examine ourselves and see, how am I doing? Am I growing in grace? Have I become cold? Are there major areas of difficulty in my life? Have I become isolated from someone among the people of God? Am I rightly relating to the people of God? There are all sorts of areas that we can examine ourselves, but then at the table of remembrance, it is a remembrance of a life and death commitment of a life and death covenant. As we take that symbol of the blood of Christ, that symbol of the broken body of Christ, as we take that to ourselves, we are pledging that we will walk in the ways of the Lord Jesus. There's a sense in which every communion service is a recommittal service. And I don't tend to use that language of recommittal because I think it's been many times very much abused in the decades that I have been a Christian. where those who are not Christians are trying to recommit themselves as Christians. But there is, at the Lord's table, a legitimate place for recommittal. Here's where I've not been doing the best. Here's where I want to improve. Here I am giving myself, I am committing myself to Jesus Christ as I take those emblems of His covenant. So Roman numeral one, the pinnacle expression. Roman numeral two, the immediate saving goal, that cleansing that sanctifying and cleansing by the word, by the rhema, the actual words on the text, and now Roman numeral three, the ultimate heavenly goal of Christ's love. He plans on cleaning us, but then there's something more ultimate, and here it is, that of heaven, verse 27, that he might present her to himself a glorious church. not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. Now we know these verses. We're very familiar with them. But we need to come to these verses with a measure of freshness and actually believe that this will be true of us. that as we are a part of that bride of Christ, we will be a part of that glorious, spotless, sinless bride. Now there are some parallels here to the two-stage wedding process where it starts out where there is a betrothal where, in at least some of the cultures, it is that I speak to you, I speak to you in the presence of two witnesses, and that's enough. We are betrothed. But then our actual wedding day may not be but for another year later. It's some time later. And so it is that it appears here in the New Testament, even as the Apostle Paul would talk about how he has betrothed us as a virgin to the Lord Jesus Christ. And then in the next breath, he talks about our presentation. So the two stages. First of all, A, let's ask some questions of verse 27. A, who does the presenting? Well, typically the bridegroom would fetch his bride and take her to present her in her wedding day ornaments to his father. But here, it is that Jesus simply presents her to himself. And there's a striking display here of his authority over his bride, and he's entitled. He died in order to save us. He is tremendously more valuable than what you or I are in our sin, for sure. But Jesus Christ is both bridegroom and judge of the universe. He is the bridegroom who condescends to make you or me the object of his affection. and he is as well the judge of the universe and our judge. So Jesus is the author and the finisher of our faith. He is the one who in sovereign initiative starts our believing, helps us all along the way, and makes sure that our faith finishes there at the end. So who does the presenting? Jesus presents to himself. Now secondly, B, who does he present that he might present her to himself, a glorious church, her, the glorious church this one that he has shown kindness to, this one that he has forgiven, that he has set apart in holiness, that he has begun the work of cleansing her. But on this occasion she is not some partially cleaned up gal, but rather she is absolutely pure. ready to be in the presence of God, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish." And it's interesting how Paul starts out with the analogy here, the analogy, the illustration of wedding is in our mind and he talks about presenting her as this glorious individual. She doesn't have any spots. She's been cleaned up very well. If she's older as a bride, then it's like time has been turned back and there's no wrinkle. There's nothing wrong with her and our mind is working physically But notice how the transition moves, but that she should be holy and without blemish. And so is illustration of a bride who is here with her perfectly white wedding dress. There are no smudges on it. If you can even see her white shoes, it's not that there's a broken heel. It's not that it looks like You know, somebody's been wearing those shoes for 15 years. Everything in her appearance is just right, but then the transition moves. This is a moral beauty, Paul says, that she should be holy and without blemish. And it's not thinking that her dress is clean, that she smells okay. that her hair is generally, no, it's that there is a moral beauty, that she is holy, and in her life she is without blemish. And here's where we believe in the power of the gospel. that Jesus can remove the tattoos of your worldliness and modify the birthmarks of your and my depravity. That's his business. Who does he present? Her. To himself, a glorious church. This one that Ezekiel tells us in the perspective of God, this little child that – and I'm It hurts to say it, this child that is kind of left there in the blood, not tended to, something that we would never ever want to do, but it's the illustration. That little helpless child that needs so much attention, God has lavished his attention. That young woman. who needs someone to put his arm around her and say, I will be with you for life. I will take care of you, even though there are some things about you that are not really the best. Who does he present? Well, that her, that needy her, is holy and without blemish. Thirdly, C, when? When does Jesus present His bride spotless to Himself? Well, Paul was in time speaking about when Jesus Christ comes again. It's a parallel passage in Colossians 1, 28. Paul says, him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom. That's what we're trying to do in time in order that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. The only time when Paul is gonna present anyone perfect In Christ Jesus is at the great and final day, when Christ comes again or in the day of judgment. And Paul, I mentioned this just alluding to it, but it's 2 Corinthians 11, 2, for I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy, for I have betrothed you to one husband, that's the first part of the marriage contract, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. We as a church will only be glorious and honorable without spot, without wrinkle, we'll only be that way. at the second coming of Christ as the Spirit comes and takes us in our ongoing process of sanctification and bumps us up to 100% moral perfection in our hearts. Fourthly, D. Here is an advance on Hosea's experience with Gomer. Do you remember Hosea? Well, the prophets Remember Gomer? Well, Hosea had the great lot in life of being told by God to go marry someone who was a prostitute, was the kind of woman that sold herself. And it's like Hosea then kind of had to put up with that. There's some indications that just because he married her and just because she lived at 101 Prophet Way, that it doesn't mean that all was well with her heart. He kind of had to put up and endure that. But when Christ takes those who have a deviant heart, he changes it. He changes the disposition. and Christ transforms us to perfection so that he can present us before his Father in heaven and the Father and the Spirit and the Son, none of them can find anything wrong with us. And of course that's not because of you and me, but that's because of the perfection of Christ's work on the cross and that sanctifying ministry of the Holy Spirit. Fourthly, the practical relevance. The practical relevance of Christ's love. Note these exemplary traits of Jesus Christ's love. And here I'm going to be kind of vacillating back and forth, sometimes talking about Jesus Christ as the one who is our great sacrifice. and at times showing how that relates to a man, a believing man who is a Christian. And of course, Jesus is the only exemplary, the only perfect bridegroom. So note these exemplary traits. Number one, Jesus is sincere in his love. there is an absolute correspondence between his words and his deeds. Jesus can say, I love you, and that's going to be followed up with a perfection in his deeds in that he gave himself for her. And so should it be with every husband naming Christ's name, there should at least be a sincerity that when the words come out, I love you, that there is something that is corresponding of an overall commitment to that woman. And oh, the misery of the woman who finds out that her husband's words are only the tricks of a cunning deceiver. And I don't mean to bring pain to any woman as we come to the table of remembrance, but could it be that God allows in our orb of experience, God allows us to have contact with some who are less than exemplary as a husband So that we can, this is not exactly Jesus Christ. He is sincere in his love. Bless God that Jesus is sincere. He says he will love us to the end, and he does love us to the end. the exemplary traits of the Lord Jesus. Secondly, Jesus is supreme and exclusive in his love. Christ knew that he went to the cross with a special love for his sheep. I lay down my life for my sheep. There are his seed. his people that he would bring, all that the Father has given to him. He's going to bring them along. But Hebrews tells us that there is not help that is given to angels. He didn't die for angels. But there is help that is given for the believing seed of Abraham. Listen to this love song in a sense, this love verse, Zephaniah 3 and verse 17, the Lord God, your God in your midst, the mighty one will save you. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will quiet you with his love. He will rejoice over you with singing. there is a supreme and exclusive focus in Christ's love. He focuses on his bride, which of course is made up of all those who truly believe. So the Christian husband, so the husband in general, is to sustain a supreme relationship to one woman, not many women, not a man who's got a priority, even on the kids that have come from that union. Not a priority plainly on his associates at work, but a priority on his bride. Jesus is supreme and exclusive in his love and we see it as a good example for us, and we see it as that which makes us love him as we come to the table. Thirdly, Jesus is passionate in his love. The Lord Jesus endured great personal hardship to provide for his bride. It wasn't as though that he gets bored with her. after a few weeks, or he gets bored with her after a relatively short period of time, and she's got all these needs. Got these needs. She needs someone to die in her place. And Jesus is saying, well, oh, I'll just move along. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. Matthew 26 verse 37, of course, in the Garden of Gethsemane, He took Peter and two sons of Zebedee and began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. And then he said to them, my soul is exceedingly sorrowful even to death. And he ran out of the garden and ran out of Israel, was never seen again. No, he went and fell on his face and prayed saying, oh my father if it is possible let this cup pass from me, nevertheless not as I will but as you will. He is passionate in his love and he determines that he will stay, that he will go to the cross, he will fulfill the father's desire. And you men can be passionate in your love and saying, I determine to love her. I determine to make sure that her adult home is an improvement over the home of her childhood and making her home to be a place for peace, happiness, and stability. Fourthly, what is Jesus like in his love? Jesus is consistent in his love. He never forgets us. He never despises us nor ignores us. He is not fickle. Having loved his own who are in the world, he loved them to the end. We are told, let love be without hypocrisy. So a husband's love is to be the same at all times and in all places. It's a durable love in all settings. The same love at home as abroad. The same in other homes as in his own home. A man with a hypocritical love. would have a wife who would say, oh, that I were treated in my own house with the same tenderness and attention as I receive in front of company. It's a durable love in all seasons of life, not only at the beginning, not only in the early years, but all along the way to the end. It's a commitment for life. One of our sisters working in a medical facility for the elderly explained to me how the quality of different marriages appear. And I don't remember the details since I was told this, I'm sorry. Whether or not the rooms were adjoining or maybe in some case there's two twin beds, two single beds. But in some situations, there are some spouses who come in and crawl in bed with the other for their daily cuddle. And there are others who come in for their daily argument. It's a durable love. It's a consistency in love. And now fifthly, Jesus is costly in his love. He loves from the heart. He willingly comes to the earth. He lives thirty years in humiliation. He leaves us an example of how to live in a sin-cursed world. He goes on to the cross in self-denial. He sends his spirit to indwell us and transform us after he goes back to heaven. He ever lives to intercede for us, praying for us that we would be advanced in the midst of our weaknesses and our temptations. And so a husband's love is to be sacrificial. It will cost him something. a man's marriage cannot be a side issue for him. But then secondly and very quickly, B, note not only the exemplary traits, but note the centrality of the cross. The centrality of the cross to biblical Christianity, the cross is frequently pressed on the Christian. And we find the cross here, right here in the midst of Paul's dealings with husbands and wives on how they are to get along. Jesus is a husband's great pattern, but the cross of Jesus Christ is much more than a great pattern, isn't it? At the heart of its meaning, the cross is the gospel where Jesus through his death appeases the wrath of the Father. Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. died in our place, died in our stead. Well, the wonderful love, life, and death of the Lord Jesus Christ. We could turn this passage, Ephesians 5, and make it a marriage enrichment seminar as to what husbands need to do. Or we could just as comfortably work through it and think about the self-giving, self-dying of the Lord Jesus Christ as leading us to the table of remembrance. Dalton, would you come and respond in prayer? I know I've given you no notice, but come lead us to the throne of grace, if you would. Heavenly Father, we praise you this evening that we can come to you through the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for this meditation that we have received. We thank you for his life. We thank you for his death. We thank you for his resurrection. We are hopeless without you. And so we thank you that we can come and remember the life and death of Jesus. We can praise you for the eternal life that is in him. We praise you in Jesus' name, amen.