The Responsibility of Husbands

Thank you, Beverly Keith. I think I've said this before. I think it was probably the last time he sang that song, "Love of God." That's a good one to meditate over. I encourage you to really take note of the songs that we sing. Many of them can be used in your own personal devotional time. Many of them I use in my own time, in my own study. I might have them printed off in my prayer notebook or in my Bible. Many of them we listen to in our own home. Brother Keith can help you with that. We want to help facilitate worship, not just through the Word, but also through songs.

It's a very strong and powerful way to communicate the truths of God's Word. Thanks, Keith. I appreciate that very much. I'll take your Bible this morning and turn to the book of Ephesians. Ephesians 5. I know Brother Keith already mentioned that we would be in Ephesians 5. Last week we were in Genesis, Genesis 1, 2, 3. This morning we'll be in Ephesians 5. I will reference or look back at Chapter 4, but our main verses will start in verse 22. We'll go on down to verse 29. Encourage you to jot those verses down. Sometimes when I reference verses, you might go back and look at them in your own personal time.

It will distract you by making you turn back and forth too much. Sometimes I can distract you from what you might need to hear. We'll be in Ephesians 5 verses 22 through 29. Last week we started our new series. I call this series Messages from the Pastoral Heart. I've used this series title before. I think that by now you see a pattern from time to time. There are subjects that need to be addressed. These are some subjects that I've been praying over for quite some time. I think these are needs in the life of our church. Now, some of these subjects are going to deal with needs in the future.

These are messages that have been really heavy on my heart. That's why we paused in our study in John, the Gospel of John. We stopped right there between Chapter 11 and Chapter 12. Last week we started looking at the family. We're going to have several messages pertaining to the family. If you were to ask me how many, I would answer you honestly by saying, "I'm not quite sure yet. I'm still fleshing out, still praying over where these messages will go." Last week in dealing with the family, we started at the beginning. Remember the title of the message was rather lengthy.

The family, our fundamental foundation, and then it went on to say the title, "Start at the beginning," and we went all the way back to the first family. I thought this quite a bit in my study, but I didn't voice it. The first family doesn't reside in Washington. The first family was in the garden. Think about that for a minute. We went all the way back to the beginning and we looked at the first family, that being Adam and that being Eve. We saw everything that transpired in Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3. There's a lot of message there, a lot of meat there, a lot of information there.

I challenge you to make sure you get all that the Lord wanted us to get. That's why I want you to listen to the message if you missed it. Get the notes, study the notes, because all of these messages will build. Now, in introducing the message, I made a statement. I said that the family, as it has been given by God, is under attack within the culture. I think most of us who have a pulse can see that. The culture in which we live in is attacking the family. I think that as we live in our world and in our country and in our culture, we're going to see a more intensified attack on the family as it was given by God.

Now, in the message dealing with the first family, we saw that the family was under attack right there in the Garden of Eden. Satan started with a subtle approach by questioning God's Word. Remember what he did in Genesis 3, verse 1? He came, the new American standard says, "Indeed, has God said?" What he did was he questioned the authoritative, definitive Word of God. Then Satan moved on to a more direct approach by contradicting God's Word in Genesis 3, verse 4. Of course, we know that Adam and Eve followed this simple path of temptation. They went all the way to sin, therefore there was the fall. So I talked about that failure.

They failed to adhere to the authority of God's Word. Adam failed in his responsibility to lead his wife, and there was a progression. There was a downward slide, and that temptation led the sin, and then when they sinned, they failed. Now, not only was the first family attacked in the Garden of Eden, believe it or not, the family is attacked also in the church. Now I want you to notice some things I've been saying. The family has been attacked and is being attacked within the culture. The family was attacked in the Garden, but the family is also attacked in the church.

I was reminded of that this week in doing some reading and doing some study. I'm going to make mention of a famous, in certain circles, Christian leader. I'm not one that has my ear to the ground in all of the areas in the Christian culture, but I do try to peek up from my busy life and look around from time to time. But I'm going to make mention of a particular individual, a particular couple that will illustrate the attack against the family within the church. There is a very famous Christian in certain circles. Her name is a female. Her name is Jen Hatmaker. It's an odd name. It sticks with you if you hear it. She is a Christian author.

She is a speaker to women, and she is a blogger, and also within television. I'll explain that. To give you an idea of her audience, her blog has roughly nine million followers. She has been featured in Christianity Today magazine. She's written seven books. Matter of fact, some of them have been on the New York Times bestseller list. Her books were sold in Life Way Christian Resources, which is the publishing arm of the Southern Baptist Convention. She's married to a gentleman named Brandon Hatmaker. He is an author, speaker, and he is a pastor of a church in Austin, Texas. She is fairly famous in certain circles.

Matter of fact, they have become so famous. They also have a TV show on HGTV called Your Big Family Renovation. You might have seen them on television. But something came out about this couple, this pastor, this female Christian leader, in a recent interview. She was being interviewed by a source called Religion News Service. The title of the article, the article was written by a man named Jonathan Merritt. This is an interview, but the title goes like this, "The Politics of Jen Hatmaker, Trump, Black Lives Matter, Gay Marriage, and More." This was published October the 25th of 2016. That is very recent news by our day's standard.

I want to hone in on her response about gay marriage, listen to what she says. This is the question, politically speaking, do you support gay marriage? She goes on to say, and I quote, "From a civil rights and civil liberty side and from just a human being side, any two adults have the right to choose who they want to love, and they should be afforded the same legal protections of any of us.

I would never wish anything less from my gay friends." She continues, and I quote, "From a spiritual perspective, since gay marriage is legal in all 50 states, our communities have plenty of gay couples who, just like the rest of us, need marriage support and parenting help and a Christian community. They are either going to find those resources in the church or they are not." And she continues, "Not only are these neighbors, are these our neighbors and friends, but they are brothers and sisters in Christ. They are adopted into the same family as the rest of us, and the church hasn't treated the LGBT community like family.

We have to do better." The second question, you mentioned faithfulness to God. Do you think an LGBT relationship can be holy? She says, "I do." Period. And my views are tender here. This is a very nuanced conversation, and it's hard to nail it down in just one sitting. She just nailed it down. What did she say? "I do." Then she goes on to say, "I've seen too much pain and rejection in the gay community and the church," and she goes on to make other comments. Now to clarify things, her husband, pastor, author, speaker, named Brandon Hatmaker on his own personal Facebook page, he dated November the 1st.

He went on to give a lengthy explanation as to he and his wife's convictions. This is how I title it, "Where I Stand on LGBTQ." But on down after the first paragraph, he says this, and I quote, "To be clear, Jen and I are 100% on the same page regarding her recent interview about our love and the hope for the LGBTQ community. This is a journey we have been on together. We both believe a same-sex marriage as a lifelong monogamous commitment can be holy before God." Now you might say, "That is someone I've never heard of." You might also say, "That is a long way from Lawrence County, Lincoln County, and Nola Baptist Church.

We cannot take that approach." I know people in Brookhaven, Mississippi who at one time followed this particular person. As a matter of fact, if you go to Brandon Hatmaker's personal explanation on his Facebook page and you scroll down, and those of you who know how Facebook works, at the comments and the likes at the very bottom of his response at the comments within that list of comments, lo and behold I saw someone that I knew. These things can hit closer to home than we know. This morning I want to take us into the first family, which is Adam and Eve, and I want to move away from the first family.

I want to go to Paul's instruction on the family in Ephesians chapter 5. At the beginning of chapter 4 verse 1, "I therefore the prisoner of the Lord entreat you to walk." If you follow Paul all the way through chapter 4, you will notice occasionally he uses this word "walk." The new international version translates this word "live." Now it's important because listen, what Paul is saying is this is the essence, this teaching is the essence of the Christian life. He says "walk, walk, walk." Verse 17, "walk, walk." Chapter 5 verse 1.

Here's what he says, "Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children and walk." What is he doing in chapter 4, chapter 5? This is how we live the Christian life. This is how we live for the Lord. This is how we walk. One of the commentators I read, the new American commentary says this word "walk," talking about the word that Paul used, he says the word Paul has used here is to define the Christian ethic. What are they saying? This is the Christian life. This is how we live the Christian life in chapter 4, chapter 5. This is how Paul expects Christians to live and these issues of marriage and the home are right in this Christian ethic.

So let us as Christians see how we should walk and how we should live in the area of marriage. So let's turn our specific attention to chapter 5 verse 22. Here's what Paul says, "Wives, be subject to your own husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ also is the head of the church. He himself being the Savior of the body. But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands and everything. Husbands love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for her. That he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of the 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 should be holy and blameless." Verse 28, "So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself." Verse 29, which will be our last verse, "For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it just as Christ also does the church." Now the title of the message this morning is, "The Family, Our Fundamental Foundation, The Responsibility of Husbands." Very lengthy, but it's exactly what we looked at last week.

The family, our fundamental foundation, but the alteration with the title this morning is, "The Responsibility of Husbands." We're going to look at two main truths out of chapter 5. The husband's headship and the husband's love. The husband's headship and the husband's love. Encourage you to take notes. I want you to take notes so that you can learn and we can retain what the Lord wants us to see and hear and have in our lives. So let's look at main truth number one, the husband's headship.

Go back to the verses, verses 23, on down to verse 24, "For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, for he himself being the Savior of the body. But as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be to their husbands in everything." So we see the husband's role here in these verses. Now last week we learned the roles within the first family and that being Adam and Eve. Did we not clearly see those roles? Those roles were obviously laid out there in Genesis chapter 1, chapter 2, and even in chapter 3.

Adam was created first and Eve was taken from Adam's side and the scripture says, "As a helpmate." We see this in Genesis 2, chapter 2, verses 23 through 24. That was prior to the fall. We see this after the fall in chapter 3 because when God is dealing with Eve after the fall, He says to Eve, "Your desire is going to be to rule over your husband." But that was not her role. And so we see even before and after the fall the roles of husband and wife. Now we will see that Paul carries these same roles all the way into the New Testament teaching. Now I want to make two observations about the husband's role. Two observations.

First the husband is the head. The husband is the head. For the husband is the head of the wife. That's what we see at the beginning of verse 23 over in verse 24. But as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be to their husbands and everything. So what we see is the husband is the head. Now the translations that we study, we study several together, the New American, the English Standard, the King James. Some use the New International Version. All of them use this word head. Now this word head in the New Testament is often translated as ruler or master or chief.

Now this goes back to the purpose of woman in that she was made for man as his helpmate in life. Matthew Henry, the old Puritan commentator says, "The divine purpose was that the man should lead and the man should be the center of the household and the position of his wife as a wife should be the one of submission." That's what we see in the text. We see this again from Paul in another place in 1 Corinthians 11 verse 3. Paul says, "But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ.

There's the authority of the Lord and the head of the wife is her husband and the head of Christ is God." So we see that authority and that subjection to authority lined out right there in Corinthians as well. Now in dealing with the husband of the head, I want to make certain specific notations here. Notice he is the head by original design. Isn't Paul basically quoting the design that he sees in Genesis chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3? From our study last week we should answer that question yes. Adam was created first. Eve was created as his helpmate. As Adam looked around him, there was nothing within the creation that corresponded to him.

When God created Eve, he brought Eve to Adam and in the original language he said, "Wow, look what God has brought to me." The two became one and they were perfect because Adam was complete. So the man is the head by original design. And Paul is being true to what we see in Genesis even after the fall in chapter 3. But also notice he is the head as Christ is the head of the church. What do we see? Verse 24, "But as the church is subject to Christ," what does he say?

"So also wives ought to be to their husbands." We see it in chapter, in verse 23, "For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is also the head of the church." So two times we see that he is the head as Christ is the head of the church. But then notice also he is the head in everything. Isn't that what we see in verse 24? But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. Now I want you to notice a word here. Go back to verse 24, that word "but" right there. Now the King James reads therefore, the English Standard reads now.

Now this is placed there purposefully because in the original construction the placement of that word is to enforce what is said in the verse. That's why Paul is being repetitive. Go back and look. "For the husband is the head of the wife as," this is the example, "Christ also is the head of the church. He himself being the Savior of the church or the body." But he's adding an emphasis. He's repeating. He is elevating the truths that are taught. But as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. So he is the head in everything.

So we saw first the husband is the head and second notice Christ is our example. Now through these two verses we see that Paul is using Christ as the example to teach this truth that the husband is the head. Christ is Lord over the church and that lordship was given by God for God's purposes and for God's plan. This came as Christ was perfectly obedient to God by suffering and dying for the church. So Christ by God's design is the head of the church. And you know for those of us who went through that study in the seven churches in the book of Revelation, we saw that headship.

We saw that authority as Christ came to each of those churches dealing with each of those messengers or ministers, dealing with each of their problems, each of their sins, each of their struggles, each of their strengths. And he was exercising his lordship over the church. And he even said, "If you will not be obedient, I will come remove the lampstand which symbolized him removing his presence." And Christ is our example. He is Lord over the church and he is our example in the husband being the head of the family. So this is very simple. This is very simple. For some of you, this is even profound.

For some of you here, this might even be shocking because this type of language can be recoiled, recalled from or run from by some. And this is not what's taught and this is not what is expected in our modern culture, even within some churches. This headship of the husband is sometimes run from. But this is concrete language and the meaning is concrete and we see it from Genesis all the way to the New Testament. And listen, this is not to be altered. This authority, this structure is not malleable. We are not to alter it. And as soon as Adam and Eve altered it, there came failure.

Now as we begin to move to the application, I must ask you a question. What is your reaction even right now? Remember one of our major words from the message of last week was authority. Remember that word? We are either going to operate under the authority of God's word and the way God organized the first family or we're going to rebel from that. The family originated from God. It didn't just happen and it was organized by God and man has no right to tamper with it and when man alters the family or tampers with the family structure, failure always comes. Now I want to ask you a question.

What would happen if Christ was taken and removed as head of the church? I can tell you what will happen, much of what we see happen in a lot of other churches. Now listen people, what would happen if we remove Christ as head of the church? It would result in calamity, it would result in failure, it would result in man-centered church, and many of us have been victimized by that and we've been hurt by that and it grips us and it would move us. If I were to tell you we're going to remove Christ as the head of the church, many of you would jump up and scream heretic and run for the door.

Rightfully so, but for us to remove Christ from the church, it's just as damning as if we move the husband as the head of the family. And listen husbands, Christ is our example and if we're to be head of the family as Christ is head of the church, we must ask ourselves what this looks like. We must be willing to submit ourselves to the authority of the word, submit ourselves to the Lord and ask the Lord to examine our hearts, examine our lives, examine our families, examine our dreams and aspirations for our family and allow him to put his finger on every little thing that is not in line with his will.

If Christ is our example, Christ, we see that Christ provides for the church in all areas. Christ provides for the church physically. He might not give the church all her wants, but he gives the church all her needs. You know there's some men, they need to learn how to provide physically for their families. Listen, some men need to learn and I'm not talking about wants, I'm talking about needs and there's a big difference. Some of you husbands need to realize we must provide for our families physically. The scripture said if we will not provide for our families, our physical families, we are worse than infidels, the King James says.

Unbelievers. We must provide for our families spiritually. Look at what Christ provided for the church. We must provide for our families in purpose. You might say, "What does that mean, pastor?" You can provide for your family a purpose that can be worldly and materialistic and have nothing to do with the church and the kingdom of God and the purposes of God. Listen, the purpose of the family is to fulfill God's purposes on earth. It's a vehicle. You must provide for your family a future and that future must be bound up in the church and the kingdom of God and the work of God. You might say, "Pastor, you're coming back to the church.

You're talking about the church." Listen, we must realize the center of God's activity on earth today is the church. A lot of people say they want to be involved in God's work, but they forsake the church. That's a lie. They're misled. And, see, listen, Christ has provided the church in all areas, physically, spiritually, with a purpose and with future. Listen, and Christ loves the church. And if we're going to lead our families, we might have our struggles, men. We might be working through all of those, but if we are striving to provide as Christ has provided, we will have our families in the church. The church is where God's working.

The church is where the Word is preached. The church is where the saints pray for the cares of the world and the lost people down the roads and streets where we live. And the church is where we pray for you. This is where God's working, and you must have your family right in the center. And look, let me share with you.

If you've got some struggles at home, if you've got some areas of weakness, if you've got some blatant sin and your ability to lead your family, you bring your family to church, you be here every time the doors are open under the preaching of the Word and the care of the elders that God's put over you and the prayers of the saints. And I'm going to tell you, God will take the red-hot iron and start ironing out those problems. He'll bring you to the feet of Jesus, and you'll submit to that authority because you love Him. So what are we looking at? The husband's role. We are the ones that God has entrusted to lead.

And listen, men, we must be leading. If we are husbands, we must be leading our families physically and spiritually. I know we're growing. I know that we're rebuilding, but let me tell you something. God has provided you husbands a wonderful opportunity. Don't let it pass you by. Let's move on. Truth number two, I want us to see the husband's love. The husband's love. We just examined the husband's role, but now let's look at the husband's love. Look at verse 25, on down to verse 30. Husbands love your wives. Verse 23, what did he say? For the husband is the head of the wife. Now he says, husbands love your wives.

Just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of the 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 should be holy and blameless. So he's continuing with that language. Husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just also as Christ does for his body. So here we move on to the next responsibility of the husband, and that is to love.

So the husband is the lead, that's his role. Now the husband's role is to love. I like what John MacArthur says here. He says, now that the husband's authority has been established, the emphasis moves to the supreme responsibility of husbands in regard to their wives, and that is to love. I like that. I like how he uses supreme responsibility. He does not say, now that it's been established that the husband is to lead, now let's go on and command. No, he says the husband is to lead, and then he loves. A couple things in observation here. First, notice he is to love as Christ loved the church. What does he say? Husbands love your wives.

Here's the example, just as Christ loved the church. Here we have Christ as the perfect example. Now while the first family, Adam and Eve, they are an example, but they're imperfect because they're human and they sinned against God and they failed. But notice how this seems to be, there seems to be gigantic, enormous, Grand Canyon style balance here. Because listen, he doesn't say, you lead, then you command. He says, you lead and then you love. And I want you to see. Christ's love was the strongest, it was the purest, and it was the greatest love that the world has ever seen. It was agape love.

Now we know in the original language, there were multiple words used for love. You had eros love, that's where our word erotic comes from. That is a physical, sexual, sensual love. Then you had filet love, that's where the word Philadelphia comes from. That means a brotherly love. We love each other with a brotherly love. Then we have agape love. That is the sacrificing, a giving, a yielding of the self love. And that is exactly what Christ did. And Christ agape loved the world and agape loved the church. And Christ's love was the strongest and the purest and the greatest and the best love the world has ever seen.

So what we see is Paul does not just stay with Adam and Eve's example, he moves on to the greatest example and that was Christ. And the duty of the wife is to be in submission, but here we see that the duty of the husband is to love and not command. Three things I want to notice about this as Christ loved the church. Notice he gave himself with the church. And love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. The perfect love of Christ compelled him to come and to die. He lived a sinless life and he died for the sin of the world. First John chapter 2 verse 22 says that he died as a propitiation, a substitution.

And Christ's love is the love that husbands must imitate. I give you an example. It's a quotation from Albert Barnes. He's an old Presbyterian commentator that's been dead for years. And it's lengthy, but it really says it better than I could. Listen to what Albert Barnes says, quote, "As he, as Jesus, gave himself to suffer on the cross to save the church, so we are to be willing to deny ourselves to bear toil a trial that we may promote the happiness of the wife.

It is the duty of the husband to toil for her support, to provide for her needs, to deny himself of rest and ease if necessary in order to attend on her in sickness, to go before her in danger, to defend her if she is in peril, and to be ready to die to save her. Why should he not be? If they are shipwrecked and there is a single plank on which safety can be secured, should he not be willing to place her on that and see her safe and all hazards to himself? Christ gave himself to the church and we should love our wives likewise." Notice he sanctifies the church.

Just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her. See Christ saves sinners and then he doesn't just save them, he sanctifies them. He draws them into that loving relationship, puts them under his authority and under the authority of the word and he sanctifies them through the preaching and the teaching and the study of the word, empowered and energized by the Spirit of God that lives within them. And look at Christ's example. As he saved the apostles, those 12 disciples, obviously one did not know him. What did he do?

He didn't just save them, he called them and he didn't just call them, he sanctified them for three years through the teaching of the word. And here this word sanctified means just that Christ saved them and he set them apart and he does the same thing, he uses this example that we would do the same thing in our marriages. Just as we are set apart, our marriages are set apart and we as husbands are to seek that our marriages are set apart. And we as husbands are to work hard to see that our wives and our families are sanctified, set apart and listen, sanctified through what? The word.

Because what does he say, that he may sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of the water with the word. That's talking about the word of God working in Christians. And what is he saying? We must do the same thing and our families and our marriages and our children and our wives are sanctified as we lead our families into the church, the work of the church, under the word. And then notice he presents to the church himself. Verse 27, that he might present himself to the church, that he might present to himself the church and all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing. What is he talking about?

Here we see that Christ, as he purifies the church on earth, he will one day present the church to himself. The New American says, in all glory, meaning pure, holy and perfect. And this should be the goal and the work of the husband. The goal of the husband is to present his bride pure through the sanctifying work of the word of God. That's what Paul is saying. He the husband sanctifies her by setting apart, setting her apart, their marriage apart, their home apart and they are sanctified through the word of God and the work of God. So what do we see? We as husbands love our wives as Christ loved the church. Christ gave himself.

Christ sanctifies the church and ultimately Christ presents the church and that's what our goal should be. On second notice, the husband's love, not only first as Christ loved the church but as he loves his own body. We see that in verses 28 through 29. Before we can see these verses and all their power, we must see them in light of God's supernatural act of the two becoming one. You remember last week what we learned about God's math? The scripture says in Genesis chapter 2 that God took two Adam and Eve and made one. He would have failed math in our day.

But here we see that the husband is to care for his wife with the same dedication that he normally manifests on himself. So here we see how the husband is to love his wife. Listen, for some of you this is profound and again for some of you this is shocking because this is not taught in our culture. This might not be what is considered politically correct but it's from the scriptures and we must subject ourselves to the authority of the scriptures. So again I ask you a question. Husbands, men, what is your reaction right now?

Remember one of the major words that we learned last week, the authority of God subjecting the authority of the Lord and subjecting ourselves to the authority of the word. The family originated from God and it was organized by God and we as husbands have no right to alter that. As we continue in application, I want to ask you another question. What would happen if you loved your wife just like this? Is Christ loved the church? What would happen if you loved your wife like Christ loved the church and if you loved your wife like you loved your own body? You know what would happen? Wives would willingly submit to that.

They would follow that all over the creation. They would love to be in a marriage relationship like that. Yes, they would love to have children in that kind of home. Why? Because they would be drawn, if they have a heart to the Lord, they would be drawn to the wonderful work of God because it is His plan. So what would happen if you loved your wife like this? A couple of questions. Husbands, are you giving yourself for your wife like Christ gave for the church? Be honest. Are you sacrificing for your wife as Christ sacrificed for the church? Second, are you sanctifying your wife through the precious word of God and the work of the church?

Or has it become casual? Almost maybe just an accessory to your life. Third, are you working hard to present your wife, your marriage, your home, holy and pure before God? Me and husbands, we will give an account. You know, as I was studying this week, I thought about this. Listen, who needs books on better marriages? Who needs a seminar or a conference? I hear about guys, they go to conferences and they come back, they go to seminars, they come back and they have ideas. Have a couple more date nights, maybe cook supper for your wife and have roses on the table. That might be all good and fine. If it works for you, that's great.

Who needs books and sermons when all you've got to do is study the life of Christ? Listen, you can sit under some man who can tell you how to have a better marriage, but husbands, if you will get on your knees before the Lord and open up the word of God and say, "Lord, I'm going to study how Christ loved the church and then I'm going to try to imitate that in my home." So who needs books and seminars when we have the precious example of Jesus? Now as I move to conclusion. I want to give you three compelling reasons why we would obey this message and these messages.

I know for some of you when you hear the word submit, I know for some of you when you hear that order, when you hear language like this, you might take a step back. But if you want to be under the authority of the word of God, if you want to be under the authority of the Lord Jesus, if you want to say you have a Christian home, a Christian marriage, and if you say you want to do it God's way, you're in all the way or you're out. There's no in between. We give you three compelling reasons to obey these messages. First Adam and Eve and their example. They are a good example because we see God's pattern from the beginning.

That is the first family. We can see bad. Yes, we see their fall. We see how they did not do it right. If Adam would have just obeyed and led his wife, if they would have just subjected to the authority of what God said, but yet we still see the roles right there, even in their failure. Adam and Eve, the first marriage, the first family is a good example. That's a compelling reason. The second compelling reason is Paul and his commands. This is not just found in Ephesians, it's in Corinthians and other places in the Scriptures. This is New Testament people. Some of you might say, "Well, the other is Old Testament.

I can kind of leave some of that behind." This is New Testament and Paul is being true to God's pattern. This is part of the true Christian life, the true Christian world. That's why all through chapter four, chapter five, walk, walk, walk, live, live, live. This is part of the Christian ethic. In the third compelling reason is Christ is our pattern. The first family is a pattern, but an imperfect one, but Christ, he is our perfect pattern and there is no failure in Christ's example. There is no but, because when we look at Adam and Eve, we have to say but, but they failed, but with Christ it is perfection.

Now when I finished last week's message, I brought it all down to one question and I'm going to bring us all back down to that one question. In our study of the family, if God shows you that things in your family are amiss, they're out of order, maybe they're even against God's word and God's plan, will you repent and seek to order your family according to God's word and God's plan? Will you, men, will you seek to repent and reorient your life and your marriage and your family and your wife and your children and your home according to God's word? Listen, this could take time. Some things are not set straight overnight.

This could take great sacrifice. Some of you need to make major sacrifice in your family. This might take ridicule. You know some of you, if you were to order your lives and order your marriage and order your family and order your home according to God's word, some of you might take ridicule even from your own family. Yes. Your mom, your dad might scorn at that. Friends might scorn at that. They might say that's old fashioned, that's for another day and another time. It could take sacrifice. So what are we looking at this morning? The family, our fundamental foundation, the responsibility of men.

Listen, husbands, if we do not do this right, if we say, "Well, that's for another day and another time," we're enlightened now. We've moved on from those dry, dead, archaic times. We're just going to do it the new way. We have modern psychology to teach us and we don't have to really do those things today. We are destroying the fundamental foundation of the family and it never works. Lord Jesus, thank you for this message, thank you for these truths.