Amen. What a privilege it is to sing the very hymns that God wrote back to him in his worship. If you would please let's take our Bibles out together and we want to turn back to Ephesians as we continue in our expositions of the book of Ephesians. And we want to look in Ephesians chapter 5 beginning today in verse 25. Paul, of course, here, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is addressing the subject of the family. And beginning in verse 25, he speaks to the duties and responsibilities of the husband. So, Ephesians chapter 5, in verse 25, we find these words. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her, that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 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, So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the Church. Nevertheless, let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. Let's now join together before the Lord in prayer. Our gracious Heavenly Father, we come before you now as we come before your Word. And Father, as we come before your Word today, we thank you for your precious Word. We thank you for its inerrancy, its infallibility, its all-sufficiency. We thank you for its authoritative declarative statement, giving us the revelation of your will for us, your people, to live our lives in accordance with what you desire. We pray, Father, that you would grant us even today that fresh awareness of the ministry of your spirit, that he would own your word and drive it to our hearts, that our hearts would be found open and pliable and humble and sensitive to quickly receive, believe, and by your grace, obey what your word says. Lord, that we would be those who not are only hearers of your word, those who are deluded, but those who do what it says. We pray, Father, that you would help us, that we would enlarge these truths in our homes, in our marriages, in our families, that we would have godly marriages and homes. marriages and homes that are instructed and following after your word. Lord, that we would be salt and light, that we would show the world what a difference, what a fundamental distinction there is for those who are part of your family. We thank you, oh God, that you have saved us by your grace. You have sent your son and he has paid the price. And therefore, we are cleansed and forgiven by the shed blood of Jesus. We pray, Father, that you would even today draw sinners to yourself. In accordance with your sovereign purpose, may they be enabled to see their sin for what it is and run to Christ as the only one. who can deliver them from their helpless situation. Father, we give you all honor, all praise, and all glory. And we pray all of this in the name of your Son and our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And for his sake we pray, amen. As we come today, of course, we recognize that in this section in Ephesians 5, Paul is addressing the pattern and the plan that God has for a godly marriage and godly home. We have said that it is critical to a God-glorifying marriage that we have a clear understanding of those God-ordained roles and relationships. God has given us clear instruction concerning the home. Amen? And it is our duty to embrace it, to believe it, and to follow it by God's grace. We already have dealt with the subject of wives in verses 22 through 24, and what is the responsibility of the wife? It is submission to her husband. We now are looking at the responsibility of the husband, and that runs from verse 25 all the way down to verse 33. What is the responsibility of the husband? Well, he is to love his wife, as Paul declares. Last time we looked at these verses and we gave an overview exposition of the text, and we considered in verses 25 and following, first of all, the instruction God gives to husbands. We noted in verse 25, part A, the duty stated. What is the duty? Well, husbands, love your wives. That's simple and that's straightforward, and that's the duty that God has called husbands to fulfill. What is the manner described of this kind of love? Well, the manner described, verse 25, part B, we are to love our wives just as Christ also loved the church. and gave himself for her." We then noted, following this thread of instruction, and we noted in verse 31 through 33, what are the implications of Christ's love for the church as it relates to the home and marriage. Well, we said, number one, verse 31, Marriage involves that intentional union. This, of course, is a quotation all the way from Genesis 2, verse 24, that leaving, cleaving, and becoming one flesh. And so here we see again that pivotal verse quoted by Paul. Then in verse 32, he says, marriage presents a spiritual illustration. There is this glorious illustration of the husband being the head, the wife being in submission. to Christ being the head of the church and the church being in submission to Jesus Christ. This is symbolic, it is typological, it is a mysterious and glorious reality that these two things, they speak of that reality. And then in verse 33, we concluded by noting that number three, marriage requires a dual obligation. He says, at verse 33, there is the duty of husbands, and here he's repeating himself, that they are to so love his own wife as himself. And then notice the last phrase of verse 33, the duty of wives, that they are to respect their husbands. So that is the basic flow of the passage that we looked at last week. Now, having considered an exposition of the text, we now want to consider more of an explanation of this duty as it relates to husbands. Now, you may recall we are following the same pattern we did with the wives in our previous expositions. We began with the wives and we gave an exposition of verses 22 through 24, what it is that their duty is. And we explained what that means and what it looks like. And then we gave a fuller explanation of that duty of submission by simply following the traditional, historic, reformed Puritan approach of explaining what the wife's submission entails. This is not something that I have come up with. This is what is the historic reform teaching on what submission looks like. And this is why we're basically following the outline of Dr. Joel Beakey in his book, Living in a Godly Marriage. The wife is to submit, and we said it involves four things. It involves her reverencing her husband, her obeying her husband, her assisting her husband, being his helpmate, and then fourthly, her modesty towards and for her husband. So now when we come to the subject of the husbands, we're going to do the exact same thing. So, gentlemen, don't think that you're going to get out any more lightly because you're a man or a husband. We're going to follow the same path, the same track, and consider the traditional Reformed Puritan approach as it relates to the duties of the husband. And according to Dr. Joel Beeky and many others, just as there are four things that describe the duty of the wife in submission, there are two things that describe the duty of the husband. And that is, number one, authority, and number two, love. And so those are the two heads of which we will consider this subject of the duty of the husband. Let me quote to you Dr. Joel Beakey. He says this, and I quote, based on Ephesians 5, the Puritans taught that a husband's two foundational duties are authority and love. The husband is the authoritative head to whom his wife is to submit herself just as the church submits to Christ, verse 23, and the husband is to love his wife just as Christ loves the church. Thus Ambrose wrote that the husband's whole duty towards his wife lies in these two things. He must dearly love his wife, and he must wisely maintain and manage his authority over her. Man's sinfulness, being what it is, a husband may be tempted to exercise an austere authority, void of love. or an indulgent love that abdicates authority. But a husband's obedience to God requires the exercise of both of these duties. It is loving with authority. It is having authority with love. And those things go together. Some of you are familiar with the name Richard Baxter. How many of you have heard that name before? A famous Puritan, which I would highly recommend. He points out this same thing. He says, and I quote, the husband must so unite authority and love that neither of them may be omitted or concealed, but both will be exercised and maintained. Love must not be exercised so imprudently as to destroy the exercise of authority. And authority must not be exercised over the wife so magisterially and imperiously as to destroy the exercise of love. as your love must be a governing love, so your commands must be loving commands. So you see how these two things go together. It's not one to the exclusion of the other, and we can fail husbands by emphasizing one to the neglect of the other. They go together with a symmetry and an essential part of our duty as husbands in relation to our wives. So our treatment is going to be following this pattern, the husband's duties. We will consider his love that he has for his wife, and we'll be considering that authority. Wayne Mack, I have quoted from him and we'll be looking and using his resource in this subject. He basically divides these two categories up. And I don't know whether he's not necessarily reformed. I don't know whether he is gleaning from the reform tradition on this subject, but he comes out in the same way, nevertheless. And he describes it as the two duties are loving and leading. And of course, the idea of leading is that idea of authority. So let's talk about the husband's duty to love his wife. We've given an exposition here in our text. Now we want to consider what kind of love that husbands are to have for their wives. Well, look with me again in our text, Ephesians 5, verse 25. We are told exactly what it is to look like. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ so loved the church. and gave himself for her." Jesus Christ is our example. Amen? He is our example in all things. And husbands, he is our example as it relates to the kind of love we are to exhibit and have for our wives. Now, we acknowledge on the front end here that we cannot fully ever grasp and comprehend the incredible subject of the love of God. There's a sense in which this subject is beyond us. Some of you are familiar with the words of the hymn. It's entitled, The Love of God, and there's a stanza. I just want to quote the stanza. You probably will recognize it. It reads like this, speaking of how vast God's love is. Could we with ink the ocean fill, and were the skies of parchment made? Were every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade? To write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry, nor could the scroll contain the whole. though stretched from sky to sky." Corrugation, God's love, there is an aspect to it that is beyond our comprehension. Amen? It is deep. It is vast. It is incomprehensible. Incidentally, just by way that you may or may not know, these very words I quoted were framed in a picture in John MacArthur's office at his church. It was a large print of these very words. Some of you appreciate the ministry of the late Pastor MacArthur, and we loved his ministry and appreciated his faithfulness to the Word. Well, he loved that hymn, and that was actually framed in his office there at the church. But we would hasten to say this. even though there is a debt to the love of God that we will never plumb. There is nevertheless some things that we can know about the love of God that we are to take, and then as husbands, we are to implement as we love our wives. So what kind of love are we to have, husbands, for our wives? Well, just like Christ loved the church, number one, and I'll just make a list this morning, Very simple to follow. Number one, it is to be an unconditional love. It is to be an unconditional love. Turn with me in your Bibles. You're in Ephesians. Just turn back a page or so and look with me please in chapter two. Now, we were in chapter 2 as we were going through Ephesians, but that's been several years ago. And you're probably familiar with these words because these are very familiar words in this book. Here Paul is speaking about the depravity of mankind. And we read in Ephesians 2 and verse 1, he says, "...and you he made alive." That speaks of regeneration. who were dead in trespasses and sins in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. Here Paul is describing the condition of all lost humanity, depraved, disobedient, and doomed under the wrath of God. But then notice in verse number four, that glorious adversative conjunction, but God. But God, who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us live together with Christ by grace. You have been saved and raised us up together and made us to sit in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Congregation, I want you to notice in verse 4 this idea of this great love that God loved us. Speaking, of course, of His elect people, those that He set His special electing love upon. And we read here that even while we were, verse 5, dead in our trespasses, dead, depraved, and justly the recipients of God's wrath, God nevertheless loved us with his great love. That congregation is an unconditional free love. Amen? It isn't based upon any conditions, stipulations, or requirements that we had to meet. It isn't based upon our performance. It isn't based upon our earning it, achieving it, or maintaining it. This is how God has loved us. Praise be to God. Because if the love of God was in any way whatsoever conditioned upon our performance, we would have no hope at all before God. Because even our very best is like filthy rags before a holy God. But praise be to God. God has loved us with this unconditional free love. A love that saves us. And this is how we are to love each other. And this is how a husband is to love his wife. Husbands, you are to love your wife unconditionally. Your wife, whatever the situation and circumstance and relationship you presently have, you may have a rocky relationship, you may have the best relationship you could possibly imagine, your wife may be fulfilling all of your desires as you please, or she may not be. She may not even be submitting as God has commanded her to. That's an issue of sin that she has in her life. But regardless of her present situation, your love, husbands, for your wives is to be unconditional. It isn't based upon how she performs. It isn't, well, you know, she's just not submitting the way I like, so I'm going to withhold some of my love and affection toward her. Not one millisecond. Amen? Your love is to be unconditional. Because that's the way Christ loves us. That's the way Christ cares for His own. And we are to love our wives as Christ loves the church. It is an unconditional love. Turn with me please in your Bibles back to Deuteronomy chapter 7. A second thing we would say when we seek to understand or glean from God's love how husbands are to love their wives, it not only is an unconditional love, but it is to be a volitional love. These things really kind of go together. It is a volitional love, that is a deliberate choice of the will. Listen to what God says to His ancient people Israel about His deliberate volitional love for them. Deuteronomy 7, verses 6-8. He says, For you are a holy people to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself. a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. Verse 7, the Lord did not set his love on you or choose you because you were more in number than any other, for you were the least of all peoples. But because the Lord loves you and because he would keep the oath which he swore to your fathers, The Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of bondage from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt." Here we see God stating His choice of the Israelites. It wasn't because they were a mighty nation. It wasn't because they were more in number than any other people. No, God set His electing love on Israel, and He did so because it was His choice. He volitionally set that electing choice to love them. Whenever, husbands, you took those solemn vows of marriage, when you stood before people and before the Church of God, you made promises to God. to love your wife. You made promises to God and to her and before Christ's church that you would love her and that you would love her so long as your relationship on this earth continued. And that does not change. Just as the ancient Israelites, God set his volitional choice on them, And we know the story of the Old Testament, don't we? We know how that they were very fickle and they were faithless in many different ways throughout their history. And yet God set his love on them. Notice again, the words there, it was because of verse eight, the oath which he swore to your fathers. That speaks of that Abrahamic covenant and that deliberate choice of God's will. Husbands, we are to love our wives unconditionally. We are to love our wives volitionally, which means that you are to choose to do it. Not, well, I'll do it if I feel like it. I'll do it if I'm in the mood for it. No, I will do it because I choose to do it. And I have the capacity to deliberately, volitionally love my wife. Turn with me to your Bibles, please, over to Galatians chapter two. Again, following just basic ideas related to that love that Christ has for the church, and then using this as our go-by for how we are to love our wives. We are to love our wives unconditionally. We are to love our wives volitionally. We, number three, are to love our wives selflessly and sacrificially. Selflessly and sacrificially. Galatians chapter 2 and verse 20 is a glorious verse. In fact, this verse, if you're into having a life verse, that used to be a popular thing back in the day. This is one of those verses that a lot of people choose as their life verse. It's a beautiful verse. Paul writes in verse 20 of Galatians 2, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And 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." Here we say this statement at the end of verse 20 about God's love. God loved us and It says, He died for us. That was a selfless, sacrificial choice of dying that we might be saved. This is exactly what we see in our text in Ephesians 5. Christ dying for His church, that sacrificial love. Congregation, this is how we are to love our wives. It's like the humorous statement that you probably have read before, kind of brings a chuckle. My wife and I have a very happy marriage. There's nothing that I wouldn't do for her, and there's nothing that she wouldn't do for me, and that's the way we get through it, doing nothing for each other. Well, that's not exactly the idea of having a selfless, sacrificial love. Husbands, we are called to be giving ourselves selflessly, constantly, continually to loving our wives. It is a deliberate, unconditional commitment to lay down our lives for our wives. Talk with me, if you will, in your Bibles over in Jeremiah. And I want to read in Jeremiah chapter 31 as we continue in our list. Husbands, we are to love our wives unconditionally, volitionally, sacrificially, selflessly. Our love is to be, number four, an endless love. It is to be an endless love. Jeremiah 31 and verse 3. Here we have this description of God's love for his own. And again, this is husbands are understanding of how we are to love our wives. Jeremiah 31 in verse three, the Lord has appeared of old to me saying, yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness, I have drawn you. What a wonderful statement this is. What a blessing to know this is true. God loves His own with an everlasting love. A love that will never diminish. A love that will continue for all eternity. Look with me please in the New Testament and notice the words of the Apostle Paul. Turn to Romans chapter 8 please. And look with me in Romans chapter 8. Taking up our reading in verse 35, and again we have this idea of this endless love that God has for his own. Paul writes in Romans 8 in verse 35, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, our distress, our persecution, our famine, our nakedness, our peril, our sword? As it is written, for your sake we are killed all day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Yet in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded. than either death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Here the Apostle Paul considers all possibilities and all situations, encompassing all realities. And he asks the rhetorical question, what will separate us from the love of God? And the answer is, absolutely nothing. Amen? Nothing. Anything present, anything to come, and anything in between. Life or death itself. We are super conquerors through the Lord Jesus Christ. You say, Pastor, what does this have to do with husbands loving their wives? Well, the love that the husband is to have for his wife is to be this kind of unending love. Christ's love for his church is continual. It is unending. It is immutable. So often people today have a love that is fickle, it is mutable, it is something that alters based upon the situation at present. It quickly oscillates and fluctuates. Praise be to God, God's love for us doesn't oscillate, and it doesn't fluctuate, and it doesn't diminish whatsoever. And so we are to have this same love for one another. And husbands, we are to have this love for our wives, an unending love that continues throughout your relationship. You're in Romans chapter 8. Just turn back a few pages. Look with me in Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5, and we consider another element. Husbands, we are to have a love for our wives that is unconditional, volitional, selfless, sacrificial, unending, and then fifthly, it is to be a visible love. It is to be a visible love. In Romans chapter five, look with me at verses six through eight. Paul says, for when we were still without strength and due time, 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. That statement there in verse 8, he demonstrates, he commended, as the old King James says, it is this idea of putting on display, making visible, making clear, so that there's no doubt that that love is a real, genuine love. Does God love His own? Yes, verse 8 says, He's demonstrated that love. He's demonstrated that love And that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. The ultimate demonstration of love. So how does this relate to husbands and wives? Well, husbands, you are to have a visible love toward your wife. It is to be a love that is clearly seen and heard. It is to be a love that is seen by your actions, by your attitudes, by your words, and by your deeds, so that it is clearly communicated through that demonstration of the life you live together. Look with me please back to Ephesians where we started. And I want us to note in Ephesians chapter 5 again, our text, another aspect of the love that husbands are to have for their wives. In number 6, and this will be the last on our list, and of course we could add others to it, As we think about the love of God, our love for our wives is to be a purposeful love. It is to be a purposeful love. Let me just read to you again what we've already read, verses 25 through 27. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her, that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word. 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." The love that Christ has for us is a purposeful love. It is a love which has an intentionality to it. It is that love which leads us. to become what Christ has called us to be. So when we talk about this purposeful love that husbands are to have for their wives, it means that we are to work for our wives' improvement, for her development. Now, we'll get into this in more detail when we speak of the husband as prophet, priest, and king in the home, and the idea of instruction. But everything about our love is a love for our wife that leads her for her benefit, for her blessing, and for her spiritual well-being. This is how Christ loved us, so that we might be a glorious church without wrinkle, without spot, without blemish, but holy unto the Lord. That's how we're to love our wives. So, having considered a very brief list of things that would be included in that kind of love we are to have for our wives, let me conclude this morning by considering a demonstration of this duty. That is, how do we demonstrate this love? Very practically speaking. And I want you to turn with me, please, in your Bibles back to 1 Corinthians 13. 1 Corinthians chapter 13. Here, of course, is a very familiar chapter to, I'm sure, most of us here, if not all of us. It is this beautiful chapter on love. And we see the language here of what is involved in this agape love, this selfless love, generally speaking, and certainly as it applies to the husband and the wife. Paul writes, let's just take up our reading in verse four, 1 Corinthians 13. Love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy. Love does not parade itself, is not puffed up, does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." Then notice verse 8, love never fails. This is a description of what love looks like. It's how love is demonstrated. Let me suggest to you a list of things. Husbands, you can demonstrate your love for your wife, seven things, and then we'll be through. Number one, you can demonstrate your love to your wife by declaring your love to your wife. You are to tell her that you love her. You are not to be stingy with those words, I love you. It's not like, well, I'll tell her I love her on her anniversary and I give her a card. No, you better not be doing that. I tell my wife I love you every day, sometimes many times in a day. And occasionally she responds in like manner. But you are to be telling your wife you love her constantly. She needs to hear this. She needs to know this. She needs to be encouraged in this regard. It's like the husband who said, well, we sleep in separate rooms. We have dinner apart. We take separate vacations. We're doing everything we can to keep our marriage together. Well, sadly, that's what you sometimes see. No, you are to be declaring, sharing, stating, verbalizing that you love your wife. Don't say, well, she knows. She knows that I love her. No, you need to tell her that you love her regularly. Secondly, you demonstrate your love for your wife by providing for her. You are responsible for this. You are the head of the house. You are to be the primary bread earner. She is to be a keeper in the home as her major realm of ministry and responsibility. You are to provide for her physical, emotional, social, spiritual, intellectual, and recreational needs. That's your responsibility. You are to be meeting her needs and providing for her. Thirdly, not only are you to declare this love and provide for her, but you are to be protecting her. That is an expression of love. That is your duty as a husband. You are to protect your wife. And that is God's will for your life. And protecting your wife is an expression of that love you have for her. Number four, by assisting her. You're to be ready to be a help and an assistant to her. Now, her calling is to be your helpmate. So let's make that very clear. But that doesn't mean you don't help her too. You're to help her as well. This doesn't mean that you take on her domestical duties. But you help and come alongside. And there may be those times when you say, I know that you've had this and that and the other, and the kids have been like this. I'm going to help you with the meal tonight, or I'm going to help with the laundry today. Occasionally, you come alongside and assist. You don't take on her role as the wife, but you assist because you love her. And that's an expression of your love. Number five, by praising her. You need to praise your wife. Now, what I mean by praise, it's not some sort of flowery flattery that you just express. What I mean by that is that you are to express your appreciation for her regularly. She takes care of you. She makes sure that your clothes are clean and the laundry is folded. She cooks meals for you. She keeps the house clean. She takes care of the children when you're at work. She does a thousand other things. I mean, it's unimaginable the many things that our wives do. How frequently do you say, thank you for that? Thank you for this delicious meal. It's another delicious meal like all the rest. Thank you for always making sure the clothes are clean and folded and put away. Thank you that you keep the house clean and pick up. Are you telling your wife that? You ought to be. That's an expression of your love for your wife. Number six, you demonstrate your love by refusing to compare her. Husbands don't ever say, well, so-and-so's wife does this, unless you want to get into trouble right quick, amen? Don't do that. There's to be no comparisons whatsoever. You're devoted to your wife, and you're responsible for your wife, and you're to be leading your wife, and you're not to be bringing others into that equation. And then number seven, you are to love and demonstrate that love not only by declaring it, providing for her, protecting her, assisting her, praising her, refusing to compare her, but by romancing her. Yes, I said it. You're to be romancing your wife. You're to be sending her cards. and taking her out on dates. Now it doesn't have to be extravagant. You might be on a tight budget. It doesn't mean that you go and you eat at some five-star hotel every night or every week. It may just mean that you go to Brahms and you have a hot fudge sundae on occasion. That's Romancing, that's being kind. It means that you give flowers for her, unless she hates flowers, give flowers on occasion. I do that on occasion. You take her out and you treat her that way. Husbands, wives love that kind of stuff. They absolutely love it. And it is an expression of your love for her when you do it. Not just once a year, not just on your anniversary. but do it regularly, showing her how you love her. So husbands, as we conclude this morning, a question that all of us should be asking ourselves, how are you loving your wife? How are you loving your wife? Are you loving your wife? Christ loves the church. Are you loving your wife? As we have seen this incredible, indeed, in many ways, incomprehensible love that God has for His own. Oh, my dear fellow men and husbands, this is the standard that God has called us to. We are to love our wives as Christ loves the church. Are you, in your home if you have children and small children, are you modeling this love so the children see this? Do they see that you love your wife? Do the children have any confusion as to whether or not daddy really cares much about mommy? That should never be in the equation of your home. They should see you as having this kind of love that God has called you to. And it is your responsibility in the home, as the head, as teacher, to be teaching your sons from the earliest age. This is how you are to love your wife, should God be pleased to give you a wife someday. Should you be married someday, You're to love your wife, and you're to love your wife like Christ loves the church. Husbands, this is your duty. This is our responsibility. This is on us. And it is that which we will answer before God as to the faithfulness that we love our wives. Before we can love our wives, before we can even have love in our homes, we must first of all know the love of God through Jesus Christ. And if you are here today apart from Jesus Christ, and you have not known what it means to come to Christ as your Savior, then the call of the gospel to you is not first obey the word related to your home, but first run to Christ and receive him as your Lord and Savior. The first word for you is to trust in Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ has said that He welcomes all who come to Him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved. If you haven't called on Christ, call upon Him today. Run to Him today. Trust in Him today. It will revolutionize your life, and you'll have implanted within your soul a desire to do what He says. Let's bow together in prayer. Our gracious Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your Word today. We pray, oh God, that we as husbands would be faithful in this duty of loving our wives. Lord, that you would, by your grace and enablement, help us to be constantly reminded that we are called to have this love for our wives. Lord, that it would be a love that is clear and demonstrated, a love that is communicated and which is modeled and taught to the next generation, so that there will be this faithfulness continued in the rising days. Father, we pray that if there are those here who do not know Christ, in accordance with your sovereign purpose and your wonderful, glorious grace, that you would be pleased to draw them to your Son, that they would receive Christ as their Savior and find salvation in the Lord Jesus. O God, grant this, we pray, for the glory of your name, the sake of your kingdom, and for the honor and praise of your Son. Father, we pray all of this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And for his sake we pray, amen. Amen. Let's all stand together now as we prepare to be dismissed. Again, with the words of Holy Scripture, the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. And all of God's people said, amen, amen.