Address—C. Hendricks
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Turn with me, please, to Genesis 2.
Genesis 2 and verse 18.
And the Lord God said it is not good that the man should be alone.
I will make him an help.
Meet for him.
And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field.
And every fowl of the air, and brought them unto Adam, to see what he would call them. And whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found and help meet or suitable for him.
And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept.
Then he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh instead thereof.
And the rib which the Lord God had taken from man.
Made he a woman.
And brought her unto the man.
And Adam said this is now bone of my bones.
And flesh of my flesh.
She shall be called woman.
Because she was taken out of man.
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother?
And shall cleave unto his wife.
And they shall be 1 flesh.
And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
They were still in the state of innocency.
When God created the woman.
They were both innocent. Sin hadn't come in yet until the 3rd chapter.
And this is the only type we have in Scripture of Christ and the Church, Adam and Eve before sin entered.
Showing that the idea and the thought of the church was something that was not some an afterthought after man had sinned, but it was in the eternal thought of God.
Christ in the church. This is the most beautiful picture. Now turn to Ephesians 5.
Ephesians 5.
Verse 22.
Wives.
Submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of the body.
Therefore, as the Church is subject unto Christ the soul, let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it.
That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word.
That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.
So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies.
He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
For no man ever yet hated his own flesh.
But nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord, the Church.
For we are members of his body.
Of his flesh.
And of his bones.
For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they too shall be 1 flesh.
This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the Church.
Nevertheless, with everyone of you in particular, so love his wife even as himself and the wife see that she reverence her husband.
There are three sets of twos here. There's the wife and the husband. There's the children and next, next chapter, children and the parents.
And then there's the servants and the masters.
And it was pointed out in our readings that the one that's in the place of subjection is mentioned first. That's the woman here.
00:05:05
You can't really understand Ephesians 5 without Genesis 2.
And you can't really understand Genesis 2 without Ephesians 5.
Then I'll explain what I mean by that.
We have some that are recently married here.
And there's been so many hundreds of books written about marriage and a relationship between the man and the woman and how they can have happiness. There's nothing better written than what I've just read in Ephesians 5.
For happiness.
Happiness.
Between the wife and the husband, and the husband and the wife.
The type in Genesis 2.
God brought all the animals to Adam and he named them, but he didn't find any that was suitable for him.
And then God caused a deep sleep to pass on Adam. It's a picture of Christ's death. And he performed an operation. He opened up his sign and took a rib and builded a woman.
So that first woman was part of Adam's body.
She was a member of his body.
And she also became his bride.
His wife and I used to wonder in reading Ephesians 5, is he talking about the one body here or is he talking about marriage? The answer is he talking about both?
And the only type we have in Scripture that presents this truth in type is Genesis 2.
Eve was taken from.
Rib and God builded a woman.
And then she was given to him and they were united in marriage and they became 1 flesh.
They were one flesh by creation and one flesh by marriage union.
And the first thing he says here, verse 22, is, wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands.
As unto the Lord.
For the husband is the head of the wife.
Even as Christ is the head of the Church.
And he is the savior of the body. The beauty of this passage is that it uses.
The marriage relationship to present to us the.
Relationship of Christ and his church.
And the truth that.
This woman is a picture of his body.
And also a picture of his bride.
That's what we have here. We have both truths.
It's developed so beautifully, the husbands ahead of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church. He's the Savior, the Preserver of the body. He's there to care for her, to preserve her, and to guide her.
Therefore, as the Church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.
The first thing that's presented to us is subjection.
Subjection. Umm.
It's the woman's place and the beauty in. If you go to Philippians 2, the Lord Jesus took the place of subjection when he became a man.
He came into this scene, he was in the form of God, and he exchanged that for the form of a servant.
He had never obeyed, but he learned obedience by the things which he suffered.
He took the place of obedience. When he was in the form of God. He never obeyed anyone. He was God and everyone obeyed him. But when he became a man, he entered the place of subjection, and that's the place the woman has. It's not a demeaning place.
He has lifted it up to a most glorious place, and he glorified God in that place of subjection.
And the woman has the privilege of glorifying God in her place of subjection too, being subject to her head even as Christ was subject to His Father.
The responsibility of the man.
Is in verse 25.
Husbands, love your wives.
How even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it.
That He might sanctify. Verse 25 is what He's done at the cross. Verse 26 is what He's presently doing, that He might sanctify it, cleansing it with the washing of water by the Word. We've been cleansed by the Word of God as it's been ministered to us at this conference. And the Lord is doing that as the head through the Spirit, of course, and His Word.
00:10:24
And He wants us to be such verse 27 that He might present it to himself.
A church glorious.
Not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. Now notice, notice how this touches on Genesis too. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. Eve was a member of his body, builded from his rib. That's taken from that passage of scripture. And men are to love their wives as they love their own bodies, as they love themselves.
He that loveth his wife loveth himself. That was literally true of Adam and Eve.
Because she came out of him, she was part of him. She was one with him in creation.
And then one with him in the marriage union.
No man ever yet hated his own flesh, so your wife is presented here as.
Being part of.
You the husband.
And the woman is part of the man.
No man ever yet hated his own flesh, but he nourishes and cherishes it even as the Lord of Christ, the Church.
As he cares for his assembly, so the husband cares for, nourishes and fits her for being.
Presented to himself.
And then it says, for we are members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones. I used to say to myself, is he talking about the one body? You're talking about the the relationship, the marriage relationship. He's talking about both.
We are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. Some translations leave that out. Mr. Darby leaves out the best now. He doesn't leave it out. He puts it in brackets of the of his flesh. We are members of his body, then brackets of his. We are members of his body, and then brackets of his flesh and of his bones.
Mr. Kelly leaves out the brackets correctly. King James is right in this passage of his flesh and of his bones should be there. It's exactly what was true of Adam and Eve. She was of his flesh and of his bones. And so we are so intimately taken from him, a part of him, that as a member of his body, we are part of him. That's most precious truth. But there's more than that here for this cause.
Shall a man leave, his father and mother shall be joined unto his wife, and the two shall be 1 flesh. That's one flesh in the marriage union.
And then he says, this is a great mystery. We were talking much about the mystery of Christ in the church. This is a great mystery. I speak concerning Christ and the church. The great mystery is not Christ. The great mystery is not the church. The great mystery is Christ and the church united together.
In one Newman.
1 Newman, the head and the members here, and the relationship of the husband and the wife, all found in that first beautiful type of Adam and Eve before sin ever entered.
What does the woman?
What does the man want from his wife?
He wants her to.
Look up to him.
As her head.
He wants her to respect him.
To be subject to him.
He wants her to be the lead.
In the relationship, that's what that's what she wants. She wants him to take that lead. She doesn't want that place.
And when that's the case.
It's a wonderful thing.
And what does she? What does she want from him? She wants his love. She wants his love.
She wants him to love her as Christ loved the church.
And the only way that she can get what she wants, and the only way that he can get what he wants from her.
Is for her to be subject to him.
And she can get what she wants if he loves her.
As Christ loved the church.
This chapter tells us.
00:15:01
How a union a marriage union can result in perfect harmony.
And whether it's not that way when the woman is the head.
And she makes all the decisions.
And he has put in a subject place. It's wrong. So total totally contrary to scripture.
It won't be a happy situation.
But she doesn't want that.
She really wants his love.
He wants him to feel towards her as though she was the only woman alive.
When Adam saw Eve.
He said This is now bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh.
The most beautiful thing he looked at all the animals, none was suitable to him. Now he looks at this gorgeous beautiful creature taken right from his side and build it and brought her to the man and he says this is now bone of my bones.
Flesh of my flesh.
Nothing more beautiful.
Than that woman Eve.
As she came right out of his side.
Adam must have been.
The most handsome man ever, and she the most beautiful woman ever.
Before sin ever entered, before the tainted blight of sin had spoiled everything down here.
This was before that, it says they were unclothed and they weren't naked. They were naked and they weren't ashamed because they were in a state of innocence. Sin hadn't entered and there was beauty that.
He saw in her beauty that none of the animals could even come close to.
And he loved her. He loved her.
And that's what she wants.
And he wants her subjection, he wants her to be subject to him, to give him the place of headship, to be able to look up to him with utmost respect and and adoration.
And subjection.
And this one passage, not very many verses, gives us the secret of a happy marriage relationship.
Where the woman is in her place of subjection and the man is in his place of love towards the woman.
That's God's thought.
In marriage.
And when it's found and lived out, there will be happiness there. And when the children come along, they'll see Daddy.
Loves mommy.
Better than anyone.
And she respects him.
Better than anyone.
Subjects to him, that's what they should see.
That's what they should see.
And that will be a happy relationship.
Well, we have it all before us in this beautiful passage. This is a great mystery. I speak concerning Christ and the Church. Christ and the Church is that mystery.
Christ in the church that marriage is a picture of.
Christ in the church you have the responsibility.
Dear brother, if you're married, to be the head.
And, dear sister, if you're married.
To be subject to Him and then what you want, dear sister, His love will come to you with no problem.
No problem.
That passage in Colossians.
Husbands, love your wives and be not bitter against them.
Doesn't. We don't get that in here.
But.
If she's not in the place of subjection, there could arise that bitterness on his part.
But when she takes her place of subjection.
It will be very easy for him to love her.
How can she get what she wants from him by being subject to him? How can he get what he wants from her? By loving her?
And then she will be subject to him. The 2GO together and the two mutually exclude each other when that's not the case. And remember when you read the passage what's said to the woman?
Is not to be used by the man preaching to the woman, but it's a word of God to the woman. And what's said to the man is not to be used by the woman to the husband, but it's the word of God to the husband.
He is to love her, She is to be subject to him, to respect him, to honor him, to obey him.
And then there will be happiness. Then she will receive from him what she really wants, his love.
00:20:06
His love, his adoration, she's everything.
She's the queen.
And he loves her.
And that will be happy.
And what does he want? He wants his beloved to respect him, to honor him.
To be subject to him beautiful.
All the books on marriage can be condensed into Ephesians 5.
For a happy relationship.
May God help us.
To fulfill it.