Transcription downloaded from https://sermonarchive.gfcbremen.com/sermons/78323/christ-is-our-head/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] Amen. Turn in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 5. Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians.

[0:12] ! We're going to begin reading in the fifth chapter, the fifth chapter, the fifth chapter,! Ephesians 5, beginning at verse 25. Husbands, love your wives.

[0:30] Just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own body. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church, for we are members of his body.

[1:18] For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery, but I am talking about Christ and the church.

[1:36] However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

[1:49] When a wife is in trouble, I think it's natural for her to look, first of all, to her husband. Apparently, when Stan's water heater goes out, it's natural for him to look to his wife, but that's how we are.

[2:07] We look to our spouse when we're in trouble. It is funny, this morning, I knocked over my glass of water as I was reaching for my glasses, and I did, and stuff came to my rescue.

[2:22] It's natural for husbands and wives to look for each other when they're in trouble. What about us, Grace Fellowship Church?

[2:35] What about us? I'm not talking about us individually, although there's a place for that. I'm talking about us congregationally. The axe has made the tree shiver.

[2:51] It's cut deep. And so what do we do? What do we, Grace Fellowship Church, do? What's our hope? What's our help?

[3:01] What's our confidence? Who are we to cry out to? Where's our courage at? Well, you see it in Ephesians 5, and we just read it.

[3:15] Our hope, our help, our confidence, our courage, our peace. And again, we are not those who shrink back and are destroyed, but we are those who believe and are saved.

[3:29] And so what are we holding on to this morning? Ephesians 5.23. Look at that with me. Ephesians 5.23. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.

[3:49] Christ is the head, the husband of Grace Fellowship Church, of this body, of this particular body.

[4:00] He's our husband. Not Pastor John. Not me. We are servants in the house.

[4:14] We're servants in the house. He is the husband in the house. He is the husband of the household. And he is head here. And, oh, how we love him.

[4:27] How we love him. He's our head. And like Sarah honored Abraham and called him Lord, it is our delight and it is our privilege as a congregation to call Jesus our husband and our Lord.

[4:42] Well, he's our husband. Not just of the church worldwide, although that is probably the truest sense of that.

[4:55] But as Grace Fellowships had, just think of Jesus and how he loved each of those seven churches in Asia Minor and Revelation.

[5:07] He had a distinct relationship with each one of them. He knew them intimately. He was the one walking among the candlesticks. He did not look at the church just generically, just worldwide.

[5:24] He looked at them individually and he knows and he loves and he cares for Grace Fellowship Church. One of many, but still his bride.

[5:38] And that is our hope. That's our confidence. That's our comfort. That's our peace. That's our courage in times of difficulty. He's our husband. And so what can we be sure of?

[5:50] That's what I want to talk about this morning. What can we be sure of? If Jesus is our head and our husband, then Grace Fellowship Church, what can we be sure of?

[6:00] Well, we can be sure he's responsible for us. He's responsible for us. That's what it means to be head. It means you're responsible.

[6:12] Responsibility is at the very heart of biblical leadership. Responsibility. So Adam was created as the head of creation.

[6:25] He was responsible for taking care of and working out and working in the creation. He was responsible. Now, what sin has done, sin has taken the responsibility out of leadership and has replaced it with dominion.

[6:45] And what I mean by that is the kings of the Gentiles lorded over them. That's leadership. The question is not, am I responsible to you?

[6:57] But how and what way are you responsible to me? What are you going to do for me? What good is this for me? And so the kings of the world at the top say, what's in it for me?

[7:09] And the underlings exist for the pleasure and the comfort of the king. But Jesus said, not so among you. Not so among you. That's not how Jesus is head.

[7:20] It's not domination, but responsibility. So I just want you to think about that. Grace Fellowship Church. We are Jesus' responsibility.

[7:35] Now, you can think about all the things that you're responsible for. Maybe it's a lot of things. Maybe it's a few things. Maybe if you're a child, it's a pet. You're responsible for it.

[7:46] That's Jesus' relationship with us. Listen to how Lou Priola put it in his book, The Complete Husband. And men, if you're married, this is going to be sort of talking about your responsibility.

[8:04] But we're talking mostly about Christ today. But listen to what he had to say. What does it mean to be head of your wife? Well, being your wife's head means you're responsible.

[8:18] You're responsible to preside over her. You're responsible to provide for her. You're ultimately responsible for what is happening in her life. You're responsible to be aware of what your wife is doing and how she's doing it.

[8:33] You're responsible to dwell with her according to knowledge, to sanctify her and to protect her. But most of all, you're responsible to love her.

[8:47] So Christ is Grace Fellowship's head and husband. God put her, put us into his hands and said, This is now your responsibility.

[9:01] You can think of a wedding and we say, Who gives away this woman? Well, God the Father gave us to his son. To be his responsibility now.

[9:15] So some of you children have pets. And maybe the big question at the beginning was, Mom and Dad wanted to know, Well, they really wanted to know, Am I going to be the one having to take care of all of this?

[9:26] But they were wanting to know, Are you going to be responsible for it? Are you going to feed it? Are you going to care for that hamster or that gerbil or that cat or that dog?

[9:38] Will you make sure that it gets everything it needs? Will you clean out its cage? Will you clean out its litter box? Will you take it for walks? Will you do all the nasty things, even when you don't want to? Because this is your responsibility.

[9:51] This is what you have to take care of now. And not just at the beginning, But every day, Because you're saying, This is mine. This is mine. I have to do it.

[10:03] Will you take the weight of caring on yourself? Mom and Dad wanted to know. That's taking responsibility. Grace Fellowship, We are Christ's responsibility.

[10:17] To put it in a different way, We're his problem. We're his problem. Our well-being is his to worry about, So to speak.

[10:30] The weight is on him. And that's what it means to be a husband. And the well-being of your wife is your problem, Men.

[10:42] If she is burnt out and stressed out and overworked and dying inside, Maybe falling apart on the outside, My first stop is going to be to you. I'm going to knock on your door.

[10:54] And I'm going to say, This ain't her problem. This is your problem, buddy. What are you doing? Now, it might be very well that you're doing everything you can. That's certainly true.

[11:07] You could be doing everything you can, But my first stop is going to be with you. Which is your responsibility. So Grace Fellowship is Christ's responsibility.

[11:21] That should give us great peace. That should give us great hope and comfort. We know him too well to think that he's going to mess this up. That he won't take care of us.

[11:32] That he'll forget us. That he won't say, No, these are mine. This church is mine. I'm going to take care of her. Now, husband, sometimes you don't know what to do.

[11:46] We don't know what to do. Christ always knows what to do. Sometimes we don't know what to say. We want to help, but we just don't know what to say.

[11:58] Christ always knows what to say. And husband, sometimes you just can't do anything. You can't. You're not omnipotent.

[12:10] You don't have all power. You don't know what to do. Well, Christ isn't just the head of the church. Colossians says in everything that he might have the supremacy.

[12:23] He is the head of the church, and he is also the head of the new creation. So, Grace Fellowship Church, Bremen, Indiana. Your husband is king.

[12:36] King. Angels fall down before him. Before your husband. And seraphim and cherubim clutch their hearts at how great he is, and cover their eyes at his glory.

[12:53] Isaiah 6 was a vision of Jesus and his glory. He's king. King of heaven. King of earth.

[13:05] King of space. King of time. King of kings. Lord of lords. Your husband, Grace Fellowship Church, Bremen, Indiana.

[13:16] The one who is responsible for you is king. And we sing, the protection of his child and treasure is a charge that on himself he laid.

[13:30] We didn't voice ourselves on him. No, he said, no, this is my concern. These people are mine to worry about. Mine to take care of.

[13:41] And so there's great comfort here. There's great peace here. In times of uncertainty. In times of fear. In times of wondering what's going to happen.

[13:52] Grace Fellowship Church, you can say, I am Christ's responsibility. I'm his responsibility. Well, what else can we be sure of? Well, we can be sure that he loves us.

[14:05] That he loves us. He loves us as a congregation. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loves the church. And we can say that of the whole church.

[14:17] And that's definitely true. And we can say that as individuals. Paul said, Christ loved me. He loved me. Singular. Individually, he loved me and gave himself up for me.

[14:28] And we have every right to suck all the comfort out of that. And all the wonder and sweetness and delight out of that personal love of Jesus for us.

[14:40] But we can also be sure that he loves Grace Fellowship Church, Brayman, Indiana. The local congregation. Again, I want to talk about Revelation 2 and 3.

[14:51] And we can read these letters. But they're letters from Jesus to individual churches. And he writes to the church in Philadelphia. And I want you to hear something of the husband love.

[15:08] And just what he says. And men, you can imagine, if you're husbands, you can imagine yourself saying something like this. You can imagine something of his feeling in this.

[15:23] This is what Jesus says. I know that you have little strength. Yet you have kept my word and not denied my name. You've been faithful to me. You've been faithful to me.

[15:37] You know, sometimes when men and women divorce, the wife says, I'm not taking his name anymore. I'm not owning up to him. I'm not connected to him in any way. I'm denying that name.

[15:47] Well, you've been. You've not denied my name. And I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan who claim to be Jews, though they are not. But are liars. I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you.

[16:01] I have loved you. Church in Philadelphia, I have loved you. And I have. I love you. And I'm going to make those liars fall at your feet. Grovel at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you.

[16:14] And if that isn't Jesus loving a church in particular. I don't know what it is. He's even getting angry at how she is being treated. And husbands, you know that feeling.

[16:28] Well, we can be sure that grace fellowship or that Christ loves grace fellowship church. Well, what does that mean? What is love?

[16:39] What does it mean that he loves us? Well, you see it in the text. It's a whole being commitment. A whole being. All that someone is. Commitment to someone or something.

[16:50] It's a whole being commitment. It's all that you are for someone's good. All that you are. All of your possessions. All of your time.

[17:01] All of your energy are now at that person's disposal. And so look at verse 25. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church. And gave himself up for her.

[17:14] Well, what did he give? He gave himself. You give yourself away. He gave himself up to God as a sacrifice for us.

[17:27] He gave himself completely to God to care for us. And all that he is. His whole being. He gave to God.

[17:40] For our good. But before he gave himself completely to God. He gave himself to us. And that's why this sacrifice even works on our behalf. It's because he united himself with his bride.

[17:53] He gave himself completely. He united with us. And so the two became one flesh. This is a profound mystery.

[18:04] But I'm talking about Christ in the church. So he takes on flesh. He becomes a man that he might unite himself with men. With us.

[18:17] That he might give himself and take us to him. And I'm sticking on this point. Because I want you to realize. That Christ doesn't hold anything back from us.

[18:29] As a congregation. All that he is. He gives wholeheartedly. To us. And that's what we mean when we say.

[18:40] We love someone. We're saying. I. I. Am with you. All that I is. All that I entitles.

[18:52] All that I am. I. Give to you. So I am with you. Thick and thin. To have. To hold.

[19:03] From this day forward. For better. For worse. For richer. For poorer. In sickness and in health. To love and to cherish. That's what we can be sure of. Christ loves us.

[19:15] For worse. He gave himself up for us. He gave himself to us. And he's already proven that he will stick with us. Even when it gets bad.

[19:27] When it gets bad. Because when. When it got the worst. When the very last day came forward in history. To the cross.

[19:38] And God is now going to judge. And judge sin. Christ took our sin upon him. And when hell. And God's wrath came. When it came for us.

[19:50] Did Jesus leave us? We have to understand that. That. The wrath that was due us. Did fall. It did happen. It came.

[20:00] But it didn't come upon us. It came upon our. Husband. The full weight. The whole debt. All of the payment. He had to pay it.

[20:13] He took all of our sins upon him. And he bore the wrath. And he bore the shame. So. Our. Loving husband. Paid all of our debts. At. Immense.

[20:23] And at total. Personal cost. To himself. That's how he loves us. That's how he loves us. Pray that the spirit of God.

[20:37] Would open our eyes. Eyes. And open our hearts. To feel the weight of that. To feel the goodness of that. He says. I am with you. I am for you.

[20:50] I'm not holding anything back. No mercy. No comfort. No pleasure. No hand. No ear. No heart.

[21:01] Nothing. Nothing. All that I am. Is for you. I am with you. And I am all for you. Everything I can muster.

[21:13] Everything I can bring to bear. Everything I can call into action. I'll do it for you. That's what a husband does. That's what Christ does.

[21:26] The question is. What can't our husband do then? Grace Fellowship Church. What can't he do? What can't he do for us? Well he's the king. He's the greatest lover.

[21:38] And husband. That has ever been. And he holds nothing back. He rules everything. For the good of his people. Time. Space.

[21:49] Everything. Random circumstances. Or so we say. Every little detail. He brings it. That's what he can muster. And he brings it. For the good. Of us.

[22:01] He rules over all. For the good of his church. So. What do the months. And the years. Hold.

[22:12] Ahead. What do they hold? I don't know. But I do know. That they hold Christ's love for us. Christ will love us.

[22:25] And he does love us. And there's. There isn't any reason. We shouldn't trust him. There isn't any reason. We shouldn't bow before him. There isn't any reason. That we shouldn't.

[22:37] Worship him. And adore him. And enjoy him. He is our husband. He is with us. Yes. So how can we be afraid? How can a bride be afraid.

[22:47] When the husband is in the house. And he is in his house. Our king. Our husband is walking through his house.

[22:59] And his eyes are upon us always. And they are always filled with love. With love. Wholehearted love. Men.

[23:09] Your greatest love. Is. There's no other. Love for him. There's no other. Bride for him. We are his possession.

[23:21] His. Prize. The one. He died to gain. His treasure. Wholehearted love. Men.

[23:33] Your greatest love for your wife. Is. Is really nothing. But a puddle. Compared to his love. For. His bride. I know you men.

[23:43] Love your wives. But it's nothing. Compared to how. Wildly. And seriously. And completely. Devoted he is.

[23:54] To his bride. You can read. Song of Solomon. It's a difficult book.

[24:05] In some ways. To understand. What we should do. With it. But. Traditionally. And I think. Finally. However you interpret it. You need to read it.

[24:16] This is how. Um. This is how. Christ loves his church. This is how the church. Loves. Christ. So how.

[24:28] Profoundly. In love. Is Christ. With his church. Um. In the very. First chapter. Of Song of Solomon. He says. This is the husband. Talking to the wife.

[24:38] Or the man. Talking to the woman. He says. I liken you. My darling. To a mare. Harnessed. To one of the chariots. Of Pharaoh. And we say. What does that mean? Um. Well.

[24:50] Let me explain it to you. Pharaoh's chariots. Were always pulled by. Stallions. Big. Boy. Horses. But if you put a mare.

[25:01] In there. A girl horse. It drives the stallions. Crazy. And they can't do their job. And they don't pay attention. To what they're doing. And they're. All their focus. Becomes on her. And he's saying.

[25:13] My bride. That's what you're like to me. You're all I can think about. It is a profound mystery. Well.

[25:25] Who could have thought. Or who could imagine. That he would be so in love. With us. But. I know. That when we get to heaven. We will not. Be surprised.

[25:36] About how little. He loves us. We are going to be surprised. How little we understood. How oblivious we were. How much we missed. Of his love.

[25:49] Grace Fellowship Church. Our husband. Is in his house. He is with us. And so we don't need to be afraid. And we don't need to be worried. Because come what may.

[26:02] Nothing can take away his love. For us. Well. What else can we be sure of? Well. We can be sure. That he's going to. Take care. Of everything.

[26:12] That needs to be taken care of. He's going to take care of. Everything. That needs to be taken care of. We wonder. What will happen.

[26:23] What's going to be. What. What are the years hold. And we have lots of fears. About those sort of things. But. We are. We are his responsibility. He loves us. And so we can be sure. That he's going to care for us.

[26:36] And so you can look at verse 29. And. This is what it says. After all. No one ever hated his own body. You don't hate your own body.

[26:47] But he feeds and cares for it. Just as Christ does the church. For we are members of his body. So you care for your own body. You protect your body.

[26:58] You provide for your body. You. You think about its safety. And well-being. And. And. We are his body. And so that means that. No need is going to go unmet.

[27:12] No. No sorrow is going to go uncomforted. No fear is going to go unsoothed. No burden is not going to be carried. No danger is not going to be. No danger not turned aside.

[27:24] He cares for us. He cares for us. And so he's going to provide for us. Take care of everything that we need. And so what do you see in this passage.

[27:35] Of how Jesus is caring for his church. Looking after her needs. Looking and saying. Oh she needs this. And then. Oh he's going to go give it to her.

[27:47] Well right away you see. She needs holiness. Verse 26. Because without holiness. No one will see heaven. No one will see God. Without holiness.

[28:00] We need holiness. Holiness. And so he gives himself to make us holy. John Flavel wrote. Christ is so in love with holiness. That at the price of his own blood.

[28:10] He will give it to us. We need to be robed. And adorned. And holiness. If we're ever going to get into heaven. He needs to put his robe around us.

[28:21] And it costs him everything. But he sees that we need it. And so he gives it to us. The cross is the height. Of his care for us. Never was a shepherd more loving.

[28:33] Than when he laid his life down for the sheep. And never was a friend more caring. Than when he gave his life for his friends. So our husband.

[28:45] Our husband. Grace Fellowship Church. Used his own blood. To wash us white as snow. So how dear is his love. How great.

[28:57] Is his care. And how that drives away all of our fears. Doesn't it? What else? He feeds us.

[29:07] Haven't we found that? Haven't we found that? Who sends the spirit? He does. Who equips the shepherd boys?

[29:20] Well he does. He bought all the food. And we provide it to you. But it's all him. We set the table. But he's the one that has gone to the store.

[29:32] And filled the pantry. I don't know about you. But I always feel really good. As a man. When I can bring in the grocery haul. Like the van is full of groceries.

[29:45] And we fill up the pantry. I think it's because it's like the closest thing. That I'm ever going to get to. Like leaving the cave. And killing something. And dragging it back. And providing for my family.

[29:56] Well food is. Food is real. It's real care. It's real substantial. It's tangible. It's really loving. It's really providing for the family. Well Christ feeds his family.

[30:08] He stocks the pantry full. It's full of promises. Full of good nutrition and word. And he cares for his people.

[30:19] He feeds his people. Isn't that what the cross is? Isn't that what communion is about? He's saying this is my body. This is my blood. He feeds us. His very self. You can read all about that in John 6.

[30:32] Then he feeds us with his word. And how often have we been hungry. Hungry for a promise. Hungry for comfort. Hungry for direction. Hungry for wisdom. Hungry for help.

[30:44] And the word comes to us. And it's food. Well that's Jesus. Caring for his people. We're dragging. And he nourishes us. He cares for us. Grace Fellowship Church.

[30:57] Cares for us. Well how else? Well he gives us a listening ear. Husbands.

[31:09] How do you care for your wives? You listen to them. You take an interest in what they have to say. You take an interest in what their heart is saying to you. And we have Jesus' ear.

[31:23] We have his ear. And we can pour out our heart to him. We can pour out our troubles. Happy, sad, angry, afraid. We can pour it out to our husband.

[31:34] And he's a listening ear. A sympathetic presence. Just being there. Just being there. Sometimes being with you is enough.

[31:52] And we say about Jesus. You're always with me. Always just with me. Well he carries our burdens. Her problem is his problem.

[32:09] Her trouble is his trouble. Her sorrow is his sorrow. Her pain is his pain. Shares our burdens. Nothing has fallen upon us that hasn't fallen upon him.

[32:26] He gives a rest. When it's all too much, Jesus can say, Now come aside with me and rest a while. When John the Baptist's disciples were sad because they had lost, because John the Baptist had been beheaded and Jesus said, Come away with me.

[32:47] The disciples were tired and they had been out working and preaching. And Jesus said, Come away and rest a while. Grace Fellowship Church, Jesus never over-wearies his bride.

[33:02] There's no doubt he lets us work. He lets us sweat. We put in work. But he never over-wearies his people.

[33:15] This morning we saw that sometimes we over-weary ourselves. Filling up our life with non-essentials and then wearing ourselves out. But we need to realize that so many of the things that we put in our lives, Jesus doesn't have anything to do with putting that stuff there.

[33:31] We need to learn to say no. But he never over-wearies his people. But he's not above saying, Sit and rest. He's not afraid to sit his bride down and rest her and give her rest and serve her.

[33:47] Saying, I'll get the dinner. I'll clean the house. I'll take care of things. I'll put things back. And we say, He's the king. We should be serving.

[33:58] We should be serving him, not the other way around. And, you know, Peter thought the same way. But yet Jesus was not afraid of the towel. Not afraid of the wash basin.

[34:11] He gives his bride rest when she needs it. He protects us. I don't think we have any idea of all the things that he protects us from.

[34:25] And he protects us. He protects us from all the winds that blow. Isaiah 32.12. This verse is very precious.

[34:38] It's a promise. It's looking forward to this messianic king and this restoration. And at 32.12. It says. It's not 32.12.

[34:49] It's 32.1 and 2. It says, A king will reign in righteousness. And rulers will rule in justice. So what is this righteousness and this justice going to look like?

[35:01] What is God's king going to be like? And the next verse says, They will be like a shelter from the wind. There will be a shelter. That's what Jesus says. A shelter from the wind.

[35:12] So what is the wind? Well, afflictions, troubles, trials coming from the outside, doubts and fears on the inside.

[35:22] We have wind coming from the outside and the inside. And there are windy days, aren't there? There are windy days that would blow the shingles off of our house, that would send trees crashing down into our bedroom upon us.

[35:34] While we're asleep, through many troubles, we must enter the kingdom of God. Windy days happen.

[35:48] Nothing is out of the ordinary. It is exactly as he said it would be. But Isaiah 32.2 says that our husband is a shelter from the wind.

[36:01] The wind is rushing in and he stands guard and he says, Hush, be still. So he protects our spiritual life, our faith.

[36:15] That seed that he plants, he protects. Maybe sometimes it's no more than an ember, but the wind is blowing. And you know what that's like if you go camping and you're trying to start a fire and it's really windy.

[36:29] You have to shelter the little fire from the wind. Jesus is that shelter that is around each of our souls, protecting that little fire from going out.

[36:40] He protects not only our spiritual life, he protects our peace and our confidence. We sang it. What is, what is our only hope and our dress? It's his righteousness.

[36:51] Paul says, I know whom I believed and I'm persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him to that day.

[37:01] And so what is our confidence? Well, it's Jesus' blood and righteousness. As far as we're concerned, that is our key to heaven. That is our hope to heaven. And there is great joy in realizing that I one day will be there.

[37:16] Why? Because Jesus, Jesus died for me. Jesus lived for me. And so the wind is blowing and doubts are shaking my soul. And sin and Satan and lies and accusations are coming against me.

[37:30] They're all stormy, my poor soul. And Jesus says, hush, be still. And the cross puts every fear to rest.

[37:44] And so all through this windy night, my hope lives on. My hope keeps burning. The world and the devil has its plans.

[37:58] He's our protector. He's rich. The wealth of the rich is their fortified city. In this world, money and resources means protection.

[38:15] The rich are the least vulnerable. The poor are the most vulnerable. Well, good thing our husband is so rich. He is so rich. All things.

[38:27] We've already quoted this. All things are his. Everything is for him and unto him. It's for him and to him. He's rich. All this creation, all the next creation, is his.

[38:41] So he's rich. That means we're protected. We have savings accounts galore. Our husband is high.

[38:52] In the last hurricane, in every hurricane, in every flood, what do you want? You want high ground. When you're in trouble, back in those days, what did you want?

[39:04] You wanted the high ground. Think of 70 A.D. The Romans are going to destroy this Judean rebellion and the people go up high on this mountain and they're protected for at least some time.

[39:18] Well, our husband is high. He's high. His love is high, soaring above. It's a wall that no wind and no waves can crash over.

[39:31] He's no little wall. Our husband is diligent. Grace Fellowship Church, the one who watches over you will neither slumber nor sleep. He has not fallen asleep in the least.

[39:46] He's a wide awake. How he watches or his loved ones died to call them all his own.

[40:00] Why is he so diligent in his watch? Because he died to have us. To have us close. So how is he going to let anyone hurt us?

[40:11] How for them he interceded. Watch us. Watcheth over them from the throne. The wind is blowing, but Jesus is our husband.

[40:24] The husband is in his house. We're his responsibility. We're his treasure. We're his prize. So he's going to care for us.

[40:35] So two very quick applications. Extremely quick. Number one, let's rest in him.

[40:48] Let's trust him. He's willing to carry us. Let him carry us. And number two, let's follow him.

[41:00] Sarah followed her Abraham wherever she went. From Ur to Haran down to all this traveling. Not knowing where she was going to go, but she knew her husband was going, and so she followed him wherever he went.

[41:15] let's follow him. Let's stick with him. Because our husband is one greater than Abraham. Remember Jesus said that?

[41:27] Well, one greater than Abraham is here. He's one greater than Abraham. And so wherever he takes us, let's follow him with our hand in his hand.

[41:38] Holding on tight. The friends, the onlookers, the chorus, the choir, and Song of Solomon says, who is this coming up from the desert leaning on her lover?

[41:55] And they're looking out on the desert and here is a man with his wife and she's leaning on him. Grace Fellowship, let that be us.

[42:11] Let that be us. Oh, Father, what a wonderful and magnificent love that you have that you would give us to your son to be his bride.

[42:25] To put us into his care and to make us his responsibility. Lord Jesus, your love is the best.

[42:38] Vast, unmeasured, boundless, and free. And we take great delight in that love.

[42:50] We find all of our hope and our comfort and our peace in your love for us. forgive us for being so blind and dull-hearted so much of the time. Oh, make us more sensitive.

[43:04] Make us more in love with you. Lord Jesus, your love is our is our peace when all the wind and the darkness is all around us.

[43:19] your love is a light and a shelter to us. And so help us to hold on tight. Help us not to run away, but to cling to you.

[43:33] And as we walk through this desert and walk to glory, thank you that you have not left us or forsaken us, but you are at our side and you are with us.

[43:45] So, teach us as a congregation, teach us as individuals to lean upon you. To lean upon you in faith and to lean upon you in love and adoration.

[43:58] there's some here who are totally blind to the beauty of your love. It's not right. It shouldn't be that way.

[44:09] So, I pray that you would open their eyes and open their hearts that they might see the beauty of your love. Holy Spirit, this is your work. You must give life.

[44:22] You must bring light. You must make that word come alive. So, hover over their hearts and bring forth new love and new faith.

[44:33]  I pray this in Jesus' name, for his sake. Amen. Amen.