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I want to read to you the first words
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in the Bible concerning marriage.
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This is found in Genesis 2:21.
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"So the Lord God
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caused a deep sleep
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to fall upon the man."
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This is not myth.
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This is what God did.
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Our Lord called this Word -
the Word of God -
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He called it truth.
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This is truth.
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These first chapters of Genesis,
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they are truth.
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Back in the beginning, "the Lord God
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caused a deep sleep to fall on the man.
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While he slept, took one of his ribs
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and closed up its place with flesh.
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And the rib that the Lord God had taken
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from the man, He made into a woman
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and brought her to the man.
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Then the man said, 'This at last
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is bone of my bones,
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and flesh of my flesh.
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She shall be called woman
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because she was taken out of man.'
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Therefore..."
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So far you have:
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the woman has been created.
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But here are the first words -
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although the word "marriage" is not
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in this verse,
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here's where we first see it.
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Genesis 2:24 "Therefore, a man
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shall leave his father and his mother
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and hold fast to his wife,
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and they shall become one flesh."
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Those are the first words on marriage.
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But here's what's remarkable.
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You go forward thousands of years,
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and here comes a man.
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We know him as the Apostle Paul.
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You know why he was an apostle?
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Because the Lord Jesus
Christ made him that.
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This man speaking as he was being led
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by the Spirit of God under inspiration,
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he quotes this exact verse
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in Ephesians 5.
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Listen to this: Ephesians 5:31.
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"Therefore a man shall leave
his father and mother
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and hold fast to his wife,
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and the two shall become one flesh."
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Same words right out of Genesis 2:24.
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He quotes in Ephesians 5
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thousands of years later
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to Gentile Christians at Ephesus.
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And you know what?
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He doesn't finish that by saying,
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Ephesians, there you have it.
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Those are the first words on marriage.
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That's the classic text
that you want to go to
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when you want to figure out what marriage
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between a man and a
woman ought to look like.
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That's not what he says.
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You know what he says?
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A lot of you do.
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Some of you don't.
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This is what he says.
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"This mystery is profound,
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and I am saying that it refers
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to Christ and the church."
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It's like, really, Paul?
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That has to do with Christ?
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He goes back and he finds this text
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that doesn't say anything about Christ.
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It has to do with a man
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leaving his father and his mother
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and clinging, holding fast, to a wife,
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and Paul being led
under inspiration of God -
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He's speaking the very truth of God -
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he says, you know what?
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You know what this really has to do with?
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It has to do with Christ.
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It has to do with Christ and the church.
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I mean, have you ever noticed?
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Not just the Apostle Paul,
but all over the place.
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It's interesting. Paul, no matter
what he's talking about,
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he ended up at Christ.
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Have you ever noticed that?
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And yet Christ Himself came along,
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and remember on the road to Emmaus?
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He's got these two men
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and He opens up Scripture,
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and He just says, "it's all about Me."
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You know what's amazing?
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Is everything points to Christ.
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Everything is for Christ.
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Everything.
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You go into Scripture, and it says
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that through Him everything was created.
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It's for Him.
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It's by Him.
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It's through Him.
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There's nothing made that
was not made by Him.
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I was out walking yesterday
and I was looking -
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I was looking at the trees
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and I was thinking,
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the trees lose their leaves and look dead.
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And then the spring comes,
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and there they are again.
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Something dead coming to life.
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That's a picture of the resurrection.
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And then you can look over
and you can see the sun.
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The sun rises.
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Jesus says, "I'm the light of the world."
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Every day, every season
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of fall and winter and spring,
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we get a picture of Christ
coming out of the grave.
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Every day as the sun rises.
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Christ came into this world and He said,
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"I am the light of the world."
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It says light came into the world.
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It came into the midst of the darkness.
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Every night, we have darkness,
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and every day, that sun breaks forth
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over the Eastern horizon.
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And it's a picture - all of it -
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it's declaring the glory of the Lord.
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We're told in Scripture
that you can go out
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and you can look at the sky and the stars.
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That's the glory of Christ.
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That's His handiwork.
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As I was walking along,
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I look from the trees
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and I look over to the river -
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the San Antonio River -
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and I'm thinking water.
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It's not just like the authors
of Scripture came along
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or Christ came along and He said,
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"Hm, where can I
find good illustrations?"
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You have to recognize,
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He created everything
the way He created it
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to put His glory on display.
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It's all about Him and it's all for Him.
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It's not just second hand.
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Everything, including marriage.
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I look over at the San Antonio River
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and I'm thinking water.
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Does water take us back to Christ?
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He's talking about living water.
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He has the water of life.
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He says, "If you're thirsty,
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you come unto Me."
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Literally everywhere that we look.
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You look at the church,
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and you look at Scripture.
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It says Jesus Christ is
the Head of the church.
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You look at governments.
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And what does Scripture say?
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I mean, it talks about all thrones
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and power and dominion,
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rulers and authorities -
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they were created by Him
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and they're for Him,
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and He rules over all of them.
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He rules in the church.
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He's the Head of the church.
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He rules over all the
governments of this world.
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They're on His shoulders, right?
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We have this Wonderful Counselor,
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and He comes.
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He rules the nations with a rod of iron.
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He is in control.
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Everywhere we look.
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You go into the church and you see
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that they're in this book.
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And yet, this book is a book of truth,
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and Jesus came into the world and said,
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"I am the Truth."
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He tells those two on the road to Emmaus,
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"The Scriptures - they're all about Me."
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And you know what's interesting?
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I was watching something the other day
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and they had the camera
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pointed in a certain direction
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and different people were walking by,
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but I noticed there were couples.
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That's not uncommon to see.
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You know, if you went
down to San Antonio,
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this is Fiesta Week, and you looked,
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you would see couples.
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What are we supposed to see in that?
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When you see a man and a woman,
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and they're married,
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Paul says the profound
mystery of all of this
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is it's got to do with Christ.
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You see a man and a woman -
they're going to walk up here.
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You know what we're supposed to see?
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We're supposed to see Christ.
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Christ.
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Every couple - the man
is a picture of Christ.
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And what Paul is dealing with
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is that the husband ought to love.
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I mean, if there's anything that
we ought to see in a couple,
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it is the love of Christ.
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Think about that.
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He's to love her like
Christ loved the church.
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There is the emblem.
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Every couple in this world.
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Isn't it amazing?
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We walk through life
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and everywhere we look,
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where we see a married couple,
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God wants us to see Christ.
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I mean, you can look at
the trees and the leaves
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and the water and the sun,
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but also here, it's like
God has surrounded us
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with all of these pictures of Christ.
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He is everywhere.
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And in this, I mean, if
there's any demonstration
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in this of Christ,
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it's His love.
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I mean, think about the love of Christ.
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I'll tell you one thing about
his love for this woman,
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would you all say it's special?
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Like really special?
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Like he doesn't even want
to look at any other woman.
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He wants to gaze in her face.
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That's the way Christ is.
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His love is special.
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It says that he is to love her
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like Christ has loved everybody?
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No.
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Like Christ loves the church.
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Oh, what special love!
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And you know what?
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You've got these dry theologians out there
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that want to tell you that love,
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there's no feeling.
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What garbage is that?
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"It's a commitment."
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"You do right for the one you love."
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"You take care of them
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and you provide for them."
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"There are certain rules and regulations
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that guide love."
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That's all a bunch of garbage.
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I'm not saying that there isn't a place
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for love to do right by that person;
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for love to give oneself.
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But we all know it.
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The thing we like about love
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is the delight of it.
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And don't we find that in Scripture?
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You find that Christ comes along,
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and He talks about the delight
that He has for His people.
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He's crying out to His Father,
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"Father, I want them to be where I am."
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"I want them to behold My glory."
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And you know the thing about
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the love that Christ has for the church?
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Dorothy's already beautiful.
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But, Christ, He takes the ugly.
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He loves the ugly.
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But have you ever noticed,
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He doesn't intend to keep His bride ugly.
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He loves them beautiful.
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Isn't that what we find
there in Ephesians 5?
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No spot. No wrinkle. No blemish.
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You go to the Song of Solomon,
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which is a picture of Christ's
relationship to His church,
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and He looks at His bride and He says,
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"You are altogether beautiful."
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He loves His church beautiful.
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He loved.
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He loved. Oh, He loved sacrificially!
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What love He gave!
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He gave in His love.
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His love was very giving.
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He put it all on the altar for His bride.
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Did He not?
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I mean, you think about that.
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I was reading in Luke 12.
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He's just talking about His distress.
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He's anticipating the coming of the cross,
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and He's saying, "Great is My distress."
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He says I've got this cup to drink,
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or I've got this baptism
to be baptized with,
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and great is My distress
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until this is accomplished.
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I mean, Christ walked through this world
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under great stress. Why?
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He was looking towards the cross.
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What was the cross all about?
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The cross was all about paying the payment
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that was needed to be paid
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to make that bride beautiful.
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Altogether lovely.
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Great distress.
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He said that His soul,
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brethren, His soul was full of sorrow.
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He was there in the garden.
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He sweat as it were great drops of blood.
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He was under incredible sorrow. Why?
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Because He was going to become sin
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for the sake of His bride.
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His love. Have we ever seen such love?
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I mean, I was trying to think about Him.
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The distress that He would have been
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feeling in His soul.
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Having to become sin.
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Having a bride, and He has to become sin.
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He has to be alienated from His Father;
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forsaken of His Father.
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He has to become sin.
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He has to be crushed.
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He has to bear the wrath of God
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in the place of His people.
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What was that like?
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What horrors before Him!
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And yet for that joy that was before Him,
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He endured that suffering.
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He went to that cross.
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And I'll tell you,
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this King - He's purchased a queen.
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And He means to take
that queen home with Him.
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He means to.
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And the time is short.
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This is an emblem.
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This is an emblem of a great hope.
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Oh, can you imagine it?
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Can you imagine when death takes hold
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of the Christian?
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Or when Christ comes?
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And He comes to claim His bride.
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And Paul talks about a pure virgin
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that he wants betrothed to Christ.
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And Christ comes and takes
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a pure virgin made beautiful.
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No spot. No wrinkle.
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Can you imagine?
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How many of us in this room?
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That's going to be us!
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Can you imagine the first time?
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There's going to come that time.
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You altogether in your beauty.
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We're going to be like Him.
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We're going to see Him as He is.
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He says, "Father, I desire that they
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be where I am that they
may behold My glory."
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We're going to be there.
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And what John says - 1 John 3 -
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we're going to behold that glory.
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We're going to see Him
in all of His beauty.
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And we're going to be like Him.
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And there is going to be that first moment
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where there is going to be the eye contact
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with the One who so loved us
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that He gave His life.
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He became that sin offering.
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He took my sin and bore it on Him.
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My shame was laid on Him.
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And there He is.
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Can you imagine the first eye contact
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with our Beloved?
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With Him who bought us.
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What you're seeing here,
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it points to that.
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What glory!
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What hope we have as Christians!
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Well, you two would like
to get married, wouldn't you?
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Why don't you come back up
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and we'll do that.