Jeff Smith

Well, I would like you to turn in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 5. I would like to read verses 22-33 of Ephesians 5.

“Wives, be in subjection unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, being Himself the Savior of the body. But as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives also be to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for it, that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word, that He might present the church to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. Even so, ought husbands also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He that loves his own wife loves himself; for no man ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ also the church, because we are members of His body. ‘For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ This mystery is great; but I speak in regard of Christ and of the church. Nevertheless, do you also severally love each one his own wife even as himself, and let the wife see that she fear her husband.”
Continue reading God’s Design and Plan for Husbands in the Light of Redemption (2) →

Jeff Smith

Let’s pray and ask God to be with us as we study His Word.

Our gracious God in Heaven, we thank You that You see all things and You know our innermost thoughts. We pray, O God, that You would come and use Your Holy Word to search us, to try us, and to show us the realities of our own sins and need of Jesus Christ. We pray, Father, that You would use Your Word for the good of everyone in this auditorium, from the youngest to the oldest. May no one sit and think, “This does not apply to me.” Take Your Word, our sovereign God, and apply it graciously and powerfully to each one of our hearts and souls. May Jesus Christ receive all praise, glory, and honor. In His name we pray, amen.

When a tsunami sweeps across a country, devastation is the consequence, and probably everyone here remembers seeing the pictures of that tsunami that swept into Japan just over three years ago. The destruction was unbelievable. However, with the passing of time, reconstruction takes place, as it has there in Japan, and order and beauty is restored little by little. The fall of man into sin, Adam’s disobedience to God’s clear, simple command, was a spiritual and practical tsunami. Death and depravity descended upon all of the natural descendants of Adam, because of Adam’s sin: his disobedience. It was a spiritual tsunami, but through the gospel of Jesus Christ, anyone who believes in Christ and turns away from his or her sins have their tsunami-devastated life reconstructed by the grace of God, by the work of the Holy Spirit, and holiness replaces sin and depravity by degrees. Until one day we shall be forever with the Lord, and we shall have sin no more.
Continue reading God’s Design and Plan for Husbands in the Light of Redemption (1) →