Christ's Love is a Purifying love

When we talk about husbands loving their wives as Christ loved the church, we understand that there are lots of aspects to Christ's love. What we want to look at today is that Christ's love is purifying. The church is the bride of Christ, and so Christ wants a pure church. He wants His bride to be without spot or blemish. Ephesians 5:26-26 says,

"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 be holy and without blemish."

That's Christ's desire for us - for you and me as part of the church. He wants His bride to be "holy and without blemish."

Now certainly most Christian men want to marry a virgin who is morally pure, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that desire. It should be every young person's goal to stand at the altar and present themselves to their spouse morally pure. It's a parents responsibility to get them there that way.

But that is not what this is talking about. It isn't for the simple reason that. . .well, who does Christ bring into His church? Who becomes His bride? The answer is, sinners like you and me. Romans 3:23 says, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." All is a pretty inclusive word. That means that the bride of Christ is made up of fallen, sinful human beings like you and me.

This isn't talking about Christ looking all around until He finds a pure person to bring into His church. This is talking about Christ saving sinners by grace then working to purify and sanctify them. At our salvation, He begins the process of cleaning us up. He sanctifies His fallen bride. So whether or not you marry a virgin, and there is a 100% guarantee that you will be marrying a sinner, this passage still talks to you as a husband.

Your responsibility is to take the wife that you have, whether she came pure to you or not, and sanctify her and purify her just as Christ does the church. To sanctify means to set something totally apart unto God. Jesus sets us apart for himself - for His total, exclusive possession. We are His bride. And that acts to cleanse us.

Men, is it your desire that your wife be pure and holy? Do you want her to be unblemished morally? Do you want her to be a woman who pleases God? Then it is your duty to sanctify her. Take her to yourself. There is to be an exclusivity in marriage that offers protection. You guard her purity because she alone is your wife and you are devoted totally to her. Love can not bear to see a loved one corrupted by sin. It should pain our hearts to see our wives smeared with the dirt of the world. We should be willing to do anything to prevent that.