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This is a Great

Ephesians 5:32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

Mystery

What is the mystery?

Ephesians 5:31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.

is a great mystery…

This

:

What are the mysteries of marriage?

I. The differences between man and

womanII. The joining into one

fleshIII. The presence of

conflict

The Differences Between Man and Woman

• Designed for different purposes– Genesis 2:7, 15 And the Lord

God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul…the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

Genesis 2:18, 22 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 the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man

The Differences Between Man and Woman

• Designed with different needs– I Peter 3:7 Likewise, ye

husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.

The Differences Between Man and Woman

• Men need:– to be

respected (5:22)

– to receive physical affection (Prov.31:23)

• Women need:– to be loved

(5:25)– to be

listened to regularly (Titus 2:4)

The Joining into One Flesh

• Ephesians 5:28, 31 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh

The Joining into One Flesh

• Spouses make a clean break– In-laws are not allowed to

interfere•Ruth 1:11-12—Naomi was separated from their lives

•Genesis 29:18ff—Laban interfered in Jacob’s life

– Friends are not allowed to interfere

The Joining into One Flesh

• Spouses become one flesh– Song of Solomon 4:10

How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse…

– Song of Solomon 5:16 …This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.

The Presence of Conflict

• Ephesians 5:32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church– There is conflict in the

church (Matthew 18:7; Revelation2-3)

– It must then follow…

The Presence of Conflict

• Our marriages are more vulnerable to conflict than we think– Song of Solomon 2:15

Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes

The Presence of Conflict

• Our conflict can be resolved– Song of Solomon 5:6 I

opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer (6:1-4)

Marriage is a mystery…

…eternity is notRevelation 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.