God's Purpose for Marriage

The time of today, God's purpose for marriage. First of all, we need to understand God's nature and being. As we go through this today, to understand everything we have to say today, to say it as briefly as we can say it, encapsulates so much of what this life is all about.

And you've heard me say many times, seven great questions of life. Does God exist? Who is God? What is God? What is His purpose? Who is man? What is man? And what is His purpose? God is eternal. Existing in eternity has no beginning and has no end. And so is the Word, the one who became Jesus Christ. We're all familiar with John 1.1. In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God and the Word was God. God's chief characteristics are love and grace. Love, as we have so often defined, is outgoing concern for others. God, in His love, wanted to share His eternal being with humankind in a family relationship. And grace is from the Greek word karis, which means divine favor. So because of God's love and because of His divine favor, and because He wanted to share His being with human beings in a family relationship, at some point in eternity, God and the Word developed the great plan of salvation that enables God the Father to share His very being with humans in a family relationship. So God and the Word developed a plan whereby humans created from the dust of the earth could become literal sons and daughters of God through a begatul-in-birth process. Now, through this begatul-in-birth process is an absolute key to understanding what life is all about, what God's purpose is with regard to humanity, and what man's purpose is and why human beings were created. One might say humans are created beings. That is true. But the genius of the plan is for humans to be begotten of God and then born into His family at the resurrection. In Genesis 2.7 it says, And God formed man out of the dust of the ground, and men breathed into His nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. Now, that word soul, I've started a book on the greatest conception in human history, or I've toyed with various titles. I may never write the book, but I'll make it available in my manuscript, whatever I have, maybe three or four pages upon death. But the word soul in the Hebrew is nefesh, and it means life or life potential. In Greek it is sukei, and it means the same thing. It is used for animal life and human life. And as I have said, and I've never read this in a commentary, I've never heard any critical commentary or anybody else talk about this in the sense that here is an all-wise, all-loving, gracious God. Would He create a good, pure, immortal soul, as some would term it, and put it into a body that is subject to sin and death? And then turn around and say, save your soul, even though this is subject to sin and death, and I'll go even so far as to give my only-begotten Son so that you can save your soul, which is immortal in the first place. According to that, of course, we know it's not. The soul that sins, it shall die. See, that's sort of up front, but as we go through this, become clearer and clearer. God knew that humans would sin, so He developed His great plan for the Word, the One who became Jesus Christ, as I quoted John 1-1, in the beginning with the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And then John 1-14 says that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. So this One was to die for the sins of the world, and upon repentance and faith in the sacrifice of Christ, they could be reconciled to God and viewed as sinless, removing our sins as far from us as the east is from the west. Now look, please, at Romans 5, Romans 5 and verse 6. In Romans 5 and verse 6, For when we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. Now Romans 3, 23 says that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

But Romans 6, 23 says that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

So every person has sinned, thus every person has the death penalty upon their head.

And the only way that God will beget that person with His Spirit is for them to be viewed as sinless, which requires that someone die in our stead, and Jesus Christ did that, and these four or five verses here summarize that. So once again, verse 6, For when we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly.

For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet for adventure for a good man some would even dare to die.

But God commended His love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, much more than being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.

For when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God. So God the Father does not have anything to do with sin, and for us to be sinless, we have to repent and exercise faith in the sacrifice of Christ.

Reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

And then, of course, Roman John 14.23 says that we will both make our abode in Him. That is, God's Spirit, His essential being, abides in those who have repented and exercised faith in the sacrifice of Christ, been baptized, and received the laying on of hands.

Now, God created the angelic realm before He created human beings. And I'm not turning there, but in Job 38 it talks about the sons of God. There are two types of, you might say even three types of sons of God. That is, sons of God by creation in the spirit realm, the angelic realm, they are their spirit.

The purpose of the angelic realm, the angels were created before human beings, the purpose of the angelic realm is given in Hebrews 1.14.

In Christ's there, the Word inspired the Apostle Paul to write that, and what are angels? Are they not ministering spirits sent to the heirs of salvation?

So God created the angelic realm to help us make it into His family, into His Kingdom.

When Job was having his sore trial and beginning to think that God was unfair, then Elihu got his attention and eventually God spoke to him out of the whirlwind and asked him, where were you, Job, when I laid the foundations of the earth, suspended it out there in space, just revolving on its axis, revolving around the sun, tilted 23 point something degrees, we had the four seasons and so on because of that. Where were you, Job, when all of that happened? When the morning stars, that is, the sons of God, the angelic creation, sang for joy.

Well, that shows that the angels were created before human beings, and it also, as we quoted from Hebrews 1.14, that the purpose of angels ministering spirit set to the heirs of salvation.

We're going to see that God's plan of marriage and family parallels what God is doing in bringing sons and daughters to glory in His eternal spiritual family.

Satan and the demons are well acquainted with this plan, since they were created to be ministering servants to the heirs of salvation.

That's perhaps one of the reasons why Satan rebelled, because you read about in Ezekiel 28, he saw his beauty, his intelligence, his wisdom, and all of that. It was like, why should I take back seat to any being that might come along hereafter?

So, as you read in Revelation 12, that Satan, the great dragon, drew one-third of the stars, symbolic of the angels, and they became demons.

So, Satan and the demons are well acquainted with this plan, since they were created to be ministering servants to the heirs of salvation. That's why they exist. They are created spirit beings. Human beings are to be born into the family of God, and of the same spiritual essence as God the Father and Jesus Christ.

So, after Satan led one-third of the angels in a great rebellion against God and failed, Satan has turned his fury against God and the potential heirs of salvation.

Satan is the one who is ultimately behind the various movements designed to destroy the family.

The principal movements are radical feminism, the LGBT agenda, homosexuality, which seeks to destroy roles of men and women, the so-called family planning movement, which endorses abortion.

We must never forget that Satan hates mankind, and his mission is to destroy you and subvert God's great plan of salvation.

Ultimately, he desires to be the object of worship. According to Revelation 13 for a season, everyone whose names are not written in the Lamb's Book of Life will worship.

Satan, the beast power. Of course, Satan possesses the beast power.

God could have created each person individually neutered, sexless, not being male nor female, and have a neutral gender society. Of course, that's where the LGBT agenda and progressive societal philosophy desires to take humankind. In order for a sexless human society to be sustained, God would have it to continue creating physical beings.

And this method would not provide any natural bonding elements for society.

That's a very important point, natural bonding elements for society.

We love our parents because they gave us life and loved us. And we learned to love them as they loved us. And we should come to love God because He is the author of physical and spiritual life.

Turn to 1 John 4. 1 John 4, beginning in verse 6. In this chapter here, we have repeated twice that God is love. In 1 John 4, verse 6, You are of God, he that knows God hears us. He that is not of God hears not us, hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, for everyone that loves is born or begotten of God, and everyone that is begotten of God and knows God.

He that loves not knows not God, God is love. And this was manifested the love of God toward us because God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. Herein is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propituation for our sins. As we've already mentioned, He went in our stead. The wages of sin is death.

The only way the penalty can be paid is through the death of the Son of God. One counted worthy to be the propituation for all humankind. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. And we read from Romans 5, verses 6-10, that when we were enemies to God, that Jesus Christ died for the sins of the world.

And in verse 16, And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us, God is love, and he that dwells in love dwells in God, and God in him. God created an ordained marriage for a great purpose. As I said earlier, that it parallels what God is doing in the spiritual realm of bringing sons and daughters to glory in His family. One of the first great keys to understanding God's great plan is to recognize that God is the author of male and female. So in Genesis 1.26, let's read that 1.26 and 27.

In Genesis 1.26, And God said, Let us make man in our image, and after our likeness, let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle over the earth, and every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He Him, male and female created He them. In recent years, there have been a concerted effort to do away with male and female, to do away with gender, to have gender neutral, to have common restrooms, to be able to, quote, transcend or change your gender.

Feminists would have you believe that man evolved and that sex roles were created by man, and somehow man, because he was stronger physically, subjugated women, and they became lords over them. If man evolved, then God did not create male and female. He created them male and female in His own image, in His own image, with faculties akin to God. He can think, He can reason, but not of the same essence. Man was made from the dust to the ground. God is spirit. How do you transcend that? It is through what God is doing, through offering a sacrifice for sin so we can be viewed sinless upon repentance and faith in the sacrifice of Christ, and then after baptism, receive God's spirit.

At least there's one command that people were quick to obey, that is, be fruitful, multiply, replenish the earth. People are pretty good at that. The second key to know and believe, see the first key, God created male and female created He them. The second key is to know and believe that God is the author of marriage. Marriage is not the invention of man. The two greatest institutions on the face of the earth are, one, the Church of God, and two, the institution of marriage.

God is the author of marriage. Look at Genesis 2. He created Adam first from the dust of the ground, and of course he took a rib. God was the first anesthesiologist. Deep sleep came upon Adam. He took that rib. Verse 18, the Lord God, this is Genesis 2.18, the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him a help-meet for him. And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, every fowl, and every living... That word that's creature there is the Hebrew word nephesh, every living soul, so soul relates to life, that was the name thereof.

Adam called every living soul, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to the cattle and all the beasts, but there was not found an help-meet for him, and the Lord God caused deep sleep, and he took this rib and he formed woman. And he brought this woman, verse 22, under the man, and Adam said, this is now bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, she shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother. See, here is where marriage was ordained, where marriage was instituted. Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother, shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh.

They become one flesh and coitus, and one flesh and one mind and one spirit. That's, of course, one of the big goals. So God is the author of marriage.

The next key is to realize that male and female have the same potential. They have the same potential to be glorious, radiant spirit beings in the kingdom of God. There is a scripture that just nails that. Galatians chapter 3. I've gone to Galatians 3 several times in helping us to understand that God is the God of all nations, all peoples, races, kindreds, tongues. No matter the language, the ethnic origin, He is the God of all. Is He the God of the Jews?

Only no. Other Gentiles also. Paul writes in Romans chapter 3. It is through Jesus Christ that all nations of the earth are blessed, and the promises of Abraham are realized. Thou promises of Abraham are realized. That is, through the seed, and that seed is Christ, all nations can be blessed. I'm reading Galatians 3.16. Now to Abraham and his seed, where the promise is made, he said, Not unto seeds as of many, but as of one, and to your seed, which is Christ.

Now, somewhat of a summary of Galatians 3 and also part of Genesis 12, you look at Galatians 3 and verse 25. But after that faith has come, we're no longer under a schoolmaster, the Mosaic law system contained in Washington's oblations and so on. It's a schoolmaster, a figure for the time present to bring us to Christ. In verse 26, For you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. It is not through your national origin, your ethnic origin, through your race, your language, or any of that.

But there's more. For you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus, for as many of us as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither bond nor free. There is neither male nor female. Males and females have the same God-ordained potential to be sons and daughters, glorious, radiant spirit beings in the kingdom of God. And what's happened is human beings lose sight of what their ultimate destiny and promise and opportunity is, and they seek to fulfill some kind of fleshly desires now and forget their God-ordained roles.

There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither bond nor free. There is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ. If you be in Christ, then are you Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. So male and female have the same potential. The fourth key is to realize that the marriage contract or covenant is made with God and man. The marriage ceremony reads, and even if you go get married with a JP, Justice of the Peace, my grandfather was the Justice of Peace and beat whatever it was in Jones County where I grew up.

And very often on Saturdays, a couple would sort of just drift in and want him to marry them. And I have sat there and listened to him marry a few people way back when I was probably eight, nine years old, something like that. But even those marriage ceremonies that the JP reads or civil authority will read somewhat the U covenant with God before these witnesses to take so-and-so as your lawful wedded wife, lawful wedded husband, and so on it goes.

And then, especially in our ceremony in the Church of God, we say it is God who is binding you together as husband and wife. Then we pray that God will bind the marriage.

Let's look at Matthew 19. This thing about marriage and some of the ideas that people have about what was going on in the day of Jesus, it had become very easy among some of the Jewish sext, S-E-C-T-S, to get a divorce. Quite easy. She burned the unleavened bread or whatever it was. And just about any cause since the meal was really elevated in that society, but we've just read from Galatians, there's neither male nor female, there's neither bond nor free, you're all one in Christ. In Matthew 19, verse 1, And a lot of divorce was taking place.

And He answered and said unto them, Have you not read that which made them at the beginning? And I read from Genesis 2, that He which made them at the beginning made them male and female. Here's Jesus saying that He made them male and female. They did not evolve into male and female, they did not evolve into the roles, the roles were ordained by God Almighty. And He answered and said unto them, Have you not read? Then verse 5, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and we read that verse from Genesis 2.

This is Jesus talking. And shall cleave to his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh. Wherefore they are no more twain but one flesh. But therefore God hath joined together, let not men put us under. And most marriage ceremonies, no matter where you get married, will usually have that in there, not all, but we do in the church, something similar to that. They said unto him, Well, why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement and put her away? He said unto them, Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to put away your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.

There have been various dispensations in which God has dealt with human beings in particular periods of time, but we are now under the New Covenant administration, the church age, the age of grace. And I say unto you, whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for Pernaea, and that's sexual immorality, and it has a wide application of meaning. It is not just fornication, as you think of, in terms of, here's an unmarried person that has sexual relations with another person, the application is much wider.

You can look it up, Pernaea. And shall marry another, commits adultery, and whosoever marries her, which is put away, does commit adultery.

And notice the response of the disciples. The disciples said unto him, If this be the case, if the case of the man is so with his wife, it is not good to marry. But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, Save they to whom it is given. For there are some eunuchs which were so born from their mother's womb, and there are some eunuchs which were made eunuchs for men, and there be eunuchs which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. It doesn't mean eunuch in the sense that someone might think of not having their sexual prowess.

It is because they gave up whatever marriage to the labor for the kingdom of God. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it. So here we see clearly that God is the one who binds the marriage, and that the contract is with God and your mate. We see that the disciples were amazed, and we just read their reply, and we also saw Jesus' response to what they said. He said not everybody can receive it. So you need to count the cost, obviously. Once a person begins to entertain the thought that there might be some biblically legal way out of marriage, they're letting their mind become Satan's workshop. It is amazing what the mind can do when it begins to look for loose bricks or reason. Well, maybe because of so-and-so I'm not bound to her or him. And of course we're familiar with Jeremiah 17.9, which says, The human heart is deceitful above all things, desperately wicked. Who can know it? It is only through receiving this new mind from the Word and Spirit of God that you know. Now, on the other hand, we are to face our problems, resolve conflicts by exercising judgment, mercy, and faith with one another. And one of the things I mentioned about our marriage, that that is one of the things that we have attempted to do, is never let the sun go down. Never close your eyes and sleep until you have reached that reconciliation.

Turn to Ephesians. I mean, the reason given here is so weighty. Some people want to give the old silent treatment pout about the worst thing you can do because the mind is working all the while, and it generally creates resentment in the other person.

In Ephesians 4, I want to back up just a little bit and see this new mind. You look at verse 22, That you put off concerning the former conduct the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust. That's that carnal mind. Be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Therefore, putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor. For we are members one of another. How are we members one of another? Because the same spiritual essence that is in God is in Christ as in each one of us. And thus, we are the body of Christ. And we've talked about how if you criticize, defame a member of the body of Christ, you're in essence defaming yourself.

We are members one of another. This is our key verse in this case. Be you angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Why? Neither give place to the devil. Because if you do, it does give place to the devil, and the mind does not take a nap. It works on that. And all kinds of thoughts have to be dealt with.

The fifth key, as we have already noted, is to recognize the purpose of marriage. Why were you born? Or another way to express this key is, you must keep the big picture burning brightly in your minds and hearts. What is life all about? Why were you created? What is this all about? Why were you born? God created humankind to bring sons and daughters to glory in his spiritual family. That's why we exist. Because he's loved. Because he wants to share who he is and what he is with humankind in a family relationship.

Marriage and family parallel what God is doing in bringing sons and daughters to glory in his spiritual family. In other words, understanding the purpose of marriage is one of the great keys for understanding why God created human beings. It is one of the great keys for understanding why you were born. Satan is the one who ultimately is behind the various movements designed to destroy the family, as we've already noted. We must never forget that Satan hates us. So God could have created each person neuter, sexless, as we've already noted, too, but more here.

In order for a sexless human society to be sustained, God would have to keep on creating, as we've also noted. Men and women are born with biological differences. And they are born with psychological differences. More and more research bears this out. Not only do men and women differ biologically, they think differently, behave differently from birth. The words, help meet, remember we read from Genesis 2.20, there was not a help meet for Adam. The Hebrew words that are translated help meet means to help, to sucker, to aid. Men and women were created in such a way that when they are joined together in marriage and become one, they complete each other and they make up a whole.

The twain shall become one. Man is dominant, and we're speaking here in general terms. I'm going to address something here that's very important to understand in the marriage relationship. These are generalizations. There are exceptions. And we'll discuss somewhat. Man is dominant, woman is submissive. Researchers say that the three greatest problems in marriage are finances, sex, and communication. In my counseling for many decades, I find that the greatest problems deal with, are in the spiritual realm, not understanding how to administer authority and not understanding how to submit, as God says, to submit, and yet deal with the problems and face the problems and not play the martyr's role, but to be continually reconciled.

But more here, man is aggressive, woman is passive. As I said, these are generalizations. They're exceptions. Man is strong in conquering, woman is sensitive and tender. Man is rational, woman is more emotionally perceptive, not to say that she's crazy. Man is pragmatic, woman is idealistically. But perfectly joined together in mind and spirit, they complement each other in a beautiful, harmonious relationship. However, there is a caveat here, and I've talked about the exception we need to understand.

In the human population, there are three main categories of dominance. The Germans have pioneered in a lot of psychological studies dating back to Pavlov's dog and classic conditioning. And in World War II, they discovered that if you remove the dominant leaders from the POWs, the prisoners of war, they virtually have no problem. Five percent of the population is dominant by birth, by genetics. And both male and female fall into this category. Five percent of the male population, five percent of the women population from this group, from this five percent.

Not always the case, as I'm saying, I'm speaking in general terms, but it is statistically significant. From this group comes most of your leaders in government, military, education, religion. So to some degree, leaders are born, not made, to some degree. You can obviously teach everyone principles of leadership and thus improve their effectiveness. But it is difficult to change a person's genetic makeup from being dominant to mid-dominant to low-dominant. And as already mentioned, in World War II, the Nazis identified the dominant POWs and isolated them.

In the process of creating his holy righteous character in us, he instituted, that is God, physical parallels, which will allow us to understand more concretely his plan of salvation. Now, when a low-dominant's male marries a high-dominant's female, you can imagine what might happen. And it's just the way they're made up. And so, where do you turn? You have to turn to the Scripture. What am I supposed to do as the husband and the father? What am I supposed to do as the wife and the mother?

And you submit to what God has said. And you control it in a way that is acceptable to God, to your husband, to your wife, to your children, or whomever it is. And it's really quite a challenge for a lot of people to deal with. We can learn so much more about God and what he's doing through family when we really look at the plan of salvation and what God is doing.

If there were no families, there would be no bond to whole society together, as we have mentioned. The fact that you come out of the loins of your parents ensures a natural bond and affinity between you and your parents. You have intercourse, pregnancy, birth pains, travail. Birth are all designed to bond us together as one. There is a natural bonding process, even in the animal kingdom. Instinct versus the choice to love. If our parents nurture us in the right way, we instinctively bond with our parents when we are children.

Even in the animal kingdom, they have taken mother goose from the little goose's. I know it's geese, but anyhow, they've taken mother goose from the little goose's and substituted a human being. The human being feeds them, takes care of them, and all of that. This human being replaces mother goose. That's sort of the way it is with I've got two German shepherd puppies now. I'm in a sense their mother, or the one that they look to, because I've fed them and basically nobody else has fed them, since we've had them for about six weeks.

So there is what might be called instinctive bonding with parents, but as we grow older, love becomes more of a choice. And we must choose and learn to bond with our mates and with God. If we understand what God is and what He is doing for us, we will also bond with Him. Now substance and marriage requires that one understand these principles and believe that they are of God. What we're talking about here is out of the Word of God. It is not something that is made up by sociologists or psychologists. Those sociology and psychology are involved. Once again, God is bringing sons and daughters to glory, and the God-ordained family parallels this great plan.

So how is that so? God is in the Father role. God the Father. Let's look at Ephesians chapter 3. We left off there in chapter 4 a moment ago. In Ephesians chapter 3, For this cause I bow my knee unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. Now this is sort of a side point. As I mentioned, there are sons of God referred to by creation. The angels are referred to as sons of God.

They are a spiritual creation. All human beings are oftentimes referred to as sons of God by creation. He created Adam and Eve and ordained the process of procreation and reproduction. But to be a spirit son of God, let's summarize in John 1.12. We'll read the whole place here. Look at John 1.12. And there is the spirit sons of God. You've got the angelic realm. You've got physical beings. But physical beings have the potential to become the spirit sons.

In John 1.12. But as many received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God. To as many as received him, he gave them power to become the sons of God. So back in Ephesians chapter 3, once again. For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father, by Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. Christ is in the husband role.

We are a spouse to Christ. We're in the role of the bride. Look at 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians 11 verses 1 and 2. 2 Corinthians 11 verses 1 and 2. The father role, God the Father. The husband role. Jesus Christ, this is 2 Corinthians 11. Would to God you would bear with me a little in my folly, and indeed bear with me, when I'm jealous over you with godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. So that will be an important point in our conclusion.

I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. The church is in the mother role. We are nourished in the womb of our mother. Remember Jesus' instruction to Peter just before he ascended when he appeared to them there on the seashore, asking Peter three times, Do you love me if you do feed my sheep?

And Peter in 1 Peter 5 admonished the elders to feed the sheep. We're fed and nourished in the womb of the church. So we read from Galatians 4, verse 26, But Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all. And the Jerusalem above is analogous to the church. Christ marries the church. And in that sense, we could say He marries His body. And in one sense, we are married to our body because the twain shall become one. The sixth key is to give yourselves completely expecting nothing in return. This is one of the most important keys, and it seems that people just cannot give up self.

They always want to hold on to one little bit of self. And it's very difficult for all of us to do. See, Christ died for us while we were yet sinners. We read that from Romans, chapter 5. And just as in our relationship with Christ, we are not our own because Christ has purchased us with His own blood. It says in 1 Corinthians 6, For you are not your own, you are bought with a price, you are bought with the precious blood of Christ. So we must give ourselves completely to each other and then the structure that God ordained for us in marriage.

In the structure that He ordained for us in marriage. Now you look at 1 Corinthians 11. We're getting down right now to some of the nitty-gritty that feminists would not want to hear much of this. In 1 Corinthians 11, Be you followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. Now, praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the ordinances as I deliver them to you. But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God.

So we go somewhat in reverse order. The hierarchical structure that God ordained is God the Father, Jesus Christ, man, woman. But we've already read. They all have the same potential. We're assigned different roles for a purpose of what God is working out with human beings.

We are to be one with our wife, as we have already noted. So to give yourselves completely expecting nothing in return. The seventh key is respect. It's interesting to note. I did a search on respect. How do you define respect? Well, one of the things, the pop-up ads that you see on the side, when I did this search for on respect, guess what the main pop-up ad was?

Divorce lawyers. I could hardly believe it. I don't know why that I did this some time ago. It might not be true now, but it was at that time. Now, the word respect is quite subjective and somewhat difficult to define. Here's what the dictionary states, esteem for a sense of the worth or excellence of a person, a personal quality or ability, something considered as a manifestation of a personal quality or ability, like, I have great respect for her judgment or his judgment, deference to a right, a privilege, or someone, or something considered to have certain rights or privileges, proper acceptance or courtesy, acknowledgment.

You often hear, I respect the office, but I don't respect him or her. You also hear people say that respect has to be earned. So how does one earn respect? Respect is earned by coming to believe and understanding that this person is faithful.

Trustworthy, honest, caring, concerned, serving, responsible, dependable, consistent, aware of your needs and feelings, does not try to make you over his or her image, does not try to control you, and you have the sense that this person will treat you fairly. That's not out of the dictionary. I want to read this again. Respect is earned by coming to believe and understanding that this person is faithful, trustworthy, honest, caring, concerned, serving, responsible, dependable, consistent, aware of your needs and feelings, does not try to make you over in his or her image, does not try to control you, and you have the sense that this person will treat you fairly.

There are, of course, other qualities and characteristics. In short, respect could be equated with character. It is difficult to develop a meaningful and lasting relationship with a person you don't respect. And we live in an age in which people are not afraid to speak evil of dignities, and respect seems to have gone by the boards. So if you are in a relationship, husband and wife, and you begin to see respect waning, you better face the problem.

There are many things that will destroy one's respect for another person, but when respect goes, the relationship will struggle to survive. So if you are beginning to lose respect for your mate, you need to let them know that you are losing respect for them and explain the reason why. We should also note that homosexuality and the LGBT agenda destroys the offices of husband and wife, father and mother, and thus destroys God's governmental structure. The role he has so generously assigned to each one of us to be called father, to be called mother. What greater office could you desire to have?

Father, mother. It's interesting to note that even in the homosexual relationships, one person refers to the other as husband or wife. But the basis for the distinction is destroyed when persons of the same sex call themselves female when they are male or vice versa.

And then the last key, and this is not an exhaustive list by any means, and that is total repentance and total surrender and submission to God. The root cause of nearly all the marital problems that I've ever had to face and deal with in counseling is at the root spiritual. So we must need to understand that in one sense marriage is a physical union, but it is founded on spiritual principles and meant to be a deep spiritual relationship that reflects Christ and the Church. Now, what were the instructions here? Look at Ephesians 5. What are the instructions for both male and female? You remember I said the proper administration of authority and the proper understanding of submission seems to me to be perhaps the two biggest problems along with relationship with God and understanding the spiritual. In Ephesians 5, verse 21, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God is because this is what God has said for me to do. This is what God has said. This is a way that God has said to conduct myself. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. For as the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the Savior of the body, therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands and everything. Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the church with what kind of love? Sacrificial love and gave himself for it. So he gave up himself. And he should be the one who leads the reconciliation process when necessary.

If marriage is going to be what God intended, that should be our goal. We have to become, as little children, humble ourselves and submit as it says here. That is, you look at that verse 21 again, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. The end goal is to be invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Look at Revelation 19. Here you were invited to a celebration of a 60th wedding anniversary, which is not even a blink of an eye in the scheme of eternity. Revelation 19 verse 6. And I heard, as it were, the voice of great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Hallelujah! For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth, let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife has made herself ready. Remember we read 2 Corinthians 11.2, I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin unto Christ.

She has made herself ready, and to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And of course, white is usually the color that has worn the wedding dress. And He said unto her, Right, blessed are they, which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.

What a celebration that will be! When we've been there a thousand years, it will be as if we had only begun.