How God Defines Marriage

Well, brethren, as we all know, this world is coming apart. It's actually under attack.

And Satan is waging an all-out war on really unsuspecting human beings. Most people don't understand the influence that he has in this world. And yet, he is causing there to be a blindness through his deception and through his anger toward God and toward the plan of salvation that we all enjoy. We appreciate the fact that God has opened our eyes and minds to what he's doing. And, of course, we don't want to be ignorant of what Satan is doing and how he is perpetuating his misinformation. And certainly, we need to be stabilized in the Word of God, which is our guide and the source of truth that we have.

The covenant of marriage, its sanctity, its value, and even its definition is under attack by Satan as he continues to confuse the world regarding human sexuality and even undermines the ability of people being able to define what marriage is and even define what sin is. That is a tremendous blessing for us to be able to see and understand.

I know what I'm going to cover today is not new to you, but it is something that increasingly, and actually what Satan is causing to happen, is he is promoting tolerance and acceptance and really promoting a non-judgmental attitude regarding the entirety of God's design of marriage. Now, I want to cover a statement today.

It's a statement that was recently approved by the elders of the United Church of God.

And it's regarding the clear biblical definition of marriage, and it's designed by our heavenly creator and Father in Heaven.

See, now up to this point, obviously, we teach biblical marriage. We have information that is very clear for all of us to read. We have a lot of written material about marriage and about how to have successful marriages and successful relationships with other people. And yet, we didn't have, at least up to this point, a clearly stated statement, a doctrinal statement, about marriage that had made a part of our documents as far as the Church. So, because of the need, we really have to have some kind of a support for our message and our teaching regarding marriage. So, I want to go over this statement with you today. I can give you a copy of it if you would like later on. I won't let you just read it with me as we go through the sermon today. But you might think about, well, in order to counter what Satan is doing by teaching and preaching tolerance, it's just alarming to me. Pat and I often watch, if we happen to be there at the time, a widely popular game show called, what's the name of it? I can't remember. It comes on at 6.30.

I should have written that down. You know, that would have been a good thing to have written down.

No, no, it's not Jeopardy. It's a wheel of fortune, that's it. Wheel of fortune. Some of you might know what it's about. And, of course, I mean, it's long standing. It's been around a long time. It's a little bit stimulating to try to figure out the letters and the words. And yet, it's really sad to me. It's sad to me to see three contestants that always are introducing who do they have in the audience. And it's always a relief to me to see a lady say, well, my husband is in the audience. Or, you know, I'd have a guy say, my wife is here, my mother is here. But anymore, almost, you know, a good amount of the time, you've got some unusual and actually non-biblical context referred to. You know, I can't have a guy standing up there while my husband in the audience is. I just want to turn it off. I don't even want to listen to this stupid show because of, you know, that kind of, I guess you could say, undermining. Because that's what that's doing. It's undermining if people don't know or if they're going to get suckered into the tolerance issue.

Just tolerating. Don't judge anything. Don't judge it by simply looking at the law and saying, okay, this is what it says. And this is what we need. This is what the basis for judgment is. That's what we have to do. So, as I said, this statement reflects God's directives regarding marriage and how He expects us to conduct ourselves according to His divine Word.

And so, obviously nothing here that is new to us, but it clearly is important for us if we're going to be a part of God's divine family, then there are many lessons that we learn as we faithfully follow His guidelines for husbands and wives. I mean, that is an important understanding. And there is a connection, not only physically, but there's a spiritual understanding and connection that the Bible and directly the Apostle Paul in his description of applying a husband and wife in that relationship with Christ and the Church. So, first of all, we need to keep in mind. There's a number of points to this, and I won't try to go... I will go through all of them, but I hope that you can easily follow all of these. The first one I want to mention is simply the fact that God is in the process of establishing a spiritual family. See, that again is lost on society today. Satan doesn't want people to know that. He doesn't want them to understand it. Whether they're even involved in a physical family, which undoubtedly everyone is to one degree or another because somehow they were born. Somehow they exist. And yet, understanding about a physical family or a spiritual family, which is by God's design, is important. Here in Hebrews 2, Hebrews chapter 2, we read a section here, of course, about Jesus Christ, about His reason for coming to the earth.

And it says in verse 9, we see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering and death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. And in verse 10, and it was fitting, that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children, many sons and daughters, to glory. God is the author of this family relationship, and He is in the process of bringing this spiritual family to pass.

So it was fitting that God, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through suffering. Of course, that's talking about Jesus Christ. And yet it is simply a statement, you know, that we never want to forget. We don't want to forget what God's purpose for human life is, and whether people understand that purpose, it's irrelevant. It doesn't change the purpose. It doesn't change what God is doing. What God is doing is going to bring a spiritual family forth. And so at creation, God established marriage between the first man and the first woman, and He did that as a divine institution. Let's look at that. You can prove all of these things very easily as you look into your Bible. Here in Genesis chapter 2, you see Eve being created, verse 21. And down in verse 24, as Adam had said, this is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. This one in verse 23 will be called woman, for out of man this one was taken. And so God had created. He had created human beings, first male and then female.

He had created them that way. He had given us that design. And in verse 24, he says, therefore a man will leave his father and his mother and cling to his wife. You know, the word there deals with a female. And so a man and a woman, a female, are going to be drawn together in marriage. They will become one flesh. And so in verse 24 there, you just see God designing an institution that was for the benefit of man. It wasn't simply for reproduction, but it was in order to enhance an understanding of God's potential for mankind. If we also turn back to Matthew chapter 19, you see Jesus was asked. And so you have not only information from Moses, from Jesus, from Paul, from numerous other writers here in the Old and the New Testament. And so you've got a lot of information to go on as we look at the Bible. Here in Matthew chapter 19, starting in verse 4, Jesus answered whenever he was asked a question about marriage. Actually, he was asked a question about divorce. And it says in verse 4, he answered, Have you not read that the one who made them at the beginning made them male and female?

So he wanted to point this out. And he said, For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.

And so, again, a clear directive as far as not only what Moses would earlier write about in the very beginning and the institution of marriage, but Jesus very much verifying that. And again, you can go to other verses that directly deal with each one of these things. We also see, when we look back to Genesis 1 and 2, that men and women were created in the image of God, and yet they were created with distinct differences. Male and female, quite different, look different, react different, different function in many, many ways. And yet God designed it that way here in Genesis 1. In Genesis 1, verse 26, he says, God said, Let us make mankind in our image, according to our likeness. And in verse 27, so God created mankind in his image, in the image of God, he created them male and female. He created them.

What a fabulous creator! What an incredible designer and then creator. And of course, this is simply talking about the human beings that he placed on the earth. He had already created the entirety of a spiritual realm and a physical universe. He had created many of the animals.

And then as he brought, in a sense, the ultimate creation of his children after his kind, he would make them male and female. We would be in the image of God, we would be in the likeness of God, so we would have, in a sense, somewhat the same shape or likeness as God. And yet, male and female, quite different. Considerably different, and yet able to relate to God. See, I know, you know, as a man, I often think about, I want to become like Jesus Christ. Of course, he was a man as well. I want to come like Jesus Christ, do you as a lady, if you're a lady here in the audience, do you think about, I need to become like Jesus Christ? Well, yeah, you also need to become like Jesus Christ. So apparently, male and female can become like our Savior and our Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Is that impossible?

No, not with the help of the Spirit of God. That's actually what God gives us, his Spirit to do, to be able to take on a mind, a nature, an attitude, an outlook that is like Jesus Christ, and of course, like God the Father. If we jump on over to chapter 2, chapter 2 and verse 18, it says, the Lord said it is not good that man should be alone, that I will make him a helper as his partner. So here we see the design not only of male but also female, and that God would create in his own image, in his own likeness, male and female, for a distinct purpose and reason. And so in essence, what he was stating here was setting up a natural order. And you later find in Romans, Paul talking about anything else, as an unnatural relationship or an unnatural order, but what God was designing was clearly a natural order.

You also see that God established marriage as a covenant, a covenant relationship, not only between the man and the woman, but also with God. Here in verse 21 of Genesis 2, it says, the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, upon Adam, and he slept.

And then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh, and the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. And then the man said, this is bone in my bone, flesh in my flesh, she shall be called woman. Therefore, man shall leave his father and mother and cling to his wife, and they become one flesh. See, this again was a relationship that God was creating between a man and a woman, an exclusive relationship in a marriage that God would also need to be a part of. If that marriage was going to be growing, if it was going to be as glorious as it could or should be, well then the relationship's going to have to be with God as well. And so it was his design.

And again, you have to say that there have been many people who have been married, men and women who have entered into a marriage relationship without any understanding of God's involvement. You know, this is something we should have as a part of the Church of God today. We should understand that, well, God's involvement in many ways is a very critical, perhaps in every way, is a very critical component. Because without it, you know, we often don't make the kind of assessments, we don't make the type of changes, we don't make the type of, or we don't live the type of respect that God would want us to. And so we have the opportunity of doing that. You also find, if we look back in Malachi chapter 2, toward the end of the Old Testament, you find a statement here.

It's an answer to a question about marriage and about divorce. But here in Malachi chapter 2, in verse 14, you ask, why does he not? Because the Lord was a witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.

See, again, as we enter into a wedding relationship, a marriage relationship at a wedding, and I think back at 22 when I got married, or barely 22 by two days, I understood some about marriage. I think I understand more now. That's been some decades ago. And yet at that time, when many times people would be married, later teens or in their 20s or even older, their understanding of marriage is perhaps somewhat limited. And yet, that doesn't change God's design. It doesn't change the fact that he wants us to be involved in a covenant relationship with one another, and that we need to come to understand that that relationship also involves a covenant with God. The next thing I want to mention is simply that marriage between a husband and a wife is the basic building block of the family, and it's the only biblically approved sexual relationship. See, here in Hebrews chapter 13, Hebrews chapter 13 verse 4, Hebrews 13 verse 4, it says, let marriage be held in honor by all. And so Paul, in a sense, in this last chapter in Hebrews is hitting a number of different topics. He's pointing out specific things. He has not addressed marriage, per se, throughout this book. But he says in verse 4, let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled. For God will judge fornicators and adulterers. Again, another statement that we read here in the New Testament about how it is that God is setting up an exclusive relationship between one man and one woman. And yet, you know, I've read this verse in verse 4 many times. I don't know that I've thought of the implications of all that it is saying, but it does point out how it is that God designs things. The Bible also teaches that God intends sexual intimacy to occur only between one man and one woman who are married to each other as a single exclusive union. We see this in 1 Corinthians chapter 7.

1 Corinthians 7 covers actually a lot of information about different situations.

Married, not married, to people who are married to people who are also Christians, those who may not be.

But he says in verse 2, And so again, the exclusivity of male and female of man and woman is pretty clearly defined.

Because of cases of sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, each woman should have her own husband. The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise, the wife to her husband. So again, all of these are kind of building from the very beginning of God's design. He's going to point out exactly how it is that he has structured things. And if we go back to Malachi again, we read the one verse in verse 14 of chapter 2 that mentions that marriage involves a covenant, a covenant between the man and the woman, but also a relationship, a covenant with God that we should invite, that we should introduce. Now how well we do that, you know, that's something that we should pray about and ask that God would be involved.

But we go on from verse 14 to verse 15. Malachi 2 verse 15, God desires godly offspring. That is his desire. That is his intent. And so he wants to bless a marriage relationship. He wants to bless this covenant that a man and woman have made together. And so, you know, godly offspring is what is to be produced. And so you have children who are able to be nurtured within a basis for society in the family structure. You have children that can be helped, can be encouraged, can be guided, can be taught, can be given an example of how to live and of how to care for one another. Now the marriage relationship between a husband and his wife was established to teach husbands and wives many lessons. What are the lessons that we learn?

What are the lessons that we learn? Well, you know, I want to go through what we read here in Ephesians chapter 5. And I know we've covered some of this. I know we've covered this in services over the last year or so. A couple of years ago we went through several different sermons dealing with the whole topic of marriage and husbands and their responsibilities and wives and their responsibilities. But it's good to be reminded, good to be reminded, or to consider how well am I achieving God's purpose? He established the marriage relationship in order to teach husbands and to teach wives that they are to love, love one another. But then he goes ahead and describes more how the husband's role is to nurture and cherish and actually honor his wife and his wife is to come to respect and respond to her husband. Here in verse 22, Ephesians, you see this instruction in Ephesians chapter 5. You see a little more information in Colossians. You see a little more in 1 Peter, so there's numerous different places you can go to see instructions. But a good basis is here because it involves the instruction that Paul gives regarding how it is that a husband is to come to understand as Jesus is for the church, as he is willing to serve, as he is willing to provide for, to nurture, to cherish, to care for, to love the church, and how the church is to be responding to Jesus Christ. Here in verse 22 it says, Ephesians 5 verse 22, wives be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord.

And so again, you can learn a lot of lessons just from understanding the way that this is stated. For the husband is the head of the wife, just as Christ is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Savior. And just as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be in everything to their husbands. And so again, it's talking about a cooperative, a harmonious, a loving service from a wife to her husband. But it also is going to then explain even more about a husband's role because the focus here is on husbands learning to be like Jesus Christ. Here in verse 25, husbands love your wives. Love your wives as Christ loved the church, and He gave Himself up for her. Now that's quite a tall order.

That's an incredible order of directive to come to respect and love and honor and care for and nurture your wife as Jesus does the church. He goes on in talking about how Jesus gave Himself up for the church in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the Word. And I would say, as we read this, that is an instruction that helps us realize that, well, we need to be studying the Word of God. We need to be helping each other understand the Word of God. And I know I have to say that my wife and I didn't do that very well for some time. We're doing better now, but we didn't start off doing that too well. That was my fault. I didn't fully understand what I should do or could do to help her and to help me. But to study the Word of God is a part of how we're all going to be cleansed and washed. So as, in verse 27, to present the church to himself and splendor without spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind, yes, so that she may be holy and without blemish. So in the same way, husbands should love their wives as they do their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hates his own body, but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it just as Christ does for the church.

And so whenever it talks about Christ nurturing and cherishing, part of that I would think cherishing would come before the nurturing. Now he has such respect, he has such desire for his wife, the church, to flourish. He has such desire for the church to grow and to develop and to be as it says without blemish and to become holy. That's his desire, that he nurtures and nourishes the church. He provides spiritual food, he provides direction, he provides guidance, he provides protection, he provides so many things that we could name.

But he goes ahead in verse 29, no one who hates his own body, but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it as Christ does for the church because we are members of his body. And for this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.

And he says in verse 32, this is a great mystery. He said this is not generally understood, even among many people who might be married, even among people who may think they know about marriage and about family life and about children and grandchildren. You know, sometimes you go to, I have been to some anniversaries, and anniversaries of a lengthy sort. You know, I know there's a couple down in the Springfield area who celebrated a 70th wedding anniversary the other day. That's, they're in their 90s, obviously. They would need to be in their 80s or 90s, but they're in their 90s.

But they had celebrated a 70th wedding anniversary. That's pretty unusual or rare as far as that length of life, but also length of marriage. And even whenever, you know, you mention 30, 40, 50 years anymore, people of kind of, you know, that's uncommon or less common, I guess, as you might say, as far as the world goes. But even, I've been to several wedding or anniversary, not wedding but anniversary celebrations, and sometimes if you get people to say, well, what helped or what worked or what did you do or did you do anything that would maybe be worth knowing, they often don't come up with a whole lot.

They often don't have a lot to say. You know, well, you know, they can say some funny things sometimes or mention something that is maybe significant, but it's something that may have a lot of meaning to them. But they're not usually going to mention what Paul is talking about here. How that, you know, understanding the spiritual implication of marriage and how it's to affect me, how it's to benefit me, how it's to benefit my wife, and how it's to benefit my husband, and how it is that we are a part of a spiritual family and that we are growing toward that family because we are growing in the divine love of God.

You rarely would hear that, but that's clearly what this is talking about. Whenever it says for this reason in verse 31, a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two will become one flesh, he says this is a great mystery, and I'm applying it to Christ and the church. I'm applying it to Christ and the church. He said there's more to not just the perpetuation of the physical race, the race of mankind, you know, whatever type of a nationality or different variation we have among the many races on the earth.

It's not just perpetuation of people. Now there's more to the design of marriage. There's more to the purpose of understanding a husband and a wife. And in verse 33 he says, so each of you, each of you as far as husbands should love your wives as himself, and then wives should respect their husbands. And it talks about the word there is reverence or have a respect and appreciation, a gratitude for her husband.

And when she does, then that's going to be reflected in his being bullied up, his being encouraged as well, and probably encouraged better to do the type of nurturing, the type of cherishing, and even the type of honoring. I'm not going to 1 Peter, but actually 1 Peter 3 talks about how a husband is to honor his wife. And again, you know, we may or may not be very good at that. But we need to learn as far as men, we need to learn how beneficial and how godly that is. So marriage has a great divine purpose that transcends just a physical existence. There's more to it than just, you know, increasing the human race with children.

Marriage is a godly relationship, a divine institution that we've already covered, and God joins together the husband and wife in marriage. If we look at Mark chapter 10, we read verses similar to this in one of these sections earlier. But here in Mark chapter 10, it's also describing the same thing that we read in Matthew, verse 6, from the beginning God made the male and female. He talks about the creation of the marriage union. And then in verse 9, therefore what God has joined together let no one separate.

See, that's what God desires. That's what his intent is, is for us to appreciate the fact that God is involved, that he is involved in our lives, our actions, our attitudes, our words, and that he is properly affecting us in a way that is going to build the marriage.

Now, all of this up to this point, perhaps, is simply information we would all be familiar with, and clearly what we, most people, would read and think, yes, that's what it says. Of course, we want to be among those who live the Word. But you also find, and this is a part of our statement that we teach here in the Church of God, any definition of marriage, other than as an exclusive relationship between one man and one woman is illegitimate and invalid in the sight of God and his Church and contradicts his divine institution as revealed in the Bible. So if we, you know, if you see promoted, and of course the government is promoting this at this point because of decisions that have been made that are abominable. They are not following the directives of the Word of God. And so if it comes down to do you obey God or do you obey man, well then, as Peter said in Acts 5 verse 29, we must obey God. You know, they were being told, don't preach the gospel. Don't talk about Jesus Christ. Quit spreading his name. Quit doing the job or the mission that you've been given. Otherwise, we'll throw you in jail. And Peter said, well, you know, should we obey God or should we obey man? And so when we make this statement that marriage is an exclusive relationship between one man and one woman, it doesn't matter what the laws of the land are. And there are different laws around the world. Many different countries have different laws governing different relationships. Marriage, of course, is a very serious commitment and it's safeguarded by the law of God. You know, we're all familiar with the commandment, you shall not commit adultery. You know, that directly talks about a relationship of marriage and even in the Tenth Commandment, it talks about not coveting another man's possessions but also his wife. Now, you've got several laws. Let's look at 1 Corinthians 6. 1 Corinthians chapter 6 in support of this statement about, you know, marriage being a serious commitment that's safeguarded in the law of God. Any form of sexual immorality, such as adultery and fornication or homosexual acts, bisexual conduct, bestiality, incest, sexual lust or use of pornography, is sinful and offensive to God. I mean, this is the type of... it's sad that you have to make this kind of statement, but that's what we have to say. It's sad because, you know, the tolerance that is being promoted is accepting of many of these abominable things. Here in 1 Corinthians 6, starting in verse 9, it says, don't you know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Fornicators and idolaters and adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, thieves, the greedy drunkards, revilers, robbers, none of these will inherit the kingdom of God. And in verse 11, he says, this is what some of you used to be, but you were washed and sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the spirit of our God. And so here Paul enumerates numerous things that are outside the law. Clearly, things that within the United States today, people think they're within the law or within our American law. And even though our laws in many ways are based on what we would think of as biblical sourcing, you find great variation as well. And certainly a lot of deviation right now. In Galatians 5, you see simply the description of why it is that all these forms of sexual immorality are wrong. Here in Galatians chapter 5, it enumerates the works of the flesh. Galatians 5, starting in verse 19, the works of the flesh are these. It's actually very obvious. Fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I'm warning you, as I warned you before, those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

I mean, there are clearly some things the Bible points out, whether people accept them as valid or not, that this is the only way that you can look at this. Therefore, a transgender marriage or a sexual relationship and a changing of the God-ordained roles of men and women is sinful and unbiblical. That's what we all understand, I believe, and we teach, and yet we have to make that as a statement in order to, in a sense, even be protected from coming back and saying, why are you acting like this? Of course, the fact is, now we make these type of statements in our marriage statement and clearly want to be able to have support for that, not only in the Bible, but even in our governing documents. But we all understand that God offers reconciliation to all that He calls to people who repent of these and even any other sins and who seek His forgiveness and turn to Him in faith and obedience. Now, many of these sinful things that we see described here are things that we often have had to come out of. Clearly, you see the definition not only of sexual immorality but of envy and jealousy and quarrels and strife. That clearly fits all of us in one form or another, and ultimately we are told that everyone needs to repent. That is what not only we need, but that's what everyone needs. Everyone will ultimately come if they're going to be a part of the kingdom of God, if they're going to be under the leadership of Jesus Christ, and if they're going to be a part of the spiritual family, well then we're going to understand repentance.

We're going to fully embrace repentance, and we are going to turn from things that we see the Bible defines as being wrong and then seek those things that are right and uplifting. In 1 Peter chapter 3, you see a statement that is made in regard to just how it is that God...

see, why did God send? Why did the Father send Jesus to the earth? Why did He send a sacrifice for sin? Well, it says He did that out of love that He has for mankind. God is not giving laws or rules for us to follow, rules for our benefit. He's not doing that just because He can't, just because He wants to make things hard on us. He's doing that for our good. He's doing that for our benefit. And here in 1 Peter chapter 3, I didn't read the section earlier that dealt with the conduct of husbands and wives, but I do want to read, if we drop down in 1 Peter 3, starting in verse 9, it says, don't repay evil for evil or abuse for abuse, but on the contrary, repay with a blessing. And it is for this that you were called, that you might inherit a blessing. Those who desire life, who desire to have good days, let them keep their tongues from evil. Let them keep their lips from speaking deceit or guile. Let them turn away from evil and do what is good. And let them seek peace and pursue it, for the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayer.

The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, and now who will harm you if you're eager to do what's good? See, that's simply talking about how it is God requires all of us to repent. And ultimately, you know, many people are going to come out of, you know, sexual sins, they're going to come out of corruption and perversion and be able to be a part of God's divine family because of His great love. But clearly, He says in verse 11, they turn from evil. They turn and pursue the good. And so while God clearly and unequivocally condemns all sin, and because it brings suffering, it harms everyone involved in sin. Every person should be afforded compassion and love and kindness. We understand, and all of us should understand, that coming out of sin is what God requires, and it's what God wants. He wants us to be loving and caring and helping people come out of sin. That's a part of, you know, what we are required to do. And if we look in Titus, we see in Titus chapter 3, the last kind of a concluding statement here that our statement on marriage makes, because, you know, we realize, you know, that whenever, too many times, and I was surprised, I was going to mention this in a different context, and probably still will in the next few weeks, but in many cases, you find the gospel is not received in places around the world, because many people think it's too hard to do what God asks.

See, that's a statement that is made. It's just too hard to do what God asks. And yet, what we've seen is that God is very clear in what He requires. It's very clear in what His design is. It's clear in what He expects. And yet, all of us are growing in love and compassion and concern, and certainly everyone should be afforded compassion and kindness. Here in Titus chapter 3, it summarizes, well, it mentions verse 3, We ourselves were once foolish and disobedient, and we were led astray, and we were slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, and despicable and hating one another. See, that's a description of what Paul was telling Titus. He said, all of us have come out of. Paul could say, I'm a murderer. He could say, you know, a lot of things that I'm sure he understood he had done wrong. And Titus certainly had to acknowledge that about himself, because even as a younger minister, he had to come out of those things initially. And yet he says in verse 4, But when the goodness and the loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, whenever God called and introduced us to an acceptance of the truth of God, whenever He gave us an understanding of our need for Jesus Christ, the fact that He is the only one that we can depend on to be our Savior, He is our Redeemer. Without Him, you know, we are dead and dead for all eternity. But, he says, when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us not because of works of righteousness that we have run, but simply according to His mercy through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. This Spirit, He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. And so, you know, we want to extend that same love, that same care, that same mercy toward others, but we can't say the law doesn't exist. We can't say marriage needs to be redefined. We cannot say, you know, that other than the godly definitions and instruction about how to live together as a husband and wife in a marriage that is blessed by God. We can't diminish any of that. But we can say that all of us, all of us fit this category of verse 4 and 5 and 6 and 7, that God has graciously dealt with us, how He has very mercifully given us the institution of marriage. And He has done that for our benefit, and He continues to encourage us to grow. Even as we've read through Ephesians 5, that's a relatively small section, incredibly large, as far as to live up to, to actually do what God says. We need to be continually reminded. So God, as a great designer, as a great creator, and as the great sustainer, has the undisputed prerogative to define His institution of marriage and to explain His purpose for marriage for the good and for the benefit, not only of each and every one of us, but for everyone, that He would bring in to a relationship with Him in this age and then ultimately for people throughout the millennium and the flight-thrown judgment and beyond, to be able to relate to the Father and to the Son in a truly loving spiritual family.