Marriage, Part 1

Well, good morning, brethren. Hi, Lorraine! I'll have all the rest of you wake up here in a little while. Maybe. At least I hope! You can get these college students awake after about an hour. We've been here almost an hour. We may be here another hour, I'm sure. But I'm certainly glad to see all of you today. I'm glad I'm able to talk today. My wife said yesterday, you sound horrible. And I actually think I've been feeling kind of with the cold for a couple of days, and I didn't realize that that's what I was going through. And so I hope that you're able to hear okay today, and I hope that my voice doesn't have any kind of problems. I've found when you're singing, you don't want to try to sing as loud as you might otherwise like to, because it kind of strains... seems like it kind of strains my voice. Anyway, I'd like for you to think about a topic today that is, in many ways, I know it's something you agree with. I know it's something that... and I feel like I'm preaching to the choir, in a sense. But I'd like for you to think about the topic of marriage. Why did God create marriage? And unfortunately, as we struggle in this age, and if you happen to watch television at all, or read newspapers, you know a lot of people think all marriage is obsolete. They don't really know if it even matters. Who really cares anyway? See, that's amazingly disconcerting to me. And yet, all of us, you know, we want to be able to back up what we believe. And of course, we want to be able to, maybe even in our own mind, think of the reasons why we have marriage.

Even as we begin our sermon today, you might think through and make a note or two about, well, what are the reasons that I believe in marriage between a man and a woman? Because that is under attack. That's under fire today. And certainly, I would imagine, on the very campuses of America, there are many confused college students who really don't see the significance of the discussion. And of course, we are a bombardier with all kinds of compromises regarding marriage. And of course, for the most part, these deal with human reasoning that is riddled with error. But it's really sad that even on major media or cable channels, I know Pat and I were watching a program on the Fox News channel the other night. And we tend to do that. That's where we almost always watch. And yet, she pointed out to me, and in some ways, when some things come on, I just automatically, my brain just clicks off.

I don't want to know anything more about that. And she tends to go ahead and watch or say, well, you need to pay attention or maybe you ought to think about how you might explain the answer. But what she pointed out when we were watching this show is just that how people no longer use the Bible as a basis for their thinking. And how that those who believe in the Bible really are losing the battle on the issue of same-sex marriage.

See, which, you know, I can watch that for about three seconds, and then I'm away. I in some ways understand the issue, but I also have many things I can't understand about it. And clearly, as Pat was pointing out to me, people's thinking is just in disarray. And actually, she also found for me one of the Beyond Today hosts, Darris McNeely, had commented recently on the culture wars that are taking place in our society today.

He'd written a little blog or something on it, and I got a copy of that. He was actually commenting on this same program that we were watching on Fox News. Bill O'Reilly was the one who was presenting it. And he, of course, is pretty well known and quite at least, I think, probably able to research things. But I get irritated whenever I listen to some of the views that he comes up with. And even though he purports to be religious, I'm not sure exactly how much understanding is being represented there. But I wanted to mention, as I said, this is what Darris had written about this. He was discussing or he was writing about having seen this one program that O'Reilly had given about culture wars.

And actually, the statement was that traditional voices are losing the battle on many issues, but particularly on the battle of same-sex marriage. And as Darris goes ahead and writes here, he says the discussion is he listened to a dealt with same-sex marriage. Here, the Bible thumpers, as Bill was calling people who I think that could be used in a derogatory way, I think we would say, well, what's wrong with that? Take a look at the book. Try to read the Bible. And yet, it can be derogatory if people are trying to push something down your throat. And yet, he says here the Bible thumpers are losing the argument, he said, and I totally agree with him.

Darris was agreeing with what Bill had reported. He says I can see that this argument is over in America. Polls show a majority of people accept that gays and lesbians are due equal rights when it comes to marriage. Recent arguments before the United States Supreme Court, which happened several weeks ago, seek to abolish or to abolish, seek to establish as a constitutional right and at the same time redefine the traditional definition of marriage.

And they seek to overturn DOMA, which is the Defense of Marriage Act, which has been in place now only for 15 or so years. And yet, it actually stated that marriage between a man and a woman would be defended. They don't want to defend that anymore. They don't want to strengthen the society by doing so. Darris goes on to write, he says I fully understand the arguments being made for same-sex marriage and that these arguments are in the civil arena. They're doing this for money. They're doing this in order for acceptance. He goes on to say the biblical or the religious morality of the issue is not even admitted into the debate.

It's an unfortunate reality that no Supreme Court justice is going to ask that a friend of the court briefing from the writings of the Apostle Paul on homosexuality be admitted for the justices to consider. They're not going to go there. That might be a good idea, but they're simply just not going to go there. I think this is just stunning to think that the argument about the validity, the sanctity, the wonderful design of marriage is kind of over here in this country. And the polls do reflect the majority of people, except gay and lesbians, are due equal rights when it comes to marriage.

Darris goes on to say, he says, I am concerned that the biblical view has been pushed out of the public discussion that that's a bad omen for the future. And I think we could all clearly agree with that. Make no mistake, the Bible condemns homosexual behavior in clear terms. The Bible also condemns adulterous behavior between heterosexual couples. It's not just homosexual acts that are condemned in the Bible. Adultery is condemned in the Bible. It also condemns fornication, a completely unknown term. To most today, they would be hard-pressed to even define what that is, which is sex outside of the marriage covenant.

And so any variation of a lot of things could fall into that category. Lastly, the Bible gives clear teaching that marriage between a man and a woman is God's original intent. And so, he's vlogging this type of thing and just making his thoughts or his opinions known to people. And yet, I think it's appalling that we're at that point. I certainly know 50 years ago, as I was growing up, this society was just different. There was at least a thought of morality and decency and certainly a respect for the Bible and for the words that God prepared for us. That's simply not the case anymore.

So, I wanted to just cover, actually I hope to cover this topic of marriage in probably three or four different sermons here now, because obviously I want to start here with an overview of marriage and why it is that God has created marriage the way he has, and how it is that it's a divine institution.

How it is it is ordained by God. And later we can discuss husband's roles and wife's roles and how we can thrive in the marriage state. And certainly I know that this becomes applicable to everyone. A number of you are married, and yet, even if we're not married, there is application from the Word of God about understanding the validity, understanding the concepts that God points out regarding marriage. What I was thinking when I was watching that program and kind of wanting to dismiss it, and I don't want to hear any more.

I mean, actually if you clicked off of everything that came on about this topic, you would not watch very much TV because it's everywhere. And you can hardly get away from it, even in the most conservative discussions. So what's missing? Why is it that, say, traditionalists are losing the battle? Why are they doing that? Well, we had a discussion earlier about Satan's influence in this world. He is a ruler of this world. He is the one who impacts people's minds far more than we might ever imagine.

And we know he affects us, and of course we're supposed to be guarding against that, and we do. And brethren, I think I have to probably point out to you even more than you might fully know. God is protecting your mind far more. I see that God provides a great deal of assurance, a great deal of stability, a great deal of security when we yield to him, when we are subject to his words.

Otherwise, you find people going every imaginable direction, completely off course, and of course completely missing the point of what God created human beings for. So, I want to make some overview statements regarding the whole concept of marriage, but whenever I think about why is it that arguments against marriage between a man and a woman, they don't seem to be hitting the point. Why they don't seem to be making any sense to people. And actually, what we find that the pleas for equality and for tolerance and for equal rights tend to make kind of more sense. You know, they're at least basing what they're asking for because, well, this would be fair.

This would be equal. And you don't really have somebody coming back, kind of disputing that, or saying, well, you don't need to be getting that type of equality.

And yet, what stands out is that individuals who are fighting for this type of equity, this type of acceptance, I guess more so, it's not only just equality, equal rights, under the law and equal benefits under the law, under the law of the land, they are requesting acceptance. And of course, that is an aberration in my mind, in my thinking.

I can understand, you know, someone may be describing themselves in this category, and this is what they want. I've actually worked for individuals, you know, who were of that persuasion.

That didn't really affect me any as far as working for somebody, but I knew what, you know, what their outlook was. I knew what their perception of things were. I knew that that was different than what I, you know, had not only accepted, but what I know God clearly outlines in the Bible. But the fact is, what is happening? And maybe we should look at this in Romans 8 verse 7, because you can quote this verse, I'm sure. You know what Romans 8 verse 7 says, but I think it is very, very significant. It says, for this reason, of course, verse 6 says, to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set your mind on the Spirit is life and peace. So you've accepted that, you believe that, we live that, we may struggle or think that, well, you know, we don't do it all the time. Well, no, you know, we struggle with that some, but we accept that statement. We know that's what I'm supposed to do. I know that that's where I'm supposed to hit, but in verse 7, he says, for this reason, the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile.

Hostile to God, and it does not submit to God's law. Indeed, it cannot, and those who are in the flesh simply cannot please God. See, how wonderful, how blessed are we that God has shown us that that's where we were, that's where He has drawn us out of, and of course, you know, we can now see. You know, the reason why the arguments that people profess today are so effective is that, you know, they're all kind of working in the same group, the same group that is willing to dismiss the authority of a Creator God. They don't want to acknowledge that. They don't want to acknowledge, and I know, again, you had mentioned this in the sermonette, Lucifer's problem was he did. He forgot. He forgot he was a created being. He forgot. I'm not like God. I'm not going to ever be like God. I'm always going to be subject to God because God is always going to be over me, and I can't overthrow Him no matter how much I want to, how much I try to, how much I tried, and it didn't work. That's an outlook that he projects through the wavelengths in the air, the prince of the power of the air. He injects that into the society, not only here but around the world, and certainly, you know, if people dismiss the authority of the Creator God, then they, you know, have little chance of fully coming to understand the purpose of marriage. Certainly not be able to discuss marriage or try to redefine marriage, and see, it really doesn't make any difference what the laws of the United States become as far as what the facts are regarding marriage, because I would imagine they're probably going to change. They're going to change, and we are going to come under more fire for the belief that we have. And I mean, it's not just that we have that. There are many people, and I imagine most church-related folks would have a certain level of belief in that, but we can certainly see how dismissing the Creator is a supreme problem. And of course, we have faith in Him. We have faith in His Son. We desire to serve Him. We desire to honor Him. We desire to relate to Him. We want to be together with God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. We seek that. We desire that. And yet, for the most part, we can read here in Romans 1, as Paul describes, not only people in mankind in general, but certainly people there in Rome, as he was addressing this book to the Christians who were in Rome, and they had this all around them. It was pretty widely known. The world hasn't changed. At least the outlook of people in the world hasn't changed much. Here it says in Romans 1, starting in verse 18, it says, The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth. So here Paul is giving people an understanding that if you don't embrace the truth, if you don't accept the truth, if you don't accept the truth about the creator of the universe, the one who by his design created marriage and created the roles of men and women within marriage, if you don't accept that, then you're suppressing the truth.

For what can be known in verse 19 about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them ever since the creation of the world. And so here it reveals He's the creator. He's the one who brought things into existence. Ever since the creation of the world is eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things that He has made.

See, we can look up at the stars. We can watch the rotations of the moon. We can know what the system is going to do. It's pretty predictable. There is a great deal of order in the astronomical bodies that we can watch and that surely we all have looked up at night and marveled at the moon that's circling this earth. And the fact that this earth circles the sun at a correct distance, at the right distance, not like Venus or not like Mars. I guess those are our closest planets. Both of those are either too hot or too cold. We're just right. I guess we're the right size porridge. Somebody must have put the earth in the right rotation, in the right orbit. And yet, if people dismiss, if they don't acknowledge the creator God, then they have little chance of coming to true understanding. It goes on here. It says there, because of God being so evident, they are without excuse in verse 20. Though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God. They did not give thanks to Him as God. But they have become futile in their thinking and their senseless minds are darkened. Now, I know that the reading, again, on this translation was a little different than what you might read in the New King James, but it says, you know, it's a description of how mankind, apart from God, is just in darkness.

Verse 22, claiming to be wise, they have become fools. And certainly within the Roman Empire, at the time, there were many, you know, very important, very significant, very powerful individuals who were just running them up as far as their outlook and their view of their own lives.

It says, claiming to be wise, they became fools. They exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a human form of birds or four-footed animals or reptiles. In verse 24, it says, therefore God gave them up in the lust of their hearts to impurity, to the degrading of their bodies against among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and that they worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator.

Instead of the focus being on me and what I want and what I think and the creation, people, their minds need to be on the creator, the one who has authority to tell us how to live.

Verse 26, for this reason, God gave them up to degrading passions, and their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, the same way also the men giving up natural intercourse with women were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and received in their bodies that do penalty for their error. In verse 28, and since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, that's what it takes. That's what it takes, and we're acknowledging God.

We're acknowledging God as our creator and the one who has authority to guide us in what is best for us. And since they did not see fit in verse 28 to acknowledge God, God gave them up.

To a debased mind and to things that should not be done.

I, you know, like I said, I watch things on television, and there are a lot of things that I just know are wrong, and you know, people are just doing what they happen to feel or want, or what they want to fight for, or what they're going to jam down your throat, whether you like it or not. But it's really a description of Satan continuing to deceive and continuing to mislead humanity away from God, away from His purpose for human life. And certainly in the area of marriage, this is one of the primary areas, one of the primary areas. Of course, we know clearly that maybe we could turn to some of these verses here. I probably won't go to all of them that I have written down here, but we're obviously aware. Actually, I think it's interesting as we have this discussion in this country today, which has been grounded in religious value.

There have been times when the country is certainly far more concerned about Bible or God than they appear to be today. But amazingly, within the framework of marriage, you have the authority from the state, and I am registered in the state of Kansas and in the state of Missouri, to perform marriages under the authority of the state. And so you do have. You have a certain level of lawfulness that is there within the framework of the governments where we live, the state and then the federal governments. And yet, is that the final word? No, that's just the requirement. That's just the requirement as far as if I'm going to perform marriages, then I want to properly have that done lawfully as far as the state is concerned.

But see, the state can authorize numerous unlawful, according to the God, marriages or unions. And of course, the government sanctions numerous adulterous marriages.

So, you know, I know you see record of that even where Herod was complaining about what John the Baptist was telling him about Herodias. Not the right thing to do, not what God wants.

Herodias, you know, didn't like John at all, eventually got to him, eventually was able to eliminate him. And yet, what John had to say was, in the sight of God, this is not right. This is not lawful for you to have Herodias, for Herod to have Herodias. And we won't go through that. But of course, we know in Matthew 19, verse 6, and I'll just cite this one verse before I go on to some others. Matthew 19, verse 6, it says, there are no longer two but one. This is Jesus speaking, and he's talking about marriage. He's talking about a man and a woman. It says, they are no longer two but one. Therefore, what God has joined together, let not man put asunder. Let not man separate or divide. See, the authority is not within the structure of the government of the Missouri or the U.S. government. We comply with those, and so that is to live here. We want to be with lawfully doing that if we can. If it's going to conflict where you can't, there are some areas where you have to try to back away from that, this is one that you can follow. But certainly, the authority for marriage comes from God. And as this says in verse 6, what God has joined together that's where marriage has come from. We might go on and I'll just point out two or three things here regarding God's purpose for man and even why he designed and creates marriage.

See, God is wanting mankind to become a part of his divine family. That again is lost.

That again, that whole concept is lost whenever you start fragmenting understanding of marriage according to the Bible, according to God's directive. See, he created marriage for men and women. He created that design for procreation. So children can be born and a family is created. This of course is a physical example of what ultimately he says he is doing in bringing many sons and many daughters to glory. He is bringing individuals. See, angels cannot do that.

Angels do not have that opportunity, that perception, even that, I guess, opportunity is the right word. God isn't going to allow it, not with angels, but with humans.

He is wanting to bring us. He is wanting to bring human beings who are willing to yield to him, who are willing to be in subjection to their Creator. Again, Satan's problem. He doesn't want to be in subjection to the Creator. He's willing to bring them into his divine family.

And so in creating marriage for man and woman, he provides for a way for procreation, and of course he directs man and woman to be fruitful and multiply. And there's going to be a continual process. See, the human race has been around as far as you can easily follow in the Bible for 6,000 years. And there have been ups and downs. It started rather slowly. It increased for about 1,500 years, and then it had to be cut back. It was cut back at the Flood, and then it was regenerated. So for 4,500 years, we've had the perpetuation of the humankind here on earth.

And of course, our population today is what, seven or six something? Six point something billion people here on earth. Seven billion now? Okay, so that's a clean figure. Seven billion. See, God would love to have seven billion individuals become a part of his divine family. And of course, you know, there's a way that that has to be done. That just isn't done because I happen to say so, or that I want to do it my way. I have to learn of what God's way is and desire to pursue that.

Of course, we find that through the commitment that you have in marriage, God creates a foundation for society that creates stability, that creates a stable system of order and direction and training and nurturing that you just don't have otherwise.

And of course, the final thing that I'll mention about just how God is wanting to bring us into the family, he is creating within us a divine nature. And that nature can be summed up in what? One word. His nature of love. Now obviously, there's expansion that can be done with that.

But loving God, respecting God, thanking God for being our creator, loving one another.

You know, these are direct commands from Jesus Christ about what is it that he expects his disciples to do? To love one another. And see, what is it that God even directs men and women in marriage together? What is he? He directs us to love one other. He brings it down to where it's a real, clean, wonderful expression of appreciation and gratitude for one another. And you can read, actually, maybe we should read 1 Corinthians 13, because this actually tells us how it is that God wishes for us to grow, to fulfill his purpose of ultimately being in his family.

You know, this is the character that he wants us to acquire. He wants us to grow in this nature.

He doesn't want us to just dream this up in ourselves. He wants us to study it, to think about it, to focus on it, to see how it is that this applies to my relationship with my wife, my relationship with my husband, my relationship with my children, with my family, with my neighbors, with the community, with all the people that I interact with. And, of course, it also does have a connection with God. But here in 1 Corinthians 13, I wish that I had this memorized, but I don't. I need...I've been working on it, but I have to still read it. But I only want to read a few verses, so I probably can remember some of them. But starting in verse 4 through 8, you see a list, the epitome of God describing Himself and what we are shooting for. Not that we are there, although we may want and we enjoy God's love and appreciate being able to share that, but it really takes a focus when we think about our own lives, our own marriage, our own families.

This is where we're to express that love is patient and kind.

Love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way.

It is not irritable or resentful. It does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things. It believes all things. It hopes all things. It endures all things. And then in verse 8 it says, love does not fail. It will not fail. That is the way of life that we are learning to live. And of course, a part of that is as we learn to be a part of God's divine family. And as we appreciate the design that He has created for us, then we are growing in that nature. We're growing. We struggle with that. That's not something we automatically have.

I can certainly find flaw with me in every one of these words. That's something I attain to. That's what I want. That's what hurts me to not be patient, to not be kind, to be arrogant, or to be demanding my...that hurts me to do that, but I find that that's what I do too much of the time.

And yet, the expression of love inside the framework of marriage is by God's design. And of course, as we accept that direction in our lives, as we accept the guidance of the Creator, well then we are going to be growing in a way that we may not even know. It may just seem so maybe normal for us, but we're growing in a far different way than the world is growing. The world is progressively getting worse and worse and more hostile to the Creator, more hostile to His authority to just tell us what to do. So what can we easily see? Actually, you can read the pages of the Bible and verify all of these things regarding marriage. What does God state to be His purpose regarding marriage? Let's go back to Genesis. Back to the beginning. Genesis 1 and chapter 2, you've got the whole explanation of a creation or a reshaping, a refashioning of the earth after having been corrupted by Satan's rebellion and by his destruction.

That affected much of the universe and clearly this earth. But here in chapter 1, it says in verse 27, God created mankind in His image.

See, again, angels are not created in God's image. Angels do not have the potential that man has.

But what it says here in verse 27 is that God created man in His image. In the image of God, He created them male and female. And so both male and female are created in the image of God. And it says in verse 28, God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it. And then He went ahead to explain about their dominion over the other things on the earth. And yet God's design, God's creation. Here in chapter 2, you've got the models that God created to become a part of a divine family, to become a part of a God family far above that of the angels. Here in chapter 2, starting in verse 18, the Lord God said, It's not good that man should be alone. I will make him a helper, comparable to him. And so out of the ground, the Lord God formed every animal of the field, of bird of the air, and brought them to Adam, to man, to see what he would call them, and whatever he called them. That's what they were named in the man. And verse 20 gave names to all that came to the birds of the air and every animal, but for the man there was not found this comparable helper. And so it says in verse 21, the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon man, and he slept. And when he took one of his ribs, God took one of his ribs and closed up its place in Adam's flesh, and the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman, and brought her to man, and said, Man said, This is at last his bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. This shall be called woman for out of man. This one was taken. And therefore, in verse 24, we see the ordination of an institution of marriage that God created by design.

The ordination of an institution that is a natural union and yet a divine institution.

For he says, Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall cling to his wife. And they become one flesh. And the man and the woman were both naked, and yet were not ashamed.

It's actually in the sequence of things as prior to sin entering the world. And yet, you know, if people accepted that, I mean, it's pretty clear, pretty simple, pretty plain.

But see, if you have a hostile mind and you don't want to accept the authority of the Creator, then anything else seems to make more sense than what God clearly points out that we can appreciate and recognize that in this way, God ordained marriage. And of course, we can now go to Matthew 16, or excuse me, 19, where I read one verse here earlier. But we find not only this description in Genesis that, again, see, every one of these verses, people can dispute, they can talk about, they can try to tear down, they can try to destroy what it says. But this is all in a futility of mind. It's giving themselves over to a debasement, which God also describes here in Romans chapter 1. But here in Matthew 19, as Pharisees came to him in verse 3 and said, Is it lawful for man to divorce his wife for any cause? So they were discussing marriage, and in particular, they were discussing divorce. And I'm not trying to get into the topic of divorce at all. I'm simply trying to explain a little about the validity of God's design and the sanctity of that design. And it says in verse 4, Jesus said, Well, haven't you read that the one who made them at the beginning? Don't you know? Of course, he was talking to the Pharisees who did know they were familiar with the statements. They were familiar with what Genesis 1 and 2 said.

And he says, Haven't you read that the one who made them at the beginning made them male and female? Now, this is coming from the Son of God, coming from the authoritative Son of God, that he made them male and female. And in verse 5, he said, For this reason a man, a male shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, a female, and the two shall become one flesh.

See, we read this earlier, but Jesus is reiterating. Now, this is only 2,000 years ago.

Now, we can go back 6,000 years, or we can see other instances throughout that expansive time, but only 2,000 years ago and from the most authoritative source to exist. Jesus Christ.

He and the Father, of course. But he is pointing out. See, if people don't want to acknowledge God and if they don't want to acknowledge the Son of God, then they're going to come up with every imaginable excuse for doing what I want to do instead of what God says to do. So he said, they were to become one flesh, and so they are no longer two but one in verse 6. And he says, Therefore, what God has joined together, let not man put a son.

See, Jesus is making these statements to the Pharisees, and of course then they said, well, why did Moses command a certificate of divorce? And he said, well, it was because you were so hard-hearted, hard-headed, stubborn, resistant, defiled, corrupted. He could have described it in any other way. He says, because of your hardness of heart that Moses gave you that out, in a sense, the writing of divorcement, it was because of your hard-heartedness. And Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.

That's not God's design to have marriages break down, to have divorces occur. Again, the state sanctifies divorce and remarriage, and yet they authorize all kinds of stuff that are completely illegal, unlawful from the standpoint of God and His Word, and from the authority of the one who set it up.

So again, I'm not discussing the whole topic here of divorce, but I'm pointing out what Jesus said, because that has so much bearing on what people should be seeing, what they should be looking at. And of course, we don't want to be deceived. We don't want to be deluded by the common, everyday bombardment, because that's really what we were hit by.

We're hit by over and over and over again this bombardment of trying to tear down, and, oh, isn't fair good, and isn't equal correct, and all of this tolerance business. And clearly, Jesus is for tolerance. He is extremely tolerant. He is extremely loving and extremely merciful, but that doesn't change the statement. He reached out to anyone who came to Him and said, you know, I don't condemn you. I accept you. I love you. Just stop sinning. You know, that's what He told the woman in John 8. He says, go and sin no more. That's the way I'd like for you to live. I'd like for you to respect the Word of God and respect the Creator God.

Of course, we know two of the Ten Commandments deal with, in a sense, marriage, adultery. You shall not commit adultery, and then coveting at the end. You shall not covet your neighbor's property or your neighbor's wife. I mean, those are both directly stating a need to respect how God sets things up.

Here in Ephesians 5, of course, you have the other aspect of this, all of this, that I've just mentioned is simply God's design and His purpose in creating marriage. But in Ephesians 5, and actually you have in a number of Paul's letters to the churches, you find him addressing the topic of a Christian household and men and women, how they are to live together in peace and in harmony, how they are to respect one another, how they are to thrive in that loving relationship. And yet the section that I want to point out here in Ephesians 5 is in verse 29.

He's talking, I guess this section is regarding husbands and their need to love their wives. He says in verse 29, For no one ever hates his own body, but he nourishes and he tenderly cares for his own body, just as Christ does for the church. He's going to make a statement here that, again, people would love to labor with, they would love to somehow explain away and not really accept the authority of the Creator in what he's doing.

But he says, just as Christ does for the church, nourish, nurture, and tenderly care for it, he says, because we are members of his body. And 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. And he says in verse 32, this is a great mystery. I'm telling you about something that I'm sure even in talking to the church members in Ephesus, you know, they were struggling to understand what it was.

And I would think that they certainly were accepting to the concept of marriage, but to fully understand the idea of being in a divine family. And, you know, that's something that we understand today to one degree or another. You know, we may not fully understand that. I may not fully understand that at all. I doubt that I do.

But I do know what it says. And he says in verse 32, this mystery, this great mystery that I'm talking to you about, I'm applying this to the marriage between Christ and the church, to the union, and to the unity, and to the harmony that I desire to be there within the church, with the head of the church, Jesus Christ. And, you know, then he's applying it to the marriages of the people in the church.

We can go from there to Revelation 19. And, of course, we're, again, familiar with what this is talking about, because here, as the church has gone through throughout the ages, the training that God wishes for us to go through, you know, we are preparing as a bride to be married to Jesus Christ. Starting in verse 6, says, Hallelujah. For the Lord God Almighty reigns, and let us rejoice and resolve, and give him glory for the marriage of the Lamb. As come, and his bride has made herself ready. So to her, verse 8, it has been granted to be clothed with fine linen, bright and pure.

For the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And in verse 9, the angel says, Blessed, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.

So again, he points out that, well, you know, I'm giving instruction regarding God's authority in designing marriage and instructing us in how marriage should be structured, and then how it can thrive, because he explains to us how that can happen. What we find is that we often create our own problems by not fully following just what it says.

And yet, ultimately, whether we are even married or not right now, we're going to be married. We're going to be married. I'm going to be the bride. I want to be the bride. I want to be the bride to Jesus Christ, or at least a part of the bride, because we are to be growing in not only the righteous deeds of the saints, but the fine linen and the bright and brilliant clothing that is explained here in verse 8, or is described in verse 8 as the type of nature that God is cultivating in us today. Again, I know I'm going over some of these, all of which you're familiar with, and yet I do this solely just to point out to you that the flaw that people don't see, I mean, they are deceived into not really seeing that we choose not to be subject to the Creator.

We just resist being in subjection to the Creator. And of course, all of us are blessed to know God and to know His Son and to know His Word, and we should be able to give an answer. We should be able to explain. See, it's sad to see that in society today in this country that has been based on many of the Judeo-Christian values that have existed throughout the whole existence of man is too bad that that's sliding away. It's being undermined and being overthrown in many cases in such an obvious way. And yet, of course, there's a certain level of subtlety there, a certain level of deception. We want to make it sound pretty palatable. We want people to buy into this. Of course, that's what the roaring lion is able to do. He wants that. So as Christians, we have an unbelievable blessing of believing God and understanding and believing His purpose for human beings and how that we can become a part of His family and how that marriage actually teaches us many of the lessons that we are to be learning as we learn to love one another and as we learn to be united together and look forward to be married to the lamb, those are things that, in many ways, those who resist or refuse to yield to the Creator will never comprehend some of those thoughts. And so, as the institution of marriage will continue to be under attack, I'm sure of that. I'm sure that's going to continue to be broken down not only in this country but around the world. You know, what can we do? What should we do? Well, we want to remain consistent, remain faithful to the Word of God, remain aware and appreciative of what the Word of God says. We want to live our lives as an example of God's good and acceptable and perfect way.

See, that's what we have the opportunity to be. As the light of the world, we can reflect that in our marriages but certainly in our understanding and belief of marriage. And then we certainly can reach out to others, reach out to others with truth and love that comes through Jesus Christ, who is to be living in us. That's what we are told to do. And I think we should always remember that when it comes to the institution of marriage, you find a statement here in Hebrews chapter 13 that we want to also include in this discussion because here in Hebrews chapter 13 you find in verse 4 it says, let marriage be held in honor. Let marriage, marriage between a man and a woman, as this is describing, let marriage be held in the highest honor by all and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled. Those are directives to Christians who would live in subjection to the Word of God and in subjection to their Creator. So he says, let marriage be held in the highest honor by all and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled because God will judge the fornicators and the adulterers. You know, that's a very clear statement that is made kind of at the conclusion of the book of Hebrews when he's discussed a great deal about Jesus Christ and his role, his refining and perfecting role in our lives, but he wants us not to be deceived. He wants us not to be fooled by the pervasive thoughts and the arguments that are so common in the world today. And so I hope that this can be a beginning of our discussion of marriage because I would like to do that over several sermons because there is a lot of information, some of which I know all of us are familiar with, some of which we need to be more familiar with because there are some keys that are extremely important that can make our lives thrilling as we honor and respect the marital state that God created for the good of mankind.