The Purpose of Marriage

When you study through the book of Genesis, you find there are many firsts in the book of Genesis. Let's go back to Genesis chapter 1, and we'll see one of those firsts spelled out here. We'll go back to Genesis chapter 1, verse 26. Contrary to evolution, we did not come from scum or climb from slime. God created human beings. As we read here in Genesis 1, verse 26, God gave man dominion over the earth. God gave man dominion over the earth. Not dominion over the whole heavens at this point, but at least in the physical realm, God said man would have dominion over the earth.

God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. God blessed them and God said to them, Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue it, have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over every living thing that moves on the earth. I want you to notice God created us male and female. He did not create us male and male or female and female. God is the one who created the sexes. He created females, women, men. He said, Be fruitful and multiply. If God had started his plan out by creating two men, they would have looked at each other. In a few hundred years, they would have died. The human race would have died out. There would have been no children. That would have been it. There would have been two of them. God made us different for a purpose, for a reason. There is a very logical reason behind everything that God does. The first thing that God did when he made man and the woman was to establish the basis that society would function on for the last 6,000 years. It has continued to function on that basis. In chapter 2, let's notice what I'm talking about. God did not leave man in the dark. God revealed to him what he wanted them to do. We read here, beginning in verse 21, Genesis 2.21, The Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept, and he took one of his ribs, and he closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib, which the Lord God had taken from the man, he made him to a woman. He brought her to the man. Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man. So you find here that God created the woman from the man. Therefore, verse 24, man shall leave his father and mother, be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. Now what you find God did here was to establish the marriage unit and the laws governing that unit.

When I say marriage unit, I'm talking about the marriage, the family. It's obvious from what God says here that a man is to leave his present unit, or as you grow up in a family, you have a father, you have a mother, you have siblings, but you get married. And when you get married, you leave that unit, and you go over here and you establish a separate unit. God never intended that. We just all stayed in the same bunch. But that we would go and establish a different unit, and that God ordained it that way. So God created marriage, and he created the laws surrounding marriage. Now many of us here, let me just ask, how many of you were married in this church? We have several who were, but several who weren't. Let me read from the introduction to the wedding ceremony that we have in United what it says about marriage. And I see that Daniel and Erica are here, so maybe they'll hear it now. I'm not sure they were listening the other day when they got married. They were very attentive, actually.

But notice what the marriage ceremony, and I think you will find that the principles contained here, are principles that are very much based upon the Bible, upon Scriptures. It says, Surely there can be no greater human joy than to have a happy marriage filled with giving and sharing. And right out of the bat, you find that a happy marriage is going to be based upon giving and sharing. Happy marriages are not based upon getting and taking, but on giving and sharing. There is no deeper relationship among human beings than that achieved by husband and wife and marriage. And God intended that. He intended that a lesson be learned in marriage be difficult to learn any other way. Two people who have at one time been going their own way, maybe filled with a lot of ego, self-centered and all of that, all the ones, boom! They're married. And you find out very quickly that in order to have a good marriage, a right relationship, that you cannot be self-centered, that you have to be able and willing to give to the other. And when you get married and you begin to relate to each other physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually, you begin to have children, you go through life together, you work together, you build a home together, and you go through all of this year after year after year. You develop a relationship. You develop a commitment to one another. Going on, it says marriage is a natural union, but a divine institution ordained by or of God. So it's a natural union. You're human. You're physical. That's true. But it was ordained by God. It's something that's divine, that God established right back here at creation, as it goes on to say. It was established by the Creator God at creation and derives its authority from the divine laws of God, immutable and unchangeable. So I don't care if you lived 6,000 years ago, 5,000 years ago, 3,000 years ago, or you're alive right now. The laws governing marriage have never changed. The same principles. They worked back then. They worked 2,000 years ago. They work now, and they will work through the millennium and the white throne judgment. They're the same laws, immutable and unchangeable. When God created life upon the earth, He made human beings the pinnacle of His physical creation and fashioned them in His own image. He gave men and women creative minds with the ability to make choices, to develop plans, to build their lives upon those plans.

Men and women were created with the marvelous potential of eternal life in the family of God. And as a loving Father, God gave us the institution of marriage and the blessing of a family that we might learn to love one another as He loves us. And to me, this is one of the key statements in the marriage ceremony.

That the reason why God gave us the family and marriage is that we learn to love one another as He loves us. Because you find that God's love for us is a godly love. It's a sacrificial love He gave His Son for us. And that when you get married and you love a person, you're willing to give to that person. You're willing to sacrifice for your marriage. And so, that's what we're talking about. After He created the first man from the dust of the ground, the Lord God said, It's not good that He should be alone.

I will make a helper comparable to Him. So, the woman was made equal to the man in spiritual potential, the perfect complement to her husband. Spiritually, before God, we're all judged, not because we're male or female, we're judged by what we do with what we have. And God may have many of the wives here in higher positions, more responsibilities, greater duties in the future. We have the equal potential before God. But to emphasize His purpose for Adam and Eve, the Creator God did not make the woman directly from the ground, but from the very flesh and bone of the man. When the woman was presented to him, Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh.

So the Creator then united the first man and woman, his husband and wife, saying, Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother, be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And so the institution of marriage and the cycle of human life began with God's personal blessing. So when you stop and you think about it, God didn't create Adam and Eve and said, Okay, you're going to get married, but let me tell you, it's going to be tough out there.

No, He blessed them. He said, Be fruitful, multiply, replenish the earth. I've given you a garden. Go take care of it. And God gave them every advantage which they quickly threw away and chose and made the wrong choice. So within the church it is God, not merely man or the laws of man, who joined together husband and wife as one flesh. Therefore, let us now consider the laws of God governing this union and His instructions to husbands and wives as recorded in the Holy Scriptures.

Okay, we're going to take a look today at the laws governing marriage unions. And all of these things are actually revealed here in the Scriptures. In Genesis 1 through 3, we find the basic laws of marriage articulated. I want you to notice the number of things that are mentioned here. Number one, in Genesis 1 through 3, the family unit is defined by God. Not what man says is a family, but what God determined was a family.

Number two, we find one mate. Not two mates, not polygamy, not three or four. Three, we find the husband is in charge. Number four, we find the wife is to submit to the husband. Five, there is to be no unfaithfulness in the marriage. Six, there is not to be deviate sex in the marriage. Seven, you are to leave your former family unit, your parents, and your desire is to be for your mate.

Next, the wife is a helper. She is to help. And finally, you find it's not good for the man to be alone. All of this is revealed in the first couple of chapters. I threw in chapter 3 to cover myself on this. You'll find these principles are articulated there. Let's take a look at these very basic principles established by God from the very beginning. And to see that right from the very beginning, when God instituted marriage, when He created it, and He created man and woman, that He actually created these principles and revealed them so that they would know how to have a happy marriage, how to have a wonderful marriage.

Okay, number one, the family unit is defined by God. God is the one who determines what a family unit should be. Today, we hear politicians talking about, I believe, in family values. And then they immediately start talking about all kinds of odd families. When I say odd families, I mean God created the family unit, male, female. They have children, so you have a unit. They reproduce. Today, politicians and different ones say that a family unit is two men. You find children in grade school studying books. You know, Tommy has two mommies. Tommy has two daddies.

And, you know, they think nothing of it. And yet, God didn't say that here in the Scriptures. A man is not perfectly compatible for another man. In other words, homosexuality is not what God teaches in the Scriptures. Nowhere were animals created to go have it with human beings either.

So, let's go back to Leviticus, chapter 18. Leviticus, chapter 18, verse 22. Notice what God says here in His law concerning what we're talking about. You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination. Nor shall you mate with any animal to defile yourself with it.

Nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it. It is perversion. Do not defile yourself with any of these things, for by all these the nations are defiled, which I am casting out from before you. So, God said that the nations around them, that they were coming into the land to cast out, were doing these type of things.

For the land is defiled, therefore I visit the punishment of it, the iniquity upon it, and the land vomits out its inhabitants. You shall therefore keep my statutes, my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations, either any of your nation or any stranger who dwells with you. For all of these abominations the men of the land have done, who were before you, and thus the land is defiled. So, God calls it an abomination and a defilement. So, today people, as they have always done down through the ages, have tried to define what marriage is, what a family unit is, and they reject the revelation of God. They reject the Bible and what God says.

Man goes about establishing his own ideas and thoughts. A family revolves, if you come back here to Genesis 2 again, says a man shall leave his father and mother. If it's your father and mother, you're the child. They're the parents. So, a family will have a male and a female. A male and a female could be a father and a mother if they have children. Once those children get married, they're supposed to leave father and mother, establish their own unit, and then they are a separate family.

Now, why did God do this? Well, you find that God is a family. The family of God, the kingdom of God. In the New Testament, it talks about God is our father, Christ is our brother. The church is talked about being the bride of Christ. He is referred to as the husband. And so, therefore, you find a family relationship. Marriage was given to teach us about the God family, to reveal to us what proper relationships should be like.

Now, if you take a look at the history of mankind, mankind cut off from God, you'll see that instead of man following what God laid out in Genesis, man has degenerated. Man has followed his own ideas. He has come up with what he thinks is right. Let's notice in chapter 4 here of the book of Genesis. Genesis chapter 4, beginning in verse 16.

Here we have the family of Cain. Remember Cain killed Abel. God drove him out of the land of Eden, and he dwelt and gnawed, as we read here in verse 16. In verse 17, Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of His son Enoch. And to Enoch was born Ired, and Ired beget Mahujiel, and Mahujiel beget Methuzeel, and Methuzeel beget Lamech. Now verse 19. Then Lamech took for himself two wives.

The name of the one was Ada, and the name of the second was Zilla. Now you find, this is all before the blood, that polygamy came on the scene very early. Now you find that God allowed polygamy, but polygamy was not God's intention, not God's purpose from the very beginning, and that's very clear.

But right off the bat, you find a whole section of the human race who had rejected God, turned their back on Him, gained His descendants, that they began to practice polygamy. And Lamech is the first one recorded in the Bible to do so. In chapter 6, God brought a flood. Remember 1656 years after the creation, or re-creation, when God created man. There was a flood brought on the earth. Why? Well, let's notice. It came to pass, verse 1, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them.

That the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful, and they took wives of them, of all whom they chose. And the Lord said, My spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh, yet his day shall be 120 years. And so you'll find that man began to marry anybody he wanted to marry. And God speaks to this in verse 10. It says, Noah begot three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And the earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

So man had corrupted his way, and that includes marriage. Man just married anybody he wanted at that time. Let's notice in verse 5. Strongest verse in the Bible that I know of. Notice what it says. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great.

So notice, his wickedness is great in the earth. And that every intent of the thoughts, so man's thinking, every intent of those thoughts of his heart, was only evil continually. Only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and he was grieved in his heart that he had made man.

And so you find that his way became corrupt. And so God destroyed the human race. Noah was the only one who, as verse 9 says, he was a just man, perfect in his generation. He walked with God. And so God saved him, his wife, his three sons, and their wives. Now let's notice what happened right after the flood. In chapter 10, in verse 8, we find that Cush begotten Nimrod, and he began to be a mighty one on the earth.

Now, according to tradition and your oral history, you find that Cush had married Semiramis. Nimrod was the son of Semiramis. They conspired and killed Cush, and Nimrod turned around and married his own mother, Semiramis. And that, in God's eyes, was certainly perversion, but this happened very shortly after the flood. And there was a struggle that went on from the descendants of Noah and Shem, who apparently carried the truth of God and the way of God forward after the flood.

And here you find the descendants of Nimrod. Well, after Nimrod was killed, Semiramis became a prostitute. She had a son by... well, we don't know who he was by. Horace was his name, and she claimed it was an immaculate conception, and that he was the Savior of the world. And so you have the Madonna and Savior tradition arising at that time. Now, in chapter 18, beginning in verse 20, about 451 years after the flood, you find that Sodom and Gomorrah rose up.

Here were two cities that are renowned for their sexual perversion, and God destroyed those cities. Lot was living there, and God brought Lot and tried to bring all of his family out, but many of them did not want to depart. Let's go back to the book of Jude, verse 7, the book of Jude right before the book of Revelation, verse 7. And notice what is said about this period of time, and what will happen at the end time. We read as Sodom and Gomorrah in the city's roundabout that in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, offering the vengeance of eternal fire.

Likewise, also these dreamers defiled the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries, talking about the rebels who rebelled against God. In 2 Timothy chapter 3, we find the end time pictured here. In 2 Timothy 3, it says, Know this, that in the last days perilous times will come. And it goes on to describe some of the conditions that we would see on the earth today. That men would be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, prowls, blasphemers, disobedient parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good.

And as we read on Pentecost, verse 5, having a form of godliness, but not denying the power of it. Verse 6, For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women, laden down or loaded with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning, never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. So showing that adultery, wrong sexual practices, would be also one of the signs of events at the end time.

I think Jeremiah describes it about as well as anybody in chapter 5 of the book of Jeremiah, in verse 7. We're covering a short history of marriage and what's happened to it. Beginning in verse 7, Jeremiah 5, and this is not what I was looking for. I read it this morning. Yeah, it is. I'm looking at verse 6. Verse 7 says, How shall I pardon you for this? Your children have forsaken me and sworn by those that are not gods.

When I have fed them to the full, and this tends to be something that happens to us as Israelites, when we're blessed, we have plenty of food to eat, things are going well, good jobs, everything's going well in the country. Notice, I fed them to the full, and they have committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlot's house. They were like well-fed, lusty stallions, every one nain after his neighbor's wife. Shall I not punish them for these things? And so you'll find that God describes our society, where people are out like stallions, just nain after one another.

And that, I think, is a very apt description of what is going on. Why is this? Well, I think you'll find that Satan the Devil has wanted to destroy marriage, has wanted to destroy the proper marriage relationship down through the years. Why? Well, he's perverted, that's why. He's perverted in his mind, twisted in his thinking. He's also a celibate, he can't marry, angels don't marry. So therefore, you know, he despises anyone who can. He also encourages the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life.

Satan wants to reduce marriage to an animal relationship, not a God-playing relationship, but an animal relationship, which is nothing more than just cohabitation. Cohabit with anybody you want to, that's all the reason for getting married or having sexual relations. Whereas God wants to elevate, not degenerate, but elevate marriage to a God-playing relationship, where we learn lessons on a God-playing level. So there is a big difference. So God is the one who established the marital relationship, the family unit. Now, let's go on to another point I mentioned earlier, that is, we should have one mate. Marriage is made for two people. You've got one mate. God did not create two Eves for Adam. He didn't say, Adam, here is Eve and Ava.

He didn't say, here is Sally and Susie. No, he said, here is Eve when he introduced her. Let's notice back in Genesis 2, again, in verse 21, It says, The Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept, and he took one of his ribs. Now, I don't know if there is any significance. It doesn't say he took two of his ribs, and therefore came up with two women. He took one rib, closed up the flesh in its place, and then the rib, which the Lord God had taken from the man, he made into a woman, didn't say many women, but a woman, and he brought her, a woman, to the man.

Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh, she shall be called woman, not women, but she is a woman. Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother, and be joined to his wife, not his wives. So, it's very clear from the very beginning that the way God started marriage out, the way he intended it, was one man, one woman joined together, and they established a separate unit.

So, God intended, and I think it's very clear, he's shown from the very beginning, that there be one mate, not polygamy. Also, I believe, in principle, we can deduce that the husband is in charge. In verse 18, the Lord God said, It's not good that the man should be alone, I will make him a helper, comparable to him. The fact that the woman was made to be a helper implies that she would be taking a subservient role, that she would be the one helping him.

He doesn't say, I'll make a woman, and he will become her helper. Now, it's the other way around. Now, we realize that in marriage, it's actually a team working together. But there is, ultimately, authority there. Somebody, at some point, has to make decisions. And when it comes down to a final decision, and maybe there's not always seen eyeball to eyeball, somebody has to say, this is the way. Walk you in it. This is how we're going to go. This is what we're going to do. Let's turn to the New Testament, Ephesians 5, 22.

Ephesians 5, and we'll begin to read here in verse 22. It says, Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. So the wife is to submit to her husband. In verse 23, For the husband is the head of the wife, as also Christ is the head of the church, and he is the Savior of the body.

Now, the husband is the head. Jesus Christ is the head of the church. Has God established authority within marriage? Well, hold your place here in 1 Corinthians 11, beginning in verse 1. We read a very interesting chapter, 1 Corinthians 11, about marriage. Paul said, Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ. Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions, just as I deliver them to you. But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ.

So Christ is in charge. He's the head of every man. The head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God. So God the Father has the ultimate authority. Christ is under him, the man under him, the woman under the man. Now it goes on to say that every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head. So who is his head?

Well, it's Christ. And when it says having his head covered, it means, as I will show you, having long hair. But a man is not to have long hair like a woman. But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered, her hair cut short like a man, dishonors her head.

That's her husband. For this is one and the same as if her head were shaved. She might as well go ahead and shave her head. Be bald. For if a woman is not covered, let her also be shorn. But if it is a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaved, let her be covered. For a man, indeed, ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and the glory of God.

But the woman is the glory of man. Nor was man created for the woman, but the woman for the man. This is what we're talking about. The woman was created for the man. Verse 13, judge among yourselves, is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him? But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory for her, for her hair is given her for a covering.

What that means is that you women do not have to wear a hat when you come to church, or put a doily or a little beanie on. That's not what this is talking about. It's talking about the fact that God has created your hair as a covering. So a woman should have longer hair. It is an indication of femininity. It's a sign showing that she's under the authority of her husband. Therefore, she has protection, as verse 10 says, a symbol of authority on her head because of the angels, that there is the protection there from angels as a result of this. So what you find, the husband is the head.

Now, one thing men tend to forget is that the husband, the man, is created to be a benefactor for his family, and especially for his wife. Men should prepare themselves to be the head of the family. How many young men think about, I'm going to get married. When I get married, how well will I be a husband? What kind of a father will I be? And begin to develop himself. A man should prepare himself to be a blessing to his wife, to be a blessing to his children. When a woman comes to share his home, she should know what her state is going to be, should know what to expect. Many men want to be the head, but how many men want to be the Savior? As you remember back here in Ephesians 5, that a man is the head, as Christ is, but he's also the Savior of the body. The word Savior implies one who is a protector, a provider, an encourager, a leader, full of mercy. The Greek word means deliverer or preserver. So the man is to preserve, to deliver, to protect his family. Is that what God has done for the church? Doesn't the Bible say God is the love of the world? He gave his only begotten Son. Christ came as a Savior, gave himself. A man is not to be a demagogue in ruling his family. Years ago, too often, when men came in the church and they found out, Ah, I'm the head, well, they sort of reacted, Me, Tarzan, you, Jane. And they took the authority that if I tell you to jump, you jump. If a wife tried to tell her husband, well, you know, give some input to him on something, and he would say, Shut up, woman! I'm in charge of the family. Well, that's not what God wants. And thankfully, I don't think most marriages were that way, but some went off in that direction.

A man is to be a blessing to his family, and he is to prepare himself by seeking a job, a career, to prepare himself, you know, to have a good home, be able to provide for his wife, and to be able to, you know, so that when she gets married, her family knows what she's getting into, and she knows what she's getting into. Now, one of the points I brought out also back in Genesis is that the wife is to submit to her husband. Well, we read that here. Let's go over Ephesians again. Ephesians 5.

Ephesians 5.

And we'll read verse 24. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husband in everything. Now, we find, beginning in verse 32, this is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church, that marriage has been given to us to help us learn the lesson of Christ and the church, and that we are to have that type of relationship in our marriage. Let's go over to 1 Corinthians 6. 1 Corinthians is 6th chapter, beginning in verse 15. And you'll notice that marriage was ordained so that we could learn the one-flesh relationship principle. It says, Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? When it comes to the church, Christ is ahead. We are part of His body. Shall I take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Well, certainly not. You and I, once we become a part of the body of Christ, we're part of the church. Should we be going over here and dabbling in all kinds of religions and other things, other than the truth and the right way of God? He says, certainly not. Do you not know that He who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For the two, He said, shall become one flesh. So He's talking here on the physical realm. But He who is joined to the Lord is one Spirit with Him. So you have a one-flesh relationship that is symbolic of the one-spirit relationship that should exist between members of the church and Jesus Christ.

That we look to Him for our strength, our power, our guidance, our direction. And we do not go out and get mixed up in every kind of weird religion that comes down the pipe. So we're told to flee sexual immorality, and we find that the temple says, Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, which is in you, whom you have from God and you're not your own?

For you were bought at a price, therefore glorify God in your body and your spirit, which are God's. And so you find that we have a giving Savior who loves us so much that He was willing to give Himself for us. And is that not the way a relationship should be in a marriage? That a husband is willing to give himself for his wife, and that she gives herself likewise in the marriage? Our marriages are to picture the God-playing relationship of cooperation, of service, of giving, of helping, all of this on that plane. Now, I mentioned that there should not be any unfaithfulness. Let's go back to the book of Genesis. In the book of Genesis, you find that God, in Genesis 2, does not say anywhere that you should be unfaithful. He says, no, you leave your father and your mother. You cleave to one another. You're joined to one another, and you become one flesh. You find very quickly in Genesis 18 and 19 that man began to pervert, began to twist the reason for marriage. And so God ordained marriage. Let me ask you a question. If you're part of the body of Christ, if you have God's Holy Spirit, and He's the head of the church, will He ever leave you? Will He ever leave you? And the answer is no. Hebrews 13. Hebrews 13, we read here beginning in verse 5 what Christ promises to do. He says, let your conduct be without covetousness, be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. Marriage is to be for a lifetime, and should be for a lifetime. And you find that we should not leave one another. Now, I realize that there are sometimes circumstances. A woman, as an example, does not have to live in a marriage where there is abuse. Sexual, mental, physical type of abuse. God never intended that type of a relationship. But we're talking about normal marriages. Too often today in society, people wear a parachute. They're in this plane. It's called the plane, their marriage. They're flying along. It gets a little bumpy. They've been in an airplane, and all the way through. You know, the bottom falls out, or you bump up against the ceiling. And people say, well, it's getting too bumpy in here. They open the door. They jump out. They pull the ripcord, and they parachute out. But what if you're in the plane, and you have no parachute? There is no option to bail out. Here's your plane. Here's your marriage that's going along. You may be a little bumpy. You may go up and down. But you have nowhere to go but to make that plane arrive at its destination. And that's what we're supposed to do in marriage. God expects us to remain faithful to one another. We find in 1 Corinthians 6, 13—I didn't read this part of the Scripture. We were here a while ago. 1 Corinthians 6, 13.

We read, Then verse 18. See, one of the major lessons that God wants us to learn in marriage, which too often people tend to forget about, is commitment. That you are committed to one another. You are committed to that marriage. And you're going to make your marriage work. You don't enter into marriage, well, if it gets rough, I'm out of here. Or somebody more beautiful comes along, I'm going to ditch this one and get another one.

Sometimes you look at Hollywood, and it's like a new model car comes along, and they get rid of the old and they buy a new one. Well, that's not the way God intended marriage. He wants us to age together. The Bible talks about the wife of your youth, the wife of your old age. And if she's the wife of your youth, the wife of your old age, she's going to be the wife of your middle age, too, somewhere in between.

And you grow old together, and you develop in a way, and you have a relationship that nobody else can understand. Every marriage is unique. Every marriage has its own dynamics, its own way, where a husband and wife relate to each other. And God has ordained that. Back in Genesis 2.24 again, we find where God makes his statement, Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother, and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Now, notice three things said here. Leave, cleave, and one flesh. You and I must leave the former unit, that's the family we grew up in, and be with your mate. You're now a separate unit. Implies a new union, a separate union, or family group. Now, sometimes, I've found over the years, that people can leave bodily.

They're no longer there, but they haven't left emotionally. They have not left mentally. They're still committed. They haven't left, sometimes even physically. So we are to leave in all phases, and cleave to someone else. That doesn't mean you forget about your parents. The Bible tells you that. It says, honor your parents. So we honor our parents constantly, but we now have a new unit. Then it says, cleave. So you are to cleave to your mate. And this means emotionally, mentally, physically. For a man, his wife should be the apple of his eye.

Not one of the apples of his eye, but the apple of his eye. The one he desires, he looks to, he wants to be with. Your desire. There is a commitment there to one another, the same for the wife. The word in the Hebrew and the Greek implies it's like a glue.

I've often thought of an epoxy glue, where you've got two types, you mix them together, and they become so strong and bonded, you can't pull it apart. You don't want to get it on your hands. Whatever you're trying to glue, you stick it together. That's the way a man and a woman are hard to be. How does God want us to be with him?

Does he want us to be stuck to him and nothing can rip us from God? The Bible says in Romans 8, Can anything cause us to depart, be separated from God? The only thing is you yourself. Otherwise, as long as you're there, neither angels, principalities, powers, whatever it might be, can separate us from God. And nothing should separate us from our mate.

We should go ahead and be bonded to each other. We become one flesh, one and only one to have sex. When it says one flesh, that implies not being unfaithful. It implies being faithful to one another. As the New Testament puts it, a one-woman man. Not a two-woman man, but a one-woman man. A one-flesh attitude, I would call it. For a woman, it would be a one-man woman. It works both ways in a marriage. So I think this works or dictates against polygamy. Now, we could cover some of these other points, but let's finish up with one.

That is, the wife is to be a helper. It doesn't say that she's to be a slave. She's to be a helper. Down through the century, women have been treated as slaves, been treated as property, something to be used by men, cast off.

That is not what God intended for marriage. And yet that's the way it's been. Women have been second-class citizens in many nations. A man must allow his wife to help. He's got to say, I need help. I tell you, I need help. There's not a man sitting here who doesn't need help, someone to help him. We've got to allow our wives to help us. We work together as a team. A wife will bring many attributes and strengths to the marriage. You need to use her strengths. Now, today, women's lib, women are trying to compete with men. They're trying to show, I'm just as good as he is.

I've got just as much ability as he has. And who said women never had? It's just a matter that God has created us for different functions. I can't have babies. I can help the process. But I can't have a baby. My wife had all of our children. God created us.

He designed us. Have certain functions, certain roles. And so you find that God has ordained that. A man brings certain strengths. Hopefully, when a man and a woman get married, her strengths and his strengths are not the same. That she brings strengths, maybe that he's weakened. Same with her. And so they both add these strengths, and they build on each other. And you don't always look at each other's weaknesses, but you build on each other's strengths. A woman should be preparing herself as she grows up, and parents should be thinking about, now when my daughter grows up and gets married, she's going to be a helper, she's going to be a wife.

I need to help her become that. Are you teaching your young girls how to clean house? How to decorate? About child rearing? About cooking? About decorating? To develop her skills, not just in the household, but her skills in many areas of life. So that when she gets married, she brings a wealth of talent, development, information into the marriage. The same thing is true, as I mentioned earlier, of the man. All of that should be there.

Now the basis of any relationship can be summarized by one word. And I think we all know what that word is. It is the word love. The relationship that God has with us is a God so loved the world. The Bible says God is love. This is His nature.

We are to grow and to have that same type of love, that same type of relationship. Ephesians 5 will finish here. Ephesians 5, verses 1 and 2, Therefore be imitators of God, as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ also has loved us, given Himself for us, and offering in a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

Does God look down and see how we sacrifice, we give within our marriages to our families, to our mate, and to realize that that, likewise, is a sweet-smelling aroma?

Then you go on over here to verse 28. It says, Husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies, and he who loves his wife loves himself. No one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, as the Lord does the church. God nourishes us. He takes care of us. He cherishes and looks after the church. So you'll find this is a type of what God is doing with us. The Bible says we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, all of our soul, all of our mind. We are to love our neighbors ourselves. We are supposed to love our neighbors ourselves. Should we not kick that up a little higher notch when it comes to love for our mate, and that we love them dearly with all of our heart, as much as we humanly can? Well, there is a love that God gives us that grows. When you first get married, you love your mate, but over a period of time of living together, going through tests and trials, having children, seeing those children grow up, everything that you do together, your relationship, it deepens and grows. And as the years go by, you learn to love one another. Well, brethren, that's what we need to concentrate on. So the foundation, or you might say the glue that is poured over everything I've talked about here today, is love. And that's what is going to motivate everything that we've mentioned. So God is very clear from the very beginning. He established marriage. He gave the basic principles governing marriage. Those principles are unchangeable. They're immutable. They've been there. And even though marriage is a natural union, it is a divine institution ordained by God.