All right, good morning, church family.
If you would open your Bibles to the book of Genesis chapter 2,
Genesis chapter 2, and this morning we're going to be in
verses 18 to 24. We've been going through Genesis
for several weeks now. We just started the series and
we've made it through chapter 1 and part of chapter 2.
And this morning we're going to look at Genesis chapter 218 to
24. So let me read the text.
I'll open this in a word of prayer, and then we'll jump into
the sermon this morning, Genesis chapter 2, beginning in verse
18. Then the Lord God said, It is
not good that the man should be alone, I will make a helper fit
for him. Now out of the ground the Lord
God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the
heavens, and brought them to the man to see what he would call
them. And whatever the man called
every living creature, that was its name.
The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of
the heavens, and to the every beast of the field.
But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him.
So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and
while he slept 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. Then the man said, This at last
is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.
She shall be called woman because she was taken out of
man. Therefore a man shall leave his
father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall
become one flesh. Would you pray with me, Father?
I pray this morning as we look at your word and as we ponder
the the statements by the Lord of how it is not good for man to
be alone. As we ponder what it means to be
a helper, as we ponder the mystery of marriage, as we
ponder what it means to to, to leave and cleave and, and all of
these deep, profound statements. God, would you help us to
understand this and to rightly apply it?
God, would you help me to explain the text thoroughly and
succinctly and to apply it in a way that is helpful and
beneficial to all of us. God, we we thank you for your
word. God, we are grateful that we
have instruction from your word. We pray this in Jesus name,
Amen. We have been looking at the
creation story the past several weeks.
Genesis 1 tells us of how God created everything in the
universe and Genesis 2 is kind of a zooming in of Genesis 1.
The narrator tells us they are that, that that God had made man
and he had placed him in the garden to work it and keep it.
And he gives the man every tree in the garden to eat from.
He says I've made all these trees that have food for you to
eat from except one, the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
God tells the man, he says if you eat of this tree you will
surely die. And that's where we left off
last week. We left right off there last
week. So we're going to pick right
back up where we left off last week.
I'm going to start with an exposition of the text where I
basically go through it verse by verse and try to explain it, to
give it meaning. And then at the end I'll give
application of the text for us from this.
So let's start looking at verse 18 a where the narrator says
then the Lord God said it is not good that the man should be
alone. This is such an interesting and
intriguing statement by the Lord.
Such an interesting, such an intriguing statement for at
least four reasons. Number one, for the first time
God said something was not good. In Genesis 14, God saw that the
light was good. Genesis 110 God saw that it was
good. 112 God saw that it was good. 118 God saw that it was
good. 121 God saw that it was good. 125 God saw that it was
good. 131 God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it
was very good. In chapter 2, verse 9, every
tree was good for food. Chapter 2, verse 12, the goal of
that land is good. And then we get to chapter 2,
verse 18, and for the first time in history, God said something
was not good. That's interesting.
Which raises #2 why is it not good for a man to be alone?
You may be wondering that you're like, I, I love being alone.
Why is it not good for a man to be alone?
The text doesn't tell us here, doesn't tell us.
God never. He doesn't say it's not good,
and here's why He just says it. It's not good.
Why is this? I'm going to give my best guess
here. I'm going to give my best guess.
So I'm not, I'm not speaking, you know, in some kind of
authoritative way when I say this, but this is my best
educated guess. God, by definition, is a
relational being. God, by definition is a
relational being. The Trinity has always existed.
God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.
The Trinity has always existed, and so relationships have always
existed. They've always existed because
we are made in the image of God. I take this to mean that we are
made as relational beings. That part of what it means to be
made in the image of God means to be made as a relational
being. And a relationship by definition
means to not be alone. Now we might say, but Adam
wasn't alone, he had God. Why did he say it wasn't good to
be alone? Adam was not alone, he had God.
Which leads to #3 God made man with specific needs so that God
could meet those needs. God made man with specific needs
so that God could meet those needs.
You ever ask the question of why does hunger exist?
Doesn't have to, right? Hunger is not a product of the
fall. It's not like, you know, Adam
wasn't hungry and then once sin came in the world, he got
hungry. Hunger.
Jesus was hungry. He was perfect.
Why does hunger exist? I think hunger exists.
God created this need so that he could meet that need.
He made needs so that he could meet them.
God created Adam with the need for human companionship.
Why? So that he could meet it.
He gave Adam this need so that he can meet that need #4 Last
thing I want to point out about the statement is that God saw
Adam's need, not Adam. God saw Adam's need, not Adam.
Notice Adam is not complaining to God.
Adam is not bored in the corner of the garden.
God saw Adam's knee before Adam even knew that he had a need.
Look at verse 18. BI will make a helper.
I will make him a helper fit for him.
I want to point out three aspects of the statement.
Make a helper fit for him. I want to point out three
aspects of this. Number one, God says I will
make. I will make Adam didn't find
this helper. Adam didn't create this helper.
God made this helper #2 helper. What does that mean?
What is what is helper mean here?
The Hebrew word is ezer. Ezer.
It's a cognate of the Hebrew word Ezra as that's where the
name Ezra comes from. Ezra's name means helper.
That's what it means. It's an assistant, one who
assist and serves another with what is needed #3 he says I'll
make a helper fit for him. Fit for him.
What does that mean? The Hebrew literally reads
according to the opposite of him.
That's how it reads in the Hebrew.
I will make him a helper according to the opposite of
him. What does that mean?
Translations vary here. Some translations have suitable
I'll make him a helper suitable for him, or matching I'll make a
helper that's matching him, or I'll make a helper that is
corresponding to him. God saw that Adam needed not
just to help her, he doesn't need just to help her, but that
he needed a helper that corresponded to him.
He needed a helper that matched him.
He needed a helper that was suitable for him.
Look at verse 19 to 20. Now out of the ground, the Lord
God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the
heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call
them. And whatever the man called
every living creature, that was its name.
Now what's interesting is that in chapter 1, God called the
light day, and He called the darkness night.
God called the expanse heaven. God called the dry land earth.
God called the waters seas. Up until this point everything
has been named by God. But now that man has been
created, God has entrusted his creation to this man.
And part of entrusting his creation to this man is
entrusting the naming of his creation to this man.
And so God's going to trust naming of these animals to Adam.
Notice God brings the animals to Adam.
He brings them to him. I love how this is worded.
God brought them to the man to see what he would call them.
I love that it's it's as if God is interested in Adam's
creativity. Let us see what names he will
come up with. There's a Christian comedian
many many years ago making a joke about this.
He says that when Adam first started, he was creative
hippopotamus and then 10 hours later, cow.
He finally got so tired he just started naming creatures by what
they were doing. Fly, right?
Whatever Adam called each creature, that was its name.
Keep in mind, naming is a form of exercising authority over As
parents, we name our children. They don't choose their own
name. I mean, maybe some parents let
kids choose their own name, but traditionally we, we, we, we
name our children. We give it to them as their
authority. Adam finishes naming all the
livestock, naming all the birds of heaven, naming all the beasts
of the field. There's only one problem.
There was not found to help or fit for him.
This is an interesting statement.
God said that it was not good for a man to be alone, but Adam
is not alone. He has all these animals with
him. He's got all kinds of animals
with him. So in what sense is Adam alone?
In this sense? There was not found a helper fit
for him. Animals can help us, right?
Horses give us transportation, very good help.
Oxen can help us plow the ground.
Dogs and cats can help us be happy.
But none of these animals wore a helper that was fit for Adam.
So God takes action. God is not done creating.
He made six days. He creates, He rests on the
Sabbath. But God is not done creating.
Look at verse 21 to 22. So the Lord God caused a deep
sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept 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.
Notice this phrase God caused. God caused and the Hebrew, the
verb there is in the hefeel tense.
That's the causative tense. I mean that God Adam didn't just
fall asleep, God caused him to fall asleep, which is why the
ESP translates it that way. God caused him to fall into a
deep sleep. What is that?
What is a deep sleep? The Hebrew word for deep sleep.
It only occurs 7 times in the Old Testament.
It's the same verb that's used in Genesis 1512.
If you remember as the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on
Abram. Or the most well known example,
remember First Samuel 2612 when David sneaks into Saul's camp
and he and he just marches all the way through the camp, goes
all the way up to Saul's head and they take the, the, his
spear and, and the, and the jar of water from his head.
And how did he do that? How did nobody wake up hearing
them coming to the camp? It says the Lord God had caused
a deep sleep to fall upon all of them.
This is kind of like spiritual anesthesia, if you will.
While Adam is sleeping. I love this.
God takes one of Adam's ribs. God performs surgery on Adam.
When I was growing up in the Deep South, they would teach in
church that men have one less rib than women because of this.
I asked my wife, she's like, yeah, we'll talk that too, That
that's not true. Men do not have one less rib.
But they would teach this in the South.
They would teach that men had the 1 less rib because of this.
The rib that God had taken from Adam, God made into a woman.
The Hebrew word for made here this is This is fascinating.
The Hebrew word for made here is literally built.
This word has not been used in Genesis yet.
It's the same word used of Cain building a city or Noah building
an ark or them building the Tower of Babel.
So when God made man, he worked with dust and with working with
clay. God is likened to a Potter.
The the Hebrew verb there is likened to a Potter, but with
working with flesh, God is likened to a builder.
God is a Potter with the man. He is a builder with the woman.
Now what did God build? What did he build?
He built a woman. What is that?
What is a woman? Is it interesting that thousands
of years later, we're still debating the answer to that
question? God made another human.
He made another human. She is like Adam in that she is
human and she is made in God's image, and she is unlike Adam in
that she is a woman and not a man.
And I want you to notice what it says here.
It says that God brought her to the man.
God brought her to the man. Adam didn't find her.
God brought her to him. It's as if God is presenting
this gift to Adam. God gives the best gifts.
Now 2 questions remain #1 why a rib?
You're like, why? Why not a leg, one out of foot,
one out of pancreas, right? Why?
Why a rib? Well, the Hebrew word is
literally side, and that's almost always its meaning.
I don't think rib is actually a good translation.
It may have not been a rib at all.
The NET Bible just doesn't translate.
The NET Bible translates, and he took part of the man's side.
I think that's probably the best translation.
He took part of the man's side. And #2 second question I had is
why did God make man out of the dust but made the woman out of
the man? Why did He do that?
If he can make a man out of the dust, then he can make a woman
out of the dust. But why does He choose to make
man out of the dust but make the woman out of the man?
Why did he do that? Verse 23 perhaps gives us a
clue. Look at verse 23.
Then the man said this at last is bone of my bones and flesh of
my flesh. She shall be called woman
because she was taken out of man.
These are the first recorded words of man.
The very first words that are recorded of human speaking.
These are them. Now I want to point out a few
things. In verse 19, God made all the
animals out of the ground. The text tells us that all these
animals were made out of the ground, and God brought all
these animals before Adam for two purposes.
He paraded the animals before him for two purposes #1 so that
he could name them. And #2 I think God is doing this
to show Adam that none of these animals are a suitable helper
for him. It's as if God wants Adam to see
this. He wants them to see all these
animals that I'm bringing before you.
None of them match you. None of them correspond to you.
But when God made woman, he didn't make her out of the
ground. He made the animals out of the
ground. But he didn't make this being
out of the ground. He made her out of the man.
It's as if God wanted Adam to see, look, look, I have made a
helper fit for you. I have made someone who is like
you. Now Adam immediately discerns
that this being standing before him, he immediately knows this
is not another animal. I have seen all these animals,
and this is not an animal. This being is different.
This is why Adam says this at last is bone of my bones and
flesh of my flesh. Look at how Adam begins his
statement. I love this.
He says this at last. You know that Etta James song at
last. That's that's, that's how I hear
this. You know, I would sing it for
you, but I can't say it's a great song.
Adam had spent hours, maybe days, maybe weeks, maybe months
naming all these animals. I mean, how long does it take to
name the animals? And at and at last, after all
this, at last there is finally a being that is like him.
Adam says she shall be called woman.
Now that is not her name. That is her classification.
That's her classification. The Hebrew word is Esha, Esha
because she was taken from man. Ish woman is Esha, man is Esh.
So he's saying that Esha was taken from Ish.
So he calls her Esha Woman. He calls her woman.
Now I know this is controversial, but remember he
calls her woman indicating his authority over her.
This is prior to the fall. So this authority is not a
result of the fall. It's a part of God's good
design. Now, one side note, one
commentator argues that the phrase bone of my bones and
flesh of my flesh, when he says that it's actually a covenant
formula and that it speaks not of common birth, but of a common
reciprocal loyalty. In other words, it's the same
meaning. It's if you remember in Second
Samuel 51, all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron,
and this is what they said to David.
David, behold, we are your bone and flesh.
In other words, what they're saying is, is that we are with
you as your own bone and flesh. We are with you till we die.
We are as one with you. So this commentary is suggesting
that what David, what Adam is saying here is that he's almost
taking a form of vows here. He's he's making a covenant with
this woman. I was thinking about this.
I was like, man, I wish I had made that in my vows when I got
married. I was like, you are bone of my
bones and flesh of my flesh. I think it's a good theory.
I don't know if it's true, but it's a good theory.
Look at verse 24, last verse. Therefore a man shall leave his
father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall
become one flesh. There is so much packed into
this one verse. I could preach the entire sermon
on it. I almost was tempted to do it,
but we'd be in Genesis forever. Let's break this down though,
phrase by phrase. First word.
Therefore, what does the therefore tell us?
This should probably be translated.
That is why I thought it's probably That is why I think
it's the narrator is basically saying that is why we do what we
do. In other words, you know, if you
ever wonder like why does marriage exist?
Like this is kind of an existential question that people
are asking today, right? Why do people get married?
And he's saying it. That is why that is why we do
this, this practice we have. That is why, that is why a man
shall leave. A man shall leave.
In Hebrew culture, almost all men were married by the time
they were 20 years old. So they would grow up in their
parents home living under their parents authority.
But once a man found a woman that he wanted to marry, he
would leave his mother and father.
No, interesting enough, not necessarily physically.
It was very common in the culture for them to continue
living with their mother and father, which means here that
leave must not mean just like physically.
It also meant it primarily meant to leave their authority that he
was under his parents authority. But once he got married, he was
now came out from under their authority and he became his own
authority. I think that's the idea here.
He would leave his mother and father.
This. That's interesting because if
you're Adam and Eve, you're like, what is a mother and
what's a father? This verse was clearly written
at a much later time. He would leave his mother and
father and hold fast. Hold fast.
What does that mean? This is the broad term.
It's translated 15 different ways.
It basically means to cling to something, use of glue even.
It means to cling to or to fasten oneself to.
It's frequently used of us holding fast to God.
And Deuteronomy says that that we should cling to God, hold
fast to God. What this tells us is that God
intended marriage to be far more than a financial arrangement,
far more than a sexual arrangement, far more than a
social arrangement. The husband is to cling.
Cling to what? Cling to his wife.
This is actually the same Hebrew word as woman.
Wife and woman of the same Hebrew word can also be
translated as wife. Here we get the earliest
introduction to God's institution of marriage.
He's a cling to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.
Now what does that mean? Paul says.
It's a profound mystery. I wanted to go into this in
Ephesians, but I was like, I'm going to steal my Thunder if I
preach on Ephesians one day, so I won't.
But this is a profound mystery. So what does it mean to be 1
flesh? Let me give a, a very imperfect
metaphor. One way to think of this as a
yoke. You may have seen a yoke before
you take two oxen. They make this kind of crossbars
A yoke and goes on to both animals.
And they do this that the animals are together.
They, they plow together in a straight line, right.
So even though there's two oxen, it's really one unit, it's 1
unit that's working. That's the idea.
It wouldn't make sense for one oxen to go this way and another
oxen to go this way. OK, How is that going to work?
That, that, that won't work. This yoke puts them together.
They are yoked together. They're they're inseparable.
That's the idea here. They are joined together.
When a man and a woman get married, they become one flesh
in the eyes of God. And we'll stop there with the
exposition application of the text application, I have 7
points of application for US. Seven points of application #1
whether we are married, dating or single, it is not good to be
alone. Whether we are married, dating
or single, it is not good to be alone.
Growing up, I was an extreme extrovert by capital E
Extrovert. I can remember spending the
night at my cousin's house and I loved every minute of it.
When it was time to leave, I would be depressed for most of
my life. I always wanted to be around my
friends. That was just most of my life.
But as I got into adulthood, as I got married, as I had four
kids, and as I had a church family with ministry, I have
really come to treasure my alone time.
I imagine we have some in this room who love to be around
people. If you had a choice, you would
always choose to have someone else around.
And I imagine we have some in this room who genuinely enjoy
being alone. Being around other people may
even be very draining for you. One thing I am realizing is that
year after year, especially after COVID, more and more
people fall into the latter camp than the first.
More and more people. Technology has made it so that
we can be alone and like it, hasn't it?
But it is not good to be alone. It wasn't that Adam was an
extrovert and he asked God, God, can I have a friend?
God, I'm kind of bored here in the garden Guy, could you, could
you make me a friend? God made a declaration.
God said it is not good for a man to be alone.
Now often people take this to me, that it is not good for man
to be single or it's not good for a woman to be single.
That's not the case at all. That is not what this is
teaching. God's Son was not married, the
apostle Paul was not married, and both of them said it was
better to be single than to be married.
This statement is not so much addressing the need for marriage
as it is addressing the need for community.
People often point to the fact that Jesus needed alone time.
That's true. But even in his isolation, he
was with his father. He spent his alone time with his
father. Church, family, you need
community. We all do.
We may enjoy, we may enjoy being alone, but it is not good to be
alone. We need community #2 God saw
Adam's need and God did something about it.
God saw Adam's need and God did something about it.
Our biggest extrovert in the family, Lauren, actually might
pass him up, but I'm not sure. Our biggest extrovert in the
family is Ezra by far. The other day his three older
brothers were all gone at basketball practice.
It was the first time in his life that his three older
brothers were gone at basketball and he was at home by himself.
First time in his whole life that his three older brothers
were gone. He was home by himself.
He was so bored. He looked like his girlfriend
had broken up with him. I could see it on his face.
I could feel it in his soul. As a father.
I, I tried to go befriend him, but I realize I'm like, oh man,
you're getting to that stage where like dad's not friends
anymore. Like, like you want like peer
friendship. When God saw that it wasn't good
for man to be alone, it wasn't because God looked down and saw
that Adam was bored. He he didn't look down and and
see, oh man, he's bored. One thing I thought Adam files
no complaint with the Lord. Adam's not sitting in the corner
of the garden twiddling his thumbs because he has no one to
talk to. In fact, one has to even wonder,
did Adam even see his own need for a companion?
But it didn't matter. Why?
Because God saw his need. God saw Adam's need for a
companion, for a friend, for a helper.
And God did something about it. Brothers and sisters, God sees
your need. God sees your need.
In fact, he sees your need even when you don't see it yourself,
when you don't even know that it exists.
And he will do something about it.
We were at the park the other day.
You know, the weather's been great here lately.
We were at the park the other day going for a walk, and there
were these kids playing kickball.
And as these kids are playing kickball, there was this mom who
was asking them, hey, does anybody need lemonade?
Does anybody want a popsicle? And I was telling Lauren I was
like, moms are fascinating to me.
They're they're always asking, can they need a need a dads?
I mean, we're just oblivious. I don't think I've ever asked my
kid, Hey, guys, you don't need any lemonade.
You don't need a popsicle. God is a Father, but He is the
type of Father who not only sees our needs, he meets those needs.
You may have a need for encouragement or affirmation or
community or direction or peace or rest.
You may not even see that you have this need, but God does.
God sees, just as God saw Adam's need and he did something about
it. Brothers and sisters, God sees
your need and he will do something about it #3 it is a
privilege to be a helper. It is a privilege to be a
helper. When God saw that it was not
good for Adam to be alone. How did God meet this need?
God saw that Adam was alone. He had this need.
How did God meet this need? He didn't say to him, I will
make you a friend. He didn't say I will make a
woman. He didn't say I will make a
wife. He said I will make a helper.
A helper. Now, there are some that
absolutely despise this term. They feel it's degrading.
You might despise this term. Feminism has so infiltrated our
society and our culture, even the modern church, that the idea
of calling women or wives helpers is considered toxic.
But let me remind us all that this Hebrew word, Ezzer, helper,
that Hebrew word ezzer, it's used 17 times in the Old
Testament. Did you know that nine of the 17
times it is used of God, nine of the 17 times it's used of God.
Psalm 121, one to two. I lift my eyes to the hell
hills. Where does my ezzer, my help
come from? My ezzer, my help comes from the
Lord. God is willing to be called our
helper, and so for us in Christ. May we never think this term is
beneath us. It is a privilege to be a
helper. We are like God when we are a
helper #4 God was mindful of Adam's specific need, and God
met that specific need. God was mindful of Adam's
specific need, and God met that specific need.
You ever had somebody who wanted to help and they did help, but
their help was really not that helpful?
You ever had that happen? Sometimes people try to help
with words, right? You share about like a hard
trial in your life and they say, well, at least you have your
health. You know, like, thanks, that
wasn't helpful. Sometimes people give you
unsolicited advice. You ever just been venting and
then somebody gives you like a 10 step plan to fix your problem
and you're like, thank you. I wasn't looking for that, but
thank you. Sometimes we take our
preferences and we place them on others in an attempt to be
helpful the way that we we we try to take our preferences and
put them on others. I will try to clean up Lauren's
messes. She doesn't find it helpful and
her mind, it's not a mess. It's like it's where I wanted to
be and I'm like, I was, I was trying to help.
See, I find it helpful. Sometimes you ask someone a
simple question. You ever ask a simple question
and someone gives you a seminar. Sometimes someone helps you with
the project. But at the end you realize, I
could have done this faster by myself.
God didn't just see Adam's need. God saw Adam's specific need.
Adam didn't just need a helper. He didn't need just a helper.
God could have given him an ox or a donkey.
If all he needed was a helper, they could The ox and the donkey
could help him work and keep this garden.
But God saw that Adam needed a specific type of helper, a
helper that was fit for him, that corresponded to him.
God never gives us unhelpful help.
Ever. He's not only sees our need, he
sees our very specific need. And he meets that need.
Psalm 139 says that God is acquainted with all our ways,
which means He's also acquainted with all of our specific needs.
And He meets those specific needs #5 neither animals nor AI
are suitable helpers for us. We need people.
Neither animals nor AI are suitable helpers for us.
We need people. I see two very dangerous trends
going on in our society. 1 revolves around pets, the other
revolves around AI. According to a 2024 Harris Poll,
roughly 43% of Americans with higher concentrations among Gen.
Z and millennials stated they would prefer to have a pet as
their child rather than a human. 143% That's concerning.
That's concerning. This is not just true with
children, it's even true with dating and marriage.
There are some people who will choose not to get married, or
not to date, or perhaps not even to build solid friendships in
their life. Why?
Because they have a dog or a cat that meets those needs.
That's concerning. What's interesting to me is that
God brought all the animals before Adam and there was not
found a helper fit for him. No animal couldn't meet Adam's
need. And yes, I'm not if you, if you
love dogs and cats or birds or I'm not hating on it, OK, I'm
just saying they're not a helper for you and the way that God
designs to have a helper for you.
And the helper doesn't have to be a mate.
It could be the church. No, not everybody's an animal
lover. You're like, don't worry about
me. I'm I'm not an animal lover.
Never going to own an animal, never going to have a pet.
Also, another dangerous trend going on our society in a
completely different category and that is AI.
There is a growing phenomenon where people are finding helpers
in AI. Some of them develop
relationships with AI. The dangers are real.
AI can create echo chambers, right?
And curate this to tell you what you want to hear.
Does AI ever tell you what you don't want to hear?
There can be an atrophy of compassion.
You don't ever have to show compassion to AI.
And then you can that that muscle of compassion can
atrophy. And when you get to humans, you
don't have it. There's monetized loneliness.
You realize that AI benefits from our loneliness.
It's incentivized. There's also a power nature.
I get to be the boss. I get to be the king of this,
this robot. I can even tell it what I wanted
to say. I can tell it like, hey, when
you respond to me, like, like, call me this.
Call me king. It will.
It'll call you king the rest of your life.
There's a power nature there. In the same way that people
exchanged idols for God, people today are exchanging animals and
technology for people. Friends, God designed us for
human interaction. We will always have this need.
We will never outgrow this need. We will always need people.
We will always need human interaction number six.
In one verse God dismantles same sex marriage, polygamy, divorce,
transgender, and sexual immorality.
In one verse God dismantles same sex marriage, polygamy, divorce,
transgender and sexual immorality.
Genesis 224 is one of the most important verses in the Bible.
It's quoted by Jesus for this reason.
In this one verse God dismantles 5 sinful practices.
Today let's take this one at a time.
Same sex marriage. God says therefore a man shall
leave his father and mother and hold fast to what?
His wife, not his husband, but his wife.
A wife is not holding fast to her wife.
She holds fast to her husband. In addition, he leaves what?
He leaves his mother and father. He does not leave his father's,
he does not leave his mother's. He leaves his father and mother.
B Polygamy. The statement that I have given
before about this topic is this. Polygamy was a practice that God
allowed as a concession in the Old Testament due to man's
weakness, but was not part of his original design and it
always had consequences. God's original design was not
polygamy. God's original design was
monogamy. We see it right here.
Notice a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast
to what? His wife singular, not wives
wife singular. See divorce.
The Pharisees one day came to Jesus to test him.
They asked him, they said, teacher, is it lawful to divorce
one's wife for any cause? And the way that Jesus answers
this question is to quote Genesis 224.
He concludes with this statement.
So they are no longer 2, but one flesh.
What? Therefore God has joined
together, let not man separate D transgender.
In Matthew 19, right before Jesus quoted Genesis 224, Jesus
said this. Have you not read that He who
created them from the beginning made them male and female?
Now that's an interesting statement, isn't it?
Because that's not what it says. It doesn't say that He made them
male and female. It says He made them man and
woman. There's a different Hebrew word
for male and female. In other words, Jesus is saying
a man is a male and a woman is a female.
Further, He doesn't say he assigned them male and female,
doesn't say he assigned them male.
He says he made them male and female.
He created them male and female. Gender is not assigned, it is
created and made by God. Last 1 E Sexual immorality In
Corinth, members of the church are engaging in temple
prostitution, and Paul says to them, Do you not know that your
bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of
Christ and make them members of a prostitute?
Never. Or do you not know that one who
was joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her?
For as it is written here, it is the 2 will become one flesh.
Paul's point in there is that one flesh should only exist in
the confines of marriage. That idea one flesh, it should
not exist outside of marriage. It only should exist in the
confines of marriage. And so in this one verse, don't
ever say that the word of God, that one verse is not powerful
and cannot teach us one verse. God dismantles same sex
marriage, polygamy, divorce, transgender, and sexual
immorality. All of it is there if we have
eyes to see. Last point #7 A prudent wife or
husband is from the Lord. A prudent wife or husband is
from the Lord. Then let me start off by
affirming that even though this passage seems to suggest that
marriage is God's design for his people, you read this and it
seems to suggest that God's design for us is to be married.
Both Jesus and Paul affirm that singleness is better.
When the disciples came to Jesus and they said Jesus, it is
better not to marry. Jesus didn't say to them, no,
no, no, no. He said not everyone can receive
it, only those to whom it is given.
In other words, he, he, he, he affirms it is better.
Paul said he who refrains from marriage will do even better.
First Corinthians 738 So this is not teaching that God's design
is for everyone to be married. And if you're not married like
something's wrong or or you're not living in God's will, no.
But that being said, these verses are not intended to
diminish the beauty of marriage when God made this helper.
I love how this is worded. The text says he brought her to
the man. He brought her to the man.
It's as if God is presenting a gift to Adam.
Proverbs 1914 says house and wealth are inherited from
fathers, but a prudent wife is from the Lord.
And of course this is also true of husbands.
We have around 11 married couples in our church who
regularly attend around 11. Let me take the time to ask
everyone of you and if you're visiting with us, if you're
married as well, if you're, if you're dating and, and, and
you're going to get married one day or if you're engaged and
you're going to be married one day.
Let me take the time to ask you a very direct question.
Do you see your spouse as a gift from the Lord?
Because they are. Do you see your spouse as a gift
from God? Because they are.
Let's pray.