1 00:00:04,600 --> 00:00:06,040 It's good to be with you guys today. 2 00:00:06,040 --> 00:00:07,920 My name is Kyle. I serve as lead Pastor. 3 00:00:07,920 --> 00:00:10,480 So if you're visiting with us today, thank you for being here. 4 00:00:10,920 --> 00:00:12,680 I'm glad that you've chosen to worship with us. 5 00:00:12,680 --> 00:00:16,960 Today we are continuing a series called Happy the Home, which is 6 00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:21,080 exploring God's design for families that titles taken from 7 00:00:21,080 --> 00:00:25,280 an old hymn called Happy the Home When God Is There. 8 00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:28,430 And so that's the, that's the intent, right. 9 00:00:28,430 --> 00:00:32,229 We want to, we want to establish homes where God is present. 10 00:00:32,229 --> 00:00:34,310 And so if you have your body, you can turn to Genesis Chapter 11 00:00:34,310 --> 00:00:37,830 2, Genesis Chapter 2. We're just kind of we've been 12 00:00:37,830 --> 00:00:41,190 following the storyline of creation. 13 00:00:41,390 --> 00:00:44,110 And so we're going to continue with that today as your turn 14 00:00:44,110 --> 00:00:47,190 there, I want to give you a brief updates on Winnie Kate's 15 00:00:47,190 --> 00:00:50,030 kids. So Winnie Kate's kids was 16 00:00:50,110 --> 00:00:54,390 founded in honor of Mina Patricia's daughter who passed 17 00:00:55,100 --> 00:01:02,780 last September, so a year ago. And it was founded with the the 18 00:01:02,780 --> 00:01:06,580 gifts that were given in her memory to disciple the nations. 19 00:01:06,620 --> 00:01:11,660 And so with those initial gifts which were somewhere around 22 20 00:01:11,660 --> 00:01:12,500 grand. Is that right? 21 00:01:12,500 --> 00:01:15,940 If I remember right. OK we. 22 00:01:16,540 --> 00:01:20,620 Well, Dustin, for the from the disciple, the nations, there's 23 00:01:20,620 --> 00:01:23,910 pastors that we've that disciple nations has been training in 24 00:01:23,910 --> 00:01:26,110 Malawi. Dustin's been getting with them 25 00:01:26,110 --> 00:01:28,630 and other missionaries have been helping train these pastors in 26 00:01:28,630 --> 00:01:33,310 Malawi for, gosh, about three years now. 27 00:01:33,310 --> 00:01:36,550 I guess it's been a while and I've had a chance to sit in on 28 00:01:36,550 --> 00:01:40,030 those a couple times. Anyway, these pastors have 29 00:01:40,030 --> 00:01:42,790 daughters who needed to be able to go to secondary school, 30 00:01:42,790 --> 00:01:45,790 secondary schools, essentially junior high, high school. 31 00:01:45,990 --> 00:01:49,580 But you have to pay for it. It's, it's really a privilege 32 00:01:49,620 --> 00:01:51,020 and Malawi to be able to do this. 33 00:01:51,020 --> 00:01:54,540 It's not granted to children like it is here to just be able 34 00:01:54,540 --> 00:01:56,660 to go to school. And so it had to be paid for. 35 00:01:56,660 --> 00:02:00,460 And so with that initial money, we were able to cover the cost 36 00:02:00,460 --> 00:02:04,980 for these four daughters of these different pastors that are 37 00:02:04,980 --> 00:02:08,259 being trained to go for their first semester. 38 00:02:08,940 --> 00:02:14,540 And so quickly we were able to then commit to helping the girls 39 00:02:14,540 --> 00:02:18,390 finish school because of all the funds that had come in. 40 00:02:18,390 --> 00:02:23,750 And so one of the girls just finished, I forget what it's 41 00:02:23,750 --> 00:02:27,830 called, it's, it's the end of secondary school, but it's the 42 00:02:27,830 --> 00:02:31,190 final installment of that, the final semester of that. 43 00:02:31,790 --> 00:02:34,590 And so she's looking at being able to go to university, which 44 00:02:34,590 --> 00:02:39,510 is just another great help, especially to women in this 45 00:02:39,510 --> 00:02:42,340 culture. And so, so we're looking at 46 00:02:42,500 --> 00:02:45,100 being able to pay for that, which I think the Lord has 47 00:02:45,100 --> 00:02:46,900 provided the funds to be able to do that. 48 00:02:47,740 --> 00:02:51,300 And so praise the Lord that will be able to do that, I believe. 49 00:02:51,300 --> 00:02:55,820 But also I want to make you aware that there was a cholera 50 00:02:55,820 --> 00:03:01,980 outbreak recently in which one of the pastors, his niece, lost 51 00:03:01,980 --> 00:03:06,180 both her parents to cholera. So she is now in his home and 52 00:03:06,180 --> 00:03:09,960 living with them and he was asking on Thursday if it would 53 00:03:09,960 --> 00:03:13,080 be possible for Winnie Kates kids to help send her to 54 00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:15,320 secondary school. And I just need you guys to say 55 00:03:15,320 --> 00:03:17,280 yes or no to that. Yes. 56 00:03:17,400 --> 00:03:21,120 All right. So we're excited to be able to 57 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:23,840 help with that. But there's another issue as 58 00:03:23,840 --> 00:03:26,280 well. Malawi was hit with a cyclone 59 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:30,560 earlier this year. DTN had come alongside these 60 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:34,640 fasters and had helped provide resources to plant crops. 61 00:03:34,640 --> 00:03:38,150 Crops they they plant normally, but to to be able to help in a 62 00:03:38,150 --> 00:03:40,470 way that could get them ahead to where they could have bumper 63 00:03:40,470 --> 00:03:42,910 crops, crops that they could then sell and make some funds 64 00:03:42,910 --> 00:03:46,670 off of and they were about two weeks away from them to harvest 65 00:03:46,670 --> 00:03:50,030 those crops when the cyclone hit and wiped out everything and 66 00:03:51,750 --> 00:03:53,670 it's been a really devastating time. 67 00:03:53,670 --> 00:03:56,510 And so each of these pastors have orphanages within their 68 00:03:56,510 --> 00:03:58,470 churches where they're taking care of children. 69 00:03:59,030 --> 00:04:02,950 And so the the food they're raising and preparing and 70 00:04:03,430 --> 00:04:07,430 growing and harvesting is also used to help take care of people 71 00:04:07,430 --> 00:04:09,430 in the church, help take care of children. 72 00:04:09,990 --> 00:04:14,110 And so that Winnie Kate's kids is also going to come alongside 73 00:04:14,110 --> 00:04:16,829 and just help provide food as well. 74 00:04:16,950 --> 00:04:22,950 Now you can feed each of these pastors and their churches for 75 00:04:22,950 --> 00:04:27,790 about two weeks on about $100 per pastor, I think, if I'm 76 00:04:27,790 --> 00:04:29,630 remembering the the numbers correctly. 77 00:04:30,750 --> 00:04:35,670 So really cheap. But Duncan, the kind of the lead 78 00:04:36,030 --> 00:04:38,750 guy here, the guy that that all of this has been operating 79 00:04:38,750 --> 00:04:40,870 through over the last three years and he's been getting 80 00:04:40,870 --> 00:04:45,470 these other pastors to come together and he is working on 81 00:04:45,470 --> 00:04:47,990 preparing crops currently. Right. 82 00:04:47,990 --> 00:04:49,510 But you can't. It's not like going to the 83 00:04:49,510 --> 00:04:51,790 grocery store where you prepare a crop and then it's, you know, 84 00:04:51,790 --> 00:04:54,590 the next morning you can pick it, you can harvest. 85 00:04:54,590 --> 00:04:56,470 So he's having to wait. But. 86 00:04:56,790 --> 00:04:58,990 So I'm just asking you to pray. Pray for Malawi. 87 00:04:59,460 --> 00:05:01,220 Pray for these pastors there in Malawi. 88 00:05:01,220 --> 00:05:03,700 Pray for the people under their care. 89 00:05:03,700 --> 00:05:05,820 Pray that when he gets kids disciple, the nations will be 90 00:05:05,820 --> 00:05:09,020 able to provide funds. If you're interested in being 91 00:05:09,020 --> 00:05:11,740 able to help with that, you can go to either disciple 92 00:05:11,740 --> 00:05:16,020 thenations.org or Winnie Kates kids.org and give through those 93 00:05:16,100 --> 00:05:18,580 those links there to help do those things. 94 00:05:18,620 --> 00:05:22,220 But so I'm coming to you with pray request updates, but also 95 00:05:22,220 --> 00:05:26,250 just the ability to praise the Lord that Winnie Kate's kids is 96 00:05:26,250 --> 00:05:28,130 already in a place to be able to help. 97 00:05:28,130 --> 00:05:31,850 And that's in large part due to the faithful giving of you all 98 00:05:32,450 --> 00:05:34,850 just through our church. And that's not counting whatever 99 00:05:34,850 --> 00:05:39,690 you give outside of it running through the church accounts. 100 00:05:40,570 --> 00:05:44,770 But you've given a little over $22,000 just this year to Winnie 101 00:05:44,770 --> 00:05:46,250 Kate's kids. Winnie Kate's kids? 102 00:05:46,570 --> 00:05:54,120 Yeah, praise the Lloyd praise from the end and the account for 103 00:05:54,120 --> 00:05:57,080 Winnie Kate's kids, which has done a lot already in a year's 104 00:05:57,080 --> 00:06:03,000 time, less than a year's time it was founded in October, but in a 105 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:06,800 year's time, there's $47,000 sitting in that account 106 00:06:06,840 --> 00:06:09,960 currently, which is incredible what the Lord's done. 107 00:06:09,960 --> 00:06:14,280 And that's that's really without, I mean, very much 108 00:06:14,280 --> 00:06:17,720 effort at all on our end. And so there's much to do. 109 00:06:18,280 --> 00:06:21,560 There's requests from missionaries through DTN 110 00:06:22,420 --> 00:06:25,380 currently. There's ways we can can help in 111 00:06:25,380 --> 00:06:29,460 other parts of the world as well and and also locally we're 112 00:06:29,460 --> 00:06:32,820 examining things as well. So please continue to pray for 113 00:06:32,820 --> 00:06:35,140 Winnie Kate's kids. I thank you for your continued 114 00:06:35,140 --> 00:06:39,340 support of it, that your love for our family, your love for 115 00:06:39,340 --> 00:06:42,020 Winnie, your love for the Lord and and helping take care of 116 00:06:42,020 --> 00:06:43,820 those things. If you've stumbled into this 117 00:06:43,820 --> 00:06:45,700 today, you're like what in the world is he talking about? 118 00:06:45,700 --> 00:06:48,140 You can go to those links as well and learn more. 119 00:06:49,020 --> 00:06:51,240 So anyway, let's get into the sermon. 120 00:06:51,240 --> 00:06:54,400 Now, surely you've had enough time to find Genesis 2 at this 121 00:06:54,400 --> 00:06:56,440 point, right? So you're like, no, I got 122 00:06:56,440 --> 00:06:58,720 distracted. So Genesis 2, we'll be in verse 123 00:06:58,720 --> 00:07:02,520 21 here in just a moment. But just want to recap a little 124 00:07:02,520 --> 00:07:04,080 bit what we've done the last few weeks. 125 00:07:04,400 --> 00:07:07,240 So in week one, we looked at how God created this male and female 126 00:07:07,240 --> 00:07:10,520 for his own glory, all right, He he created us male and female, 127 00:07:10,520 --> 00:07:12,880 that we might bear his image on the earth. 128 00:07:12,880 --> 00:07:15,960 He created us in his image and his likeness for his glory, male 129 00:07:15,960 --> 00:07:18,820 and female. And so we talked just just a 130 00:07:18,820 --> 00:07:22,780 high view of creation there. What does it mean that God 131 00:07:22,780 --> 00:07:25,220 created us, male and female? We just looked at a few of those 132 00:07:25,220 --> 00:07:28,060 things, But largely we were just saying mankind is the crown 133 00:07:28,060 --> 00:07:31,060 jewel of creation, and it's meant to bring God the utmost 134 00:07:31,060 --> 00:07:32,140 glory. All right. 135 00:07:32,500 --> 00:07:36,900 And so we looked at those things and then, excuse me, as we got 136 00:07:36,900 --> 00:07:38,780 into chapter 2, that was from chapter one. 137 00:07:38,780 --> 00:07:41,140 As we got into chapter two, we looked specifically at how God 138 00:07:41,140 --> 00:07:44,060 created man. I created him from the dust of 139 00:07:44,060 --> 00:07:45,780 the ground. He placed him in the Garden of 140 00:07:45,780 --> 00:07:48,530 Eden and instructed him to work it and keep it. 141 00:07:48,530 --> 00:07:51,930 And so we said that God created the man to bear his image by 142 00:07:51,930 --> 00:07:54,410 working and keeping all that God grants to him. 143 00:07:55,010 --> 00:07:57,690 And then we looked at last week the creation of woman and her 144 00:07:57,690 --> 00:08:00,650 purpose. And we saw there that God looked 145 00:08:00,650 --> 00:08:02,730 at Adam and said it's not good for the man to be alone. 146 00:08:02,730 --> 00:08:05,130 I'm going to create a helper fit for him. 147 00:08:05,130 --> 00:08:07,690 Or as the King James says, that a help meets right is maybe the 148 00:08:07,690 --> 00:08:09,770 word you've heard through the years. 149 00:08:10,610 --> 00:08:13,650 And so God created a helper fit for Adam. 150 00:08:13,650 --> 00:08:18,450 Now this helper was to bear the image of God by nourishing and 151 00:08:18,450 --> 00:08:22,170 cherishing all that God grants to her. 152 00:08:22,410 --> 00:08:28,970 And so we see more today or in the sermon today, we're going to 153 00:08:28,970 --> 00:08:32,530 see more about how the man and the woman come together under 154 00:08:33,650 --> 00:08:37,929 this covenant of marriage. It's an institution, A prefall 155 00:08:39,610 --> 00:08:42,130 institution in command from the Lord. 156 00:08:44,260 --> 00:08:46,980 And the only other one we have is to keep the Sabbath to rest, 157 00:08:46,980 --> 00:08:48,580 right? We have that one instituted as 158 00:08:48,580 --> 00:08:51,180 well. And so you might say that the 159 00:08:51,180 --> 00:08:54,820 Sabbath was given to us for the preservation of the church, that 160 00:08:54,820 --> 00:08:58,620 we would worship God on the Sabbath, that we would seek the 161 00:08:58,620 --> 00:09:02,860 Lord on the Sabbath, that we would spend our day praising God 162 00:09:02,860 --> 00:09:04,860 on the Sabbath. It would be a break from work 163 00:09:04,860 --> 00:09:06,380 and a time to come together with God's people. 164 00:09:06,380 --> 00:09:07,980 So it's for the preservation of the church. 165 00:09:09,380 --> 00:09:12,960 Marriage is instituted for the The way I want to word it for 166 00:09:12,960 --> 00:09:17,320 you today is this is a God created marriage for the godly 167 00:09:17,320 --> 00:09:21,400 progression of the man and the woman and the godly preservation 168 00:09:21,400 --> 00:09:25,720 of societies. Marriage is instituted for the 169 00:09:25,720 --> 00:09:28,680 help, the maturation, the growth of the man and the woman. 170 00:09:29,480 --> 00:09:33,360 But it's also instituted for the preservation of societies. 171 00:09:34,200 --> 00:09:36,920 It's, you know, God created the man and the woman, then he gave 172 00:09:36,920 --> 00:09:38,760 them a command. He blessed them and said be 173 00:09:38,760 --> 00:09:43,770 fruitful and multiply, right, subdue the earth, exercise 174 00:09:43,770 --> 00:09:45,770 dominion. So it was for the the 175 00:09:45,770 --> 00:09:50,130 preservation of societies. But I think what we'll see too, 176 00:09:50,210 --> 00:09:54,210 especially as the series goes on, you'll see that God intends 177 00:09:54,210 --> 00:09:58,210 for marriage to be one of the great sanctifying efforts of the 178 00:09:58,210 --> 00:10:01,250 Spirit in your life. And all the husbands and wives 179 00:10:01,250 --> 00:10:04,650 said Amen, right? Because it is. 180 00:10:06,050 --> 00:10:08,010 And sometimes that's in heartache, Sometimes that's in 181 00:10:08,010 --> 00:10:11,500 hardship, Sometimes that's in difficulty or strife among the 182 00:10:11,500 --> 00:10:16,260 man and the woman. But in most cases it's through 183 00:10:16,260 --> 00:10:19,820 the help of one another. And so they're coming alongside, 184 00:10:20,380 --> 00:10:24,860 being near to each other, the man working and keeping the 185 00:10:24,860 --> 00:10:28,020 woman nourishing and cherishing, and all of that together, being 186 00:10:28,020 --> 00:10:30,140 fruitful and multiplying. Amen. 187 00:10:31,620 --> 00:10:36,740 So God created marriage for the godly progression of the man and 188 00:10:36,740 --> 00:10:39,740 woman and the godly preservation of society. 189 00:10:43,450 --> 00:10:46,130 Would you stand to your feet? I'm going to read Genesis 221 190 00:10:46,130 --> 00:10:48,850 through 25. We're going to stand in honor of 191 00:10:48,850 --> 00:10:50,970 the reading of God's Word. When I'm finished, I'll say this 192 00:10:50,970 --> 00:10:55,010 is the word of the Lord and you will reply, thanks be to God, 193 00:10:55,650 --> 00:10:58,450 let's read. So the Lord God caused the deep 194 00:10:58,450 --> 00:11:04,770 sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept he took one of 195 00:11:04,770 --> 00:11:07,090 his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 196 00:11:07,790 --> 00:11:10,470 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man, he made 197 00:11:10,470 --> 00:11:12,910 into a woman, and brought her to the man. 198 00:11:13,870 --> 00:11:19,630 Then the man said, this at last, is bone of my bones, and flesh 199 00:11:19,630 --> 00:11:22,550 of my flesh. She shall be called woman, 200 00:11:22,550 --> 00:11:24,630 because she was taken out of man. 201 00:11:25,910 --> 00:11:28,790 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother, and hold 202 00:11:28,790 --> 00:11:32,110 fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 203 00:11:32,630 --> 00:11:35,510 And the man and the I'm sorry. And the man and his wife were 204 00:11:35,510 --> 00:11:39,870 both naked and were not ashamed. This is the word of the Lord. 205 00:11:40,510 --> 00:11:43,430 Thanks be to God, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you 206 00:11:43,430 --> 00:11:45,470 for your word. We ask, Lord, that you would 207 00:11:45,470 --> 00:11:47,790 help us to hear it, to believe it. 208 00:11:49,470 --> 00:11:53,110 Lord, help us today to have hearts that are quick to obey 209 00:11:53,110 --> 00:11:59,150 you, that are quick to repent of our sins and eager Lord, to 210 00:11:59,150 --> 00:12:02,870 abide in Christ. This morning, Lord, we thank you 211 00:12:02,870 --> 00:12:07,010 that your word does not go out and return void, but that it 212 00:12:07,010 --> 00:12:08,930 goes out, and it bears much fruits. 213 00:12:08,930 --> 00:12:12,730 And so we ask that you would prepare our hearts by your 214 00:12:12,730 --> 00:12:17,210 spirits to be good soil, that the Lord, that the word of the 215 00:12:17,210 --> 00:12:20,930 Lord would land on our heart today, and that it would bear 216 00:12:20,930 --> 00:12:26,410 fruit. Fruit that multiplies. 217 00:12:27,690 --> 00:12:30,010 Lord, we thank you for the institution of marriage. 218 00:12:30,930 --> 00:12:35,240 We thank you, Lord, that despite any efforts by man to destroy 219 00:12:35,240 --> 00:12:42,440 it, it will last, it will stand, and it will prove always to be 220 00:12:42,440 --> 00:12:46,640 the God ordained way for societies to flourish. 221 00:12:48,520 --> 00:12:50,760 We love you in Christ and we pray. 222 00:12:51,040 --> 00:12:52,920 Amen. Amen. 223 00:12:53,280 --> 00:12:58,560 You can be seated. I'm struggling with some 224 00:12:58,760 --> 00:13:05,160 drainage this morning. All right, so over the last 50 225 00:13:05,160 --> 00:13:14,520 years, the marriage rate in the US has dropped nearly 60%, is 226 00:13:14,520 --> 00:13:18,440 nearly 60%. Less adults are getting married 227 00:13:18,440 --> 00:13:23,360 now than they were 50 years ago. This is a problem. 228 00:13:26,560 --> 00:13:30,800 There was another staggering thing I saw as well that the 229 00:13:30,800 --> 00:13:34,550 number of women. Women entering their first 230 00:13:34,550 --> 00:13:39,710 marriage between the ages of 40 to 59, first marriage after 40, 231 00:13:40,430 --> 00:13:47,270 has jumped 75% since 1990. And before you read that or hear 232 00:13:47,270 --> 00:13:49,790 that rather as an indictment on women, I think it's an 233 00:13:49,790 --> 00:13:57,670 indictment on men, most, one secular sociologist quipped. 234 00:13:58,360 --> 00:14:01,240 It used to be a basic institution, he says, that 235 00:14:01,240 --> 00:14:03,960 everyone had to buy into an early adulthood talking about 236 00:14:03,960 --> 00:14:06,040 marriage. You got married, then you moved 237 00:14:06,040 --> 00:14:07,760 in together and then you got a job. 238 00:14:08,320 --> 00:14:11,880 Marriage is now becoming the last step into adulthood, the 239 00:14:11,880 --> 00:14:17,600 last step into adulthood. Well, if you ask that 240 00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:20,960 sociologist, what's the blame, he said that it's due to a 241 00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:26,340 reduction in tax benefits and there's some other legal 242 00:14:26,340 --> 00:14:30,660 structures he mentioned, but ultimately it's about the laws 243 00:14:30,660 --> 00:14:33,060 of the land. That's why there's a reduction 244 00:14:33,060 --> 00:14:37,460 in marriage. He also mentioned that the 245 00:14:37,460 --> 00:14:40,940 societal pressure to get married is eroding. 246 00:14:41,220 --> 00:14:48,140 I agree with that. I will say that about what he 247 00:14:48,140 --> 00:14:51,460 said, that this is like diagnosing and treating a brain 248 00:14:51,460 --> 00:14:56,570 tumor is simply a headache. It's it's really all he's doing 249 00:14:56,570 --> 00:14:59,890 is looking at the fruit of what, which is typically what 250 00:14:59,890 --> 00:15:02,210 sociologists do. They're just looking at the 251 00:15:02,210 --> 00:15:06,290 study of humanity and what's come from it. 252 00:15:06,450 --> 00:15:10,050 What what can we observe about it without really diagnosing the 253 00:15:10,050 --> 00:15:12,650 issues or the problems. They leave that up to 254 00:15:13,050 --> 00:15:16,570 psychologist, which is another problem. 255 00:15:16,770 --> 00:15:20,250 But this is not a sermon about those things. 256 00:15:20,250 --> 00:15:27,110 So but the issue is, is that this is like scratching the 257 00:15:27,110 --> 00:15:31,950 surface to to see what the problem below might be without 258 00:15:31,950 --> 00:15:35,150 really doing any digging into what it might be, right. 259 00:15:35,150 --> 00:15:40,030 It's just, well, it's tax benefits, it's the laws of the 260 00:15:40,030 --> 00:15:42,470 land, right. They they've changed and so 261 00:15:42,470 --> 00:15:46,950 marriage has changed. So I would ask you, you know, to 262 00:15:46,950 --> 00:15:49,510 consider what's changed in the last 50 years. 263 00:15:50,330 --> 00:15:53,450 If we want to ask these like we want to observe these things, we 264 00:15:53,450 --> 00:15:55,250 need to know, right? We need to understand what's 265 00:15:55,250 --> 00:15:57,170 taking place in the last 50 years. 266 00:15:57,170 --> 00:16:00,250 And a whole lot has happened in the last 50 years, right 267 00:16:00,330 --> 00:16:04,770 Inception of the Internet, the cell phones you now carry, you 268 00:16:04,770 --> 00:16:07,770 know, a very powerful computer in your pocket everywhere you 269 00:16:07,770 --> 00:16:09,930 go. I mean those are some 270 00:16:09,930 --> 00:16:14,210 technological advances we've, we've seen what the world 271 00:16:14,210 --> 00:16:16,410 causes. Relationship advances too. 272 00:16:16,410 --> 00:16:19,560 Although I would say they're not advances at all, they're the 273 00:16:19,560 --> 00:16:23,720 degradation of relationship. It's degrading. 274 00:16:25,120 --> 00:16:29,920 So what we had within the last within post World War 2 anyway, 275 00:16:30,120 --> 00:16:32,960 probably a little longer than 50 years now since we're in the 276 00:16:33,480 --> 00:16:37,760 2000 twenties. You had the rise of feminism, 277 00:16:37,760 --> 00:16:41,120 which we dealt with a little bit last week, but post World War 2, 278 00:16:41,120 --> 00:16:46,920 rise of feminism, I think that helped lead into. 279 00:16:48,150 --> 00:16:50,670 I'm not saying it's the cause of it, but there's been a grotesque 280 00:16:50,710 --> 00:16:57,830 sexualization of society because of those computers in your 281 00:16:57,830 --> 00:17:01,630 pockets. The ease and the ease of access 282 00:17:01,630 --> 00:17:03,950 and then the subsequent addiction to things like 283 00:17:03,950 --> 00:17:08,390 pornography has risen incredibly quickly. 284 00:17:12,310 --> 00:17:18,990 The The rise of pornography has led to men who are enslaved by 285 00:17:18,990 --> 00:17:24,109 pixels on the screen rather than committed to a wife in front of 286 00:17:24,109 --> 00:17:29,950 them. And so that brings on the rise 287 00:17:29,950 --> 00:17:36,670 of things like adultery, fornication, the inception of no 288 00:17:36,670 --> 00:17:42,670 fault divorces, the celebration of sexual perversion within the 289 00:17:42,670 --> 00:17:46,910 legalization of what I think we should call gay mirage, not gay 290 00:17:46,910 --> 00:17:57,560 marriage in 2015 That has set us on a self destruction course at 291 00:17:57,560 --> 00:18:00,880 lightspeed, really, and and so much more. 292 00:18:02,080 --> 00:18:04,600 But all of this has led to a low view of marriage and that's 293 00:18:04,600 --> 00:18:06,000 really what we're dealing with today. 294 00:18:06,520 --> 00:18:09,320 It's led to a low view of marriage and and a low view of 295 00:18:09,320 --> 00:18:14,400 the necessity of men and women to mature and for societies to 296 00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:18,870 flourish. It's it's godless and it's one 297 00:18:18,870 --> 00:18:22,550 of the great works of Satan in our day, these things that the 298 00:18:22,550 --> 00:18:27,550 destruction of marriage. So the question then comes down 299 00:18:27,550 --> 00:18:29,630 to us as Christians, what must we do? 300 00:18:29,630 --> 00:18:31,350 What? What are, what are the responses 301 00:18:31,350 --> 00:18:32,510 to this? How do we live? 302 00:18:32,510 --> 00:18:34,390 How do we respond? How do we act? 303 00:18:34,390 --> 00:18:36,790 What do we say? What do we believe? 304 00:18:37,790 --> 00:18:40,190 And this matters a great deal for society. 305 00:18:40,190 --> 00:18:42,110 You know that, right? You can you can feel the 306 00:18:42,110 --> 00:18:50,640 pressure of such things I think first, just like we talked about 307 00:18:50,640 --> 00:18:55,000 in week 1 how we must recover a high view of male and 308 00:18:55,000 --> 00:18:58,720 femaleness. We must also recover a high view 309 00:18:58,720 --> 00:19:05,760 of marriage. How has God created marriage. 310 00:19:05,760 --> 00:19:10,360 What is the purpose of marriage? And so I don't look into the 311 00:19:10,360 --> 00:19:14,240 darkness and and see this dimness. 312 00:19:14,240 --> 00:19:17,300 And, you know, at times it feels like there's no light at all. 313 00:19:17,940 --> 00:19:23,820 I don't think we look into that and we we become a people with 314 00:19:23,820 --> 00:19:27,420 no hope. I don't think we look into it 315 00:19:27,420 --> 00:19:31,340 and we begin to think, my goodness, there's no answer to 316 00:19:31,340 --> 00:19:34,620 this. I don't think we look into it 317 00:19:34,620 --> 00:19:37,740 and we think that there's nothing we can do either. 318 00:19:39,940 --> 00:19:42,820 I I think that as Christians, what we ought to understand. 319 00:19:42,820 --> 00:19:47,820 I mean, we, if you're in home groups with us, just two weeks 320 00:19:47,820 --> 00:19:53,300 ago we were studying how Christ is the light and the light has 321 00:19:53,300 --> 00:19:59,620 come into the world. So the world's always been dark, 322 00:19:59,620 --> 00:20:02,460 is what I'm saying. But the hope of Christ is the 323 00:20:02,460 --> 00:20:07,100 light, right? And so there there is light. 324 00:20:07,140 --> 00:20:11,060 And I think that the fact that the the darkness seems to be 325 00:20:11,300 --> 00:20:16,350 gaining ground. Is all the more reason for for 326 00:20:16,350 --> 00:20:19,550 hope because light shines brightest in the darkness, 327 00:20:21,830 --> 00:20:25,390 right? The the reformers back in the 328 00:20:25,390 --> 00:20:30,150 1500s had a a phrase they used post Tenibrous Lux. 329 00:20:30,150 --> 00:20:32,430 It was after darkness comes light. 330 00:20:34,030 --> 00:20:36,190 They believed that they were living in a very dark time as 331 00:20:36,190 --> 00:20:40,030 well, but celebrated that by saying that after darkness comes 332 00:20:40,030 --> 00:20:43,480 light. And I think we live in the same 333 00:20:43,480 --> 00:20:45,760 We need a reformation of marriage. 334 00:20:46,760 --> 00:20:50,840 We need a reformation of relationships in our societies. 335 00:20:50,840 --> 00:20:55,560 Yes, even in the church. And so again, I'm laying before 336 00:20:55,560 --> 00:20:57,880 you today that God has created marriage for the godly 337 00:20:57,880 --> 00:21:01,720 progression of the man and woman and the godly preservation of 338 00:21:01,720 --> 00:21:07,840 societies. Evangelicals across the West has 339 00:21:07,840 --> 00:21:10,960 begun to soften their message on marriage over the last two 340 00:21:10,960 --> 00:21:14,820 decades or so. You see, there's never a 341 00:21:14,820 --> 00:21:16,420 shortage. You can see it in the New 342 00:21:16,420 --> 00:21:24,380 Testament that there's never a shortage of selfproclaimed or 343 00:21:24,380 --> 00:21:29,100 even at times affirmed teachers of God's Word. 344 00:21:30,300 --> 00:21:37,420 Who will not, or who will, sorry, change their perspective 345 00:21:37,420 --> 00:21:40,500 or their stance when the winds blow the right way? 346 00:21:41,560 --> 00:21:43,360 There's no shortage of that, even in the New Testament. 347 00:21:44,360 --> 00:21:46,960 And so it shouldn't shock us that today, among our own ranks 348 00:21:46,960 --> 00:21:51,480 have gone out those who seek to change the message on marriage. 349 00:21:51,480 --> 00:21:54,440 Because the world likes a different message now, and their 350 00:21:54,640 --> 00:21:57,440 purpose is to gain a great following and to make more 351 00:21:57,440 --> 00:22:01,040 money. Follow the dollars, always. 352 00:22:05,360 --> 00:22:08,080 And so they'll make apologies for what scripture says about 353 00:22:08,080 --> 00:22:10,530 marriage. Well that's you know, God's 354 00:22:10,530 --> 00:22:13,650 commands about homosexuality are only in the Old Testament. 355 00:22:14,450 --> 00:22:18,330 Well that's not true. But even if it were, it's still 356 00:22:18,330 --> 00:22:20,170 God's commands. Just because it was in the Old 357 00:22:20,170 --> 00:22:22,570 Testament doesn't it doesn't abolish it. 358 00:22:23,010 --> 00:22:25,130 Christ said as much. I didn't come to abolish the law 359 00:22:25,130 --> 00:22:35,080 came to fulfill it. Christians have made apologies 360 00:22:35,080 --> 00:22:39,080 for the God ordained roles of man and woman in the home and in 361 00:22:39,080 --> 00:22:44,750 the church and in society. You know that that that was a 362 00:22:44,750 --> 00:22:48,830 different way back then. Well the problem is, is that 363 00:22:48,830 --> 00:22:51,670 much in those arguments it's tied to creation. 364 00:22:52,270 --> 00:22:55,190 God created the man and the woman and we come back to that 365 00:22:55,510 --> 00:22:57,350 always. That was Paul's reasoning in 366 00:22:57,350 --> 00:23:00,990 First Timothy 2 as he says that the church should not have women 367 00:23:00,990 --> 00:23:06,470 pastors. This is not how God has ordered 368 00:23:06,470 --> 00:23:08,670 his church. Doesn't mean that women can't 369 00:23:08,670 --> 00:23:10,190 teach, doesn't mean that they can't. 370 00:23:11,650 --> 00:23:14,530 They they're called and taught us too, to teach other women. 371 00:23:14,530 --> 00:23:18,530 Older women are to train younger women to be lovers of husbands 372 00:23:18,530 --> 00:23:22,810 and children and to take care of their homes and to be self 373 00:23:22,810 --> 00:23:25,730 controlled and respectable. And there's a whole list there 374 00:23:25,730 --> 00:23:27,650 of what older women are to train younger women at. 375 00:23:28,250 --> 00:23:29,970 And so there is teaching that goes on. 376 00:23:35,780 --> 00:23:40,980 And so we we must not ever stoop so low as to think that 377 00:23:40,980 --> 00:23:45,620 softening God's work as if we're more knowledgeable than he is, 378 00:23:46,340 --> 00:23:50,380 or more wise than he is, or if we think that his his book is a 379 00:23:50,380 --> 00:23:53,100 bit outdated and so it needs some updating, right? 380 00:23:53,100 --> 00:23:58,220 We can't stoop so low as to think that if we'll do that, 381 00:23:58,340 --> 00:24:06,460 we'll gain more followers. Now maybe you will gain more 382 00:24:06,460 --> 00:24:08,180 followers, but what's the issue there? 383 00:24:09,540 --> 00:24:14,070 Those followers are not drawn to what the God. 384 00:24:14,630 --> 00:24:16,470 They're not drawn to the God of the Bible. 385 00:24:16,470 --> 00:24:18,870 Nor are they drawn to what the God of the Bible has instructed 386 00:24:18,870 --> 00:24:21,310 us to do. Rather, they're drawn to the 387 00:24:21,310 --> 00:24:24,230 teachings of a man who has deemed the Bible and the God of 388 00:24:24,230 --> 00:24:29,710 the Bible unfit for teaching. They've made gods of themselves 389 00:24:29,710 --> 00:24:34,190 and for themselves. Again, we see this in the New 390 00:24:34,190 --> 00:24:37,430 Testament. Solomon really was right and 391 00:24:37,430 --> 00:24:40,430 writing Ecclesiastes when he said there's nothing new under 392 00:24:40,430 --> 00:24:45,250 the sun. Even evils repeat themselves. 393 00:24:48,970 --> 00:24:51,970 The devil may be cunning, but he's not real creative. 394 00:24:53,050 --> 00:24:57,690 It's the same thing always. And so I think we have to work 395 00:24:57,690 --> 00:24:59,810 on that which we're sobered a bit here. 396 00:24:59,810 --> 00:25:03,130 I think we have to work on recovering a high view of 397 00:25:03,130 --> 00:25:06,170 marriage, a godward view of marriage. 398 00:25:06,170 --> 00:25:12,820 What does marriage exist for? And so as we do that I want you 399 00:25:12,820 --> 00:25:16,020 to remember in the text that we've read, this is after the 400 00:25:16,020 --> 00:25:22,540 man was asked to help God or I got gave him a task. 401 00:25:22,700 --> 00:25:26,620 He told him to name all of the creatures which he had created. 402 00:25:26,620 --> 00:25:29,260 And it says that all of the creatures that God brought 403 00:25:29,260 --> 00:25:32,500 before him, and whatever Adam called them, that was his name. 404 00:25:34,140 --> 00:25:37,700 And then at the end of that, it was it said there that Adam did 405 00:25:37,700 --> 00:25:40,540 not find a helper fit for himself. 406 00:25:41,950 --> 00:25:45,590 He was alone. God helped him come to this 407 00:25:45,590 --> 00:25:47,470 realization. God knew it already because 408 00:25:47,510 --> 00:25:50,270 before you read any of that, it says God looked at the man and 409 00:25:50,270 --> 00:25:52,270 saw that he was alone and said this is not good. 410 00:25:55,390 --> 00:25:58,310 And then in chapter one we read that after God created the man 411 00:25:58,310 --> 00:26:00,470 and the woman, he called it very good. 412 00:26:02,510 --> 00:26:04,550 So there was a moment in that where God looks and says this 413 00:26:04,550 --> 00:26:06,550 isn't good, right? And he wants the man to 414 00:26:06,550 --> 00:26:11,460 understand this. And so, as we look at marriage 415 00:26:11,460 --> 00:26:16,180 from creation, God has given the man a purpose. 416 00:26:16,180 --> 00:26:18,820 His purpose is to work and keep, and so he's working and keeping 417 00:26:18,820 --> 00:26:21,020 in this moment by naming the animals. 418 00:26:22,580 --> 00:26:25,140 And he finds out that it's not good for him to be alone. 419 00:26:25,140 --> 00:26:28,060 So it's not good for him to even work and keep alone. 420 00:26:28,700 --> 00:26:31,260 Working and keeping should involve the help of another, 421 00:26:31,260 --> 00:26:36,060 namely, a wise He needs a helper fit for him. 422 00:26:36,060 --> 00:26:38,980 He needs a wife who will nourish and cherish all that God gives 423 00:26:38,980 --> 00:26:42,100 to them, right He He works it and keep it, keeps it. 424 00:26:42,100 --> 00:26:46,620 She nourishes and cherishes. We use the example last week 425 00:26:46,620 --> 00:26:49,900 that the man may be in the field plowing and planting and 426 00:26:49,900 --> 00:26:53,860 harvesting, but he brings the goods into the to his wife, who 427 00:26:53,860 --> 00:26:58,420 then prepares those raw materials into food and keeps a 428 00:26:58,420 --> 00:27:02,750 home and a table, right? Feeds children, constructs them, 429 00:27:02,750 --> 00:27:08,070 and how to to eat or to cook and eat and take care of a home, so 430 00:27:08,070 --> 00:27:10,550 that they work and keep together, they nourish and 431 00:27:10,550 --> 00:27:14,350 cherish together. These things work side by side. 432 00:27:15,230 --> 00:27:18,710 And so look at verses 21 through 23 again. 433 00:27:19,350 --> 00:27:22,470 So the Lord God caused the deep sleep to fall upon the man, and 434 00:27:22,470 --> 00:27:25,110 while he slept he took one of his ribs and closed up its place 435 00:27:25,110 --> 00:27:28,230 with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God 436 00:27:28,230 --> 00:27:30,870 had taken from the man, he made into a woman and brought her to 437 00:27:30,870 --> 00:27:33,500 the man. Then the men said, this at last 438 00:27:33,500 --> 00:27:35,740 is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. 439 00:27:36,220 --> 00:27:39,020 She shall be called woman because she was taken out of 440 00:27:39,140 --> 00:27:42,580 man. You got to imagine the scene 441 00:27:42,580 --> 00:27:45,220 with me just a little bit. It's not good for you to be 442 00:27:45,220 --> 00:27:48,820 alone, Adam. Adam gets to the end of this. 443 00:27:49,780 --> 00:27:53,820 He sees that he's alone. He feels the weight of that 444 00:27:53,820 --> 00:27:55,340 there's not a helper fit for him. 445 00:27:55,340 --> 00:28:02,790 And so God causes him to sleep. One of the things that's worth 446 00:28:02,790 --> 00:28:07,070 pointing out there is as you trust in the Lord, you can rest 447 00:28:07,070 --> 00:28:11,150 as he brings provision. All right. 448 00:28:13,350 --> 00:28:16,510 He not going to apply to anything, but especially to 449 00:28:17,350 --> 00:28:21,190 praying for a spouse. Men trusting the Lord to provide 450 00:28:21,270 --> 00:28:24,510 a wife for you. Ladies, trusting the Lord to 451 00:28:24,510 --> 00:28:30,900 provide a husband for you, God creates the woman from the rib 452 00:28:30,900 --> 00:28:33,260 of the man. He closes up the flesh. 453 00:28:33,260 --> 00:28:36,620 And then what does he do? Well, it says that he brought 454 00:28:36,620 --> 00:28:42,460 her to the man. And I don't know how the scene 455 00:28:42,460 --> 00:28:44,740 actually played out, but I'll I'll tell you what it looks 456 00:28:44,740 --> 00:28:47,500 like. It looks like when a father 457 00:28:47,500 --> 00:28:54,420 walks his daughter down the aisle, it says the the Lord God 458 00:28:54,420 --> 00:29:00,080 brought her to the man. He ushers her into him and it's 459 00:29:00,080 --> 00:29:02,280 like a father walking his daughter down the aisle. 460 00:29:02,280 --> 00:29:05,320 The Lord God brings this woman to the man. 461 00:29:07,120 --> 00:29:09,720 And I can. I can remember that day in my 462 00:29:09,720 --> 00:29:13,240 life where Patricia's dad brought her to me. 463 00:29:14,880 --> 00:29:16,560 There's a real blessing in that, right? 464 00:29:17,320 --> 00:29:22,160 A father's entrusting one of his maybe the most prized 465 00:29:22,160 --> 00:29:25,000 possession. So the most prized thing in his 466 00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:36,570 life, his daughter to you. And here we see that you must 467 00:29:36,570 --> 00:29:38,930 trust the Lord in this way. So are you single? 468 00:29:39,450 --> 00:29:43,570 If so, are you pray? Are you preparing yourself for 469 00:29:43,570 --> 00:29:46,530 marriage by living a godly, upright life? 470 00:29:46,530 --> 00:29:50,210 Now you know. Are you asking God for something 471 00:29:50,210 --> 00:29:53,010 you're not yet fit to to take on? 472 00:29:58,450 --> 00:30:01,450 Matthew Henry said this. He said those are likely to 473 00:30:01,450 --> 00:30:04,570 settle to their comfort, meaning they're marry. 474 00:30:04,570 --> 00:30:07,490 They marry to their comfort, who by faith and prayer and the 475 00:30:07,490 --> 00:30:10,770 humble dependence upon Providence put themselves under 476 00:30:10,770 --> 00:30:15,930 a divine conduct. That wife, he goes on, that is 477 00:30:15,930 --> 00:30:19,490 of God's making by special grace and of God's bringing by special 478 00:30:19,490 --> 00:30:23,890 Providence, is likely to prove a help meet for a man. 479 00:30:24,690 --> 00:30:28,170 Amen. Amen. 480 00:30:28,170 --> 00:30:30,330 And then, if you're married already, you can. 481 00:30:31,730 --> 00:30:36,960 You can settle your comfort in marriage by faith and prayer. 482 00:30:36,960 --> 00:30:41,280 Still you don't get to outgrow faith and prayer. 483 00:30:41,960 --> 00:30:47,520 It's trusting depending upon the Lord and praying for His help. 484 00:30:47,520 --> 00:30:57,400 His guidance in in your marriage that trust that faith and prayer 485 00:30:57,400 --> 00:31:01,620 informs then your works and your words within your marriage, 486 00:31:01,740 --> 00:31:03,580 right? It's it's part of God's work and 487 00:31:03,580 --> 00:31:08,820 maturing you by His spirits as you depend on Christ. 488 00:31:09,380 --> 00:31:13,620 Christ helps you by His spirits as you trust in Christ for the 489 00:31:13,620 --> 00:31:18,100 help of your spouse. Christ helps your spouse by His 490 00:31:18,100 --> 00:31:20,140 spirit and maybe even through you. 491 00:31:21,780 --> 00:31:24,620 We'll talk a bit more in a moment on what it looks like for 492 00:31:24,620 --> 00:31:28,060 God to use marriages in this way to sanctify us. 493 00:31:28,060 --> 00:31:32,380 But for now we must see the gracious generosity of God who 494 00:31:32,380 --> 00:31:36,580 created all things, including marriage, right? 495 00:31:37,780 --> 00:31:43,340 The man gains a help meet, the woman gains a husband who was to 496 00:31:43,340 --> 00:31:45,980 be her head. And we talked again. 497 00:31:45,980 --> 00:31:49,460 She was created from the side of man, not from his head that she 498 00:31:49,460 --> 00:31:52,100 would be over him and not from his feet, that she would be 499 00:31:52,100 --> 00:31:55,820 trampled on him, but from his side, that they would be near to 500 00:31:55,820 --> 00:31:59,340 one another and walking together in marriage. 501 00:32:03,720 --> 00:32:07,600 And so I ask you it in the text, is he thrilled by God's 502 00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:10,120 generosity, or is he a little sad about it? 503 00:32:11,480 --> 00:32:15,560 Well, he's thrilled he's thrilled. 504 00:32:15,560 --> 00:32:20,680 He he speaks in poetic terms, like only a rough, gruff man can 505 00:32:20,680 --> 00:32:26,200 speak in poetic terms, right. I mean, it's this at last is 506 00:32:26,200 --> 00:32:30,070 bone of my bones. I tried that on Patricia once. 507 00:32:30,070 --> 00:32:31,830 I didn't get an all. How sweet. 508 00:32:32,750 --> 00:32:38,550 It's just this flesh of my flesh. 509 00:32:38,590 --> 00:32:40,950 Oh, babe, you're so kind. No, not at all. 510 00:32:40,950 --> 00:32:45,630 Right. Like she shall be called woman 511 00:32:45,630 --> 00:32:47,750 because she was taken out of man. 512 00:32:48,990 --> 00:32:53,110 That was an old joke. It's really kind of crass. 513 00:32:54,190 --> 00:32:56,990 So I'll just. I want to correct it this way. 514 00:32:56,990 --> 00:33:01,330 Got Adam did not name the woman the woman, because he said whoa, 515 00:33:01,330 --> 00:33:07,730 man, when he first saw her. It's it's far deeper than 516 00:33:07,730 --> 00:33:11,490 outward attraction. It's far deeper than that. 517 00:33:14,290 --> 00:33:18,690 He declares the power of their union. 518 00:33:19,610 --> 00:33:23,450 He declares the with great with the greatest intimacy he can 519 00:33:23,450 --> 00:33:28,780 muster. He He declares in poetic terms, 520 00:33:28,780 --> 00:33:36,260 no less, what it means for him to have gained a help, meet one 521 00:33:36,260 --> 00:33:39,860 who is like him in nature. She is human. 522 00:33:44,020 --> 00:33:46,860 We read in the New Testament that man was made in the image 523 00:33:46,860 --> 00:33:53,180 of God, a woman was made in the image of man, that that both 524 00:33:53,180 --> 00:33:55,660 were made in the image of God in that way. 525 00:33:55,660 --> 00:34:00,070 And So what he's saying is, is this at last is bone of my 526 00:34:00,070 --> 00:34:02,670 bones. This is last is flesh of my 527 00:34:02,670 --> 00:34:05,190 flesh. He had just gone through all the 528 00:34:05,190 --> 00:34:08,190 other creatures on the earth, right, and did not find one who 529 00:34:08,190 --> 00:34:12,590 was like him. I don't know how many that was 530 00:34:13,750 --> 00:34:16,270 at creation. You know, I'm sure we've gotten 531 00:34:16,510 --> 00:34:21,150 many different kinds over the years, but he named every 532 00:34:22,350 --> 00:34:28,139 animal, every creature flu on the above the earth, every 533 00:34:28,500 --> 00:34:30,420 creature and beast that roam the earth. 534 00:34:33,420 --> 00:34:36,620 And he names them all and he finds that there's not one fit 535 00:34:36,620 --> 00:34:38,179 for him. So what does he do now that he 536 00:34:38,179 --> 00:34:41,540 finds one who's fit for him? Well, he names her. 537 00:34:42,300 --> 00:34:47,340 He says she shall be called woman, which in the in the 538 00:34:47,340 --> 00:34:52,139 Hebrew is Isha. And the reason that's important 539 00:34:52,139 --> 00:34:54,500 is because in the Hebrew, man is ish. 540 00:34:56,020 --> 00:34:58,540 So you see the intimacy at play here. 541 00:34:58,540 --> 00:35:02,820 You see what's going on. He is restating his own name and 542 00:35:02,820 --> 00:35:05,980 her name, declaring the greatest intimacy possible. 543 00:35:07,540 --> 00:35:09,860 I mean that these two were literally, God intends for them 544 00:35:09,860 --> 00:35:12,380 to become one flesh in this marriage union, right? 545 00:35:12,580 --> 00:35:15,900 But he's literally stating right out of the gate we are one. 546 00:35:17,300 --> 00:35:21,220 This is my wife. I think it's beautiful. 547 00:35:21,860 --> 00:35:23,980 That doesn't sound like it. When you read Bone of My Bones 548 00:35:23,980 --> 00:35:25,460 and Flesh of My Flesh, it's kind of like that. 549 00:35:25,620 --> 00:35:31,700 Oh no, it's kind of sounds Halloweenish, you know, But it's 550 00:35:31,740 --> 00:35:34,660 it's deeper than that. He's rejoicing in what God has 551 00:35:34,660 --> 00:35:36,980 done, which is the good and right response, right? 552 00:35:37,260 --> 00:35:41,540 When a when a man gets married, he should rejoice. 553 00:35:42,580 --> 00:35:46,060 When we receive good gifts from the Lord, should we not rejoice? 554 00:35:46,580 --> 00:35:49,100 We rejoice in the Lord always, right. 555 00:35:49,380 --> 00:35:53,250 And so God's Matthew Henry says that God's gives to us are to be 556 00:35:53,250 --> 00:35:57,690 received with a humble, thankful acknowledgement of His wisdom 557 00:35:57,690 --> 00:36:02,970 and suiting them to us and His favor and bestowing them on us. 558 00:36:04,010 --> 00:36:07,490 So we receive it with thankfulness that why in the 559 00:36:07,490 --> 00:36:10,890 world would God give such an amazing gift to me? 560 00:36:14,050 --> 00:36:16,050 This is prefall Adams saying this. 561 00:36:16,130 --> 00:36:18,290 How much more can sinful Adams say this? 562 00:36:20,270 --> 00:36:23,910 Sinful sons and daughters of Adam and Eve as we are. 563 00:36:26,910 --> 00:36:30,790 But God created marriage for the godly progression of the man and 564 00:36:30,790 --> 00:36:34,430 woman and the godly preservation of societies. 565 00:36:35,110 --> 00:36:40,790 He brings them together for this purpose to be fruitful and 566 00:36:40,790 --> 00:36:45,390 multiply, as you see in Genesis chapter one, verse 28. 567 00:36:47,940 --> 00:36:50,380 And God bless them and said to them, be fruitful and multiply 568 00:36:50,380 --> 00:36:52,980 and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the 569 00:36:52,980 --> 00:36:55,940 fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over 570 00:36:55,940 --> 00:36:58,900 every living thing that rules and moves on earth. 571 00:36:58,900 --> 00:37:03,100 Sorry, that moves on the earth. All of those creatures you just 572 00:37:03,100 --> 00:37:07,220 named Adam, you and your wife are to go and exercise dominion 573 00:37:07,220 --> 00:37:10,300 over them. You are my vice regions on the 574 00:37:10,300 --> 00:37:12,620 earth. You do you Lord. 575 00:37:12,620 --> 00:37:15,740 Over them and my stead. I'm your Lord. 576 00:37:15,740 --> 00:37:19,570 You are there, Lord right. But you do it together. 577 00:37:19,570 --> 00:37:24,930 You rule together. And we see this as the two 578 00:37:24,930 --> 00:37:29,530 become one flesh. In verse 24 here we read 579 00:37:30,970 --> 00:37:33,370 therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and holds 580 00:37:33,370 --> 00:37:36,850 fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 581 00:37:37,330 --> 00:37:39,890 And so this is what I mean by marriage is meant to preserve 582 00:37:39,890 --> 00:37:44,050 societies. The man and the woman come from 583 00:37:44,330 --> 00:37:46,490 who? I mean, here they're coming from 584 00:37:46,490 --> 00:37:50,030 God, but every man and woman after that come from who? 585 00:37:50,790 --> 00:37:52,230 Their mother and father. Right. 586 00:37:53,790 --> 00:37:56,070 You men, you have a mother and a father. 587 00:37:57,230 --> 00:38:00,470 Now, whether or not they were good or not, that's we're not 588 00:38:00,470 --> 00:38:02,110 discussing those things yet, right? 589 00:38:02,350 --> 00:38:04,390 We're just saying you have a mother and father and who of 590 00:38:04,390 --> 00:38:08,110 whom you come from. And ladies, you do as well. 591 00:38:08,870 --> 00:38:12,510 And so here we read that they leave mother and father. 592 00:38:12,510 --> 00:38:14,790 The man leaves his mother and father, he leaves his home. 593 00:38:14,790 --> 00:38:17,720 He leaves his kindred and he joins. 594 00:38:17,800 --> 00:38:23,840 He holds fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 595 00:38:24,720 --> 00:38:27,280 So the man and the woman leave. Father and mother hold fast to 596 00:38:27,280 --> 00:38:31,680 one another, which perpetuates and preserves societies in godly 597 00:38:31,680 --> 00:38:36,680 fruitfulness. To become one flesh means the 598 00:38:36,680 --> 00:38:48,230 marriage was to be consummated. It's the reason you shouldn't 599 00:38:50,750 --> 00:38:55,630 live a life of fornication. You become one flesh with 600 00:38:56,710 --> 00:39:05,870 everyone you sleep with and so a piece of you is is a part of 601 00:39:05,870 --> 00:39:09,070 them. This is This is why fornication 602 00:39:09,070 --> 00:39:11,750 leads to the degradation of societies. 603 00:39:14,390 --> 00:39:18,060 And I'm not going to travel so far down that road as to say 604 00:39:18,060 --> 00:39:23,540 that God doesn't heal and that God can't restore or redeem. 605 00:39:23,980 --> 00:39:27,220 Absolutely he does. In Christ Jesus, all of our sins 606 00:39:27,220 --> 00:39:29,820 forgiven, healed of all of those things. 607 00:39:31,460 --> 00:39:34,980 Amen. We praise God for that. 608 00:39:36,700 --> 00:39:39,300 But it's why bragging about things like body counts is 609 00:39:39,380 --> 00:39:52,190 utterly stupid. It's foolish and and it's not 610 00:39:52,430 --> 00:39:55,590 doing anything for you. In fact, it's destroying you. 611 00:39:55,590 --> 00:39:59,990 So. So we must be smart here and 612 00:39:59,990 --> 00:40:08,870 understand that, you know, as a as a man becomes more hard after 613 00:40:08,870 --> 00:40:13,150 years of pornography abuse, years of fornication, as his 614 00:40:13,150 --> 00:40:16,430 heart becomes hard, and as he decides that marriage is not for 615 00:40:16,430 --> 00:40:18,760 me. That is not a blessing of God. 616 00:40:21,720 --> 00:40:24,720 That's that's a hardening of his heart towards the things of God 617 00:40:24,920 --> 00:40:32,240 because of his sinfulness. And This is why marriage rates 618 00:40:32,240 --> 00:40:35,000 are on the decline. Least one reason. 619 00:40:36,040 --> 00:40:41,600 Again, I submit that there's many, but this is 1 sober reason 620 00:40:41,600 --> 00:40:53,260 why men, you're called to leave mother and father and to be 621 00:40:53,260 --> 00:40:58,100 joined to your wife. Not to be joined to pixels on 622 00:40:58,100 --> 00:41:01,940 the screen or to many women, but to your wife. 623 00:41:03,260 --> 00:41:08,540 And a lifelong monogamous relationship lived unto God 624 00:41:08,540 --> 00:41:11,580 Almighty. And this is where you'll find 625 00:41:11,580 --> 00:41:15,180 the blessing of God. This is where you'll find true 626 00:41:15,180 --> 00:41:18,380 joy and true happiness that lasts a lifetime. 627 00:41:18,700 --> 00:41:21,820 It's in the hard work of building a home with your wife. 628 00:41:23,540 --> 00:41:31,540 It's worth every effort. You can see how great the bond 629 00:41:31,540 --> 00:41:34,060 here is because they're called to leave mother and father be 630 00:41:34,060 --> 00:41:39,500 joined to their wife, right? The the two are called to leave 631 00:41:39,500 --> 00:41:42,140 what is natural to them, and to be joined to something which is 632 00:41:42,140 --> 00:41:45,860 supernatural, and acted upon them by God through the two 633 00:41:45,860 --> 00:41:53,080 becoming one flesh. I mean naturally, to whom can 634 00:41:53,080 --> 00:41:56,680 you be more firmly bound together with than your Father's 635 00:41:56,680 --> 00:41:59,280 and your mother's who brought you into this world? 636 00:42:00,800 --> 00:42:04,160 Yet you must leave them to be joined to your wife. 637 00:42:07,200 --> 00:42:10,360 The daughter must forget them to be joined to her husband. 638 00:42:16,450 --> 00:42:18,370 Scripture elsewhere. The reason we're no, we're not 639 00:42:18,370 --> 00:42:20,970 supposed to take multiple wives just because Scripture elsewhere 640 00:42:20,970 --> 00:42:26,570 makes that explicit. See how firm the bond of 641 00:42:26,570 --> 00:42:29,890 marriage is here? It's not to be divided or 642 00:42:29,890 --> 00:42:33,890 weakened. Christ goes on to say that as he 643 00:42:33,890 --> 00:42:38,410 expounds upon this text later in the gospels, he's being asked 644 00:42:38,410 --> 00:42:42,270 about marriage and the difficulty of it and and the 645 00:42:42,270 --> 00:42:44,710 likes. He he says that have he says, 646 00:42:44,710 --> 00:42:48,630 Have you not read that the man shall leave his mother and 647 00:42:48,630 --> 00:42:51,470 father, be joined to his wife, the two shall become one flesh. 648 00:42:51,470 --> 00:42:54,830 And what God has joined together, Christ the heads let 649 00:42:54,830 --> 00:43:01,950 not men separate. So this marriage union is not to 650 00:43:01,950 --> 00:43:04,630 be divided or weakened or broken. 651 00:43:06,750 --> 00:43:13,240 You can see how dear the affection here is between the 652 00:43:13,240 --> 00:43:15,730 couple, right? That they would leave mother and 653 00:43:15,730 --> 00:43:20,090 father, be joined to their husband or their wife, such as 654 00:43:20,090 --> 00:43:24,090 they become 22. Flesh has become one flesh. 655 00:43:26,770 --> 00:43:31,450 And so then they are they act as though they are one soul, even 656 00:43:31,810 --> 00:43:35,330 they're that near to one another, that close to one 657 00:43:35,330 --> 00:43:43,800 another. You know, there's so many 658 00:43:43,800 --> 00:43:46,880 naysayers about marriage that it really is disheartening. 659 00:43:48,130 --> 00:43:50,650 It's disheartening for a young couple like every. 660 00:43:51,250 --> 00:43:53,690 And I can remember this being the case for me. 661 00:43:53,690 --> 00:43:58,450 I worked in an office on my way to marriage, was engaged to be 662 00:43:58,450 --> 00:44:01,010 married in just a couple of months and took a job in an 663 00:44:01,010 --> 00:44:05,810 office working alongside. I think there's one other male 664 00:44:05,810 --> 00:44:13,910 in the office and a bunch of other ladies and I just remember 665 00:44:13,910 --> 00:44:15,870 how awful marriage was talked about. 666 00:44:15,870 --> 00:44:18,510 It was even from women. It was like don't do it, you 667 00:44:18,510 --> 00:44:21,990 know, it's terrible. You know, the first year is the 668 00:44:21,990 --> 00:44:23,790 hardest. Watch out for the seven-year 669 00:44:23,790 --> 00:44:25,670 itch. Like it's all these different 670 00:44:25,670 --> 00:44:29,150 warnings and like, my gosh, who wants to be married? 671 00:44:33,790 --> 00:44:36,830 And then ultimately, it would just go back to Patricia and 672 00:44:36,830 --> 00:44:39,430 have conversations with her. And I would think, praise God, 673 00:44:39,430 --> 00:44:42,920 I'm not married to one of those women, of marrying this woman. 674 00:44:44,000 --> 00:44:48,720 This is different. And so you kind of kind of about 675 00:44:48,720 --> 00:44:51,640 you a holy rebellion, right? It's a, it's a rebelling against 676 00:44:51,640 --> 00:44:56,160 what society thinks is good and right to live unto the the thing 677 00:44:56,160 --> 00:44:58,680 that God calls holy. But I remember those days well, 678 00:44:58,680 --> 00:45:03,600 and I remember now, even like as you do marriage counseling with 679 00:45:03,600 --> 00:45:07,000 young couples, I hear much of the same thing like this, This 680 00:45:07,000 --> 00:45:09,000 is perpetuated. This is how we're discipling 681 00:45:09,000 --> 00:45:12,030 people to think about marriage, and often times it comes from 682 00:45:12,030 --> 00:45:17,510 people who are Christians. This is terrible. 683 00:45:17,910 --> 00:45:19,950 This is not how we perpetuate societies. 684 00:45:19,950 --> 00:45:22,230 This is how we got into the mess we're in now. 685 00:45:22,230 --> 00:45:25,590 Is Christians beginning to say marriage ain't worth it? 686 00:45:26,550 --> 00:45:30,550 Yes, it is. It's good and right said so by 687 00:45:30,550 --> 00:45:33,830 God, it was. It was ordained before it was 688 00:45:33,830 --> 00:45:36,590 ordained, at the beginning of world history. 689 00:45:36,870 --> 00:45:39,150 In fact, it's how world history was to come about. 690 00:45:39,150 --> 00:45:43,900 Was a married man and woman carrying out the acts of God in 691 00:45:43,900 --> 00:45:49,780 society, right? Building homes and helping those 692 00:45:49,780 --> 00:45:52,940 homes be fruitful, multiply and then so on and so forth. 693 00:45:56,540 --> 00:45:59,900 And so Patricia and I'll be married in for 15 years in on 694 00:45:59,900 --> 00:46:06,580 December 6th of this year. Four children gone through the 695 00:46:06,580 --> 00:46:09,730 death of a child together. We've gone through heartaches 696 00:46:11,770 --> 00:46:14,690 early in marriage, dealing with with my failures and handling 697 00:46:14,690 --> 00:46:23,170 pornography, meeting the pains of that on her face and in her 698 00:46:23,170 --> 00:46:26,970 voice, and then receiving grace that only the Lord could supply. 699 00:46:29,130 --> 00:46:31,490 That has a way to strengthen a man, is what I'm saying this 700 00:46:31,490 --> 00:46:34,930 this is what God means when when you're giving a help meet at the 701 00:46:34,930 --> 00:46:38,680 beginning of creation, it's easy to think, well this was prefall 702 00:46:38,680 --> 00:46:42,040 world, how hard could it be? But the problem was is marriage 703 00:46:42,040 --> 00:46:44,640 doesn't end in Genesis 3 when the fall happens, in fact 704 00:46:44,640 --> 00:46:47,240 they're still to go and be married and to be fruitful and 705 00:46:47,240 --> 00:46:49,280 multiply. We still get those same commands 706 00:46:49,280 --> 00:46:51,800 through the scriptures. So you have to learn now in a 707 00:46:51,800 --> 00:46:54,960 postfall world, how are we going to be fruitful and multiply? 708 00:46:55,560 --> 00:46:57,120 How are we going to live for the Lord? 709 00:46:58,280 --> 00:47:00,600 How are we going to submit ourselves to His rule into His 710 00:47:00,600 --> 00:47:05,580 government of our lives, for the good of our children and for the 711 00:47:05,580 --> 00:47:08,940 good of churches and for the good of societies and nations? 712 00:47:08,940 --> 00:47:11,260 Right? Like you have to ask the 713 00:47:11,260 --> 00:47:15,100 question at the heart level. What do I need to change? 714 00:47:15,980 --> 00:47:17,900 How might the Lord rule my heart? 715 00:47:17,900 --> 00:47:21,940 As a husband or as a wife? Where am I missing the mark? 716 00:47:21,940 --> 00:47:23,340 How can I submit to Him? Right. 717 00:47:23,340 --> 00:47:25,820 There's all these different questions you can come to with 718 00:47:25,820 --> 00:47:29,180 the scriptures, and the Lord wants to answer your questions. 719 00:47:31,320 --> 00:47:34,240 Who wants to help you live as a man who loves the Lord with a 720 00:47:34,240 --> 00:47:37,320 wife who loves the Lord so that you raise children who love the 721 00:47:37,320 --> 00:47:41,800 Lord? Happy to home when God is there. 722 00:47:41,800 --> 00:47:47,440 God wants to be in your home and he commands you to make him Lord 723 00:47:47,440 --> 00:47:51,440 of your home. And so if you resist the Lord 724 00:47:51,440 --> 00:47:55,760 and don't make him Lord of your home, well then you're not going 725 00:47:55,760 --> 00:48:00,440 to incur the blessings of God. It's amazing to me how many, how 726 00:48:00,440 --> 00:48:04,920 many of us will pray for God to bless in some way as we're 727 00:48:04,920 --> 00:48:07,040 actively living in disobedience to God. 728 00:48:08,400 --> 00:48:12,040 It's quite an arrogance to think that the blessings I need, or 729 00:48:12,040 --> 00:48:14,600 the things I need him to answer the circumstances I need him to 730 00:48:14,600 --> 00:48:17,120 change. Are they not possibly a result 731 00:48:17,120 --> 00:48:21,720 of my disobedience? Are they not possibly God's way 732 00:48:21,720 --> 00:48:24,960 of chastising those children whom he loves dearly? 733 00:48:24,960 --> 00:48:28,120 As Hebrews tells us? Yeah, it's possible. 734 00:48:28,120 --> 00:48:30,760 They are. And so we must submit ourselves 735 00:48:30,760 --> 00:48:37,240 to him, right. And that that requires a help. 736 00:48:37,240 --> 00:48:41,800 Meet men, ladies. That requires a husband who 737 00:48:41,800 --> 00:48:46,760 loves the Lord. And for you to follow such a 738 00:48:46,760 --> 00:48:49,840 man. God created marriages for the 739 00:48:49,840 --> 00:48:51,920 godly progression of the man and the woman. 740 00:48:52,480 --> 00:48:54,960 You leave mother and father. You're joined to your wife. 741 00:48:54,960 --> 00:48:56,880 You leave mother and father. You're joined to your husband. 742 00:48:57,160 --> 00:49:00,440 God intends for that relationship to mature you in 743 00:49:00,440 --> 00:49:05,200 many of the same way, well, in many ways that build upon how 744 00:49:05,200 --> 00:49:07,320 you were matured as a son or a daughter. 745 00:49:07,320 --> 00:49:10,200 Does that make sense? I kind of confused my wording 746 00:49:10,200 --> 00:49:13,280 there. So as you leave mother and 747 00:49:13,280 --> 00:49:16,120 father, that relationship that you were discipled in and 748 00:49:16,120 --> 00:49:18,600 brought up in and hopefully brought up to love the Lord, and 749 00:49:18,600 --> 00:49:21,960 you're now joined to your husband or your wife for further 750 00:49:21,960 --> 00:49:26,240 discipleship, for further growth and sanctification in Christ 751 00:49:26,240 --> 00:49:29,080 likeness. And that's going to come as you 752 00:49:29,080 --> 00:49:32,480 endure hardships. It's going to come as your 753 00:49:32,480 --> 00:49:35,200 spouse sins against you or you sin against your spouse. 754 00:49:35,200 --> 00:49:37,800 And these things are brought up and now you have to deal with 755 00:49:37,800 --> 00:49:40,960 them. It's going to come in all sorts 756 00:49:40,960 --> 00:49:44,800 of ways, but God is going to bless your home as you submit 757 00:49:44,800 --> 00:49:49,800 yourself to Him and seek kill promise you this. 758 00:49:51,320 --> 00:49:54,560 Not because my promise is any good, but because the Lord has 759 00:49:54,560 --> 00:50:04,940 promised. It's a it's a weird. 760 00:50:06,020 --> 00:50:09,180 The next verse is weird right? Naked and unashamed. 761 00:50:15,180 --> 00:50:21,660 But what I'm telling you is this is describing life in marriage. 762 00:50:22,460 --> 00:50:27,860 Pre fall, the man and his wife were both naked. 763 00:50:27,860 --> 00:50:31,630 And we're not ashamed, and we get in Genesis 3 after the fall 764 00:50:31,630 --> 00:50:34,430 that they were naked and ashamed and so they covered themselves. 765 00:50:36,750 --> 00:50:39,430 It wasn't that they learned they were naked, it was that they 766 00:50:39,430 --> 00:50:42,230 sinned and realized their sinfulness. 767 00:50:45,510 --> 00:50:48,550 But what we have here is an evidence of the purity and the 768 00:50:48,550 --> 00:50:54,310 innocency of of that the the state that Adam and Eve in their 769 00:50:54,310 --> 00:50:58,110 marriage existed in, in which they were created to live in. 770 00:51:01,700 --> 00:51:04,180 They were naked. They didn't need clothes for 771 00:51:04,180 --> 00:51:09,740 defense against colder heat. Nothing could injure them. 772 00:51:10,860 --> 00:51:13,340 They didn't need it for ornaments, all right. 773 00:51:13,420 --> 00:51:15,780 And we're trying to dress up, make themselves look pretty. 774 00:51:17,820 --> 00:51:25,570 They were naked and had no reason to be ashamed. 775 00:51:25,570 --> 00:51:28,530 They they knew. They didn't even know what shame 776 00:51:28,530 --> 00:51:31,130 was. That's the beauty of it. 777 00:51:35,910 --> 00:51:39,710 Now when we we Matthew Henry says that when we blush now, 778 00:51:39,710 --> 00:51:43,190 it's the product of virtue. It's the color of virtue he 779 00:51:43,190 --> 00:51:46,270 calls it. It's an understanding that 780 00:51:46,270 --> 00:51:48,030 that's shameful and we shouldn't do that. 781 00:51:48,030 --> 00:51:52,230 So we we blush. But it was not the color of 782 00:51:52,230 --> 00:51:56,390 innocence he said they did. They didn't know blushing. 783 00:51:56,630 --> 00:52:00,190 Those that had no sin in their conscience might well have no 784 00:52:00,190 --> 00:52:03,550 shame in their faces, he says. Though they had no clothes to 785 00:52:03,550 --> 00:52:13,080 their backs. And so it's a it's a hard text 786 00:52:13,800 --> 00:52:21,520 to preach in the company of children because there's there 787 00:52:21,520 --> 00:52:24,920 is a great restore. There's a restorative nature 788 00:52:24,920 --> 00:52:28,160 about godly marriage that gets you to a place where you can 789 00:52:28,160 --> 00:52:31,960 exist naked and be unashamed with someone again. 790 00:52:33,600 --> 00:52:34,840 So. So here's what I mean. 791 00:52:34,840 --> 00:52:40,480 If if you all knew every sin that I dealt with, if you knew 792 00:52:40,480 --> 00:52:43,880 everything that crossed my mind, if you knew every heart issue 793 00:52:44,080 --> 00:52:47,200 that I possess, I have no doubt some of you think I'm awful, 794 00:52:47,240 --> 00:52:48,840 right? But I'm just kidding. 795 00:52:48,840 --> 00:52:51,160 But but I'm more awful than you can imagine. 796 00:52:52,280 --> 00:52:55,560 And that's not like some piatistic saying like that's 797 00:52:55,560 --> 00:52:57,920 true. I recognize that about my own 798 00:52:57,920 --> 00:53:00,920 heart, that I'm more sinful even than I realize. 799 00:53:04,920 --> 00:53:08,400 But you can exist in marriage and a godly marriage. 800 00:53:08,400 --> 00:53:11,360 There's a restorative nature to where you can exist in all your 801 00:53:11,360 --> 00:53:16,760 sinfulness, naked right before your wife, in the sense of 802 00:53:16,760 --> 00:53:22,760 everything is born before her, in your heart, your mind, and 803 00:53:22,760 --> 00:53:26,920 you. You can live not, You can live 804 00:53:26,920 --> 00:53:30,720 unshamed. She's not going to shame you. 805 00:53:32,280 --> 00:53:35,160 I'm not saying you won't be unashamed for your sinfulness. 806 00:53:35,160 --> 00:53:36,560 Sure you will. That's conscience. 807 00:53:36,560 --> 00:53:40,200 That's God's work in your life to get you back on track and to 808 00:53:40,200 --> 00:53:43,720 help you see true North and to repent and believe right? 809 00:53:43,720 --> 00:53:47,560 But what I'm saying is, is that you can exist as your marriages 810 00:53:47,560 --> 00:53:52,600 grow, you can come to this place where you are glad to be with 811 00:53:52,600 --> 00:53:57,040 your wife and for her to know all of your wrongs and your 812 00:53:57,040 --> 00:54:00,890 faults and your failures. And she's not lording them over 813 00:54:00,890 --> 00:54:02,690 here. And the vice versa is true. 814 00:54:02,690 --> 00:54:06,210 You're not lording them over her, but you're washing one 815 00:54:06,210 --> 00:54:09,770 another with the word is Christ citizen, or as God instructs us 816 00:54:09,770 --> 00:54:14,290 through Ephesians. 5. And so there's a sanctifying 817 00:54:14,290 --> 00:54:20,130 effect, a deep, incredible sanctifying effect to marriage, 818 00:54:20,130 --> 00:54:22,970 Christian marriage. And This is why I say we got to 819 00:54:22,970 --> 00:54:25,810 have a high view of Christian marriage. 820 00:54:26,720 --> 00:54:29,680 But we've got to restore this view of Christian marriage. 821 00:54:29,680 --> 00:54:33,200 We've got to have God change our minds about marriage if we think 822 00:54:33,200 --> 00:54:35,360 that marriage is not useful, that marriage should not be 823 00:54:35,360 --> 00:54:38,440 pursued, or any of those kinds of things because God wants to 824 00:54:38,440 --> 00:54:44,640 use marriage most often. There are cases of singleness 825 00:54:44,640 --> 00:54:51,440 and celibacy and the like, but they're fringe accounts in 826 00:54:51,440 --> 00:54:55,240 Scripture. Most often, God wants to use 827 00:54:55,240 --> 00:54:57,760 marriages to bring you to a place where you can be naked and 828 00:54:57,760 --> 00:55:01,360 unashamed to get. It's going to sanctify you 829 00:55:01,360 --> 00:55:11,410 through your marriage. It is one of the great benefits 830 00:55:13,210 --> 00:55:16,010 of sexual intercourse, It really is. 831 00:55:17,210 --> 00:55:19,810 And I won't go any further than that because of the the nature 832 00:55:19,810 --> 00:55:21,090 of the congregation this morning. 833 00:55:21,090 --> 00:55:27,390 But that's a part of what God's doing to restore being naked and 834 00:55:27,390 --> 00:55:32,230 unashamed, to bless marriages, to to bring them together that 835 00:55:32,230 --> 00:55:34,870 they would 2 flesh's become one flesh. 836 00:55:37,270 --> 00:55:38,950 And we ought to praise God for this. 837 00:55:39,870 --> 00:55:42,150 And This is why the marriage bed should be undefiled. 838 00:55:42,310 --> 00:55:44,350 This is why you should save yourself for marriage. 839 00:55:44,350 --> 00:55:49,550 This is why you should commit your sexual engagement to your 840 00:55:49,550 --> 00:55:54,390 spouse only forever and if unmarried, to your future 841 00:55:54,390 --> 00:56:00,520 spouse, because God has created marriage for the godly 842 00:56:00,520 --> 00:56:08,000 progression, the maturation of your soul and for the 843 00:56:08,000 --> 00:56:13,880 preservation of societies. And then Paul, examining this 844 00:56:13,880 --> 00:56:18,920 mystery in Ephesians 5, will preach at another day, but has 845 00:56:18,920 --> 00:56:22,350 to be mentioned here. Paul's looking at the mystery of 846 00:56:22,350 --> 00:56:25,270 marriage, this mystery of a man leaving his mother and father 847 00:56:25,270 --> 00:56:30,510 being joined to his wife. And he says, essentially that 848 00:56:30,510 --> 00:56:35,190 the mystery of the marriage union from creation reveals the 849 00:56:35,190 --> 00:56:38,310 union of Christ and the church in the new creation. 850 00:56:39,870 --> 00:56:45,590 As we become in the fall, you become a Sinner. 851 00:56:45,990 --> 00:56:58,090 You are bound to sin, and when Christ saves you, as we see in 852 00:56:58,090 --> 00:57:00,370 the New Testament, you become a new creation. 853 00:57:00,370 --> 00:57:03,130 In Christ Jesus. Old things pass away to hold. 854 00:57:03,130 --> 00:57:06,450 All things become new. You're now able to put off the 855 00:57:06,450 --> 00:57:09,290 old man, to put on the new man. You're able to live in a way 856 00:57:09,290 --> 00:57:13,570 that honors the Lord, right? Once you freely chose sin, now 857 00:57:13,570 --> 00:57:16,370 you can freely choose to live for the Lord because your your 858 00:57:16,370 --> 00:57:18,570 will is not bound to sinfulness anymore. 859 00:57:23,490 --> 00:57:28,130 Paul saying that that all of this that we see in marriage 860 00:57:28,410 --> 00:57:31,570 reveals to us the relationship of Christ in the church. 861 00:57:32,370 --> 00:57:35,410 He says in Ephesians 531 and 32. He says therefore a man shall 862 00:57:35,410 --> 00:57:37,930 leave his father and mother and hold faster his wife and the two 863 00:57:37,930 --> 00:57:43,530 shall become one flesh. So he's just quoting Genesis 224 864 00:57:43,530 --> 00:57:50,330 there verbatim word for word. And then in 32 he says this 865 00:57:50,330 --> 00:57:56,740 mystery is profound. So to marriage is a mystery, was 866 00:57:56,860 --> 00:57:58,620 a mystery. And now he's saying it's being 867 00:57:58,620 --> 00:58:00,580 revealed. He's saying I'm saying this 868 00:58:00,580 --> 00:58:08,220 refers to Christ and the church. And so born again believers, you 869 00:58:08,220 --> 00:58:11,980 have been united fully to Christ Jesus. 870 00:58:12,180 --> 00:58:14,420 He is the head. You are his body. 871 00:58:15,100 --> 00:58:18,860 We are one with him by the power of the Spirit within us. 872 00:58:18,900 --> 00:58:21,780 The same spirit which raised grace Christ from the dead now 873 00:58:21,780 --> 00:58:25,020 lives in us to raise us to new life in Christ. 874 00:58:25,300 --> 00:58:29,980 And then and Paul is saying the mystery of marriage, the fact 875 00:58:29,980 --> 00:58:32,660 that a man leaves his father and mother is joined to his wife. 876 00:58:32,660 --> 00:58:35,140 In this way the two become one flesh. 877 00:58:35,140 --> 00:58:36,420 And that's kind of the mystery, right? 878 00:58:36,420 --> 00:58:37,780 It's like how do they become one flesh? 879 00:58:38,580 --> 00:58:44,820 Paul is saying that that reveals Christ in the church as a as a 880 00:58:44,900 --> 00:58:49,380 as a man and woman, albeit imperfectly, dwell together in 881 00:58:49,380 --> 00:58:57,100 the union of marriage. It reveals to others Christ and 882 00:58:57,100 --> 00:58:59,220 His love for His bride, the Church. 883 00:59:01,260 --> 00:59:04,020 And we'll get into more of that and the weeks to come. 884 00:59:04,020 --> 00:59:06,460 But I want to leave you with that. 885 00:59:07,260 --> 00:59:09,460 And so this is my call to you today. 886 00:59:09,460 --> 00:59:15,140 And that because if you feel the weight of any of the sins we've 887 00:59:15,140 --> 00:59:22,350 named today, and the Lord is acting on you now by His Spirit 888 00:59:22,350 --> 00:59:26,310 through conviction, you need to repent today. 889 00:59:27,750 --> 00:59:30,070 You need to commit yourself to Christ Jesus. 890 00:59:30,550 --> 00:59:32,230 You need to make Him Lord of your life. 891 00:59:32,230 --> 00:59:36,190 If you've never done that before, you need to trust him 892 00:59:36,190 --> 00:59:38,190 fully for the forgiveness of your sins. 893 00:59:41,790 --> 00:59:45,950 He is. He is kind enough to forgive. 894 00:59:47,190 --> 00:59:52,870 He is loving enough to erase the effects of sin on your life. 895 00:59:55,230 --> 00:59:58,510 And so I I beg of you to submit yourself to him if you never 896 00:59:58,510 --> 01:00:01,430 have. If you're here today and you 897 01:00:01,430 --> 01:00:05,910 say, well, I am a believer, but I I'm bound by some of these 898 01:00:05,910 --> 01:00:10,230 things you've mentioned. My marriage isn't happy. 899 01:00:10,790 --> 01:00:14,910 Like, we struggle, we're having issues, we're going through it. 900 01:00:14,910 --> 01:00:16,310 You don't understand, right? Like. 901 01:00:17,870 --> 01:00:20,470 Any of those kinds of things. The Lord is acting on you now as 902 01:00:20,470 --> 01:00:23,510 well, to repent and to believe and to trust in him. 903 01:00:24,830 --> 01:00:33,830 And so I ask you to commit your life to Christ in that way, to 904 01:00:33,830 --> 01:00:36,390 trust him. God created marriage for the 905 01:00:36,390 --> 01:00:39,630 godly progression of the man and the woman, and for the 906 01:00:39,630 --> 01:00:43,630 preservation of societies. We're going to see more of that 907 01:00:43,630 --> 01:00:49,580 as we go through the series. But today we must respond in 908 01:00:49,580 --> 01:00:52,500 obedience. And so let me pray for you and 909 01:00:52,500 --> 01:00:56,540 then I'm going to give you a few moments just with some. 910 01:00:56,940 --> 01:00:59,100 I think the team will play instrumentally during that. 911 01:00:59,100 --> 01:01:02,220 But just a moment for you to pray and to seek the Lord as 912 01:01:02,220 --> 01:01:04,780 well, for you to deal with whatever the Lord's laying on 913 01:01:04,780 --> 01:01:07,220 your heart this morning let me pray for you. 914 01:01:07,220 --> 01:01:08,860 Heavenly Father we thank you for today. 915 01:01:11,060 --> 01:01:17,040 We thank you, Lord, for the love that you've shown us in Christ. 916 01:01:17,040 --> 01:01:20,600 And we ask, Lord, that you would help us to believe in him and to 917 01:01:20,600 --> 01:01:23,480 trust him today. And so, Lord, in whatever ways 918 01:01:23,480 --> 01:01:28,720 you're moving by your spirit on your people today, I pray, Lord, 919 01:01:28,720 --> 01:01:33,040 that you would help them to obey you, to repent and to believe 920 01:01:33,040 --> 01:01:36,400 today, to trust you in whatever ways they need to. 921 01:01:43,290 --> 01:01:47,450 Father, we love you and we thank you that you love us. 922 01:01:49,380 --> 01:01:53,060 Help us to recover a high view of marriage, especially our own 923 01:01:53,500 --> 01:01:56,100 marriages or the pursuit of our own marriages. 924 01:01:59,340 --> 01:02:04,420 Helps to do that hard work of believing in you and trusting 925 01:02:04,420 --> 01:02:08,500 you and prayerfully depending upon you, and then acting in 926 01:02:08,500 --> 01:02:13,540 faith and what we say and then what we do so that our homes 927 01:02:13,540 --> 01:02:17,100 might be fruitful places for your Kingdom. 928 01:02:19,130 --> 01:02:21,570 Lord, we love here. It's in the name of Christ, I 929 01:02:21,570 --> 01:02:22,530 pray. Amen.