Marriage 2

Introduction

God has a higher view of marriage than anyone else:

Matthew 19:1-10 “And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these sayings, he departed from Galilee, and came into the coasts of Judaea beyond Jordan; And great multitudes followed him; and he healed them there. The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except i…”

God designed marriage

Genesis 2:24 “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”

So many marriages are on the verge of collapsing this evening becasue people are going to Oprah, Dr. Phil, Maury Povich, Jerry Springer, godless marriage counselors or therapist or people who do not know or understand the God who designed marriage or the purpose of marriage.

Gene Kranz: Well, we're gonna have to figure it out. I want people in our simulators working re-entry scenarios. I want you guys to find every engineer who designed every switch, every circuit, every transistor and every light bulb that's up there, then I want you to talk to the guy in the assembly line who had actually built the thing. Find out how to squeeze every amp out of both of these goddamn machines. I want this mark [draws dotted line from halfway mark to Earth] all the way back to Earth with time to spare. We never lost an American in space, we're sure as hell not gonna lose one on my watch! Failure is not an option!

God divinely unites 2 people into 1

Mark 10:8-9 “And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.”

The fundamental problem with society is people do not fear God.

Ecclesiastes 12:13 “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.”

Godless do not fear God, and godly people struggle with fearing God

Genesis 20:11 “And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife’s sake.”

Marriage points to something greater than marriage.

God knows everything

He knows the end from the beginning - Isaiah 46:10 “Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times the things that are not yet done, Saying, My counsel shall stand, And I will do all my pleasure:”

God did not develop the plan of life as He went on.

This means when God created the institution of marriage in the Garden of Eden, before sin ever arrived, God knew what the institution of marriage would typify.

What does the institution of marriage typify?

Genesis 2:23-24 “And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”

Ephesians 5:31-32 “For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.”

God the Father loves the Son, both wanted to share this love with creation. The manifestation of this love is Jesus as the groom loving His bride, the picture of this is marriage.

Marriage points people to God’s glorious love for His bride.

Love

Ephesians 5:25 “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;”

means to love unconditionally and sacrificially reflecting the love that God Himself is.

It is a command, not a suggestion!

Colossians 3:19 “Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.”

Titus 2:4 “That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,”

Love

Fond of your husband

Present tense - Continually be

Active voice (subject exerts action by a volitional choice) signifies that the young wife is to exhibit a willing determined love that is not based on a husband’s worthiness but on God’s instructions for order in the home.