Master Bedroom
Behind Closed Doors • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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INTRO:
ILLUSTRATION:
Have you ever stuck out like a sore thumb?
Pastor Rick on the moped amongst all these Harley’s on the way to the flat track race at Scott County Fair Grounds. LOL
For the lips of an immoral woman are as sweet as honey,
and her mouth is smoother than oil.
But in the end she is as bitter as poison,
as dangerous as a double-edged sword.
Drink water from your own well— share your love only with your wife.
Why spill the water of your springs in the streets, having sex with just anyone?
You should reserve it for yourselves. Never share it with strangers.
Let your wife be a fountain of blessing for you. Rejoice in the wife of your youth.
She is a loving deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts satisfy you always. May you always be captivated by her love.
Both songs today dealt with promises and God being faithful
GOD IS A COVENANT GOD.
Covenant with Adam in the garden - Made man, created Eve, establish boundaries, humanity violated them.
Covenant with Noah in the rainbow
Covenant with Abraham
Covenant with Moses
Covenant with David
New Covenant established by Jesus with His blood.
WE SHOULD BE A COVENANT PEOPLE
A “covenant” is an agreement enacted between two parties in which one or both make promises under oath to perform or refrain from certain actions stipulated in advance.
The Hebrew word for Covenant (Berith) means “To Cut” it’s not made it’s cut! It’s an arrangement, contract, agreement,
God cut the rib (A SEED) from Adam’s side and created Eve.
Blood is often used to establish a covenant between two parties.
Marriage is not a contract but a covenant.
To marry by contract is to say, “Now that I’ve signed, what do I get?” The focus is on receiving, or on mutual exchange, at best.
To marry by covenant is to say, “I am giving myself to you unconditionally.” The focus is on giving, even during the inevitable times in marriage and any long-term relationship when one or both partners are getting nothing in return.
In a contract two become connected until the agreement is broken.
In a covenant two become committed until death parts them.
Contracts are enforced by courts.
Covenants are enforced by character.
A contract calls for the signing of names;
A covenant calls for the binding of hearts.
Marriage was created by God to be a lifelong and exclusive covenant of love and dedication, leading to children and family if possible, between one man and one woman.
Didn’t the Lord make you one with your wife? In body and spirit you are his. And what does he want? Godly children from your union. So guard your heart; remain loyal to the wife of your youth.
Covenant demands the death of two wills and the birth of one.
“ME” becomes “WE” never to be separated again.
Since they are no longer two but one, let no one split apart what God has joined together.”
1. THE COVENANT OF MARRIAGE IS TO BE TAKEN SERIOUS
The Hebrew word for covenant is berith, which connotes a cutting of the flesh causing blood to flow out. The Hebrew act of “cutting covenant” was so serious that it was inaugurated with blood.
Old Testament - The shedding of the blood of sacrificed animals
New Testament - The blood of Jesus on the cross were acts of covenant.
The virgin female bleeds when she has sex for the first time cutting through the skin, establishing a covenant with her husband.
Virginity is not something taken very serious anymore. It is because they don’t understand the sacredness of the blood covenant that God created.
In Malachi, God identified marriage as a covenant that cannot be broken without serious consequences.
Here is another thing you do. You cover the Lord’s altar with tears, weeping and groaning because he pays no attention to your offerings and doesn’t accept them with pleasure.
You cry out, “Why doesn’t the Lord accept my worship?” I’ll tell you why! Because the Lord witnessed the vows you and your wife made when you were young. But you have been unfaithful to her, though she remained your faithful partner, the wife of your marriage vows.
Didn’t the Lord make you one with your wife? In body and spirit you are his. And what does he want? Godly children from your union. So guard your heart; remain loyal to the wife of your youth.
“For I hate divorce!” says the Lord, the God of Israel. “To divorce your wife is to overwhelm her with cruelty,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “So guard your heart; do not be unfaithful to your wife.”
The Hebrew word for being united or joined together means “to cleave, cling, or stick.”
The corresponding Greek word means to be “glued” together.
Covenant marriage partners, permanently bonded, will not come “unglued” when trials and pressures come against the marriage.
But for those who are married, I have a command that comes not from me, but from the Lord. A wife must not leave her husband.
But if she does leave him, let her remain single or else be reconciled to him. And the husband must not leave his wife.
Now, I will speak to the rest of you, though I do not have a direct command from the Lord. If a fellow believer has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to continue living with him, he must not leave her.
And if a believing woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to continue living with her, she must not leave him.
Paul talks about separated persons remaining unmarried. This helps to show that marriage, according to Paul, was meant to be a one-time event.
The Bible tells us that God will set aside the covenant for: adultery and death.
Legally, a modern day covenant marriages (only available in a few states) can be broken by abuse, felony, or adultery, but not “falling out of love.”
2. THE COVENANT OF MARRIAGE IS SACRED
Christian marriage is a triangle—it takes three for two to become one.
God holds us accountable for the vows we make to each other on our wedding day.
Promises made at the wedding altar place us into a sacred covenant witnessed by God Himself.
ILLUSTRATION: Jalopies
Some people love to drive old cars. I know a man and wife in Aledo who spend lots of time and money renovating and driving around in a 1934 Studebaker Commander. They love antique cars. They drove it all the way to Texas. While they enjoy it, some people might think their they’re crazy to spend that much time, money and energy on an “Old Jalopy”. There are faster, sleeker, more comfortable modern cars out there. Many of them are lined up behind them just waiting for the opportunity to pass them and go on their merry way unhindered by these throw-backs to yesteryear vehicles.
When Christians today prioritize biblical teachings and apply them to marriage, they seem as out of touch with the modern world as an antique car enthusiasts.
Despite the attitudes of the world, we have to look at Christian marriage as a precious antique, a treasure from the past, not a jalopy!
God considers marriage sacred. We should respect our marriages, not taking them lightly like the world often does, and to see them as lifelong covenants.
3. THE COVENANT OF MARRIAGE IS SACRIFICIAL
There is no such thing as covenant without sacrifice, and marriage is designed to be the most sacrificial of all relationships.
Covenant represents total surrender and involves the merging of one’s life into another. This biblical image of “two becoming one” does not deny personal identity, but it allows the development of a wonderful diversity.
Selfishness is one of the root causes of marital conflicts. Therefore, the key to a successful and lasting marriage is for the individuals’ wills to die.
It takes a lot of dying for a marriage to live.
“Me-ness” must become “we-ness.” The more unselfish we are, the happier we will be in our marriage.
Paul started out the principles of marriage to the Church in Corinth with Sexual Immorality as the main reason for marriage
Now regarding the questions you asked in your letter. Yes, it is good to abstain from sexual relations.
But because there is so much sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman should have her own husband.
The husband should fulfill his wife’s sexual needs, and the wife should fulfill her husband’s needs.
The wife gives authority over her body to her husband, and the husband gives authority over his body to his wife.
According to Paul we lose authority over our bodies sexually when we marry. This does not give a license to abuse! It’s a right for use.
Because we enter into a covenant and sacred sexual relationship, we have the divine right to have our sexual needs fulfilled within the boundaries of scripture, love, and mutual respect.
Poor sexual relationships in marriage make spouses more susceptible to sexual temptations. Healthy sexual relationships in marriage satisfy normal sexual needs, thereby guarding against adultery.
Frequency of sex is not determined by one person, it must be a mutual agreement
Chains do not hold a marriage together. It is threads, hundreds of tiny threads which sew people together through the years. - Simone Signoret
ILLUSTRATION: You can’t withdraw money from a bank account where you have not made a deposit. Love is often viewed the same way. Love banking involves making more emotional deposits than taking emotional withdrawals from a relationship. Recent research shows that couples need up to twenty positive interactions to outweigh one negative interaction. A lot of marital conflict results when a spouse feels “used”—is giving while the other is only taking.
CONCLUSION:
GOD IS A GOD OF SECOND CHANCES AND FORGIVENESS
SALVATION:
The Covenants of God reveal His faithfulness and commitment to redeem us
We broke the covenant and He pursued us
Jesus fulfilled the covenant and laid down His life for us on Calvary
When we place our faith in Jesus we become partakers of the new covenant and experience everlasting life with God.
MARRIAGE:
This is one of the most tested relationships
Biblical marriage is a huge target for Satan. He wants to kill, steal, and destroy your marriage.
Marriages in the US are struggling, even in the church
The best way to become a better husband or better wife; better father or better mother...is to become a better son or daughter of God.
Marriage is a serious commitment; it is a lifelong covenant. When we are married, we vow to be with another person in sickness and in health, for better or for worse.
My Prayer for you is that God would help you to keep the vows and commitments you have made and that god would give you wisdom and grace in every situation concerning your marriage covenant …
