Husbands and Wives - Paradise

Husbands and Wives - Match Made in Paradise

INTRODUCTION

Text: Genesis 2:15–25

Genesis 2:15–25 KJV 1900

15 And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. 18 And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. 19 And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. 20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. 21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; 22 And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. 23 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. 24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. 25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

Series: Real Relationships — now moving from church relationships into the home.

Foundational truth: Marriage is one of the greatest relationships outside of salvation, but as I’m sure that you know, it is a type and a picture of the results of salvation!

There are numerous examples of marriages throughout the Bible; however, none of them were perfect by any stretch of the imagination.

Only perfect marriage in Scripture: Revelation 19 — Marriage of the Lamb. Perfect not because of the church, but all because of Jesus!

Revelation 19:7–9 KJV 1900

7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. 8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. 9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

You see, without Christ, we were just like Ruth, the Shulamite girl who had no inheritance, no right to anything except the land of Moab, but in Christ we have our kinsman redeemer who has received us unto Himself as a bride and made us to be joint heirs with Him.

But here's the thing, when you begin to go back from Genesis all the way to Revelation and in between there, you'll find a lot of marriages that take place in your Bible.

You'll find a lot of men being married to women. Ceremonies taking place and marriage is happening, but outside of Revelation chapter 19, you won't find a perfect one.

You won't find one that had some issues and some problems with it. And so in essence, you can't go and look and say in its entirety, I want a marriage just like David. Well, David definitely, David was bold, right? He stood before Goliath and he slew a giant and he reigned over Israel. But do you want David and Bathsheba in your story? No, I don't want that in mine.

Well, what about Abraham, right? Abraham has a great marriage until he gets to lying and calling his wife his sister, right? Not to mention How many of y'all want that in your marriage? How many of you want your husband to walk out and introduce you as his sister? Right, no, that won’t fly, we don't want that.

Well, we want the wisdom of Solomon, don't we? Right, we've been talking about it on Sunday night. We want the wisdom, God's wisdom. But how many want his concubines and wives to go with it? Right, so we understand that there are some good things that we can tell you.

Even in the New Testament, you think about Ananias and Sapphira. For a while there, they are serving the Lord and they're doing a great work for the things of God until they start lying about what they're given. And the Bible tells us that they both die within a very short time of each other because they are lied to the Holy Ghost.

And so we would say, well, I want to serve the Lord with my spouse, no doubt, but I don't want to experience that. And so one of the things we have to understand today is that there is no such thing as a perfect, without error, without faults, without failures, marriage.

Why, preacher? Because we all have a sin nature. And anytime you get man or woman involved who has a sin nature, perfection goes far out the window.

We all know married people and other married couples, and there's some things no doubt, we'd probably say, you know what? What they got or what they have, we definitely should incorporate that into our marriage and try to practice that in our marriage.

But at the same time, we don't want the same problems they have, Every marriage has problems and issues.

I am not here today to tell you how to have a perfect marriage to your spouse this morning, but I do want to help you in your marriage to seek Christ as the foundation of your marriage.

What we'll see here today as we get into the book of Genesis, that there is a marriage that takes place in the Garden of Eden. In essence, it takes place in a perfect place, and I'm not trying to necessarily call it paradise in forms of prophecy and whatnot, but in essence, it was a wonderful place. It was God's creation, and man had yet to fall, and in essence, it was perfect, and it was right, and it was wonderful.

But even that marriage wasn't perfect. Even that marriage wasn't one that lasted without problems and issues.

I. THE MATCH MADE IN PARADISE

Notice, if you look at Genesis chapter number two, there's two things that Adam had before he got married.

(Genesis 2)

A. Adam had a job (v. 15)

Adam had a job.

He was to name creation. He was to name the animals that God had given him, but also in verse number 15, God put him in the garden of Eden and told him to dress it and keep it, take care of it.

So rule number one, if you're looking for a prospective spouse, do they have a job?

Preacher, no, no, no, no, no. We can survive on love. Tell that to the power company. Hey, we ain't got your money this month, but we sure do love each other. Y'all gonna love each other in the dark.

Right, and that's a practical truth, and why is that necessary? Here's the thing, if a man is not willing to work, Right, and I'm not talking about when injuries happen or different things like that, sickness and whatnot, but there is no work ethic, there is no desire to go out and provide and to work. Nothing's gonna change the moment you say I do. Right, nothing's gonna change that way.

Biblically speaking, it was right and proper for a prospective groom to pay a dowry and have a place prepared for his prospective bride. The bridegroom’s family paid a bride price to the bride’s family, and during the betrothal period—usually lasting a year—the man prepared a home for his bride.

Bro. Ryan, what does this have to do with the story? Adam did not have to pay God for his bride, to which I would respond that you are absolutely correct; however, it took Adam doing the work that God instructed for him in order to realize that something was missing.

The dowry served as a marriage present that ensured the new wife’s financial security against the possibility her husband might forsake her or die, with the husband-to-be or his father paying this bride price to the bride’s father to be kept for the bride.

I believe that God was using this to teach us even millennia later that there is a right process to endeavor in marriage.

One day, prayerfully, I will have the privilege to give my daughter’s hand in marriage to one that has “paid the dowry” so to speak. I’m here to tell you, that as a father of a precious blessing, I want that man to do what is needed, not just to win the prize, but to do it because it is the right thing to do regardless.

God was teaching Adam, and us, priorities. As men we would do well to understand this.

To dress and keep the garden.

To name the animals (vv. 19–20).

Practical application: A man must have a work ethic.

B. Adam had a command (vv. 16–17)

Another thing to look for in a prospective spouse, young people.

Not only should they have a good work ethic, but they ought to know what God's word says.

Well, preacher, I asked them their testimony. They said they were saved.

Well, what do you mean? Well, I asked them. They just simply said, yes. I'm saying, no, no, no, no, no. You gotta go a little bit further. When did you get saved? Where did you get saved? How old were you? What happened that day? And then say, well, what's your favorite Bible verse? If they say, well, I just like all of them. Well, name one. Right? Name one, get specific with it. What does it mean? How does it bless you in your life today?

Because listen, if you're looking for a husband and you're looking for a godly man to raise and to love you and protect you, then they need to know God's word because this is the only way you can do that.

And listen men and boys, if you want to be somebody's knight in shining armor, preacher, I want to be this, I want to be that, then you better get in the word of God.

Right, because if your family's gonna hold together, it's gonna be through the word of God.

Can I say just as much as a church needs a pastor who is in the word of God, who knows the word of God, who believes the word of God, entrusts the word of God, the church doesn't just need that. Every home needs it, too, in the dad or in the husband.

It isn’t just so that you can flex and spout off all the books of the Bible without slipping up, it isn’t just so everyone in church can see how “holy” and knowledgeable you are on biblical history and principles. It is so that you stand ready to protect your family from the dangers of this world.

God’s command concerning the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Application: A prospective spouse should know the Word of God.

C. Adam had a need (v. 18)

See, Adam was trying to find his satisfaction in his job, in his responsibility.

Boy, I got a lot of animals to name. I got a lot of trees to upkeep. I got a lot of garden to be dressing. but there came a point in time when work was done. He had named all the animals, all the trees had been taken care of, the garden had been dressed, and Adam said, now that I have nothing to do, I realize how lonely I really am.

But see, God already knew that. He said, it's not good for man to be alone.

Do you wonder why one of the greatest institutions that they are targeting in our modern day is the marriage between a man and a woman? It isn't because it's not fair to the homosexual crowd because they don't get a tax break like regular married folk do. And it's not because it's not fair because they don't have the same rights and the same privileges that we have as married people in America.

Let me ask you, what freedom don't they have? What right don't they have that you and I have today? But why I preach, it's not a government, it's a biblical issue. Satan knows if I'm gonna attack anything, I'm gonna attack the home.

And once the home falls apart, the church falls apart. Once the home and the church fall apart, society falls apart. We've seen it happen over and over in history.

But what we'll see here is that he understood Adam was alone and God said, I will make him a “help meet”.

I will give him somebody that he can share his life with, somebody that he can live with, somebody he can enjoy their company.

He was, in essence, he was just more aware of what he was missing. Adam thought, maybe I'm missing an animal, maybe I missed a bush somewhere.

God said, no, I know what you're missing. Boy, how many are glad tonight that God knows what we need? long before we need it.

And here's the thing, we know something's missing sometimes, and we try to bury ourselves in work, and we try to bury ourselves in activity.

Sooner or later that work's gonna run out, that activity's gonna be done, and we're gonna have to make the realization that hey, something is missing.

God recognized Adam’s need for companionship before Adam did.

Satan attacks the home because if the home falls, the church and society fall.

D. God created Eve (vv. 21–22)

So you go down to verse number 21.

God puts Adam to sleep. in verse number 21, and he took one of his ribs and closed it thereof.

And notice this, well, why? Why would God take a rib?

Well, there's a few opinions, there's a few types and pictures and some great truth we can pull out of this.

Well, your ribs guard your vital organs. Right, it guards your lungs, guards your heart and your liver and all that is tangled up somehow inside of your ribcage.

Why the rib? Well, it guards the vital organs.

So God is taking it from the innermost part of Adam, so to speak.

He can't take his heart because he'll die without that. He can't take his other organs because he needs those, but rather he takes something from the inside to say, Adam, this woman that I've created for you,

Boy, you and her are gonna love each other more than you love those animals and more than you love your job and more than you love this creation.

He said, you're gonna love her more because she is part of you. You are one flesh, you are together in this.

And then there's also a great illustration. Why the rib? Why did he take it out of Adam's head? Well, the woman was never meant to lord over the man.

Well, then why did he take it out of his feet? Because the man was never meant to walk over the woman. He took it out of the rib, why? So they could be side by side, together on a journey.

Eve taken from Adam’s rib — symbolism:

Not from the head (not to rule over him).

Not from the feet (not to be trampled).

From the side (to walk with him).

From near the heart (to be loved).

E. Adam’s response (v. 23)

Adam wakes up and he says, whoa, man. You're the best thing I've ever seen. You're absolutely amazing.

But she wasn't like anything else. He said, I looked at all the animals, the fowl of the air, and every living creature. He said, woo, you are different.

Here's the interesting thing.

They got married and not even know when the marriage was. I'm gonna marry you, what is that? I don't know, but that's what we're gonna do. God put them together. But notice here, verse number 23, she wasn’t like anything else

“Bone of my bones… flesh of my flesh.”

She shall be called woman.

F. The marriage pattern (v. 24)

There's this process given to us in verse number 24.

One that a man shall leave his father and his mother. Right, you leave out of that home situation.

Now, and here's the thing, you come to me and say, preacher, I'm gonna get married, but we're gonna move in with my mom and dad.

I'm gonna tell you no. I don't think that's right. Now I'm not talking about in extenuating circumstances, but that goes back to the thing, you've got to be ready for this and prepared for this.

I believe it is the best for a man and a woman to get married to have their own place. They can start their own life. Don’t just forget mom and dad, I'm never talking to you again.

But now his responsibility is to his bride. into his own family. So there's this leave process. Then there's this cleave process.

They are to become one flesh and they are to be joined together. With this, God added a weave process. You weave your lives together. They should be one flesh.

Leave father and mother.

Cleave to wife.

Weave lives together (one flesh).

G. Innocence in marriage (v. 25)

Then verse number 25 tells us, because of how this took place and how they were able to stand before the Lord, there is absolutely nothing wrong with marriage.

It's God's institution. It's by God's design. And so tonight, as you have become married, as you are a married couple, become one flesh, realize that it is God's design and God's plan for your life to be so.

Not that there's not problems in your marriage, but the institution of marriage tonight is absolutely perfect. It's by God's design.

And so number one, we see this match made in paradise. They literally being two perfect people with a free will, understand the Bible says that they were perfect in their physicality, but yet God had given them a free will because God doesn't want us to be robots. And they were married in a perfect place.

Marriage is God’s design and institution.

II. THE MESS UP IN PARADISE

There's one who's constantly coming against you. Right, it'd be one thing if we were just trying to learn more about each other, we're cleaving. But at the same time we are cleaving, Satan himself is gonna creep in and do his best to split you apart. To take you apart as a couple, so to speak.

I want to say this, God commanded Adam to tend the garden and dress it. Does God ever say, “Adam, you tend the garden, dress the garden oh except for that one tree that I told you not to eat of.”?

We like to think that well, all I have to do is stay away from the sin; however, we never put up safeguards in place to prevent. Let me give you an illustration.

I would think in my mind, well, that's the tree that God said we're not supposed to eat it of, y'all get me some wood together, we're gonna build a fence around it. We're gonna build guardrails around it, right? We're gonna put a sign 10 feet from it, do not go any further. Do not enter in, don't go near it. God said not to eat it. Well, that's wonderful, that sounds great, but how come you don't do that in your life now?

Sometime in the last couple years or so, Mississippi passed a law that went into place that requires some type of e-verification method to prove that you are at least 18 years of age to get into pornographic websites as well as other gambling sites etc. which honestly I think is great, but just like my Dad used to tell me, “A lock only keeps an honest man out.” There are ways around this protective barrier, and as a parent, are you aware of these things?

I believe God will not tempt man to sin, but I believe that in the tending and dressing process, we are to be aware of the loopholes and little tricks that there are to better protect our families. You can be quite aware of the consequences and avenues of sin without partaking in it.

Genesis 3 KJV 1900

1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. 9 And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? 10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. 11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? 12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. 13 And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. 14 And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: 15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. 16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. 17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. 20 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living. 21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them. 22 And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: 23 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. 24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

A. Satan’s subtlety (3:1)

Genesis 3:1–4 KJV 1900

1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

Questions God’s Word: “Yea, hath God said…?”

B. Eve’s misquotation (3:2–3)

Now understand there's a slight misquotation here in Genesis chapter number three, verse number three.

Now God did say you shall not eat of it. But if you go back to the command that he gave to Adam in Genesis chapter number two, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for the day that thou eatest, thou shalt surely die.

Eve said, oh, Adam said that not only can we not eat of it, we can't touch it either. Now God never said that, but obviously, here is Eve, she is quoting or misquoting what Adam has told her, and in doing so, she's lost her security of the authority of God's word. because obviously she touches it. Obviously she eats it.

What I want you to take away from this is this. Be secure in the word of God. Know what it says and be sure of what it says. This is why it is so important that we do not add to nor take away from it, because when the lines of sin are blurred, you begin to be uncertain of what is sin and what is not.

I am fairly convinced that Eve was convinced that she was not to even touch that tree or the fruit, which is honestly I believe good practice, but I can’t help but wonder if the moment Eve picked the fruit and touched that fruit, she told herself “wait a minute, nothing happened. So maybe there is something to what this serpent is telling me.” So she then takes a bite from the fruit, actually disobeying God’s command.

Adds “neither shall ye touch it.”

Shows loss of confidence and security in God’s exact Word.

C. Satan’s contradiction (3:4–5)

Satan takes his eye off the tree and he puts it on Eve specifically in verse number four. Ye shall not surely die. In essence, he's telling Eve, listen, you won't really die.

Do you really think God would make you? and give you to Adam and let y'all marry one another and then just let you die? You shall not surely die. That's nonsense, Eve.

God is love. And he is. But he's also righteous. He's just and he's holy.

And so we see Satan changed the focus. All that they did have, not just on the tree, but he said, God won't kill you, and he'd be awfully mean if he did.

Actually, it's pretty mean that he won't let you eat of that tree. Now, Eve already told him that we could eat of every tree in the garden except for that one. And Satan says, well, if God really loved you, he'd let you eat of that. He'd give it to you. He wouldn't hurt you like that, take that away from you.

“Ye shall not surely die.”

Shifts focus from God’s goodness to God’s supposed unfairness.

D. The temptation (3:6)

Good for food.

Pleasant to the eyes.

Desired to make one wise.

Eve eats and gives to Adam “with her.”

E. Adam’s silence

I always thought Eve's over here by herself, and here comes Satan subtly sneaking into the garden. He beguiles her, and she takes a bite of it, and she runs back to Adam and says, Adam, you gotta try a bite of this.

But verse number six, notice what it says. and she gave also her husband with her. Very well meaning that Adam was sitting right there the whole time.

Not fulfilling his obligation as the leader of his home. To say, Eve, you don't need to listen to that no more. Eve, he's wrong. Eve, please, don't do that. God said we are not to eat of that tree.

But his silence says a lot. And his action speaks even louder.

He fails to lead, warn, or intervene.

F. Immediate consequences (3:7)

How long did it take for sin to take its effect? The next verse.

And the eyes of them were both opened. And they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. It's amazing how all of a sudden sin comes in., and the very thing that they have already stood and done before God, they say it's wrong.

We need to cover up. We need to hide. We need to get away from here. Also, I want to point out, an apron doesn’t do a very good job of really covering anything up. I’m sure you have all seen my son Oakley running around the church with one of the aprons wearing it as a cape, but imagine an apron like that wouldn’t cover very much up if the one wearing it was naked.

So we see there's a great mess in paradise. They knew and realized what they had done. They attempted to cover it up.

Eyes opened.

Realization of nakedness.

Attempt to cover themselves with fig leaves.

G. Blame shifting (3:12–13)

And then also, later on, they attempted to blame each other. Adam says, well, Lord, you gave me a woman. And Eve says, well, it was Satan's fault. God holds them both accountable.

Adam blames Eve.

Adam also blames God.

Eve blames the serpent.

III. MERCY IN PARADISE

(Genesis 3:8–24)

A. God confronts them (3:8–11)

God comes walking in the garden.

Asks questions:

“Where art thou?”

“Who told thee…?”

“Hast thou eaten…?”

B. God comforts them with a promise (3:15)

Protoevangelium — first promise of a Redeemer.

“It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

C. God gives consequences (3:16–19)

To the woman (v. 16):

Multiplied sorrow in conception.

Pain in childbirth.

Husbandly authority reaffirmed.

To the man (vv. 17–19):

Ground cursed.

Labor becomes toil.

Sweat, thorns, thistles.

Physical death pronounced.

D. God clothes them (3:21)

Look at verse number 21. Unto Adam and also unto his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins and clothed them. That's a wonderful picture of salvation.

Why? Adam and Eve didn't do nothing. They just got honest about their sin. They got honest about what had happened, what they did, and God comforted them.

And he clothed them. He sacrificed an animal. I firmly believe it was a lamb.

Why, I think if you go through the context of Scripture, through its entirety, it's always been a lamb.

Coats of skins — picture of atonement.

Their fig leaves (works) were insufficient.

E. Adam names his wife (3:20)

All this has taken place, and Adam hasn't given Eve a name yet. He's just been calling her woman. She probably got tired of that.

Quit calling me woman. No, look at verse number 20. And Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.

Well, preacher, what's significant about that? Well, they were supposed to die. Thou shalt certainly die. They probably thought it was physical death. God would wipe them out. But in verse number 15, he made a promise between thy seed and her seed, it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel. Promise of redeemer.

Adam said, listen, woman, we've messed up. We've done wrong. But God has been gracious to us. He's given us a promise that one day he'll send his son. and one day he'll send a redeemer for us. He said, I'm gonna believe God's promise. Therefore, your name's gonna be Eve, because you're gonna be the mother of all living.

And one of those lives that comes down that line will be God's promise, will be the Messiah, will be the one that God sends to pay for our sin debt.

Calls her Eve — “mother of all living.”

Act of faith in God’s promise (v. 15).

CONCLUSION

Preacher, if there isn't a perfect marriage, what's the secret to a good one? What's the secret to one that glorifies God and brings honor to his name?

We find it in the naming of Eve.

Listen, we can go into marriage or we can live our marriages and we can always bring up what the other person's done. We can live in the past of our mistakes and our failures and all the things we didn't know before we got married and all the things we're still learning, all that, we can live there and not like a single second of it.

Or you could say, you know what, I'm not gonna live there. That's not what's gonna guide and direct our marriage. Rather, we're gonna go to God's word and we're gonna find us some promises that are gonna guide and govern our marriage.

Preacher, what's the secret to a good marriage? You're gonna have to get in there and find the promises and then apply those to your marriage.

The secret to a strong marriage is not perfection but building on God’s promises.

Adam and Eve chose to build their future on God’s promise of redemption rather than on their failure.

The same must be true in every Christian marriage.

The Human Condition:

All people have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory (Rom 3:23), and sin’s consequence is death (Rom 6:23). This universal predicament establishes humanity’s desperate need for divine intervention.

God’s Initiative:

Rather than leaving humanity to its fate, God demonstrated His love toward us while we were still sinners through Christ’s death (Rom 5:8). God gave His only begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16). Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life,” and no one comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6).

Salvation Through Grace:

Salvation comes by grace through faith, not from ourselves—it is God’s gift, not earned through works (Eph 2:8–9). God saves us not through our righteous deeds but according to His mercy, through regeneration and the Holy Spirit’s renewal (Titus 3:5).

Personal Response:

Salvation requires active response from the individual. One must confess Jesus as Lord with their mouth and believe in their heart that God raised Him from the dead—the heart believes unto righteousness, and the mouth confesses unto salvation (Rom 10:9–10). Peter instructed people to repent and be baptized in Jesus’s name for the remission of sins, receiving the Holy Spirit’s gift (Acts 2:38). Whoever calls upon the Lord’s name shall be saved (Rom 10:13).

Transformation and Assurance:

Those who receive Christ gain the power to become God’s children through believing in His name (John 1:12). Anyone in Christ becomes a new creation—old things pass away and all things become new (2 Cor 5:17). Those who hear Christ’s word and believe in the Father have everlasting life and pass from death into life (John 5:24).