Sermon Tone Analysis

Matthew 19:1-12

Introduction

It used to be that the air was clean and sexual immorality was dirty

Divorce has become pandemic, to the point that hardly a person can be found who has not been affected by it either directly or indirectly.

Each year in the United States there are well over one million divorces, and beneath the rubble of those numbing statistics lie the crushed lives of men, women, and children.

For every million divorces, there are two million adults and several more million children who are directly involved.

This message is directed to those who are married or have yet to be married.

This is not a condemnation of those who have suffered through divorce.

We must teach our children God’s standards to protect them from the disaster of immorality.

Background

Representing the liberal Pharisaic view was rabbi Hillel.

He taught that a man could divorce his wife for the most trivial of reasons, for such things as taking her hair down in public or talking to other men and even for burning the bread or putting too much salt in the food.

For her to speak ill of her mother-in-law or to be infertile were more than sufficient grounds for divorce.

At the other extreme was an opposing and much less influential faction of rabbis, represented by a certain Shammai, who maintained that divorce was never permissible.

\\ 1A.

The Foundation for a Lasting Marriage (19:4-5)

1B.

The primacy of the marriage (19:4)

God ordained marriage in the Garden of Eden

Ø      Marriage is the first institution ordained by God

Marriage did not originate with man

God created one man for one woman.

In the Hebrew text of Genesis 1:27, both male and female are in the emphatic position, giving the sense of “the one male and the one female.”

2B.

The priority of the marriage (19:5a)

The Hebrew word (/dabaq/) behind *joined to* refers to a strong bonding together of objects and often was used to represent gluing or cementing.

Parents are to be honored but they are not primary

Children are to be loved but they are not primary

Career~/business is important but it is not primary

Mate to mate is the highest earthly relationship!

3B.

The purpose marriage (19:5b)

Marriage is a designed to bring fulfillment

A husband and a wife are like a violin and bow.

Marriage is designed to bring enjoyment

Ø      Family Research Council, 72% of married traditionalist reported sexual satisfaction.

This was 33% higher than single non-traditionalist

Ø      God gave us sex not only for procreation but for communion, joy and communication, and intimacy.

4B.

The permanence marriage (19:6)

One man for one woman until death do them part!

\\ 2A.

The Fidelity of a Lasting Marriage (19:7-9)

1B.

Sexual Immorality is a sin against yourself

*1 Corinthians 6:18* “Flee sexual immorality.

Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.”

The sin of immorality is unique - it is supremely harmful

Social diseases based in immorality

Ø      Safe sex? - Sex was never meant to be dangerous

Ø      Sex was meant to be sacred!

God forgives nature never does!

2B.

Sexual Immorality is a sin against the home

The man who commits adultery tells his children…

Ø      Your mother is not worth much.

Ø      Your Father is a liar and cheat.

Ø      Honor is not nearly as important as pleasure.

Ø      My own satisfaction is more important than you.

Marital fidelity is the glue that holds society together

Ø      No wonder Satan attacks the home!

3B.

Sexual Immorality is a sin against the Church

*Galatians 3:28* “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

\\ 4B.

Sexual Immorality is a sin against the Lord

Psalm 51:4 “Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done /this /evil in Your sight….”

When you commit sexual immorality, you break both God’s law and God’s heart

*Exodus 20:14* "You shall not commit adultery.

*Leviticus 20:10* “The man who commits adultery with another man's wife, he who commits adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress, shall surely be put to death.”

*1 Corinthians 6:9* “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived.

Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites”

Ø      Law without penalty is just advice!

The day of judgement is yet to come…

*Romans 2:5* “But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God”

\\ 3A.

A Formula for a Lasting Marriage (19:10-12)

The disciples recognize the human impossibility of living up to the Lord’s standards.

1B.

Decision - Decide that you are going to live for God!

2B.

Dependence - Depend on the Lord completely!

*1 Corinthians 10:13* “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”

3B.

Devotion - Love the Lord with all you are and your mate as yourself!

Ø      A love for your mate comes from loving Christ!

4B.

Development - Continue to feed your love from day to day!

Ø      Love is like a flower that must be cultivated, protected, and developed.

Ø      You should love your wife more today than you did when you married her.

5B.

Discipline - Guard where you go and what you see.

Ø      You would not put garbage in your mouth do not put it in your mind.

“He who would not fall down ought not to walk in slippery places.”  A.

Rogers

6B.

Determination - Be determined to make your marriage last!!

*Psalm 119:112* “I have inclined my heart to perform Your statutes Forever, to the very end.”

\\ Application

What do we do?