Take your Bible and turn with us to Genesis chapter number one. Genesis chapter number one. Appreciate you praying for us tonight, brother. The purpose and principles of marriage. Foundation of all things laid out in the book of Genesis here of marriage. A lot of other foundational truths are laid out in the first book of the Bible. And if the foundation be destroyed, what can the righteous do? We need to have a solid foundation on anything we do for the Lord. Genesis chapter number one, look in verse number 27. The Bible says, so God created man. Well, that does away with evolution. Amen. In his own image, in the image of God created in him, male and female created he them. And God blessed them, who? The male and the female. In this case, Adam and Eve. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. If you're replenishing it, there must have been something prior here before them. Amen. If you study in your Bible, it looks more like angelic beings inhabiting this earth and the fall of Lucifer and so forth and so on. But He's replenishing the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fire of the air and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. Look in Proverbs chapter number 24. Just a few scriptures and we'll get into this thing. Proverbs chapter 24. So God's created man. God's given him a purpose. Him and the male and the female. It's amazing that you got to put so much emphasis on that today. The male and the female. God made one man for one woman. Amen. That's God's plan for marriage. Amen. It doesn't matter what kind of laws they might pass in our society. Amen. God made it for one man and one woman. And if they pass laws and vote on it, contrary to the word of God, they're wrong. It's a lie and it ain't of God, amen. No matter how many people they can get to side with them, amen, God still has a way for doing things and God's way will always be right. And mankind will be judged for going against God's book, amen. Proverbs chapter number 24, look in verse number three. Through wisdom is a house built. We're to build a house, and we're to build it with wisdom, and by understanding, it is established. So wisdom, the house is built in, and by understanding, it is established. Amen, and we need homes to be built, and we need them to be established. See, and he said, verse four, and by knowledge, so there's wisdom, understanding, and knowledge, and by knowledge, shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches. Amen. It takes wisdom, understanding, and knowledge to have a good marriage. to build a house, to establish the house, amen? So it might be strong, amen? Marriage is ordained by God. God instituted marriage. And God instituted it with one man and one woman. God not only ordained marriage, God arranged marriage, amen? God put it in its right order, amen? God arranged it for Adam and Eve to come together. The proper marriage is ordained and ordered by the Lord, amen? And arranged by Him. What we need is understanding wisdom and knowledge of what God is doing in our lives. Marriage is set up by the Word of God. So there's some purposes of marriage I want to see first of all tonight. Why did God set up marriage? What is the purpose of marriage? If God ordained it, if God arranged it, if God set it up by His book, why did He do it? What was God's means and what was His motives behind putting one man and one woman together? The Bible gives the answer. Number one, one of the first purposes of marriage in no particular order, God put marriage together and purpose marriage so mankind could fulfill his need of fellowship. To fulfill his need of fellowship, look in Genesis chapter number two. One of the purposes of marriage is that mankind needed fellowship. And God knew He needed fellowship. When God made Adam and again and He put him all on this earth by Himself, it was God that said this. And it is God's principle, amen? Genesis chapter number 2 and verse number 18. And the Bible said, And the Lord God said, It is not good that man should be what? Alone. I will make him and help me for him. One of the purposes of marriage and why God set it up because God knew that mankind had a need for fellowship. Adam walked with God in the cool of the day in the garden, but God knew that mankind needed somebody to spend his life with. Amen. It is not good for man to be alone. Amen. God knows that you need someone in your life. A helpmate, he said. A helper in this thing called marriage, in this thing called life. Amen. And that helpmate is never to hinder his work. That helpmate is never made to boss his work. A helper never hinders and a helper never bosses the one that is helping. Just think about it for a minute. If you've got helpers on your job and they help you out, she's a helpmate to him. Hey, does the helper ever come and boss the boss around? Isn't it amazing that a helpmate showed up and she thinks she's the boss? And we're getting to stay a little bit deeper later on as we study what the desires and what the qualifications are of what the husband should do in his life and what the lady should do in her life. But she is his help me. God put her there that he could fellowship with her. Marriage is the answer for a lonely heart. Man needs a helpmate. Do you know what the world's done today instead of getting a helpmate? They've replaced it with pets. There's nothing wrong with having a pet, amen. You're not having an animal. But you know what? Instead of having a helpmate, they got a pet. Amen. And that pet, why do they get pets for? Because they're lonely. You take a widow and her husband dies and she'll go get her some kind of pet, amen, to fill that loneliness, amen. And you have people today that's trying to fill that void of loneliness in their heart with an animal. And they get very attached to animals. I'm not against getting attached to animals or having an animal. I told my wife the other day, I want me a dog. She said, a dog? I said, yeah, I want a dog. Tim's got a dog at the house, amen? My daddy told me a long time ago, if somebody wants to give you something, it is no good. Somebody gave it to me, he said, that's why it's junk. There's a reason why they give it to you, amen? That's a good principle to live by. Mankind has a need for fellowship. It's not good for him to be alone, amen. Hey, toys won't replace the need of a mate. A pet won't replace the needs of a mate. By the way, when the Lord even sent out his disciples to do work, he sent them out two by two. Amen. There's a need for company in a person's life. Amen. And God set it up to fulfill that fellowship within his life. It is not good for man to be alone. Hey, God has a purpose for marriage and is to fill the need of fellowship within a person. Amen. That's a good purpose. Amen. A lot of lonely people in this old world, amen? And they live lonely lives, amen? Because maybe they won't follow the Lord, or maybe they're too bad in shaping their own lives. Nobody wants to spend any time with them, amen? I don't know, amen? But hey, God's got a purpose for it, and God knew it in the beginning that it was not good for man to be alone. He needed fellowship in his life. Thank God for companionship, amen? And fellowship with your mate, amen? Somebody to go along in this race with you, amen? There's a purpose, amen, and one of the purposes is fellowship. Number two, look in Ecclesiastes chapter number four. What's the purpose of marriage? Well, it's to fill the need of man for fellowship. Number two, mankind has a need for partnership. He not only has a need for fellowship, someone to spend his time with, and it's obvious by the way we live that we don't like to be by ourselves. Some people are loners, per se, but there's a need for somebody or something to be there in your life. Proverbs, Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes 4. Mankind, what is the purpose of marriage? Why did God set it up? God set it up so man could have fellowship. He wouldn't be alone. God said it was not good for man to be alone. Amen? I was preaching a little bit about alone down there in Alabama a little bit the other day. That spirit of loneliness is a bad thing. Amen, you see it over there when Elijah, you see it in Moses, you see it in Jonah, they were all by themselves when all of them requested that they would die, getting all alone, isolating themselves. And when Jesus Christ showed up in the gospel of Matthew and their spirits came out, their spirits said, let us alone. Let us alone. We want to be by ourselves. Amen. It was that demonic man in Mark chapter number five out there in that tombs cutting himself all alone by himself. Amen. It's a danger to be alone. Amen. When you start isolating yourself away from people, amen, it's a bad thing in your life. You have a need for fellowship. You need people, amen. They're there to help you, amen, and to help your life. And man, God had a purpose for marriage, and one of His purposes is to fulfill the fellowship need in mankind, but also to fulfill the partnership. What's the partnership? Well, God put somebody in there in what He called a help meeting. That partnership, that fellowship is just to be there with you. That partnership is to help you. Not just the fellowship with you, but to help you. You know when that husband and wife split together, that husband has responsibility in his lives that only he can do as a male, and that woman has things in her life that she can only do as a female, and that when those two come together they become one, and they're a whole lot stronger together than they are away from each other? My wife has qualities that I need in my life as a female. I have qualities in my life as a male that she needs. And when we're together, we're one. That's why they should leave father, mother, father, mother, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father There's a need of help for one another, amen. And we make up the parts for each other, amen. And we're all doing our parts, the marriage is better. When they both fit together, it works. We need each other. Not like the old joke said, you know. I tell my wife what to do, and she tells me where to go. You know, that's the kind of way the world looks at it. That ain't how it works. There's a partnership. Ecclesiastes 4, let me just read you some scriptures here. Look in verse number 9. Look at this. It's a partnership. This is a purpose of marriage. God knew that Adam needed that help meat in his life. Amen. And when he put that woman with him, he knew that Adam could give her what she needed in her life. Amen. The Bible said two are better than one. That's what God said, right? Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor. Look at the context of what the two are together doing. They're laboring together. Their partnership is working together. Each one of them are pulling their load. And it happens a lot of times and it causes a lot of bad things. When there's divorce and there's separation and there's a tearing away of a mom and a daddy from a parent. From a child, excuse me, and that child needs that qualities that a man can give her. That girl needs qualities that that man can give her, and she needs qualities that that mama can give. And the same way with that boy, he needs qualities that only a daddy can give him, and qualities that only a mama can give him. And God's setting up that one. And we're raising families, busting up, and I'm not trying to throw any stones about anything, but it just, it makes it harder on that child coming up without those qualities in their life. And one of the reasons why it's sad to say that we're raising a lot of boys that are effeminate because they never had a daddy in their life. I was listening to Bobby Bow, the coach at Florida State all those years. I've seen him talk a lot. I believe the guy's a Christian. You ever seen him talk about stuff? And he made it a joke, but I think he meant it when he was saying it, too, more than just a joke. When I seen him, he made this statement about boys, and he knows a lot about boys coaching football, and these boys coming in through there out of busted homes and trying to raise them. He said, he said, he said, one of the problems with these boys, and you can tell it that he was raised by their mama, when they show up down at the ball field when they're wearing their mama's jewelry. And he kind of chuckled and laughed, but there's a lot of truth behind that, ain't there? There's something wrong with the way we're raising our youngins. And there's qualities that are needed in that child that only both mates can give. And it's bad that I know a little something about that, being raised in a busted home myself. I was raised without a mama. There were some things that probably I needed that the mama could only give me that I never got. Might be some of the reasons why I'm a little harder on some things. Don't have that little touch with some of the issues of life that I should. Amen? Maybe some defects in my character in my life. I don't know. But I know that God ordained it that way. And two are better than one. And they can get a lot more labor done when they're together. Hey, just stay right because you committed to one another first, Mom and Daddy. But stay right with those youngins. They need you, amen. Don't be so selfish to sell out your marriage, amen, and destroy everything God gives you. And that's what happens. There's a need and God set it up for the need of partnership. Two are better than one. You saw it, right? Look at this again, Ecclesiastes 4 verse number 9. Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him that is, there's that word again, alone when he falleth. For he hath not another to help him up. Iron sharpeneth iron, you know? They're there to help one another. There's some things in the life of raising children and being a husband and just being a male in this old world that sometimes my wife needs to say, hey, hey, slow down and think about that a little bit. Help me out. Sometimes I need to look at my wife and say, oh, oh, oh, slow down and think about that a little bit. And when it works together in that partnership and you're doing it for the help of one another, it helps this thing a whole lot better off. Amen. What I'm probably missing is when they want to give us some advice and we think, oh, you know, go on now. You can't tell me nothing. Oh, you put it together. You're the word together. Amen. That wife's got some insight on things that you don't see. My wife will say some things to me and I'll say, no, I ain't so. And then later on down like this, she's got a little insight on me. Who would ever look? And she has to say the same thing to me. But it's the help. It's a partnership. God knows you need that partner. God knew, He said, it was not good for man to be alone. He needed that fellowship. That aloneness was not good, but He also needed that help. He needed that partnership in his life. That's how God ordained it. There's a purpose for marriage. You need that partnership in your life. Look at verse number 11. He goes on and says a few more things. Again, if two lie together, then have they heat, but how can one be warm alone? There's a benefit there. And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him, and a threefold cord is not quickly broken. Oh, the spiritual principle there is very beautiful, ain't it? Man and woman with a threefold cord with God in the midst. Boy, ain't that great. It's a good spiritual application, amen. There's the one, a male, there's the one female, they're together, but when they're together with Christ wrapped in the cord, boy, that thing's strong. That's what we need. We need Christ in our marriages, amen, and everybody doing their part. God put it together so there'd be a partnership in your marriage. You need your mate and your mate needs you. There's a need there. And I know there's difference, and it is not 50-50. It just ain't. And God set it up that demands the head. That's God's order. I didn't say it, God said it, amen. Y'all got real quiet on that like it ain't so or something. So, amen, mankind has a need for partnership. And we'll look at that a little bit later on that thing. Just write this reference down and you'll look it up. Just one straight out reference. 1 Corinthians 11, 3, chapter 11, verse 3 and verse 8 and verse 9 shows it very clear that there's not a 50-50 there. It's just the way it is. The world don't like it when it ain't their way, but that's just how God done it. Number three, what is the purpose of marriage? There's a need for fellowship, God knew it. It wasn't good for Him to be alone. There's a need for partnership, He needed to help me, but there's a need for relationship. Marriage is honorable in all, Hebrews 13, four, we read it. And the bed undefiled, but whoremongers and adulterers God shall judge. There's a need for relationship in marriage. Look in 1 Corinthians chapter number seven. Relationship. I'll use biblical words. Love is not fornication. Love is not fornication. If there's three major gods that's destroyed our country, it is the god of fornication, you can use the other word if you like, the god of money, and the god of knowledge. Three major hindrances, amen, that are worshipped in our world. One of the three eventually tear you down if you're not careful. God made a man has a need for a relationship, amen. Marriage helps you fight the temptation to sin. First Corinthians chapter number 7, look in verse number 1. Chapter 7 is a great chapter on marriage all together if you'd like to study a little in depth. We'll probably be referring to it a lot in our study, but look in verse 1 through 5. Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me, it is not good for a man to touch a woman. That's what God said, I didn't say it. Nevertheless, Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every man have her own husband. God makes it very clear, one man, one woman. Your own, not anybody else's, your own. Not adultery, not any other fornication. That one man, one woman. Not two females, not two males. One man, one woman. Get you on. Amen. Avoid fornication. It'll help you fight the temptation of sin in your life. There's a need for relationship in you. The problem is kids get to that age and their hormones get to going and going crazy and they don't know how to handle it. They mess their lives up. God set it up right, amen. Marriage is undefiled, the bed is undefiled, amen. Marriage is undefiled, marriage is audible in the bed undefiled, excuse me. Home mongers and adorchers God's gonna judge, amen. If they just lay around with anybody, what kind of lifestyle is that? Living an adorcher's fornication life. God said, as a matter of fact, as a Christian, it's not even gonna be once named among you. Look at verse 3. Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence, and likewise also the wife unto her husband. The wife hath not power over her own body, but the husband. And likewise also the husband hath not power over his own body, but the wife. You know what he's saying there. Defraud ye not one the other, except that ye would consent one time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer, and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your inconsistency, amen. It is very clear that there's a need for relationship in a mankind, and marriage helps you fight that temptation. It's Bible, amen. There's why, there's a purpose. Purpose for fellowship, purpose for partnership, we need them both, and a purpose for a relationship, you need it. And number four, what's the purpose of marriage? Tried to find a word that went with ship, I couldn't find one. Tried to make one up. Y'all tell me I'm good with that, my wife said, oh no. Mankind has a need for replenish, ship. That is not a word. That's pretty funny though, isn't it, Martina? Well, we won't look there, we looked at it already, but there's a purpose. To multiply and replenish. God ordained marriage, that's what he told them in Genesis 128, we read it, remember? Be fruitful and replenish the earth. To have children. There's a need there. There's a purpose there, amen? You know when after the ark landed, amen, and there was just Noah and his children and their wives, God told Noah just like He told Adam and Eve, be fruitful and replenish the earth. Build it back up, man. There's a purpose, amen? God made a purpose for mankind to replenish the earth. He put seed on this earth that would worship His holy name. That's why God put you here, amen? To bring glory and honor to God Almighty. And there's a purpose for marriage, amen? And a woman, she has that desire to have a child. It's just there, something natural, amen. There's a purpose, there's something built in, amen. You're looking at those women over there with Jacob, and those women were giving to him in the fight they had to try to have children. Why? Because there's some kind of desire inside of them. Same thing with Hannah, when she went out there and prayed that God would give her a child, and God gave her Samuel. Why? That woman had a desire to replenish. She wanted to have her own, and that man wants to have a seed of his. It's a purpose, amen. And thank God, amen, let's replenish it with some good ones. Y'all doing pretty good on that one around here, amen. Might be having some trouble with some of the other stuff, amen, but y'all having youngs. Thank God for it too, amen. Somebody, oh, Brother Coley used to say, amen, Brother Jason Coley, said if you're gonna have, if they're gonna put people in the church, you gotta have them birthed in. I'd be born again, you know, you gotta birth them in, so we gotta get them in, you gotta have birth. By the way, this purpose can only be established by one man and one woman. Sodomites cannot reproduce. Homosexuals cannot reproduce. You know what they do and replace? They're trying, and it's been allowed now in many states, they're adopting. Because there's a desire in there to have one. And they can't have it because they're going against God, so you gotta go in the back door to try to get what's already made in you to have. Why not just do it right, man? It's a sad society we're living in, and these sodomites who are adopted young, and what's going to happen, they're going to raise sodomites. Somebody said a long time ago, they can't reproduce, that's why they recruit. Sad, ain't it? So there's a purpose in marriage. There's the fellowship, there's the partnership, there's the relationship, and there's the replenishment. Purpose. It's not a word. The purpose. So what's the principles? I said the message tonight was the purpose and principles of marriage. So if the purpose is why it's set up, what are the principles of how you set it up? How do you set up a godly marriage? Amen? I told you last week that, you know, Adam didn't have, there was no one, nowhere to be found anyone for Adam. And God found him one. That same guy that I picked on early in the service said the Lord sent him one all the way from Colorado. Amen. So I mean, if the Lord can send Richie one from Colorado, I mean, hey, he can find you one. I mean, I'm looking at Ted Mack. God sent him one from West Virginia. Some of these boys, the Lord's got to work a whole lot harder to try to get them one. Anybody got any of that distance big? Brian? East Rockingham. Who? Korea. Korea. Korea. Oh, yeah, there you go. I worked on that one way before everybody did. That's pretty good. Pretty good. Amen. Pretty good. Got one from Mexico over there. There you go. We got them from the foreign field. Y'all people hear this, y'all ain't got no worries? If God can get them from Korea and Mexico and out west and West Virginia, what are y'all waiting on? God's got it covered, man. I'm telling you what. Thank the Lord, amen. So how did he set it up? What's the principles of marriage? I told you this one last week, and I'll repeat it again. It fits to be repeated, and I'll give you a different reference though. In the Old Testament, look in Deuteronomy chapter 7. Deuteronomy chapter 7. Principles. Got to be some good principles in it, right? Order. Number one, Christians are only to marry Christians. It's fit to be repeating often, amen, because some people have some kind of mix up with that belief, amen. 2 Corinthians chapter number 6, verse number 14 in your New Testament says, to be not unequally yoked together with, what? Unbelievers. So that's someone that's lost. Someone that's lost. You know, so it's a dead no-brainer, according to the Word of God, that you're not to marry somebody that does not know your Lord. I wouldn't even advise someone that didn't even believe right. Even if they said they were saved, because you're going to have trouble. And we'll get into that and these principles of marriage and how to fix this thing and get it done right, but the first one starts out with they need to be married. You should not court, date, or go out with someone that does not know the Lord as their Savior. If there's not a clear testimony of salvation in their lives, you shouldn't even be considering it. As a matter of fact, it's amazing that you go by looks. What a dangerous thing to do. Looks change, man. They fade and go away. And you go out with them a couple of times and you don't even know whether they're saved or not. I mean, that should be question number one. Do you know the Lord? Tell me about the day you got saved. Amen. It ought to be a clear testimony now that you're saved. Tell me where you go to church at. I mean, is there a testimony in your life? Amen. Hey, they need to be born again. You're just asking for trouble. Amen. The first principle of marriage is they need to be born again. Look at this Old Testament principle in this, in Deuteronomy 7, and God talking about the children of Israel marrying these other nations. Look at verse number 3. The Bible said, Neither shalt thou make marriages with them, thy daughters thou shalt not give unto his sons, son, nor his daughters shalt thou take unto thy son, for they will, here's why, for they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods. That's a good Old Testament principle there with 2nd Corinthians 6.14 and the New Testament makes it very clear that it applies to our lives, but here's one of the principles behind that thing. What they will do is they'll turn you away from serving the true and living God and serving the gods of this world. It happens every time, amen? Some little girl's serving God, some little boy's serving God, and fall in love, they think in love with somebody that don't know the Lord, and they'll pull them away from serving God and serving the gods of this world. Hey, that is a bad principle in your life to marry somebody that does not know the Lord. Don't court them, don't date them, don't go out with them, don't text them, don't even entertain the thought of going out with them. Because what these bunch of cons are doing now in the day we live in, they'll find that you're saved, you go to church, your mom and daddy's got standards, they got to be saved, they'll make a little bubblegum confession, amen, down to the heart and tell you they love the Lord and they're working as hell just trying to get you. Don't even consider them. Don't even consider them. There's some people in this place tonight, amen, and here's what the problem is with our young people. You got to say it, this kind of stuff, because they look at their mom and daddy, they wasn't raised in the benefits that you've been raised in, and how God showed mercy on their lives. They wasn't saved, or maybe one of them was when they got married and didn't have much sense, and God showed mercy and put them together and done good to them, and you think God's going to do it like that to you, but you've been given more, and God's going to require more, and you're not going to get off, amen, knowing what God's told you and going straight against God's Word. You're going to reap what you sow. Stop looking at your mom and daddy how God showed mercy on their lives when they didn't know the Lord and they got saved. Now look at their lives. How they've done it in ignorance and unbelief. You know better than that. Stop allowing the devil to use that little twist in your life. Amen. You shut it. Principles. When it comes to marriage, Christians should have a direct leading of God. A direct leading of God. It's God in it. Do we ever consider what God thinks? Told you the verse this morning, you need to really memorize it. James 1, 5, any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally in a break if not, and it shall be given him. You need a direct leadership of God. What does God want for your life? Hey, be patient and wait on the Lord. Amen, God knows your need, and God'll give it to you when you need. I'll go back up to the beginning again. Adam just kept serving the Lord, doing what God told him, and when God said he needed one, God sent the right one, it worked out right. Amen. God knows what you need. Amen. Just wait on the Lord. Do you know the wrong one could bring a lot of trouble in your life? Getting the wrong one. Let me show you just a few verses. Look in Proverbs 21. There's some wisdom of Solomon. He knew something about wrong women, didn't he? Take some advice from him. Proverbs 21. Wait on the Lord. Be patient. The devil is just playing with some of his mind. Well, I'm such and such an age and I'm going to be an old man. I read something today that I thought was real good. Sam Jones said, old evangelist Sam Jones. He said this about that thought. He said, I'd rather have a dozen old maid daughters than to have son-in-laws that some of you have. I thought, whoo. I'd rather have a dozen old maid daughters than to have the son-in-laws that some of you have. That's really good, ain't it, man? That's pretty good. Somebody also said this, they said, it's better to want something you can't have than to have something you don't want. Amen. You hear that? It's better to want something you can't have than to have something you don't want. You end up getting something you don't want in the long run. Amen. It's bad to get the wrong one. That's not a good principle. Amen. You need to wait on the Lord. Look at Solomon said Proverbs 21 9. He says this, it is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop than with a brawling woman in a white house. I kind of tried to imagine that thing. It's better to dwell in a corner of a housetop or the corner either on the inside or the outside. But if it's on the inside, you're in there where the heat is. And in the corner, the roof's slanted that way, so you're all cranked up and, you know, sweating hot and dying. But it's a whole lot better up there in the corner of that inside of that roof, hey man, in that attic, than it is in a wild house with a brawling woman. Well, maybe there's someone talking about on the outside of the corner of the house. Well, then it's sloped like that, and you're having to bend down and keep your feet straight like them boys Rufin do, and your calf muscles start hurting, and you're hanging off the side and thinking you're going to fall. I don't know. You're pretty bad, ain't you? Anyway, whether it's the inside or outside, it's better than to be in that wide house with that brawling woman. That's what the Bible said. Look at verse number 19. And by the way, I know he's talking about with a brawling woman, it could be a stinking brawling man. A sorry man could be just as bad. Verse number 19, it is better to dwell in the wilderness. It ain't a corner of a housetop in the wilderness than with a contentious and an angry woman. Go out there where you ain't even got nothing to drink till you die. Die of thirst. Hey man, what's bad? Principles of marriage. You need to have a genuine heart agreement with each other. Some good principles. So first of all, they need to be saved. Amen. You need to get the right one. You need to be patient and wait on the Lord, right? Well, you can find the direct leadership of the Lord. I mean, once you get one under the direct leadership of the Lord, they should be in genuine heart agreements with each other. You should talk about goals. Communication is what is needed. You should talk about desires and direction in your life, amen? Hey, what is your desires? What's your direction? What are we going to try to do together for the Lord? We need to have that kind of talk, amen? And God needs to be first in your life. What's a hard agreement with one another that we want to serve the Lord? How can we raise our youngins right for God? How can we go further in this thing called Christianity in this old world? That's the principles of marriage. Because God put you there to help one another and help one another walk with God. We need these genuine heart agreements. You don't need to be fighting against one another. Some good principles for marriage. You need to be in one accord and sticking out things together. You're one now. You're not by yourself. You become one. By the way, he said over there, and I'll just throw this out there, Genesis chapter number five, when he put Adam and Eve together, the Bible said they called their name Adam. That's a Bible principle. I like Bible principles. So when God and man and woman put together, he called them after the man. I think there's something wrong with a man taking a woman's name. He said, what's wrong with it? It ain't Bible. I mean, the Bible's why we do what we do. Right? Look at it, Genesis 5. He called their name, the man and the woman, Adam. So they got the man's name. Agreements, one with another, have the same goals. You know what? It's not good principles for marriage. If one is going this way and the other is going that way, it ain't going to work. If there's fellowship, they've got to be in the ship going in the same direction together. Stop fighting against one another, amen? Talk about goals and desires and direction of life and go in the same direction. How are we going to raise our youngins? By the word of God. What are we going to do with our lives? Where are we going to go to church? How are we going to serve God? How are we going to make a living, amen? Have direct conversation and agreement with one another. Shouldn't there be any secrets? Number four. By the way, it's never good to go against God in anything. Anything. Anytime you start going against God in your life, you're opening up an avenue for satanic activity, and it ain't gonna turn out good. And if you kick about one minor thing in the Word of God, you're gonna kick against something else in the Word of God, and then it's gonna be something else in the Word of God, and your life's gonna wind up in a mess. If the Word of God says something to you and speaks to your heart and it's right, then start applying that to your life. That's how you grow as a Christian, by the way. You take how God speaks to you, whether it be in Sunday school or worship service, Sunday morning, Sunday night, whatever, or your daily Bible reading or devotion, God speaks to you about something in your life and you deal with it. You're starting to fix it. You know what? God will speak to your life about something else. And then you deal with it. And then God will speak to your life about something else. And you deal with it. And some of you don't know, when was the last time God spoke to you? And probably the reason why He ain't spoken to your life about nothing lately is because you never listened to Him last time He spoke to you. And He's still waiting on a response. And you wonder why your life is stagnant. You're not going anywhere. You're not growing in grace. Let God's Word speak to you. You should have a relationship with the Lord. Amen. The Holy Ghost comes to guide you into all truth. Let Him grow your life up. Doesn't that make sense? It's the Bible. Number four, you should accept the biblical standards of marriage. God has an order for the family. I'm just saying you need to accept it. We'll look at it a little bit later on on some of the issues of what an order for a man, an order for a woman, an order for children, but you need to be willing to accept it. Don't go against God's Word. Principles. These are just good principles. Amen. Have a genuine heart, open heart to follow the Lord. Amen. Keep thy heart with all diligence for all the issues of life so your heart's right in it. And now that you've accepted the standards of God's Word, and there must be number five, for marriage there should be a genuine love for one another. Now I'll just say this out there, amen. A boy, and girls are about just as bad now, maybe even worse than the age we're living in, they'll say whatever needs to be said to get it whatever they want. And I'll leave that at that. And if they want you to do something that's contrary to this book, I don't care how they say it and what they tell you, they're a bunch of lies. I don't care how loose they use the word love. Well, I love you, and if you loved me, we'd do this. That's devilish. Any boy that would tell you girls something like that, you need to slap them in the mouth. Try to get you to do something contrary to the word of God and your mom and daddy, I don't care if they use the word love, they don't love you, they lust you. And vice versa for the boys, girls. Amen, run. The Bible said, by the way, flee fornication. Number six, look in Proverbs 18. You're out there somewhere, ain't you? Principles for marriage. It is good to have an honorable engagement period. Nothing wrong with getting to know one another. You say, what is that time limit? I don't know. You follow the Lord. You don't? If God's in it and God sent him to you and you know it's clear and God spoke to you about it and God said do it two months, help yourself. I don't know, maybe God said two years. The only thing that waiting hurts is the flesh. That's it, amen. Proverbs 18, 22. Bible said, whoso findeth the wife, findeth the good thing, and obtain favor of the Lord. If you know what's of the Lord, she's of the Lord, he's of the Lord, then hey, help yourself, man. Hey, but there's nothing wrong, it's honorable to wait. Don't rush, and don't jump the gun and mess your life up, amen? Number seven, marriage principles. By the word of God, which is our guideline, marriage should be public. John 2, 1. First miracle the Lord worked was at a marriage. The Lord attended the marriage. It was public. Shouldn't be any secretive. By the way, most of the time when something's secretive, there's shame. And where there's shame, there's probably sin going on. We don't want anybody to know. What are you ashamed of? Well, we got married, but we didn't want to tell nobody. Why didn't you want to tell anybody? Well, you know, I know why. Because maybe just in case it don't work, then you get divorced and nobody knew you was ever married. If you thought like that, you should have never got married to start with. It should be public. Amen? It should be public. So there's some principles and there's a purpose of marriage. Amen? Let's stop right there. Amen? Everybody stand.