Psalmist writes in Psalm 51, make me to hear joy and gladness, let the bones which you have broken rejoice, hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence. Do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners will be converted to you. We remember this was the Psalm of David that was written for the choir director when Nathan the prophet came to him after he had committed adultery with Bathsheba. And yet his instruction to those who would read his words was that we also would receive some instruction from his experience that we may come to love and honor the marriage bed in a similar way that the psalmist did. So last week we did spend some time with the seventh commandment, you should not commit adultery. And if you remember, I wasn't able to get into as much as I really wanted to. It kind of sped things up there toward the end. So today, instead of moving on, we're gonna spend a little bit more time dealing with the Seventh Commandment. Thus far, we noted that this command can be seen as something of the source of the fifth and sixth commandments. And in the same way, the final three are connected. So what I'm going to do is we're gonna sum up. Basically, command 5, 6, and 7 today as found in marriage. And then next week, we're going to take 8, 9, and 10 as a whole. So what you see in the second table of the law are two sections. So one related to marriage, life, and authority, and the other one, property, truth, and contentment are going to be the overall themes of those two sections of the second table. So as marriage, as I mentioned last week, is the seedbed of the first two commandments of the table, the second table of the law, that helps us see that they're connected. So there's no life and authority apart from this marital institution, and they all, again, they're interpenetrated, they're woven together. What we'll see next week is that property or contentment is the seedbed of the second table. So life, marriage, and authority is the first part of the second table. Property, truth, and contentment is the second part of the second table. So really, we'll sum it up as life and property, how to love our neighbor with life and property beginning next week. So quick review, man does not live from himself, by himself, or for himself. Man exists from another self, namely father and mother. Man exists for others, as Calvin says, bound together by that unity God has given commonly to all mankind, where we are obliged to seek the common good or the common wealth of all men, so we have the command not to kill but to preserve life. And man exists for others in integrity, the command to not commit adultery, to not disintegrate or adulterate or corrupt the relations between man and woman. Adultery is a corruption of something's natural state. And the summary of this precept refers particularly to the marital relations. So we saw that the general principle had to do with the relation between man and woman, but specifically in scripture, it's applied directly toward the marital relation. Again, to adulterate is to disintegrate, and in the context of relations between man and woman, male and female, to adulterate is to disintegrate or disorder the proper bonds and distinctions between male and female. And as Hemingson helps us, whatever conflicts with integrity in the domestic or political state is forbidden by the law of nature. Promiscuous lusts and incest conflict with integrity, which nature demands in every state of life. Therefore, promiscuous lusts and incest are forbidden by the law of nature. The honorable and lawful bond of spouses is the seedbed of human society. Lawful marriage is commended by the law of nature. Those are his summary statements regarding the natural law, the general principles that we can understand regarding the domestic and the political sphere. So the political use of the law we see in this particular command. Adultery is forbidden by the law of nature. And without keeping this particular relationship properly ordered and intact, society begins to disintegrate and fall apart and it creates all sorts of problems within a society. Some things we also find in this command are chastity and modesty as virtues, and we'll deal more with some virtues and vices in the last couple of sessions here, just trying to lay some groundwork for us before we get to that part. We also saw that all uncleanness according to the Heidelberg Catechism helps us on what is taught in the Seventh Commandment. All uncleanness is cursed of God and therefore we must with all our hearts detest the same and live chastely and temperately whether in holy wedlock or in single life. So it goes on to not just talk about marriage per se but also people who are single. So there is a relation for those who are not married to this command. So just because you're not married doesn't mean that, well, I'm not married, I don't have to keep the command. No, this command still applies even to those who are unmarried. Since both our body and soul are temples of the Holy Ghost, He commands us to preserve them pure and holy. Therefore, He forbids all unchaste actions, gestures, words, thoughts, desires, and whatever can entice men thereunto. And as the law is a summary, the law is not exhaustive of everything that God commands, but it's a summary of everything that God commands. So there are some necessary conclusions that we draw from the specific command. And we saw those, and we get more explicit revelation in scripture that teaches us these things as well. adultery, desertion, incest, we went on and discussed different ways that adultery is carried out. And I asked a question, if marriage was a Christian institution, and I wanna talk about that a little bit more, because I think this is also gonna help us understand just our relation to theonomy, Christian nationalism, the political use of the law. This is one of those that I think is kind of a test case for us to understand. how we're to understand the relation of the Old Testament laws, the Levitical code and holiness code in Leviticus 18, how we're to understand the judicial laws, the civil laws, the ceremonial laws in relation to the moral law and how we as Christians living in a society that may or may not be Christian, how do we go about looking for wholesome good laws so that we can live a quiet and peaceful life and that the gospel can go forth without much encumbrance? So that even unbelievers will look upon us in a positive manner and find some commendation for Christians. So I ask the question, is marriage a Christian institution? And I wanna, I want this to be a little bit of a conversation back and forth here. So I know it's a yes or no question. Okay. So when you say that, elaborate that a little bit more for me, Mark. Right, so we're... Absolutely. It's a divine institution, we would absolutely say that. We can't just come up with any sort of idea of what a marriage is and say, well, that's marriage. We can't create some law and say, well, you know, before these people couldn't marry, well, now they can because we've come to learn more things and You know, these two people consent to live in this manner, so therefore we should honor that. So yeah, we're not saying that bare consent or bare human law is acceptable, that there is something higher than ourselves for that. But Christian marriage is certainly a Christian institution, right? So there's marriage and Christian marriage. And so the reason I ask this question is because this is this test case for theonomy or Christian nationalism. Because frequently in our desire as Christians to see a society live in a moral upright manner, we see marriage as something that ought to be defended and instituted. If we're not living in a Christian nation, what do we appeal in order to see people live the life for which God has intended them? We're not looking exclusively to the Old Testament scriptures or the New Testament scriptures, that is one of our appeals, but what we're doing is we're looking at the natural law. We're looking at the light of nature. So when we're appealing to the world, We're not saying we want to institute Christian laws and only one man and one woman is the right way because we know that from scripture. We do know that from scripture, but we also know from the light of nature, based on something's ends, not producing something else that's good, that there is something to which we can appeal people to pursue. So, This is not theonomy. So our appeal to the light of nature is not theonomy. Even though it's the law of God written into all of creation, it's not theonomy because theonomy is what? Who remembers what theonomy is? Right. So theonomy would look to Moses and the Mosaic Law for earthly laws. They put this they put a. Some of them do not. Not all of them do, but frequently they'll they'll say you have two choices. It's either theonomy or autonomy and man is not autonomous. We would agree with that, but the solution is not the Mosaic system. And why is it not? Why is that not our solution? Because the Covenant. in which that system was given was given to a particular people at a particular time for a particular reason until the new covenant comes when all of those things are fulfilled in Christ. And what remains is the moral law. So we no longer look to the old covenant as the source for which we ought to institute human laws. They can give us great wisdom and prudence and insight into what God's intention was in the moral law. All of those things find their source in the moral law, which is also found, given to Moses with more sure understanding. But our appeal as Christians is to the light of nature for marriage. For Christian marriage, we're given greater revelation as to the distinction between what a Christian marriage looks like versus what another marriage may look like. Okay, any questions about that? So when you say it doesn't exist, you mean it doesn't hold power? Enforcement, okay, gotcha. Yeah, I think that's fair. Because Christ has fulfilled it, he takes it away, yet what abides is that moral law, because he teaches such. Yeah, Isaac, did you have a question? Yeah, so one of the most common objections I hear raised against this is that Well, yes, you can find one man, one woman in nature, but it's not exclusively that in nature. So where do we get through the law of nature the exclusivity of one man, one woman marriage? I think it's kind of a challenge to get there. to find it clearly. I don't think you find it clearly in the light of nature, but you do have to use discursive reasoning. You have to use your rational faculty that God has given you. And that's where the other commandments are important. So there's no life. There's no society, there's no property, there's no theft, there's no speech unless an intact marriage is honored above all things. So you're having to add multiple things together to get that. Does that help? I mean, yeah, I agree, but I guess that's why I've never really had a good answer for that. If it's just procreation, then multiple, how is it just one man, one woman? You would think that you're going to, you could make the argument that two or three wives would be just as effective, if not more efficient in procreating. That would be more of an idealistic appeal. But then you look at the marriages that have two or three wives, and you look at what's produced from that, you get, not chaos, but you get a lot of conflict. And if the purpose of the moral law, morality, ethics, good decision making, doing good things, we're all directed to the good. All of us knows that there is some good to which we ought to aim for. but we don't always achieve that or agree on that. So we have to work together and come to an understanding, well, what is creating good things? What creates difficulty and strife and fighting and arguing and wars and quarrels? Well, this thing does. Okay, so what brings peace and goodness and stuff for all men? You're adding all of these things together to get at that. So you're using the general principles known from the light of nature. And as Christians, I think we do have the scripture and we ought to use the scripture. So I'm not saying don't use the Bible. What I'm saying is when Christians are seeking to speak to unbelievers about what is good and wholesome, we have two sources to which we can appeal. The light of nature is one of those sources to which even the unbeliever ought to look and learn from. Okay, and I also ask that question because frequently we'll say that, well, the state has no interest in marriage. That's a Christian institution. That belongs to just the church. And only churches should pass laws concerning marriage. The state shouldn't do that. I think history bears witness to the fact that that has almost never been the case. Except in a Christian society, then Christian churches do have a greater role to play in that. Okay. So beyond just the union of one man and one woman, Let me say it this way. That's probably a bit redundant. Apart from that, we saw some of those other necessary conclusions regarding good and wholesome laws in our society. So we're talking about the political use of the law here as well. What about some of those other necessary conclusions we looked at? Should we pass laws in a society regarding Unchaste gestures, thoughts, and lusts, like public decency laws. Why should we pass public decency laws? From what? Whenever you've got indecency running rampant, you've got lawlessness. And it's a natural breakdown. It disintegrates society. So it's not just the external act. People are running after their passions and their lusts. And so we would argue that there ought to be some restraint. We don't have the freedom to say whatever we want, but there ought to be some restraint on what we say. There's a give and take on how that plays out, but yeah, for the good of society, we're arguing for some public decency laws, not exclusively from scripture. We can look at the light of nature and say, these things are bad for a society, and we ought not to condone these things. OK, I want to go on because we're going to come back to some of this as well. So we don't need to live in a Christian nation to appeal to the light of nature for public decency laws, for certain forms of action. And I'm thinking mainly of the whole issue of the freedom of speech with pornography and certain things like that. That's been a long time of litigation back and forth, and I think we've seen the results of that have been Mostly bad, mostly bad for society. We're on the backside of that, so now we're having to rethink that in the West. What type of laws do we need to enact regarding that? Okay, let's move on. So we talked about some considerations before marrying. Vandergrove says, Since we are called by God to sustain and procreate the human race upon earth, we are to enter into a lawful and godly marriage, so that therewith we may serve and glorify the Lord God. The one who has reached a suitable age, to whom the Lord has granted suitable gifts, to enter into a lawful and godly marriage, and to be loyal and committed to his or her spouse for life, without ever desecrating or breaking the lawful union, and that both spouses must always engage in intimate union in a manner that is holy, godly, and pure, in order that they thereby may bring forth a pure and holy seed unto the Lord their God to his honor and glory." That last little clause there is written in kind of a Reformed Presbyterian understanding. that we would propagate more Christians is essentially what he is arguing for. But I think we can say that we would agree with that in the sense that in order for more Christians to be evangelized to, there has to be more people. And so therefore, we ought to have more children to evangelize to. not because they are the church, but it is our responsibility to bring forth legitimate issue. Okay. Turn to Matthew 15 for me really quick. So that was a consideration before marriage. I wanna talk about some considerations in marriage and some considerations for those who are not married. So we're gonna look at some considerations in and apart from marriage. Matthew 15, verse 17. tells us, Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is eliminated? But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, or concupiscence, and murders, adulteries, fornications, theft, false witness, slanders. These are the things which defile the man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man." What I'm looking to remind us here is that getting married doesn't solve our heart problems. The external change does not solve what happens in our heart as well. So we need to be reminded that we still have a responsibility to live within our marriages in the same manner as before our marriages. To ensure within our marriages, we're also being careful not to have unchaste thoughts, actions, gestures, attitudes, and so on. So, Not only do we have the same responsibilities before a part marriage and consideration of getting married, also within our marriages, the command abides for us. And it's more than just externals, it is an issue of the heart. So we also need to remember that we are both body and soul. And so our responsibility to our spouses or even to ourselves apart from marriage is that both body and soul are cared for and loved. So again, we're more than our bodies. So not just external actions, but our internal thoughts and attitudes and affections are a part of this command and still abide with us in the command. Okay, so our responsibility, even within marriage, is to engage in that intimate union in a manner that is holy, godly, and pure. We're gonna look at a couple of verses here, and then we're gonna land back at 1 Corinthians 7. Let's look over at 1 Corinthians 6. These are some things we need to be reminded of. The unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God. Don't be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the spirit of our God. So even within our marriage, we ought to live in a holy and sanctified manner, which means that these things no longer mark us. And to remember, even within our marriages, we ought to be chaste and holy in our thoughts. Turn over to 2 Corinthians. Now let's do 1 Thessalonians 4. Sorry, just a couple of pages over. 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 3. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality, that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God, that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things. Just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you, for God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. So again, even within our marriages, we need to be considerate of all of our thoughts and our attitudes and our actions within our marriages. We still have work to do, even within our marriages, to be putting off impure and unclean thoughts. Let's go to Hebrews chapter 13. Verse four, marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled for fornicators and adulterers God will judge. So again, this command still abides for us, and we still have the responsibility, even within marriage, to hold it in honor among all. And I'm looking to build to something here. Turn to Ephesians five. Verse three. But immorality, namely sexual immorality, or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you as is proper among saints. And there must be no filthiness and silly talk or coarse jesting which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. And in the context of that section, filthiness, silly talk, coarse jesting is related to impure, immoral, sexual immorality. That is what is forbidden there. We ought to be careful that even our speech is being held in a pure and chaste manner. One more time, turn over to 1 Corinthians. This time we'll look at chapter seven. look at verse 2, Because of immoralities each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband. The husband must fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband, and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife. Stop depriving one another except by agreement for a time so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. So, in all of this, the teaching here is that not only are external forces Right, not only are we teaching that marriage ought to be between one man and one woman exclusively for life. But there should be internal holiness. And as we've said, our affections, our mind, and our will is a part of who we are as humans. That's kind of the internal aspect of who we are. So we ought to think in a holy manner. We ought to have holy desires within marriage, and our will should be conformed to that within our marriages and within our society. And what Paul is doing here in 1 Corinthians is he's instructing sinners within a marriage on how to maintain this love of neighbor within the marriage that the affections, the mind, and the will are properly ordered. And that within this, the husband and the wife have a responsibility toward one another. And frequently what can happen is we can use the conjugal act as a way to create strife. And frequently the, well let me back up a little bit. Calvin writes about this, and he's talking about, the conjugal relation and frequently the male will be too aggressive, too assertive, and the woman will push away and withhold herself. So what's being taught is that there needs to be some love and affection toward ourselves and toward one another within the marriage. And this is important for us because this is frequently the thing that causes more conflict within the marriage relationship. So we need to think properly of our spouse. And the way we do that is to remember that our spouse is not just a body. Our spouse is a body and a soul. And so we ought to care for their body and their soul, their affections and their mind, with one another. And if there's not agreement on those things, what Paul is instructing us to do within our marriages is to come to some sort of agreement on how to proceed so that we can get proper self-control within our marriage so that our affections, our mind, and our will are conformed to the law of God so that we're not running after unchaste thoughts or ideas or affections, but that we're properly exercising our affections, our mind, and our will within that. Okay, what about those who are not married? So external and internal holiness, our mind, our will, our thoughts, what about those who are not married? And I'm thinking mainly of the children in here, right? So the younger people who are not married, who are still under their parents' home, how can you honor this institution, how can you not commit adultery for the young people? How can you make sure that your parents' marriage is being honored? So for younger people, this is how the command relates to the other commands. Are you remembering that your mom and your dad, you have no life apart from them and that you ought to honor that and ensure that all of your actions are honoring mom and dad so that their love for one another will not be disintegrated or or harmed in any way. So this is the way that some of the younger people who are not married and are not close to thinking about this, how you can keep this commandment. So again, just because you can't get married doesn't mean that you can't keep the law. Mark. So when a child goes to their father and asks for something and he says no, and then waits 10 minutes and then goes to their mom and asks the same question, to love their parents' marriage so much that they would never seek to create a dissonance even in their response. If the response was no from father, what the child wanted, they shouldn't go to the mother and ask for the same thing. Great test case for sure. So the way that young people can honor mom and dad is to not try to separate that union that they have, that friendship that they have. So remember that mom and dad are your neighbors, and you must love your neighbor, and moms and dads must remember that our kids are our neighbors. Yes, we have authority over them, and we love them, and they're there to do what we say, but we want to remember that they are our neighbors. And so our Our friendship as husband and wife affects even our children as well. So the younger kids, yes. Don't try to divide your mom and dad out of your selfish desires. And if that's something you do, you need to repent of your sins because all the rest of us are also sinners and it's hard enough for us to deal with our own sins for you not to compound it. So this is one of the uses of the law the pedagogical use that leads you to Christ. So when you see that you're breaking the law and your conscience is pricked, you need to run to Christ and you need to confess your sins and you need to repent so that this relationship is kept in honor and intact. Okay, so within 1 Corinthians 7, Paul also spends some time talking about the unmarried. And he gives a commendation to remain unmarried. And he says, it is a good thing to remain unmarried. And so I mentioned the gift of singleness, and usually when we talk about that in our society, we talk about it in a negative way. I've got the gift. I've got to endure it for however long I have to until I can find somebody." Well, we ought to think of it as a grace that comes from God if in His providence He is withholding marriage from us. We see that as an opportunity to be diligent in the works of God to holiness, to honoring marriage among the churches, being busy about about the life that God and His providence has brought you to. Yet if you burn with passion and you're letting your affections and your mind and your will be so contained, then you need to get married. Paul gives a concession. Paul is saying is yes, there is an honor to be had with the unmarried. That is a good thing. It's not a thing to be thought negatively of. But also it should not be thought so highly of that it's causing you to sin. So when God in his providence brings an opportunity, we shouldn't just dismiss that opportunity. We should consider it for sure. Okay, so the goal here is to teach that marriage is the seedbed of life and authority. That's the beginning of society. Without this, you have no society. People run after and do their own things, chase their own affections, their own desires, their own will. And we're learning friendship in the middle of this as well. So in what way Can a man have a friendship with a woman that honors all of these things? I'm going to pick on Dana. Dana, you are my friend, and I love you. So how do I honor you as my friend and my neighbor and keep all of these things intact? So I have to guard thoughts. I have to think rightly of you. You are Paul's wife. That's it. So you've made a promise to him. I am Mindy's husband. So I have to be reminded of that so that I can encourage you in your relationship with Paul, so that I can pray for you. And in that, that helps Paul. And then what does that do for all of us who have a friendship with them? That encourages us in that friendship. So I want to think rightly of Dana and Paul and all of those who are related. And I want to properly order that within the different relations that we have. OK, any questions about this before we move on to the next section? No, no, no. So here was what's behind that. So OK, so there's always the question, can a man be a friend with a woman? Yes, but in what way? in an ordered way, in a way that promotes chastity and purity and modesty and all of those things that are conducive to one's flourishing. It's not that I can't be friends with Dana and hear some of her own struggles in life, but I can pray for her and make sure that she is confiding properly in her husband rather than myself, vice versa. So again, it's just properly ordering those friendships. So I can still have a friendship of virtue with Dana where I seek her highest good for her own sake, but in an ordered and proper manner. And that's what the command gives us is to properly order our affections, our mind, our will, in every state in which we're called married, not married, to other married couples, and so on. Isaac? Would you say that this would be a hopeful litmus test, as it were, for gossip? Men relating to men talking about their wives, and women relating to women talking Good, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's great. I think what Isaac is saying is, Yeah, when men confide in other men, we need to take great care to honor our spouse in that, to not give out details that would cause any sort of strife or conflict, properly order our speech. And that's how it's going to relate to the second part, relating to bearing false witness. It's making sure your speech is good and proper. There's other things related to this, such as the apparel that we wear. This is the source that Paul gets when he instructs women to adorn themselves, not with raiment that attracts attention to their beauty. but rather attracts attention to their modesty and their way of living. So we ought to encourage not only our churches and our young people, but also our society at large. If you want a good, peaceful society, you do not need to act or dress in a manner that would cause disruption in society. I mean, again, there's so many decisions that are impacted by this. What kind of movies are we watching? What kind of books are we reading? What kind of music are we listening to? There's so much that I'm not here to create a rule for you, but this command ought to prick our conscience and we ought to seek chastity and modesty and virtue within the marriage relationship. Well, we've got people coming and it is at our time, so we will pray be dismissed and next week we will look at the commands related to property and speech. Let's pray. Father, we do thank you for the institution of marriage. We thank you that you You saw that it was not good for man to be alone, and you gave him what he needed to carry out all of those instructions that you gave him. Lord, we thank you that in your decree and in your providence, you, You show marriage to be a symbol of the love that Christ has for his own bride, laying down his life for her good, not considering just our bodies, but also our souls, caring for the whole person and seeking to take upon himself the stain of sin and to conquer sin that we would be able to live by faith in him, chaste, holy lives. We thank you for washing us and for making us new. And we pray that your spirit would work within us to meditate upon your law, that it would be honey and sweet to us and that we would grow by it and that we would seek to understand and know it even more and to make good, sound, ethical decisions by faith in your Son and according to your law and for your glory. It's in Christ's name we pray these things, amen. The gift of singleness, product of natural law.