Well, it's a great privilege to be here with you again this evening. And I am going to, God willing, be here next Lord's Day evening as well. It would be good if we do not drag this out for decades, for your benefit especially. So, but tonight this is message number three, and it does relate, of course, I'm relating it to marriage. However, as I've said on other occasions, the very truths that I'm preaching apply really in many ways to those who are not married. And I think that's especially true this evening. So let's pray briefly one more time asking for God's presence with us this night. So let's seek him in prayer. Lord our God, we pray once again, asking for the presence of your Holy Spirit. that he would take your truth and the principles of your truth and apply them to every single heart, every life here this night, from the youngest to the oldest, whether married or not. We cry to you that you would do this for your glory, for the exaltation of Jesus Christ, and again, for the good of our own souls, for the good of our marriages. We ask these mercies in Jesus' name, amen. Well, by way of brief review in previous messages, I started with presuppositions. I'm not going to review all those presuppositions tonight. Otherwise, it would be a lengthy review. But the first presupposition I want to remind you of, and that is the Bible is the word of God. From start to finish, from Genesis to Revelation, the Bible is the word of God. The other presupposition I would like to remind you of tonight was number eight. The Bible is the Word of God was number one. The eighth presupposition was this. Obedience to the Word of God is absolutely essential if you are to be a godly Christian husband or wife. No obedience, well, then you're not going to have a godly life and you will not have a godly marriage. So those were two of the presuppositions. And then my last message, we began looking at some definitions according to the Bible. Because I told you that if I talk about the word sin as an example, and you are thinking one thing and I'm thinking something different, then we're not gonna come necessarily to the same conclusions. And of course we have to look to the Bible for our definitions, not modern psychology, not American psychology, not American culture. And so we need to look at our definitions. So the last message here, I started with this matter of sin. What is sin? How does the Bible define sin? In 1 John 3 and verse 4, you can turn there if you like. It's a very simple verse. We're told sin is lawlessness. Sin is defined in reference to law. and specifically in the Bible, God's moral law. And when you hear God's moral law, you should be thinking the Ten Commandments. God's moral law involves more than the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments are a summary of God's moral law. And you should also think of the Lord Jesus Christ quoting from Deuteronomy when he said, summarizing the Ten Commandments, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. That is the first and great commandment. Notice that. God commands you to love. The idea that love is just an emotion that I cannot control is false. Love is a lot more than emotion. Love, true love, does involve the affections, the heart, the emotions. But God commands us to love God himself. And then the second commandment that is great, Jesus said, is you are to love your neighbor as yourself. This is a moral issue. If you do not love God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength, you are sinning. If you do not love your neighbor as yourself, you are sinning. If you do not love your wife, you are sinning. It's a moral issue. We need to see that from the Bible. So how does the Bible define sin? Sin is lawlessness. And we need to remember that as we consider how to be godly in our marriages. But now I'm moving on to new material. That was a review, believe it or not, a brief review. According to the Bible, this is considering sin, the definition of sin. According to the Bible, what is the immediate source of your sin? What is the immediate source of your sin? Turn to Matthew chapter 15 in your Bibles. Matthew chapter 15 beginning at verse 18. Now I shall read beginning at verse 18. Jesus and his disciples were being criticized on different occasions for what they ate and what they didn't eat and how they washed their hands and how they didn't wash their hands. And Jesus, on this occasion, is not dealing with that, but is not primarily, but is dealing with the reality of the heart and sin. Verse 18 of Matthew 15. But the things which proceed out of the mouth come forth out of the heart, and they defile the man. For out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, railings. These are the things which defile the man, but to eat with unwashing hands does not defile the man. You see, what is the Lord saying here? What is the immediate source of your sin? It is your heart. That's what he says in verse 18. That's what he says in verse 19. Out of the heart, these sinful realities come forth. And according to the Bible, the heart is the seat not only of your thinking, but it's the seat of your will and your emotions. It's what makes you, you. The Lord specifies in this passage in Matthew 15, violations of the moral law of God. He points out violations of the sixth commandment, the seventh commandment, the eighth commandment, the ninth commandment. And Jesus is saying here to his listeners and to you tonight, that you are responsible for your sins. Because when you sin, your sins come out of your heart. Now that's a big problem in America. People don't want to be responsible for their actions. They don't want to be responsible, especially for their bad actions. But Jesus says, you need to understand that when you sin, it's coming forth out of your heart. You do what you do because you choose to do it. You don't do certain things because you choose to not do certain things. And every husband and wife in this auditorium needs to come to grips with this basic foundational biblical reality. Your marital sins, whatever they may be, issue forth from your heart, husband, from your heart, wife, Don't blame your kids. Don't blame society. Don't blame your boss at work. You came home from work. You had a rotten day at work. And now you're upset with your wife because something is not quite right in the home. And you then get upset and you sin with your tongue. And then you want to think, well, it's just because I had such a rotten day. No, no, no. You sinned because of your heart, your heart. Don't blame other circumstances, other people. Don't say, well, I wouldn't be this way if you, my wife, had acted differently. You know, you were a little touchy. You were a little hypersensitive. And if you hadn't been that way, well, then I wouldn't have responded the way I responded. Well, that is absolutely wrong to speak that way. It's wrong to think that way. You sinned because you sinned from your heart. It came forth out of your heart. Your wife may have also sinned. I'm not denying that. But don't justify your sinful behavior because your wife sinned. Don't justify your sinful behavior, wife, because your husband sinned. See the root of your sin, it is your heart. And if you're a Christian, it's not reigning sin, it's remaining sin, but it is your sin. So we need to understand that that's what the Bible teaches. You will not have a happy marriage. You will not have a joyous marriage. You will not make progress in grace if you are not owning responsibility for your real sin coming forth out of your heart in your marriage. But now, definition number two. Confession of sin. Turn to first John chapter one, first John chapter one and verse nine. This is another reality that needs to be understood from the Bible. If we are to have good, healthy, happy marriages as Christians, 1st John chapter 1 and verse 9. Very familiar verse, I trust. If we confess our sins, He, God, is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. What does the Apostle John mean when he tells us that we are to confess our sins? Biblically speaking, The word here in the Greek, it means to speak the same words as God with reference to your sins. It means you will have the same judgment as God concerning your sins. That's what this word confess means here in verse nine. That is the meaning. The Greek is very clear. The English maybe is not as clear. I don't know about the Spanish, but it means to speak the same words as God and have the same judgment as God with reference to your sins. It means you will own your sins, your guilt, your responsibility to God in a sincere, transparent, and comprehensive confession to God, and as we'll see, one necessary to other human beings, like your spouse. Genuine confession of sin is not an expression of an opinion that has nothing to do with truth and reality. If you're just giving your opinion about something, that's not a confession of sin. Genuine confession of sin does not include blame-shifting, rationalizations, minimizing of your sin, self-justification. That's not confession of sin. Confession of sin is not going to the Roman Catholic priest and saying certain things. You have to get all of those wrong ideas out of your mind. It is agreeing with God 100%. And you see, that's a big problem in America also, no doubt our world. In America, it's very clear. that people think you can take a man, a woman, live together, not married, fornicate, and that's okay. No, that is not okay. And if you're guilty of that sin of fornication, you must call it what God calls it. He calls it sin. He calls it uncleanness. He calls it immorality. He calls it ungodliness. And that is what you are to call it as well, and confess it as such. Turn to Psalm 51. Psalm 51 in your Bibles. As you know, Psalm 51 was written by King David after Nathan the prophet had confronted him about his sins, his sin of adultery with Bathsheba, his sin of murdering Bathsheba's husband, Uriah. Notice in verse four of Psalm 51, against you, you only have I sinned and done that which is evil in your sight. that you may be justified when you speak and be clear when you judge. Notice how David confessed his sin. He says, against you and you only, I have sinned. For David, when he came to that place of confession of sin, it was like there were only two individuals in the entire universe. No one else on earth mattered to David at that point in time. David was fully conscious of the fact that God, the living God, saw all the sin that he did. David understood that he had sinned against Bathsheba. But at this point, his concern is to confess the fact that he sinned first and foremost against God. And notice in verse four, what does he call his sin? He says, I have done that which is evil in your sight. When you sin as a husband against your wife, by the way you treat her sinfully, by the way you speak to her sinfully, by neglecting her sinfully, however you treat her, however you sin against her, you must understand that first of all, you're sinning against God. And you must understand that what you're doing is evil. It's not okay. It's not justifiable. You need to see it and feel it as God sees it and God feels it as evil. And that's what David did here. He saw and he felt and he confessed the reality that what he had done was truly evil in the sight of God. So do you see your sin, Mr. Husband, do you see your sin against your wife as really evil? Or do you just think, oh, it's, you know, I sin every day against my wife. You know, this is just life. Is that your attitude? Or do you see it and feel it as evil? That's what David did. David could have minimized his sin of adultery. It was only one act of adultery with Bathsheba. You know, so what's the big deal? Just one act of fornication, one act of adultery. He could have minimized it, but he doesn't do that. He could have blamed Bathsheba. What in the world was she doing bathing out in her outdoor courtyard at night so she could be seen? He could have blamed her, but he didn't. He could have rationalized his sin of murder. Well, I didn't actually kill Uriah. I wasn't even at the battle. He could have rationalized it, but he didn't do that. He owned the reality of his sin. He truly confessed his sins to God. Confession of sin in your marriage must begin with the vertical, confessing it to God, and then it must proceed to the horizontal. Turn to James chapter 5 and verse 16. James chapter 5 and verse 16. In this portion, James is dealing with the reality that sometimes sickness is connected to sin. But the principle here is the same whether it's sickness related or not. In James 5 verse 16, we read, confess therefore your sins one to another and pray one for another that you may be healed. So here's a simple instruction for you as husbands, for you as wives, indeed for all of us. We are not only to confess our sin to God first and foremost, but when we sin against our spouses, we are to confess our sins to our spouses. We are to confess them to them. We are to do the same thing with them that we do with God in the sense that we own the reality of our evil sin in our marriage, our guilt, and we call it what God calls it. And therefore, in the light of these scriptures, husbands and wives, it is not satisfactory because it is not biblical for you to simply say to your spouse, and I may have said this in a previous message, but I don't mind repeating it tonight because it's a common problem, it's not sufficient, it's not adequate for you to say, I'm sorry. Because when you're saying to your spouse, when you sin against your spouse, I'm sorry. And that's all you say. You're telling your spouse how you feel. You're saying, I feel sorry. And you should feel sorry if you've sinned. But it's not enough to say, I'm sorry. You shouldn't simply say, I apologize. It's okay if you apologize. It's good if you apologize. But we apologize for things that have nothing to do with sin. When you've confessed sin, you need to do more than apologize. And certainly you shouldn't be saying, well, I didn't really mean it. I know I did it, but I didn't mean it. Well, you did do it. You did sin. So it's not right to say, well, I didn't mean it. You did it. And of course, it's even worse husbands and wives to say nothing. To pretend that you didn't really sin. To ignore it. To go to bed not having confessed your sin. Have days go by when you don't confess your sin to your spouse. That is sinful in itself. No, confession of sin means saying to your spouse, honey, please forgive me for my sin of speaking harshly, unlovingly to you. That was not like Jesus Christ. Christ commands me to love you from my heart, with my words, with my deeds. I didn't. Please forgive me for my sin. That's what I'm talking about. and therefore you've got to make time to do it. That means if you've got kids running around in your household, you either get them into the living room and you go off into the kitchen, or if they're so young they can't be left alone, somehow you've got to work this out so that you do not delay confessing your sins to God and to your spouse. Well, let's move on then. Definition number three, repentance. We've talked about confession of sin, we've talked about sin, but what is repentance? We live in a time and in a culture here in America when repentance is generally not proclaimed from pulpits in many professing churches of Christ. Repentance is ignored, it is not mentioned, or it is superficial in nature and watered down whenever it is discussed or taught. So what does the Bible teach us about repentance? What is genuine biblical repentance? Because when you sin in your marriage, you not only need to confess your sin to God, confess your sin to your spouse, you need to repent of your sins. So what is repentance? Because without that repentance, you will not have a happy marriage. You will not have a godly marriage. You need to have biblical repentance in your marriage. Repentance, according to the Bible, in the Old Testament and the New Testament, is a changed mind. It starts with the mind. It's thinking differently about yourself. It's thinking differently about your sin. It's thinking differently about your relationship with your spouse. Repentance is a changed mind. Instead of thinking that your harshness or your impatience or your irritability with your wife is okay, you now think God's thoughts and you say, not only is this not okay, this is evil. You think God's thoughts about your sins. Repentance is also a changed heart. It's not only a change of mind, a way of thinking, but it is a changed heart. Your affections are going to change. Instead of thinking that the sin you commit repeatedly in your marriage is basically no problem, you now begin to have a heart of hatred toward your real sin. Repentance also issues in a changed life. It's not just change thinking and then even a changed heart, but your spouse will see the fruit of repentance in your marriage and in your family. There will be a change in your life, in your marriage. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter seven. 2 Corinthians chapter seven. beginning at verse 9. This is a key passage to study if you want to understand what is involved in biblical repentance. 2 Corinthians 7, beginning at verse 9. I now rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that you were made sorry unto repentance. For you were made sorry after a godly sort, that you might suffer loss by us in nothing. For godly sorrow works repentance unto salvation, a repentance which brings no regret. But the sorrow of the world works death. For behold this selfsame thing, that you were made sorry after a godly sort. What earnest care it wrought in you! Yes, what clearing of yourselves! Yes, what indignation! Yes, what fear! Yes, what longing! Yes, what zeal! Yes, what avenging! In everything you approved yourselves to be pure in the matter. You see, Paul says here that, first of all, there are two kinds of sorrow. There is a worldly sorrow for sin, and there is a godly sorrow for sin. And you must make sure that in your marriage, in your life, your sorrow over your sin is not worldly sorrow, but rather godly sorrow. You see, sorrow itself is not necessarily a sign of repentance. You can meet people and probably you have met people who are very sorry for their sin, but not with a godly sorrow. They're really sorry about the consequences. They've made a mess of their lives. And they see that their sin, they even call it sin. Yes, this sin has made a mess. but they're really sorry about the consequences. They're really not sorry about the reality of their own heart sin. You see, even self-condemnation, even some remorse for sin is not necessarily a sign of repentance. True repentance will have that aspect of self-condemnation and remorse, but it will be more than that. Judas, we are told, Repented. He had self-condemnation, he had some degree of remorse, but that was all a worldly sorrow. That was not genuine repentance, you see. Godly sorrow works repentance unto salvation. It is a turning away from your sin. whatever the sin may be, and it is a turning back to God through Christ with a full purpose of heart to live a life of holiness. Notice in verse 11 of 2 Corinthians 7, some of the characteristics, not all of them, of genuine repentance. There is no longer indifference. In your marriage, you're not going to have the ho-hum attitude about the sin in your heart in your marriage. Rather, you are going to be swift to deal with your sin before God, with your spouse, in your family. You are going to be determined to hate it and reject it and forsake it. You will have a clearing of yourself, Paul says. You will make matters right. So when you've sinned against your husband by being insubmissive as a pattern of life, Genuine repentance means you're not only confessing it to God, you're confessing it to your husband, and your children who have seen that insubmission are going to hear your confession as well, and you're going to be determined with purpose of heart to forsake your insubmissive, snotty ways with your husband. And you're going to be determined to make every matter right where you have been insubmissive and rebellious towards your husband. You're going to do whatever you have to do to set things right in your marriage and in your family. And that may mean you have to go to somebody else here in the church. You may have to go to another sister and say, you know, I've spoken to you, I've gossiped with you about my husband and I blamed him, but I actually have been a terrible wife. I've been insubmissive to my husband and I never told you that. I made you think it's all my husband. You think it's all my, it's not all my husband, it's me. That's what's meant by clearing yourself. And if you need to do that and you refuse to do that, that is not genuine repentance. You say, well, if I had to do that, that would be so humiliating. No, that would be called humbling yourself, rightly humbling yourself. before someone else, and that would be very good for your soul. God resists the proud, and God gives grace to the humble. Furthermore, in 2 Corinthians 7, Paul says true repentance has some indignation. In other words, you are angry not with your spouse, you're angry not with God. You're no longer saying, why did you give me this husband? Or why did you give me this wife? I mean, that is wicked thinking and wicked speaking and wicked heart. And when you begin to truly repent, you have an indignation and anger, not at God, not at your spouse, but at yourself and your sin. No longer are you angry at everyone else. You're angry with your sin. And you start to repent and deal with it. But that genuine repentance has other aspects, and it's important to see those from the scriptures. So I would like you now to turn to Joel, in the Old Testament, turn to Joel chapter 2. Joel chapter 2. beginning at verse 12. Before I read those verses, Joel has proclaimed in Joel 1 up through chapter 2, he's proclaimed that God will bring dreadful judgment upon the people of God. And his purpose in that proclamation was not simply to terrify the people of God and leave them in despair. He did want them to be sobered and in one way to be terrified, but he did not want to leave them in despair. His purpose was to move them, Joel the prophet, his purpose was to move the people to act, to repent of their sins and to return unto God. And he joins his exhortation to repent to an encouragement to hope in receiving mercy from God. That's what he does. So please follow as I read Joel chapter two, verses 12 and 13. Yet even now says the Lord, turn unto me with all your heart and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning, and rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto Jehovah your God. For he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and repents him of the evil. Notice from this passage here in Joel chapter 2, notice it is the Lord himself who is exhorting sinners, and in our context here, sinning husbands, sinning wives, or any sinner here tonight, From this passage in Joel, notice, it is the Lord himself who is exhorting sinners to repent. Notice that in verse 12. He says, yet even now says Jehovah, God himself, is exhorting sinners to repent. And as you tonight, every single individual here tonight, as you hear these words, you are to recognize that's what God is doing for you right now. So you may not be married, you may be indulging some sins in your heart, in your life, and no one knows about it, but God does. Your dad doesn't know, your mom doesn't know, your friends don't know, but you're indulging that sin. And God himself is telling you right now, repent. But notice also in verse 12, it is not too late to repent. It is not too late. Notice how God puts it in verse 12. He says, yet even now, yet even now, Though you have abused God's patience, though you have refused God's mercy in the past, God is saying, the living God is saying to each one of you here tonight, yet even now turn unto me and I will pardon you. You may indeed have rejected me for years. You may indeed have abused my patience. But yet, even now, if you turn, God offers hope and mercy and salvation for you. But notice in verse 12 also, this turning to the Lord is to be wholehearted. Return to me, God says, with half your heart, no? return unto me with all your heart. And this, I think, is often the very touchstone, the crux, the main problem with many in their marriages. They're not repenting with a whole heart. There's some degree of sincere sorrow before God for the problems and the sins. There's confession to God. There's even confession to spouses. But there's not this wholehearted repentance. There's some genuine sorrow, but there's not the wholehearted forsaking of the sin. And when that does not happen, that's because you don't really hate your sin the way you should. you don't really see it the way God sees it. Because if you saw it the way God sees it, you would begin to hate it the way God hates it. And that is necessary if there's going to be a wholehearted turning unto God in repentance. But notice fourthly from this Joel passage, The Lord says, turn with sincere grief for your sin and for offending God. Really, we're already touching on that. Return to me, he says, with fasting and with weeping and with mourning. There is to be a grief in your heart, not worldly sorrow, not just sorrow because of the mess you made of your life, but there is to be a grief. Do you have grief over your sin? Not your spouse's sins. Do you have grief over your sin? Your marital sins. Do your marital sins grieve you? That's the point. You need to turn to the Lord with fasting and weeping and mourning. And it could be that indeed You may be do need to actually set aside a time of fasting. And you tell your wife. Tell your husband. I don't grieve over my sin in the marriage with you, dear, as I should. And I need to repent more wholeheartedly with grief. And I'm going to fast for the next three days. and I'm gonna plead with God that he will hear my prayers and fasting, break into my heart, give me the grief that I need for my sin. Maybe you need to do that. Well, that's kind of extreme. But if you think that, you don't see your sin as God sees it. That's not extreme. But notice in verse 13, The Lord also says repentance involves humility of heart. He says in verse 13, rend, rip open, tear open your heart, and not your clothing, not your garments, and turn unto Jehovah your God. There's to be humility of heart. In the Old Testament especially, we see that when someone was manifesting repentance, they often ripped their garments, their clothing, put dirt on their heads to show outwardly repentance toward God, sorrow for sin, sorrow before God. But here, God through Joel is saying, don't do that with your clothing, do it with your heart. I, God, am not interested in outward drama. That doesn't mean God doesn't want to see the outward realities. He does. But what God is saying here is your repentance must begin in your heart. And if I never see it outwardly, I see the heart. If no one else sees it outwardly, they should see repentance outwardly. But the point is, it's to begin in your heart. You're to have humility of heart. Sincere grief for your sin must be joined to humility of heart. Humility begins there inwardly. It's a tearing apart of your heart in sorrow before God. It is saying, I am nothing. Do you ever say that to God? Do you ever get to the place where you see and you know and you feel I am nothing? I am not somebody great. I am nothing. Humility is saying before God, I am vile. And if you're a Christian, you confess, yes, by the grace of God, I am not what I once was. But in my remaining sin, I am vile. I am guilty. I am helpless. You see, there's a breaking of the heart, a broken and contrite heart God does not despise. That's what true repentance in your marriage will manifest, will bring forth, a broken and contrite heart before God. I'd like to give an illustration here. I hope this will be helpful. When I was in the business world for a number of years, I worked on a major project involving carbon fiber tabletops. Carbon fiber is a fabric, actually, made out of carbon. And when carbon fiber items are made correctly, They are very lightweight and yet extremely strong. Many parts on airplanes are made out of carbon fiber. Well, this project was a carbon fiber treatment table for radiation oncology, cancer treatment. And it was for a company called Siemens. And so it was intended to be lightweight but very strong. and radiation could go through it, and it was virtually invisible to radiation. Radiation didn't really do anything when it went through it. It was like it wasn't there. So when made correctly, it doesn't break. And we were instructed by Siemens that these carbon tabletops had to have a safety factor. And so they said, Siemens said, well, the heaviest patient probably is 500 pounds. That's a pretty heavy patient. And they said, you have to make it to support three times that weight, 1,500 pounds. But it still has to be lightweight, still has to be basically invisible to radiation, and it can't break. And we did. we made the carbon fiber tabletops, treatment tables. Your heart is not supposed to be that way. Your heart is not to be like that treatment table made out of carbon fiber that doesn't break even when you put 1,500 pounds on it. Your heart, with reference to your sin, is to be like an Italian pizzelle cookie. And I thought, I wish I could have thought about a Spanish cookie. And I don't even know if you know what an Italian pizzelle cookie is, but I'm going to describe it to you. They're normally about this big around, the ones I've seen. They're very thin, very thin. They have a fancy design. You basically pour batter into like a waffle iron, but it's not a waffle iron. And you cook them a little bit and they come out. And they're very pretty, they're very tasty. But guess what? They break very easily. It doesn't take much pressure to make it break. That's what your heart should be like with reference to your sin. Your heart should not be like a carbon fiber tabletop that doesn't break, but like an Italian pizzelle cookie, that when the word of God, when the correction of the pastor, when the exhortation of your spouse about a problem, a sin in your life comes to you, you are quick to break, not in emotional tears, You're quick to break before God, confessing your sin to God and to your spouse. Honey, you are right. I sinned. I sinned in that way. Please forgive me. Instant. Not one hour later, not six hours later, not a day later, not a week later. Your heart needs to be tender, breakable before God and before your spouse. And that happens when you are humble, when you have humility of heart. But notice from Joel chapter two in verse 13, In repentance, you turn to the Lord in faith and hope. Notice what he says there. He says in verse 13, turn. Well, why? Rend your heart. Why? Don't tear your garments. Why? Turn to God. Why? The reason is given. For he, God, is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and he will relent from doing you evil. You are to think about God in this way. God is not a harsh God. God is not an unloving God. God is a God who delights in mercy. And according to this passage, He is gracious and merciful. He is slow to anger. And if you stop and think about it as a husband, as a wife, you should realize that indeed God is very slow to anger in your case. and He is abundant in loving kindness and mercy. And when you think about those realities about God, and that's what you're called upon to do by God in His Word tonight, to think right thoughts about the living God, that He really is a God who is gracious to sinners like you. Your marriage may be on the brink of divorce. I hope that's not true with any marriage here, but I wouldn't be surprised if there's a marriage here. Hopefully it's not any, but I wouldn't be surprised if I heard there was a marriage that's on the brink of divorce. And you may think we can never be different. I hate my wife. A sinful statement. I hate my husband. We're only together because of the kids. If you truly confess your sins individually and together as husband and wife, and truly repent as we see in the Bible, as we see in Joel chapter two, God is a God who delights to be gracious to vile, helpless, sinful sinners just like you. That's what he is. And you need to make the time to think about these realities. I do this, and I have recently done it. When I look at the sins in my own heart, and I look at the sins in my life, and by the grace of God, they're not breaking forth outwardly. But if God removed his hand, they would break forth outwardly. I am endeavoring to mortify my own remaining sins by the Spirit of God, with the Word of God. I have a wonderful marriage, but I see much in my heart that is very wicked and evil and sinful, and I confess it to God. I endeavor to repent of it from God. But what really, really breaks through to my heart is when I think about the fact that God has been so patient with me. God has been so slow to anger with me. When you think about God's grace, God's mercy, God's love, it starts to melt the hard heart and it shows you how ugly your sins are. And then when you go further and contemplate that that same God sent his only begotten son into the world to take on human flesh and he lived a perfect sinless life for me. Never once did he sin in his thoughts. Never once did he sin in his emotions. Never once did he sin in his words. Never once did he sin in his tones. Never once did he sin in his body. Never once did he sin in his imaginations. Never once did he sin. And from before the foundation of this world, God, in sovereign electing grace, chose to save Jeffrey Alan Smith from his sins. And he sent his son to die on the cross so that all of my sins would be punished righteously in Christ. and Christ's righteousness would be transferred to me so that I'm accepted by God now in Christ Jesus. And when you think on those realities, it makes your heart humble and it overwhelms you with the love of God, and then you want to hate your sin and you want to repent of your sin, and you thank God for who he is, and it makes you want to love your wife as Christ loves the church, or it makes you want to submit to and honor and revere your husband as you're commanded to by God through Christ. You need to not only think of the law of God, don't ignore the law of God, Don't ignore it. You need the law of God. But in this passage in Joel, you need to see that God is gracious and merciful and slow to anger and abundant in loving kindness to sinners who truly repent and come to him in Christ Jesus. And you may say, well, I feel like I am a hypocrite. I feel like I'm a slave to my lusts. I have lied to my spouse repeatedly. Well, as we saw tonight, confess all of those sins to God through Christ. Confess them appropriately to your spouse and others. Call upon God through Jesus Christ. Think upon the realities of who God is, who Christ is, what Christ has done. And think long enough until those truths and realities melt your heart in gratitude to God and lead you to repentance. The goodness of God is intended by God to lead you to repentance. Think on those realities. And therefore, if you're going to think on those realities, you need to make time to think on those realities. Oh, I'm too busy. You can cut out television, you can cut out movies, you can cut out sports, you can cut out Facebook, you can cut out all sorts of things and make time to think, to meditate upon these realities so that your heart is impacted. So anyone here tonight who is not married or regardless of whether you're married or not, you're not a Christian. You need to see your sins the way God sees them. You need to call upon God now and ask him to show you your sins, to convict you of your sins. To see them the way he sees them. And you need to ask God to show you his mercy in Christ. You need to begin there. You need to ask. You have not because you ask not. And you ask not because you want not. And you do not want because you love your sins. But God commands you to repent. and to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and begin tonight, do not delay. So let's close now in prayer. Lord our God, we cry out unto you and we pray that gospel realities that the realities of Jesus Christ and his grace and mercy and salvation would break in by your spirit to all of our hearts here in this auditorium. Lord, we pray that you would radically transform every single marriage, that each and every marriage in this congregation would honor you by being a godly marriage. And so, Lord, work that we would indeed be daily confessing our sins and daily repenting of our sins and daily trusting in Jesus Christ alone for forgiveness and cleansing and transformation. Please work in a mighty way in our midst, in our hearts, in our lives. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.