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The following message is brought to you by Capital City Baptist Church of Port Mosby. We exist to bring glory to God by knowing Christ and making Him known. If you would like to visit our church, we hold multiple services on Sunday mornings, starting at 9am. We are located between Motukere Wharf and Edai Town. Pickups are available 7009-1000. 2 Corinthians 6, you're already probably in Ephesians 5, so if you'll just put a piece of paper in Ephesians 5, we will come back there. I'd like to spend some time this morning, 2 Corinthians 6, and specifically verse 14 and following. There is a problem in our society today. It is a growing problem. And it is a matter that we as a pastoral staff have addressed internally a number of times, and we've actually come right to the brink of addressing it publicly several times, and we've backed away. I believe that now is the right time for us to talk about it. And so we'll spend the next three weeks talking about this issue of marriage. I believe that every single one of us has a desire that our children will grow up, marry, have children, teach their children to love Jesus. I think that every single one of us has that desire. A month from now, by God's grace and Lord willing, a month from now, I will walk my own oldest daughter down the aisle and give her away in marriage. Three weeks from now, I will be in the US. I will gain a son-in-law by the name of Luke. I'm looking forward to that opportunity, but I understand this is becoming increasingly rare. The problem within our society, I see a number of ways that it has manifested itself. First off, I think that the problem is that we as parents do not speak to our children well enough about the problem. We as moms and dads, typically we tend to bury our head in the sand and hope that the issue never comes up. As a daughter, we tell her that she will be 35 years old, successfully employed and out of school and have already owned her own house before she will ever consider getting married. We bury our heads in the sand. It's a boy, we have a son, we just hope that they are innocent, will behave themselves until the time has come. That's the first problem that I see. We just don't talk to our children about it. Second problem that I see is that our civil government has made it almost impossible to be legally married. I say that, you perhaps hear a bit of anger within my voice, that's on purpose. It has been many years since a celebrant license has been issued in Papua New Guinea. It has been many years. Therefore, if a young couple comes to me and wants to get married, I have to refer them to the NID office. I hope that sent a chill down your spine. Because anything that's involved with the NID office might as well be the black hole of all things related to the civil government. If you work with the NID office and you're here this morning, I'm sorry, speaking the truth. I've been trying to get a celebrant license for seven years. I attended a course three years ago. Earlier this year, a minister signed it was gazetted three months ago and they've yet to issue the license. And so when I look at a young couple who comes to me for marriage counseling, and in their very first meeting with me, they find out that I cannot legally sign a marriage certificate for them, they begin to think, what's the use? We'll just do what everybody else is doing. We'll just move in together. Young people, I want you to hear me. It does not matter how difficult it is to do it right. You still take the time to do it right. By God's grace and Lord willing, I pray that the day will come when they will issue, yes, greater than 40 pastor's names were in the Gazette in April. So I pray and hope that the day will come when that black hole will release some documentation. And yet I understand that right now, if you want to get a marriage certificate, it will require that you come on the Friday of the month that they decide that they're going to issue marriage certificates. You, along with several other hundred couples, will show up on the same Friday in the month and hope that the right officers are in their places on that day. When I say it's nearly impossible, that's what I mean. It's a problem within our society. Furthermore, I see another problem within our society is that we have dumbed down our vocabulary. By that, this is what I mean. Largely, I'm hearing an increasing vocabulary within our society that says, I'm now living with my partner and we are in a relationship. The problem is they can't define it as a marriage because it is not legally a marriage. And they cannot call each other spouses, husband and wife, because they are only partners. And so when we dumb down our vocabulary and say we are partners in a relationship, we take away the seriousness of husbands love your wives and wives submit yourselves to your husband. There's a problem. It's almost as if it's just a partnership as if it was a business relationship so that when things don't go so well, you'll just let it loose and move on. This is a major problem. What I mean by we as a pastoral staff have spoken many times about this. There are great implications within our society because of this problem. Think of this one as a manifestation of many other problems that would flow out from it. The fact that it's difficult for a young couple to get a marriage license, so the day comes when the young man decides that there's somebody else that's just a prettier, younger model. He leaves her behind with the children, and she has no legal recourse in order to have him take care of those children that are his. No legal recourse. We are doing our young ladies an injustice within our society. And so when I preach this over the next few weeks, I hope, moms and dads, that you will listen and you will imprint these biblical principles in the lives of your children so that when the day comes, it does not matter how difficult it is for them to get a marriage certificate, young people, we will follow through with this. For it's the right thing to do. I spoke on the topic of biblical manhood and biblical womanhood. I thought that I spoke about it recently. I went back through our archives and I found out it's been five years since I spoke on the topic. August of 2017. I spoke on biblical manhood. What does it look like to be a man? What does it look like to be a woman from Scripture? I don't have the time in these three week series to unpack that. If I could ask you to give me the liberty of just building on what we preached five years ago, and throughout the week, if you'd like to know more about that, you can go to the website, and you can pull up those archives, August of 2017, and you'll be able to see biblical manhood, what does it mean? Biblical womanhood, what does it mean? I promise that I will not allow five years to go before we address it again. But I promise you, even though there is this problem, I want to not just give you the ugly side. I do want to let you know there is hope. There is hope because God instituted marriage right at the very beginning. We don't even get to the end of the second chapter in the book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, the second chapter, and God goes, here's a better way. Man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and they shall be one flesh. There is a better way. And I hope that as a result of our time together over the next three weeks, that you will see that there is a better way. Today, I want to speak specifically on biblical qualifications of a spouse. What does it look like? We'll talk about that more deeply next week. Today, primarily, I will speak to our young people. So if you're a young person, and I would say anywhere from the age of six up to married, what does it look like for biblical qualifications? What does that other person need to have before I can ever consider them to be my spouse? I'll speak primarily today to our young people, but next Sunday, I'd like to speak to parents, and specifically, I'd like to speak next Sunday on the idea of helping our children through the process. For we must, moms and dads, we must stop burying our head in the sand. We have to stop it. This is a society-wide problem. We, moms and dads, God has put it in our hands. We must speak to our children about this. It cannot be a topic that we leave on the shelf and hope that we never have to address. We must start talking to our children. And we must stop threatening them. Here's what I mean. I'm guilty about this myself. I raised two girls in my home. And when my girls were little, I said things to them. Hannah can attest to this. I said things to them like, first boy that comes along, I'm going to shoot him. Hannah can quote the rest of the statement. And I'll tan his hide and hang it on the front door as a deterrent to the next one. I said it over and over and over when they were little. And when she was five, and she was the princess and I was the king, that was a wonderful thing for her to know that Daddy cares about me. But when she was 15, you know what it did? It taught her to hide any relationship she's going to have with a boy. Because let's be honest, guys, your daughter loves you. And she cares about what you think. And if you tell her, the first boy that comes along, I'm going to shoot him. You know what she's going to do? She's going to say, I don't want to hurt my daddy. But she won't tell you about that boy. I don't say that to embarrass Hannah. I say that because I'm guilty of doing the very same thing. naturally threaten our children to not go down that path. But let's be honest, all of us, if you're married, all of us walk down that path. And if you're not careful, you'll threaten them to the point where they will hide their relationships. At worst, you'll find out after there's already a baby on the way. And at best, you'll find out after they've already given their heart away. And how will you ever rein it in after they've already given their heart away? Oh, you have no choice but to try to guide from after, we say after the horse ran away from the barn? Can I implore us? There's a better way. So next week, I'm gonna talk to moms and dads about helping our children through the process. Then the third week, I'd like to speak again to our young people I'll title it something like a treasure map for those that are searching. I'd like to walk through some practical tips for us if you were single. On that Sunday, I'd like to give some practical tips, some things for you to be looking for in another person's life, some pitfalls to avoid. Perhaps you get into a relationship and you need to get out of that relationship the way that you can do that and do it right. And then on that Sunday, we'll have a special life groups as I mentioned at the beginning of the service. The panel, I'd love for some of our folks who have some wisdom to be able to speak into this situation. So if you have questions, please feel free to bring them up. But today I want to walk through biblical qualifications of a spouse. What are some of the most important things about another person, if I'm going to consider them, whether or not to marry them? Guys, you just met a young lady, and she makes your heart go boom. Oh my goodness! Is that the right one? For young ladies, you see that guy and he has his trouser leg rolled up halfway up his calf, and you've never seen anybody roll their trouser leg just like that. I have so many things I want to say about that, but I won't right now. He is full incarnate. And you wonder, is that the one that I should marry? And I hope that when I say, is that the one that I should marry, I hope that that makes you pause and go, but pastor, why do I have to go to, is that the one that I want to marry? Can't I just date him for a little while? Can't I just date her for a little while? I want you to hear me and hear me well, young people. There's only one reason to date. There's only one reason to date. I'll put it on the screen for you. The reason to date someone is to find out if you should marry them. That's the only reason. The only reason to date someone is to find out if I'm going to marry this person. So if they don't, and I'm going to give you the qualifications today, if they don't meet the qualifications for marriage, they automatically don't meet the qualifications for dating. Because you're going to date them, and if you're not careful, you're going to give them your heart, and then you're going to say, well, it's too late, and so I'm going to have to marry this person because of whatever things have come up between now and then. Don't date them if they're not marriage quality. The only reason to date someone if you're planning to marry them, find out if they're marriage material. And so I might just add here, if you're 12 years old, you shouldn't be dating. Because you're not marriage material. You're welcome. Log that away. Moms and dads, use it anytime you want to. Fill in the blank. Unless they're 32. If they're 32, that's not a good example. Biblical qualifications of a spouse. The first one is this. I'll give it to you, and these words are chosen intentionally. Biblical qualifications of a spouse. Number one, they need to be evidently a believer. evidently a believer. So I hope you're there in 2 Corinthians 6. I'll read from v. 14 down to v. 18. We'll work our way down through the passage. I'll read v. 14 at the beginning here. Let's see v. 14. 2 Corinthians 6, v. 14. Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, and what communion hath light with Darkness. I'll just give you a moment of historical context here. It's important for us to always approach Scripture from context. The historical context, this is the second book to the Corinthians. The first book to the Corinthians, Paul addressed many problems within the church, and a lot of those problems had been corrected by the time he writes the second epistle. In this 2nd Epistle, however, there is a problem that is still going on, and that problem is that those people in that church are still putting their ear to false teachers. There are some false teachers who are giving them false doctrine, and his point is you as a believer have no reason to yoke up. We'll explain yoke up in just a moment. But you have no reason to yoke up with unbelievers. So if that's a false teacher, the direct implication here in the historical context is you have no reason to yoke up with an unbeliever in your spiritual life. That has great practical outflows into our lives today. The word yoke. The yoke is an agriculture instrument for working in the fields. You can perhaps remember some pictures. I know that we don't do this today, but some pictures of a couple of oxen. You put two oxen together to pull the plow. The yoke is that instrument that is used to tie those two oxen together, or two donkeys together. The book of Deuteronomy in chapter 22 and verse 10 makes a statement, it says like this, yoke together an ox and a donkey. There's a reason for that. The ox is huge. We're talking about an ox. Don't think an ox is just a cow, alright? A cow is a cow. But an ox is a very strong, muscular, well-trained cow that's going to be able to pull, and he knows, put the yoke on, he's ready to go to work. And a donkey is much smaller. A donkey's back, someone like this, hee-haw, hee-haw, works really well together with another donkey, hangs from the yoke as the ox begins to pull. You get this image in your mind of an ox, great, big, strong, muscular ox as he begins to pull, and he's pulling the plow behind him, and the donkey's just trying his best not to get hung. You don't mix those. And God doesn't just give us things in the Old Testament to just help the people in the Old Testament. Yes, those things in the Old Testament are meant for our learning in the New Testament. So what do we do with that? We go, okay, there's that picture of the yoke not being unequally put together. Here we are in the New Testament. You don't yoke up an unbeliever with a believer. Please, young people, don't deceive yourself into thinking, well, I can just yoke up with this one. I know they're an unbeliever, but I'll do my best and I'll bring them along and one day they'll get saved. No, we don't do missionary dating. No, you don't do it. Look at verse 14, and I want you to answer this question mentally. Is this a suggestion or is it a command? Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. The answer is, that's a command. They're not a believer. They're off-limits. Young men, you're going to see a young lady. You're going to think, she's gorgeous. She perhaps is the one for me. She comes from a good family. She's not a believer. She's off-limits. Men, the same thing goes. Marriage is going to be the hardest work of your life. I'll say it again. Maybe some moms and dads can give us an amen on that. Marriage is going to be the hardest work of your life. Moms and dads, if you're not putting work into your marriage, don't think, oh, we got married and it was happily ever after. Now I'm going to get some moms and dads to say amen. Marriage can be the hardest work of your life. You need to put in work. And here, he says, don't yoke yourself up with an unbeliever. Now let me pause here for just a moment because I know that some of us have spouses who are unbelievers. The Scriptures are very clear in 1 Corinthians 7. What do I do as a believer if my My wife is an unbeliever or vice versa. What do I do? 1 Corinthians 7 is very clear. Don't seek to be loosed from the marriage. Instead, live a godly life and do your very best to try to win them with your good appearance. In other words, you live right and allow God to use your testimony to bring the unbelieving spouse to Christ. So if you're already married, And I want you to hear me saying, you get rid of that unbelieving spouse. No. That's divorce. Now we're talking about a whole different problem. Right now, I'm addressing, we bring together an unmarried lady and an unmarried man. If one of them is an unbeliever, they don't belong together. He's going to give us five examples here that we might as well say, in modern words, are as different as oil and water. Here they are. Look at v. 14. "...be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?" The answer, none. No fellowship. There is no place where you can go righteous before God. unrighteous before God, and somehow we bring those two and there will be a blending of them. No. Impossible. He goes again. The end of verse 14. And what communion hath light with darkness? So as the darkness is there, when light comes in, it breaks forth. That's the words we use. We don't say the light came in and it just gradually mixed together with darkness and somehow we had a little bit of darkness. No, light shatters darkness. They don't have communion. They don't sit down together at the table. It doesn't happen. Verse 15, what concord hath Christ with Belial? The word concord, another way to say that would be accord or agreement. What accord does Christ have with Satan? Now think about that for a moment. As different as oil is from water, you don't mix them. You don't take Jesus and say, I'll take about 50% of Him and 50% of the devil and put them together. They don't mix. He keeps going. Another picture. Verse 15, in what part hath He that believeth with an infidel? Answer, none. I don't have place for this. What agreement, v. 16, what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? Can you imagine Solomon's temple on the day that they dedicated it? Tens of thousands of animals sacrificed on that day. The glory of God came and filled the temple. The people rejoiced. And could you imagine if just for one moment, if one of the priests just happened to slip in an idol today? He goes, no, that doesn't work. The temple of God has no place, no mixture together with idols. So then just think for just a moment, 1 Corinthians 3, 1 Corinthians 6, what is the current manifestation of the temple of God? Your body. Believer, your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. God's manifestation of His temple today is in you, believer. So then, you don't take this temple and mix it together with an unbeliever. That doesn't happen. There's no way to do that. It should be separated. See him say it here in v. 16. For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said, I will dwell in them, walk in them, I will be their God and they shall be My people. Wherefore, come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you. I'll be a father unto you. You shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord. So in other words, there is no place for a believer to marry an unbeliever. If you are a believer, you decide to marry an unbeliever, I'm telling you, you're going 180 degrees opposed to the will of God for your life. Hear me well, young people. There is no exceptions. Very important thing. And you'll notice that I put in point number one, the word evidently. The word evidently means there is evidence to this. There's evidence that they're a believer. You might ask, well, Pastor, how does that show up? I'll give you three of them very quickly. I won't belabor these. But how do you know if someone's a believer? Young person, if you have to ask That boy, saved. Can I tell you something? There's not been evidence of his salvation. Here's what evidence of salvation looks like. He's going to be born again. Those are Jesus's words in John chapter three, you must be born again. That's supernatural. That happens by God alone doing this. And so when he gets saved, this is a glorious moment for his soul. His life is different. He is changed. And I'm not talking about he walked an aisle and prayed a prayer. There will be evidence. Please don't point back at some point in someone's life and say, well, they prayed a prayer, so they must be fine. No, that's not how salvation works. There will be evidence of your salvation throughout the rest of your life. So he will be born again, or she will be repentant. There will be evidence of repentance in their life. You know what repentance is? Repentance is a change of mind that manifests itself in a change of action. For somebody to say, I'm sorry, and they continue to do the same thing over and over, there's no change in their actions. That's not repentance. Repentance is a change of mind that then manifests itself in a change of action. So there will be evidence of repentance in their life. And also you'll notice I've put that there will be fruit bearing. 2 Corinthians 5.17, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. They're going to be different. You're going to notice it. I hope that you would see this. There's no space for I think he's saved or I hope she's saved. If that's where you're at, drop them. Drop them like a hot potato. In two weeks, I'll give you some tips on how to do it. If you can't wait for two weeks and you're not sure how to do it, come and ask me, give me his phone number. I've done it for some of you already. I'll call him and tell him it's over. I love you and care about you too much to just let you walk down that road. First qualification. He must be. She must be evidently a believer. Second qualification. They need to be exhibiting Christ-likeness. Exhibiting Christ-likeness. You had your place there in Ephesians 5. Let's come back over to that passage. Ephesians 5. I'll be walking through verses 22 specifically to 28. Ephesians 5 lists some helps in marriage in ways that no other passage in Scripture does. In fact, there's no other place in the Bible that addresses how husbands should act, how wives should act so clearly as Ephesians 5. There are other places that speak to how the relationship should be, but none as clearly as here. You're going to notice that it says in v. 22, Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord, For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. I will speak little to the ladies and much to the men." Because the passage speaks little to the ladies and much to the men. So here, for the ladies, what does it look like? Ladies, be preparing yourself now for the roles that the Lord will give you when you're married. Specifically, wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. I'm going to make a statement here that I think is very important for us to grasp. You'll notice that it says, wives, submit yourselves to your husbands. It doesn't say to the pastor. It doesn't say submit yourselves to the life group's teacher. It doesn't say submit yourselves to your brothers-in-law or your father-in-law or the uncles. It says submit yourselves to your husband. As unto the Lord. I did a study a number of years ago on the book of Proverbs, and something jumped out at me. I think that Proverbs is perhaps the best book in all of the Bible for addressing marriage issue. The first 13 chapters, it's almost as if the first 13 chapters are written to the young man. In fact, many times in the first 13 chapters, he uses the phrase, my son. Those first 13 chapters in terms of marriage, he always speaks to his son about finding intimacy in the arms of a strange woman. If there's anything that will destroy a marriage from a man's actions, it's intimacy in the arms of a strange woman. The last 18 chapters in the book of Proverbs, it seems as if it were written to the woman. For there are many times that it says things like a woman can tear down her house with her words. The phrase, it's better to dwell on the corner of a housetop than in a house with a brawling woman, goes up at least two times in those last 18 chapters. Things like the Proverbs 31 woman who builds up her house, found in that latter portion. And you'll notice many times in those last 18 chapters of the book of Proverbs, you'll notice things like a woman has the ability to tear down her home with her words. I find it no mistake, Scripture goes to wives, submit yourselves to your husbands. It's no mistake that that would be the way that things would need to play out within the home. Now I will not leave men off the hook with this, for when a woman is submitting to her husband as unto the Lord, that means that the husband needs to be leading. Husbands, if you're not leading the home, she has nothing to submit to. Therefore, husbands, lead. And by lead, I don't mean tell her where she goes and when she goes. That's not leading. That's lording. Very different. Leading is, let me show you how we can follow Christ. Dads, if you are not leading your wife and your children in the Word on a regular basis, you are shirking your responsibility and leadership. Don't talk to her about submitting if you're not leading from the Word. For it would be a terrible thing to use the Word to smite her if you're not leading from the Word yourself. This picture is not one that our culture likes. However, it is one that we would take from Christ and the church. See it in verse 32. It's a great mystery, not previously revealed. I speak concerning Christ and the church. Our marriage relationships are to be mirrors of Christ and the church. So we as a church, we follow Christ. But you never see Christ beating down on us. Instead you see Christ out of love, giving, protecting, providing for the church. So let's take that and walk over to what does it look like for young men. Ladies, I hope that you would be preparing yourself now. Watch how it is that you speak, knowing that the words that you use can tear down. Men, let's have a look and see what does the scripture say about how you should be leading. Look at verse 25. Husbands, love your wives. Love. Plead with love. Love your wives. Even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word. He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it may be holy and without blemish. You don't want men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife, loveth himself. So some questions as we talk about qualifications. I might ask, does he lead lovingly? Love your wives. As Christ loved the church, again, I'll say it, you don't see Christ beating His chest saying, I'm the husband, you follow what I say. Instead, you see Christ laying Himself down, yes, even as we walk away from Him. It's a very different way of thinking. No wonder Paul would say, I show you a mystery. How we should aspire. Does He lead lovingly? Does He lead with the Word? Does He lead for righteousness? Does He lead selflessly? that the average young man in today's society is not leading at all, much less leading selflessly. Selfless leading would be leading someone towards a better relationship with God, not trying to get that other person to do what you want. It does not take much to think through what I mean by that. How did Christ serve? He put a towel around himself. You remember that night, the upper room? How did Christ serve? He put a towel around himself, got down on his knees. He went from one to the next and washed their feet. Yea, even washed the feet of the one who within hours would betray him. That's serving, that's leading with love. And so young ladies, as you look at, is this guy marriage material? I hope you would look and say, is he evidently a believer? And then follow on to that. Is he exhibiting Christ-like attributes? If he's not, you'd be better off to wait. Let the better one come along. Guys, as you look, this young lady, I think she's the one Is she evidently a believer? Does she have the marks within her where she follows what her dad is saying now to the point where you know that she'll follow you when the day comes for you to lead her? She doesn't. Mouse blends sharp. Be better off to just let that one go. There are attributes that we need to watch for. I know that some of us here today would have our objections. I know that some would say, but pastor, I think that that works really good for about 99% of the time. I think I might just be just, I'm the exception. And I tell you, there's no exception. None. But pastor, I want to be happy. You're buying into the culture that is the problem. So many times I hear that phrase, but I just want to be happy. Listen to one guy, as he walked away from his wife and three children to go marry the woman whom he'd had an affair with, instead of coming back and owning it and making things right with his wife and children, walk away from them, and his words, God just wants me to be happy. No, God wants you to take care of your family. I just want to be happy. Friend, you will not find happiness pursuing things of the world. Perhaps current day, one of the best speakers on biblical manhood and biblical womanhood is a guy by the name of Voddie Baucom. I can encourage you, look him up, listen to his sermons. Black American living in Africa. Fabulous preacher. He made this statement. Here's what he said. Your greatest delight will always be found in obedience to God's Word. Your greatest delight. You say, but I just want to be happy, Pastor. I just want to be happy, so I know that this one doesn't meet all of those requirements, but I'm the exception. No, you're trying to find happiness where it cannot be found. So your greatest delight, friend, will be found in obedience to God's Word. If I follow God's Word, I'll find my greatest delight. I look back on when Ariel wanted to date that young guy named Luke. I told her, and Hannah knows the same thing, I told her, somebody comes along and you want to date him? I want to talk to him. I want to be able to give him permission to date you. She started talking to Luke. There was a couple of conversations that they'd had. And then I got a phone call. I had told Ariel very clearly, he has to ask me pointedly, may I date your daughter? He's not allowed to just hem and haw and go around the edges. And so our first conversation, the poor guy sweated bullets as he talked to me. And you know what? We got to the end of the conversation and he forgot to ask me if he could date my daughter. So guess what I did? I didn't give him permission. I'm not gonna volunteer that. A couple of days later, he called me again and he sweated bullets. Then he asked me, I'd like to date your daughter and I'd like your permission. That'd be okay with you? He had no idea what was coming. I had my list of questions before I would ever say yes. I had my list of questions. I wanted to know, is he evidently a believer Don't want my daughter marrying somebody that's not a believer. Because I know that if I let that happen, if I let her date somebody that's not a believer, she'll end up marrying somebody that's not a believer. Then they'll raise their kids not to love Jesus. Think multi-generational dads. I've had some very pointed discussions with my son-in-law. Very pointed. I've asked him questions that would make you embarrassed. You know why? I wanna make sure he's a believer. I wanna make sure that he loves Jesus. I wanna make sure that he's gonna love my daughter like Christ loved the church. Just a couple of weeks ago, we got to the end of our phone call. We call every week on Wednesday morning at 7.30, my time. I call, we talk for about an hour every week. A couple of weeks ago, he made this statement. He said, Dad, thank you. What do you mean? He said, thank you for asking me some of the most difficult questions anybody's ever asked me in my life. I've never talked to anybody about these. And I'm glad that I've been able to walk through. I'll take that any day of the week. I'll take that over, hope she's saved. Your greatest delight will be found in obedience to God's Word. If you seek happiness elsewhere, you might find it temporarily. When He leaves you, because He's tired about your religion, or when you decide that He's not the right one, or when any number of things that can go wrong will go wrong, It'll be rooted in the fact that you sought temporary happiness when eternal happiness, eternal delight could have been found in the Word of God. I'll close with these verses from Psalm chapter one. Blessed man walketh not counsel of the ungodly. Blessed. You know what another word for blessed is? Happy. You'll find true happiness Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law doth he meditate day and night. He shall be like a tree." Don't you want to be this way? Young person, don't you want to be this way? Be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit and its season. Its leaf does not wither. Don't you want to be that way? Don't you want your life to be a life that's flourishing? Find your delight in the law of the Lord. So this is our foundation, church. It's from here that we will build next week. Young people, think on these things. Look at him or look at her this week with a skeptical eye. You'll have a skeptical eye, you marry them. Moms and dads can tell you, give you the day. You'll look at them with a skeptical eye. He'll remove the rose colored glasses this week. You're not married, look at them skeptically. Do they meet the qualification? They don't, dump them. You can do it nicely or you can call me, I'll do it, not nice. I'll make sure that they know that I love them, and I'll make sure that they know that I love you enough to do that on your path. Moms and dads, take these to heart. You'll need to measure someone up in the near future. Next week, walk through, helps for moms. Father, I pray that we would do marriage well. Lord, I'm afraid that we have made exceptions to the point where the rule doesn't matter. I pray that we would look seriously the lives of the children that you've placed into our care, that we would not settle for, oh, I think this one will work, or I hope that one's saved. But instead, I pray that we would take it seriously to heart. I don't get to do this over again. So I pray that we as moms and dads would speak with our children, let them know that we are with them in this hunt for a godly spouse. I pray that you would give our children our hearts and give us our children's hearts so that we can have these kinds of conversations And Lord, I pray for young people. Oh, the largest percentage of our church, young people. God, I pray they would take these things to heart this morning. They would not even look for a fleeting moment for a spouse outside of your clearly defined will for their lives. And then Lord, I pray also for those who are among us this morning have unbelieving spouses. I can only imagine, Lord, how difficult it would be to sit under the preaching this morning and hear things like this, how that's the way it should be, yet they find themselves in a position that's not that way. But I pray that you would help them to resolve, even now, to resolve, yes, I'm going to live godly. I'm gonna let my life draw my unbelieving spouse to the goodness of God, for the gospel has transformed my life. Lord, I pray for comfort and courage on their behalf. And for on the behalf of those singles who might be sitting on the fence wondering, how am I gonna handle this? I pray you would give them resolve and courage as well. Church, I love you. Thank you for listening to this message by Pastor Matt Ayn of Capitol City Baptist Church of Potmosby. We would love to have you join us for service if you are in the area. If you need help with transportation, please give us a call on 7009-1000. Again, it's 7009-1000.
Biblical Qualifications of a Spouse
시리즈 Doing Marriage Well
While there are certain problems within our society surrounding marriage, there is hope found in the Scriptures that we can do marriage well.
설교 아이디( ID) | 7102202136587 |
기간 | 47:37 |
날짜 | |
카테고리 | 일요일 예배 |
언어 | 영어 |
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