Let's open to Psalm 127, please, with me. We're going to read, in a little while, the 127th and then the 128th Psalm. I'd like to talk with you, exhort you, encourage you this morning about the part of your life, for most of us, most of our life, from after we're old enough to graduate from home until, if we know the Lord, we graduate to heaven. Most of your life, between those two things, you will be what the Bible describes as Now, I'm talking about most people. Now, I know there are single people. I know that there are people who are married and divorced and people whose partners have died and all that. But I'm talking about for the vast majority of people, the normal life as presented by God and His Word is, most people spend most of their life married. Now, let me say, because of what I do most of my life, I know that many married people wish they weren't to that person. they wish they weren't or at all or they wish they never had been that's what many people go through because they do not get along because they have unfulfilled expectations they have hurts or whatever disappointments they're just very unhappy in fact one of the most unhappy conditions is to be married for life to someone that you don't really even like or want to live with and so the scriptures tell us that since most of our lives are going to be Involved and in this person's life, we ought to be very careful about what choices we make. I think about growing up in Michigan as a child. I had one of those idyllic childhood times. I lived by a lake with my parents. It was a beautiful lake. Our whole community would go out fishing on Saturdays. At noon on Saturday, we'd clean the fish and we'd have a fish fry for the whole neighborhood. I mean, all of us kids. would fish and all the mothers would come and bring those long extension cords and they'd have their little fryer, you know, those little frying pans that you can fry stuff in and we'd bread them and we'd eat them. And it was just an idyllic neighborhood. I mean, and in the winter we'd flood and make ice skating rinks and had ice fishing shanties. It was really exciting. That was life at five. Got a little older, I started paying attention. And I noticed the people next door fought all the time. I mean, they would scream and yell. In the middle of the night, we'd hear them screaming and throwing stuff and screeching away in the cars. And later on, my parents said, well, they don't get along. And finally, I found out they were divorced. I lived a little longer, and I noticed as I was in school doing our family tree that all of a sudden, Grandma Barnett became Grandma Miller. She had divorced Grandpa Barnett. I couldn't figure that out, but it happened. And all of a sudden, I kept going, Grandma Tobias, my mother's mother, wasn't living with Grandpa Tobias. In fact, she never saw him again till the end of her life. They didn't get along at all. And they separated. And then I started noticing my own parents. They didn't really talk very much. In fact, when they did talk, they usually talked so loud that it made us a little bit afraid and they would get angry and stomp around and say things they shouldn't say. And that was life in the 50s. And I started looking at aunts and uncles that were divorced and grandparents that were divorced and parents that didn't get along. And it drove me back to what I'd been taught was the answer. I started looking in this book. And when you're sad and especially as I got older and finally my parents didn't get along so well that my father moved out and didn't live with my mother for a long time. It was a very sad time in our life and in our family. And it drove me to the scriptures which I knew were true and I started reading the 127th Psalm and 128th Psalm And I started saying, wait a minute, God, you have said that you can have a home and you can have a wife and a family like the 127, 128 Psalm. And I said, I believe your promise and that's what I want. And so as the years went by and as I continued to pray, I adapted my prayer, but it stayed basically the same. And I always will remember during my college years as I used to be very much running at night. I would run my three miles every night, and I'd run the back 260-acre campus at Bob Jones University, and I would always take my last mile lap and walk and pray. And I remember distinctly walking into those stars and praying what I'd prayed ever since I was a little boy and noticed that hardly anybody in my family was happily married. I started praying, Lord, I want to have a home and a wife and a family and a life that is full of the joy and peace and blessing and fruitfulness that your word talks about. And so what I want is not my will. Don't let me go my own way. I only want to marry the one you've prepared for me. I want your will, not mine. And that became my prayer over and over again. Well, this morning, after almost 20 years, it's gonna be 19 this Christmas, I married wonderful Bonnie. I have to say, it is possible. It is possible to love someone and to marry someone that you love so much you wanna spend all of your time with for them to be your dearest friend and closest companion and the person that you want to be with because they complete your life. And so I want to tell you that life married can be happy and wonderful and home life. In fact, I was thinking last night as we were sitting around, we had our Rosh Hashanah. Did you know last night is the Jewish New Year? I'm talking about the Bible calendar that everything is on in this book. When they talk about the year beginning and all that, we're talking about their calendar, their holidays. Last night was New Year's. And so our family, we were celebrating Jewish New Year's. We were eating all this food that's too spicy for me at Candlelight, and we were sitting there. And as I was watching them, I think we sat there almost two hours at that meal. And I was at the head of the table looking down and saw all those faces with the candlelight reflected on them. And I thought, you know what? The Bible presents heaven as a banquet scene. Remember Jesus said, if you come to know me, you will get to come to a banquet in heaven and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of God. And it talks about the marriage, what of the lamb, the marriage supper. Heaven is portrayed as a banquet. And I was thinking about heaven as I looked at all those faces all the way around. And I thought, you know what? A biblical marriage and a biblical family is just like a little piece of heaven. That's what it's supposed to be like. Is it with you? Are you living Are you being, are you looking for a partner that is going to let you have a little taste of heaven on earth? Well, 127th and 128th Psalm is what the Lord offers to each of the young people who are here this morning that are someday going to be married. To each of you singles that are actively looking for a partner that God would give you and to most of all each of you who are married, this is what the word of God says marriage is to be like and home life and family. 127, 128th Psalm, let's stand together. you trace along in your Bibles as I read and I want to share with you what God's program and plan and offer to us is this morning number one in 127 Psalm unless the Lord builds the house and a biblical marriage starts with a divine foundation it has to be not my will not my house not my wife not my husband not my dream whatever I want not my will but thine to be done because it says unless the Lord builds a house it's useless you cannot build it thy labor they labor in vain who build it without the Lord unless the Lord guards the city the watchman stays awake in vain verse 2 it's vain for you to rise up early sit up late and eat the bread of sorrows for so he gives his beloved sleep and you will have sorrows if you don't have a divine foundation verse 3 a biblical marriage secondly trust God for blessed fruitfulness it says behold children are a heritage from the Lord the fruit of the womb is a reward like arrows in the hands of a warrior so are the children of one's youth happy as a man who has his quiver full of them they shall not be ashamed but will speak with their enemies and negate the great joy when God if he does in his time grants children what a blessing they are it's blessed fruitfulness 128 Psalm biblical marriage is a happy family life blessed is everyone who fears the Lord who walk in his ways when you eat the labor of your hands, you shall be happy. And really, whatever you put into your family is what you're going to eat later. And if you put nothing in, you're going to eat gravel. You put anger and bitterness, wrath in, you're going to eat that bitterness. But if you eat the labor of your hands, you'll be happy and it shall be well with you. And your wife will be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house. And your children will be like olive plants around your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord. Now verse five, a biblical marriage sees the promise fulfillment of a godly family that's satisfying to your last day on earth. Look at this. The Lord bless you out of Zion. What is that blessing like? May you see the good of Jerusalem all the days of your life. And here it is. And may you see your children's children. Following in that way. What a joy. Peace be upon Israel. And you know, the apostle John added a footnote to this. He said, there's no greater joy than to see your children, that you have brought into this world and that have sat around your table and that have heard and seen you live the life to see them walk in the Lord's ways. No greater joy, let's bow together. Father in heaven, that's what we want. And in these few moments this morning, I pray that you would challenge each of our hearts for those who are married, what you want them to be today and tomorrow and until you call them home And for those who are single, what they should be looking for. And for those who are children in the homes of this church, what they should want to become. And Lord, I pray that you will just stir our hearts from your word, write it across the reins of our life, that this be the goal we have for the biggest part of our lives. For we'll spend more years in our life married than nearly anything else. And how I pray it will be to your chosen and prepared partner for life that it be happy and joyous like you planned in Jesus name amen You may be seated as you're seated. I remind you we're studying prayer all the notes are in your bulletin The outline that we're covering we've talked about spiritual reality. We talked about personal life now We're in family life stability and family life. We've seen four points. This is the fourth one this morning number one is A stable relationship starts with children learning to love their brothers and sisters. They need to learn to have that sacrificial love and get along. Secondly, they need to learn how to deal with hard situations, as in their parents, and in having an authority over them they might not agree with. And they need to learn how to submit to that and not rebel. And we looked at that two weeks ago. Last week we looked at teaching children to love the way God made them as men and as women. They're very different. They're complementary, but they're very distinct. and young men should be young men, and young ladies should be young ladies. But this morning, we're looking at how we should pray that our children wait to meet, listen, God's chosen life partner for them. Now let's do a little study. I wanna show you some verses. Turn to the next book, Proverbs 18. Real quickly, I'm gonna show you four verses to give you kind of a framework, and you can start writing these down. Proverbs 18, verse 22. A husband or a wife is a gift from the Lord. If you get a husband or wife, and you seek the Lord about it, and you obey the Lord and follow His way, the one you get is a wondrous gift from the Lord. Proverbs 18.22, he who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the Lord. That's what the Lord planned. That's what He offers to us. That's what we have. Look at chapter 19. Here's the other side of the coin. Proverbs 19, verse 13. Here's what happens if you neglect all this. Here's what happens if you don't seek the Lord. Here's what happens if you If you think more about everything physical than you do about the spiritual, verse 13, a foolish son is the ruin of his father. You get to shape their life. You get to build into them. You get to be the authority for their lives. And dads, if you neglect that and you happen to graduate from your home a foolish son, he will continually be a source of ruin for you. He will ruin your plans. He will ruin your hopes. He will ruin your expectations. He'll ruin a lot of things. So I would work on them while they're at home. and not raise a foolish son. The contentions of a wife are a continual dripping. God says, if you do not cultivate that relationship with your wife, it's worse than a leaky faucet or a plumbing problem. She will be a continual dripping. By the way, these were grass-covered thatched homes that had poles and stakes, and then they would put sod over it, and all winter long, the rains would come, and if you had not prepared a slope correctly on your roof, it would come right through that thatched roof and drip all winter long. And what a graphic picture. If you've ever been in one of these homes and seen their roofs, who would want to live in a house like that? Verse 14, houses and riches you can get from your dad, but a prudent wife, a wonderful godly husband, you can only get from the Lord. And you know what? When I met Bonnie, I could not escape saying, when I looked at her the first time, scared her to death, I said, you're the one I prayed for my whole life. I just, I couldn't believe it. I just said, that was a single, greatest request I had. Lord, don't let me go my own way. I want to have your choice. I want to have a woman that pleases you. Well, keep going to Proverbs 31, because this relationship is priceless. We know this. We usually only hit this on Mother's Day. Proverbs 31, 10, Who can find a virtuous wife? Her worth is far above rubies. She's priceless, because her husband can safely trust her and will have no lack of gain, and she'll do him good and not evil all the days. Now, I'll tell you what, it's not just a wife that's priceless. It's a godly husband. that is living in Christ-like sacrificial love with a wife is priceless. And that's what God wants us to have. What are the rules? We'll turn to 2 Corinthians. Now, whoop, way over to the other end of your Bible, 2 Corinthians 6. And if you don't get anything else, especially if you're single or a young person at home and not yet graduated from home, there is one basic rule that supersedes all others, okay, about marriage. And it's in 2 Corinthians 6.14. we may only marry a believer so if you can only marry a believer you can only date a believer and you cannot do evangelistic dating for the purpose of getting them saved so you can marry them or marry them and hope they get saved afterward all of those scenarios are sin you understand that you cannot marry and you cannot date you cannot yoke your life together with an unbeliever according to God's word now you can do whatever you want but you'll reap the results of that. God says, don't be deceived. God isn't mocked. You go your own way. You'll reap your own way. And many people do. You cannot say, God, whatever happens, happens. And so it's your will. No, it's not. It's not God's will that you marry or date an unbeliever. It says, look at what it says in 2 Corinthians 6.14. Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Why? Because what fellowship can righteousness have with unrighteousness? What communion can light have with darkness? And that word communion, the word koinonia, is the word that the Greek language uses for marriage. It says, what marriage can light have with darkness? It doesn't work. Now, you say, well, I know someone that worked. Yeah. And I know someone that went in a barrel over the Niagara Falls, but 10,000 others would die in it. You know what I mean? It doesn't matter if one person makes it. It's not God's will, and it's sin. Remember, you only get one chance in life to start with a wonderful biblical marriage. In fact, I say that all the time. I see the most recent couple I married right over here, and I told them, I said, this is your only chance, Lucas and Angela, only chance to have a biblical, godly, Christian marriage. You only get one shot at it. Everything after that is second, third, fourth best. Now God, yes, is the God of the second chance, and he forgives, but I'll tell you what. You take something and tear it apart, sew it together, tear it apart, sew it together, it's never like it was. no matter how many times you sow it. You only get one chance in life to start with a wonderful biblical marriage, and it's worth the wait. So don't squander one of the greatest areas of life by doing your own thing instead of God's. Think about the end of your life this morning. And all of us, if the Lord tarries, when life is done and we're down those last few weeks and we're hooked up either to the respirator or to the whatever, and we're just in those last stages before cancer or heart disease or respiratory problems take us away, And you get to look back. It's not gonna matter whether you had a 900, a 9,000, or a 19,000 square foot house. It's not gonna matter. It's not gonna matter how many zeros are on your bank account. It's not gonna matter how many plaques are up at your house. What's gonna matter is whether or not you had a wonderful, biblical, happy marriage, and whether or not you discipled your children, because that's the greatest joy you have in life. That's the bottom line. And when I'm up there with those people, and they're pulling their earthware out of their mouth, and they're trying to talk to me, usually they're not saying, could you trade some of my Microsoft stock for this? You know, they're not thinking about that anymore. What they're saying is, with tears running down their face, they're so glad for the people that surround them, that love them, and they loved, and were their family. So what is a biblical marriage and a biblical partner really like? Well, there are a few words that can describe the delights of a marriage as God designed it to be. The Lord planned for His people to have a marriage described as such wonderful attractions, it says in Genesis 29. In fact, let's go back to Genesis, okay? You want to go with me? Why don't you park in Genesis 2? And I'm going to take you from Genesis 2 all the way through the epistles of John, and I'm going to show you what a biblical marriage looks like, okay? What you should pray for for your children, what you should live out if you're married, what you should seek if you're single and seeking to be married. because God says marriage is such a wonderful attraction in Jacob's life that seven years of hard labor were just like this. It was just a second for him. Remember, he had to work seven years to earn his bride. I'm going to have to work 50 years to pay for her, but he only had to pay for seven. But what a joy it was for him. He said seven years were just like a moment, like that. That's what marriage is supposed to be like. Marriage is to be like a fruitful vine. It's a joyful river of intoxicating blessing, it says in Proverbs 5. it's goodness and favor we read, it's a companion of our youth, we make a lifelong unbreakable covenant to. Anybody that has one of those marriages will confess. It is the greatest thing on earth and it only gets more precious. What does it start with? Well, Genesis 2. It starts by us praying for our children if we're parents. It's if we are young people, how we direct our lives, what we want to be. It's looking for a person and being a person. It's like God described a godly married partner looks like. Because the author and establisher of marriage himself in the first book of the Bible, Genesis, shows us what we should be. Genesis 2.18 is our first verse. I'm only gonna give you eight verses this morning in eight minutes, okay? So here we go, verse one, Genesis 2.18. This is what this verse says, and the Lord God said, it is not good that man should be alone. I'll make him a helper comparable to him. You know, this is before the fall, before sin and everything else. You know what God said? It's not good for man to be alone. Man was not made to be alone. Boy, that should raise a little warning lights. You know, I meet men all the time that are married that need to be alone. They say, I just got to get away. I just can't spend, you know, I just got to get, I need to be alone. I just can't stand all this stuff. Did you know it's not good for you to be alone? You need to learn to stand it. You need to change so it doesn't bother you. and you need to love where God put you and not always be trying to be alone and being away because if you're single you need to find if you're married you need to be or if you're at home and gonna grow up you need to become a person that believes God designed marriage and they want to follow God's rules what are God's rules? God says I want you to look for someone that is comparable to you that is suitable for you that's why the most important thing is not who you marry but who you are because you will not marry someone that is not godly if you're godly you will not even follow someone that is not godly if you're not godly I mean if you're godly yourself you will want to have someone as it says in Genesis 2.18 that is suitable or comparable to you you are a walker in the light you want to find someone else walking in the light you are one who seeks God first you want to find someone else who seeks God's first that's how the scriptures say that the designer and author of marriage put it look at verse 20 of chapter 2 you need to find if you're single or be if you're married or become, if you're still at home, a person who will correspond to a godly person. It says here, Adam gave names to all the cattle and the birds of the air and every beast of the field. He looked at everything. But for Adam, there was not found a helper who completed him. That's why the most important thing to do if you're still at home or if you're out of the home but still single, the most important thing for you to do is to become someone who will be suitable for a godly mate, man or woman, whichever you are, you've gotta find a godly complement to your life. And so you have to find or be or become a person who will correspond spiritually to your partner. Look at verse 24. And here's the essence of marriage. It says, therefore, man shall leave his father and mother and be joined. That's a fascinating Hebrew word. I remember when I had to labor through Semitic languages, this word I love because it's the word for glue. It means to be stuck or glued together. Now, this week, I was paying the bills. I think I was paying the mortgage or something. And I, you know, wrote out the check, you know, tore out the coupon. Then I stuck the check in the envelope and peeled off that, you know, that. I used to always lick the dead horse stuff, but sometimes, you know, I peel the thing so I don't have to lick the dead horse glue. And I peeled it off and I shut that envelope and I already put the address and stamp on it and my return of thing. And I stuck it on the pile and I looked and there was that bank mortgage coupon I forgot to put in. So being the thrifty, person I am, I thought, I'm not going to waste that stamp and that envelope probably cost four or five cents. So I carefully went like this, you know, and got that off and lifted it up, put the coupon in, and then I started going, and it peeled up. Have you ever done that? Come on, you guys. You ever tried that? Did you know, how about the old lick ones? You do the same thing, and then you lick it, and it's too wet, and it won't stick, and it keeps coming up, and then you put tape all over it. Now look at this. Look at this. That's funny, but next time it happens, think of this verse. It says you should be glued to your wife and they shall become one. A big part of the glue is the sexual intimacy that marriage provides. And every time you lick an envelope and stick it down, think about how it doesn't stick well the second time you try it or the third or the fourth or the fifth. Okay, now listen, it is playing with the glue, and you will not be secure in your marriage someday if your husband or wife is not the only person you have ever experienced physical intimacy with. Every time there's any type of physical intimacy, whether it be complete physical intimacy, the sexual act of marriage, or everything before that, every time you do that, you're playing with the glue. You're licking the envelope a little, and sticking it, and unlicking it, and sticking it, and unlicking it, and you're ruining it. You're ruining the glue of your marriage. What do I mean by that? Your husband or wife should be the only person you have ever experienced intimacy with. The first one you have loved, touched, held, seen in any intimate way. Anything less than that will spell woes, pains, trouble, grief, and lack of sticking for life. You know, I meet with people all the time. They share their deepest concerns. And I always sit there and listen, then I say to them, okay, I heard all that. Now tell me about before you were married. You know what invariably they tell me? They were guilty and grieved and knew they shouldn't do it, but they got those hormones pumping and they were involved in such a way that they grieved and quenched the Holy Spirit and sinned against God and had some type of physical intimacy often before they were married And that's so distrust. So every time that man goes off on a business trip, the wife wonders, what is he doing? And every time that woman's gone for very long, that man says, oh, I wonder if she's... And that distrust, and then there's... Just don't mess around with the glue. And you should be that right now. That means I singles men for only your wife and no paper concubines or cyber concubines. And that's what you should find as a young man or young woman, that's what you should become if you're single. And that's what Genesis 2.24 says. Look at Deuteronomy 6, and I'm going to get into just a few more and finish these up next time. But Deuteronomy 6 says this, we should not only find or be or become a person who believes that God designed marriage and follows rules and find a person that corresponds to us and be a person that can be glued to your partner for life and cultivate that before you're married in your eyes and in your mind and in all that you do physically. But fourthly, we need to find a person who likes to be at home and not always running around. You say, what do you mean by that? Well, I'll tell you what. This is what God wants marriage to be. Look at Deuteronomy 6-7. It says, you shall teach them diligently to your children and talk about them when you sit at your house and when you walk by the way, when you lie down and when you rise up. And by the way, those areas are hard to do if you don't ever eat together as a family. And by the way, those things are hard to do if you don't ever spend time together as a family. In fact, the American family reminds me of a terminal at an airport. They come in and get some stuff back on the plane. That is not a biblical family. A biblical family spends time together at meals. Every person in the family is at the meal, and the mom and dad are at the meal, and the mom should make the meal, and if she doesn't know how, she ought to learn how, and stay home long enough to learn how, and sit there, and look at each other, and talk to each other. That's the first step. It continues from there. It says, when you sit in your house, that means you don't have to have this constant restlessness that you're so bored, you've got to be going and doing, and you sit. And when you walk by the way, you're not in a hurry, walking. You just talk and walk and pray and wow. And when you lie down, that means you have to go to bed at a time that you can actually put your children down and pray with them or something. And when you rise up, I mean, it's amazing. And you know what? If you wanna have a godly biblical marriage, find a person that likes to stay home and not run all the time. That's the curse of our culture. We have people that are 50 miles wide and a 10th of an inch deep in their lives, because they're going in every direction all the time. and they never really do anything well. They just go. It doesn't stop there. It says that you shall teach them. That's the children. You need to find a person who loves children and wants to teach them. You know what? If someone goes out and buys a car, why would they ever buy a car if they don't like to drive? What are they going to do? Put it in their garage and look at it? You know, just make the payments and go out and say, I've got a car in the garage. Do you know what the purpose of marriage is for in God's design? Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. It's to have children. Now, not instantly, not immediately. Not exclusively, but did you know that is the purpose of marriage? And anything less than that, if you meet someone that you want to marry and they don't like children, I've actually met people like that, that would be a strong reason to not consider them any longer. Children are to be the center of the home. You know what some of the loneliest people are? The people that chose to never have children. I have many executive friends that I've collected over the years that chose to have white carpet and a big boat and no kids. And I'm looking at their emails, they're my age, and they're getting toward 50. You know what they're talking about? Their dogs. That's become their family. Their dog is in their Christmas card with them. And I think, will your dog stand by your bedside as you're dying? Will your dog read verses to you? Will your dog pray for you and take you to the doctor when you get old? Will your dog rise up and call you blessed? And will you take your dog with you to heaven? And I'm not against animals. I'm just saying that God said the biblical family is finding someone that loves children and wants to teach them teach them diligently in verse 9 of chapter 6 says that this should be written on the doorposts of your home in verse 14 of chapter 6 of Deuteronomy says that that you should find a person who wants to have a pure home look what it says you shall not go after other gods and peoples were around you chapter 7 verse 26 don't bring just turn the page over, look at Deuteronomy 7.26, it says, don't bring abominations into your house, find someone that wants to have a pure home, find someone that loves children, wants to teach them and raise them in a godly environment and will not bring into the home filth and pollution that will defile them. Here's the last one, I said that I would only get you eight verses, Psalm 15, go right to the middle of your Bible, I'll just read these last two verses, Psalm 15 and verse 4, Number seven, find a person, Psalm 15.4, who will keep their word. And that's why you're supposed to know someone before you marry them. You should see a track record in their life. Are they a person that keeps their word? Are they someone that tells people this and tells someone else something else and they kind of figure out the best deal and they go that way? Look what it says in Psalm 15.4, in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but he honors those who fear the Lord, He who swears to his own hurt and does not change. I'll tell you what, that is a definition of a godly person to marry, someone who keeps their word. I could give you so many examples of this. In our own home, I remember months ago, we agreed as a family, we do stuff as a family, all of us, even those that are as tall as I am, we agree we're going to do stuff together, certain events, not everything, but important things. And our whole family goes. And I remember months ago, we agreed to go visit some new family we never had met before in the church. That was great. We were going. All of a sudden, two days before, the Steve Largent campaign office calls and says, hey, how would you like to go as my guest to the TUOU game? You know, that was a big deal, wasn't it, a while back? And come and pass out stuff and be at the game. Oh, man, that's a choice, isn't it? Go to somebody you don't even know and sit and you know, try and be friendly with them, or be with the game, you know? Is there a choice there? Yeah, there is. Look at Psalm 15.4. If you have character that you swear to your own hurt, and you don't pick the better deal that comes on later. You know what? That's what's going on in American marriages. They say, till death, or someone better looking, or got more money, or more exciting comes along, then we'll part, right? That's a person that doesn't keep their word. But it doesn't show up just when they're in their fifties and dump their old wife and get a younger one. It shows up when they're young and you can't count on them for anything. God says, marry someone who keeps their word. And here's where we'll start next time. Turn to Proverbs 5. I won't continue this because I might get stoned if I did. Okay. Proverbs 5. Look at this. And I did a study. In fact, I spent several hours yesterday looking up man and woman in Proverbs. And I started making this compendium. of every description of man and woman in Proverbs. It is the most beautiful thing if you can work on it long enough to see it. It describes good men, bad men, good women, bad women. And almost all of them, if you spend long enough and look through the book long enough, you find all of the bad women are contrasted with a good woman who is opposite them, and all the bad men are contrasted with a good man that's opposite them. And I started making these lists, and it talks about the lazy man, the slothful man, and the indolent man, and the angry, quickly angry, and the man who lacks discretion. And then it talked about the peaceful man, and the man with gracious words, and the man who's hardworking. And there's this contrast. And the same with the women. Now look at this. I'm not going to go through those. There are over 320 of them. Okay, get the email or the tape or something. But look at this. Chapter 5. I just want to show you one. In verse 1. My son, attend to my wisdom, bow your ears to my understanding, that thou mayest regard discretion, look at verse 3, for the lips of a strange woman drip as honeycomb, her mouth is smoother than oil, now quick turn to chapter 7 and verse 10, because this woman is described further, this is by the way the wicked woman of Proverbs and she's described often in Proverbs, it says, behold there met this woman, this wicked woman with the attire of a harlot, subtle in heart, look at verse 11, she is loud, she is stubborn, and her feet won't abide in her house. And you know what? Here's the lesson. Find a person committed to stay miles away from the wicked man and the wicked woman of Proverbs. You know what I mean by that? If the Bible says that a loud, clamorous, easily angered man is wicked and bad, and a good man is peaceful and keeps his word, keep miles away from someone that is rash with their words and rash in their anger and all that. And if the Bible says that this wicked woman, did you see the words? She's loud, stubborn, and her feet won't stay at home. If you see a woman who is loud and stubborn and her feet won't stay at home, even if she looks so good, underneath the looks, you're gonna find woe for a lifetime. Because God says, stay away from the wicked person of the book of Proverbs and stay miles away from him and only even consider someone who is in the scriptures described as a good man or a good woman. And that's what we're gonna pick up next time. Why should we do this? Because there's no greater joy in life than to have a biblical marriage. There's nothing more that I would pray for my children. In fact, I still stand or kneel by their beds. I was just on my knees next to my three-year-old's bed with my hand on her head, with my other hand holding her hand. And I said, Lord, I pray that she will be a godly young lady and that she will wait for a godly young man. And I'm going to teach her, as long as she's in my house, what that godly man looks like and what that godly woman she should be should look like. You know, one of the greatest things your kids can say, your little boy should say, I want to grow up and marry a godly woman like my mom. And your little girl should say, I want to grow up and marry a godly man just like you, Dad. That should be your goal, your training, and your family, OK? Let's all stand. We'll be dismissed with a word of prayer. Oh, Father, this morning I pray that we would not be merely hearers of all these verses we jotted down or bits of things that I said from your word that we all heard. We wouldn't just hear them. But if we're married, that this is what we would be. And if we're single and finding a wife, that this would be the person we would want. And if we're at home and young and still in training, this is what we would want to become so that we can correspond to someone that's godly and that will bring us the intoxicating rivers of joy and that marriage that is a little glimpse of heaven on earth all of our days. That's what we want. That's what we ask for. And as parents, that's what we want to pray for. And we'll trust you to work in our lives And Father, I pray for any who don't even know the source of all this, that's you, Lord Jesus, that they would realize that a Christian home starts by being a Christian, and a Christian marriage starts by knowing you personally, and that starts by coming in contrition and repentance and faith to a Savior, you, Lord Jesus. So I pray for any that don't know you, that they would come and be drawn by your spirit to confess their lostness and cling to Christ. And our prayer room is always open. Your invitation is always present. We pray that you might work in hearts, all of us, for your glory. In Jesus' name we ask it. Amen. God bless you as you go.