But what is God's plan for marriage? What is his purpose for marriage? Or more fundamentally for us, what is marriage and how can we glorify God in this institution of marriage? You see, in the West, there used to be a traditional standard or norm of what marriage is, this Christian view of marriage. It was commonly upheld in our society and upheld by even the civil magistrates. This biblical view of marriage, though, has now been replaced with the so-called modern family, civil union, sexual unions of all sorts. But the Christian view of marriage that's rooted in creation and founded upon the Word of God is no longer seen as the standard. What we see all around us, and sadly what we see even in the church, is a downgrade and rejection of what God has instituted. And really this is just a greater symptom of a greater spiritual problem, where God the good creator is rejected and his authority and his laws are cast aside. And man's reason and his pleasure and desire have become what we see as the moral center or the moral guide of our culture. And therefore marriage has not only been reconsidered or redefined, marriage has been destroyed. And our culture wants to free itself, not only from the bonds of marriage, it wants to free itself from the bonds of the law. And when marriage and the family is destroyed, we are sure, brethren, that our society will follow. It will be destroyed. God has established family and marriage as one of the greatest institutions. It's foundational. Before there was civil institutions and before you could say even the bringing together of a church, God instituted the family. He instituted marriage as a foundational institution for the good of even that of the church. God appointed marriage, William Perkins said, to be the fountain and seminary of all sorts and kinds of life in the commonwealth and in the church. And therefore, if we get marriage wrong, all these institutions will suffer. And that is what we see, is it not? We see all these other institutions suffering because the family, the marriage is destroyed, it's not upheld. God's law is cast aside and affects every area of our life. And although our confession, look at our confession, we're gonna be looking at chapter 25 on marriage, it gives us this brief statement of what it is, and we'll look at it in a moment. And we would like this, our confession in some ways, to say more than it does. But we do believe that our confession is the best summary of what the scriptures teach. And it gives us a historical witness to the faith that was once for all handed down to the saints. And what's amazing, what's included in this faith is the institution of marriage. That it's not some secondary institution we can cast off, that's not important. But again, foundational for us, for us to live a life pleasing to God. We could see that though this is a concise statement of what marriage is, there are many passages of scripture that uphold the view of marriage, this view of our confession. And we could look at other writings, our forefathers in the faith who expand on this meaning of marriage that is taught here. And so we can go deeper into our confession of faith and we could tease out the meaning, if you will, to understand the nature of marriage. But as we're in chapter 25 of the confession, remember the context of our confession. Chapters one through six give the general principles of the nature of scripture, God, and his creation and providence. We'll see the creation and the fall. And then chapter seven through 20 works out the covenantal structure of redemption, God's covenant and his covenant mediator by which he redeems fallen humanity and grants to them blessings of the covenant. And we see those blessings, blessings of justification, adoption, sanctification. And therefore we see that we must respond to God's covenant with repentance and good works, et cetera. But then in chapters 21 through 30, where we currently find ourselves, we could call this God-centered living, or what Jim Renahan says, here we see the freedoms and boundaries of living before God. It's really chapter 21 on Christian liberty working itself out through our confession. And I mention this because it's important for us when we come to the topic of marriage. For the Lord is the one who sets the freedom and boundaries for marriage. He is the Lord and therefore he is Lord of marriage. So that our freedom, the freedom that we have is not a freedom or we could say not an absolute freedom to live however we want apart from God. That is what our culture wants to say. I'm free, I'm free to live however I wish. Apart from God, that is not freedom. You have freedom to live before God, according to His commands. And so you can look back with me even at chapter 21. And we see in paragraph one this freedom. It says that Christ purchases our freedom, it says, through the gospel, so that we are free in Christ. The liberty which Christ has purchased for believers under the gospel consists in their freedom from the guilt of sin. Even as we heard this past Lord's Day, we're free from guilt, we're free from the wrath of God. And it's the freedom then to be obedient to the Lord. And we see this in paragraph two. that God alone is Lord of the conscience, and hath left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men. God alone is Lord of the conscience, and he binds our conscience according to his word. And therefore, when we come to understand marriage, our conscience is to be bound to the Lord. who sets the freedoms and the boundaries of how we are to live before Him. He sets the freedoms and boundaries of what marriage is, of where true blessing is found. This is the good life, living according to God's law in harmony with creation. We might find blessing and joy in it. So if we're gonna understand what marriage is, we must submit to the Lord and to His revelation, what's stamped upon our hearts, and which is further revealed in the word of God. Moreover, when we come to understand marriage, even as we see it here in Genesis 2, we see that it's a precious gift from God. It's a precious gift for our good. He gave this gift to Adam as, or we could say for, His good. It's to be a blessing to Adam, to man and woman, a blessing to the church and a blessing for society. And so God intends marriage to be for our good. And when we are living according to God's word, it's good for our children. It's good for Christ's church. It's good for our society. And ultimately, if it's good, it's for the glory of God. Well, this topic then, is important for all of us to grasp. It's intended for our good, and it's good for all, and therefore all of us must submit to God and his word. But what I mean is good for all is that you might find yourself here and say, well, I'm not married. How am I gonna tune myself out? I don't need to understand what marriage is. One day maybe you might be married, but even not, even if you find yourself single now, we could see God's plan for marriage was ultimately to point itself beyond itself to the glory of God in Christ, to see the union that Christ has with its church. And so even understanding the institution of marriage helps us understand the glory of the gospel and what God intends for his people. But my hope then, brothers and sisters, that in studying chapter 25, is that we would firm up our convictions on the biblical view of marriage as we submit to the Lord. And as we do so, that we would seek here by the grace of God to build healthy, godly marriages according to God's word. We are to come under the lordship of Christ of all things and we are to allow God's word to direct our steps into godly marriages for his glory. So tonight we're gonna consider paragraph one of our confession, God's plan for marriage. God's plan. Paragraph one gives us this definition. The beauty of the statement, I believe, comes in its simplicity, and really how this definition is applicable for us today. Still applicable. If we live out the principles here of our confession, it's applicable. This is what marriage is. It says marriage is to be between one man and one woman. One woman. Neither is it lawful for any man to have more than one wife. or for any woman to have more than one husband at the same time. Straightforward definition. Marriage is between one man and one woman. Therefore, it's unlawful to have multiple wives or multiple husbands. The law of the conscience defines what marriage is for us and what it is not. As both here, the number and the gender are specific. He directs us to what marriage is. And the first thing that we consider when we consider marriage is that it's a divine institution, a divine institution. It's a divine institution which was established in creation. This is what we read here in Genesis 2 and verse 24, this principle that would carry itself out for every generation. Verse 24 of Genesis 2 is actually quoted three other times in Scripture. It's repeated throughout because it's important. This is what marriage is. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife and they shall become one flesh. So marriage between a man and a woman, that language comes out of Scripture. There's one man and one woman. They are bound together and they become one flesh. Jesus actually quotes Genesis 2 and verse 24 in Matthew 19. When you see, what did Jesus think about Adam and Eve in the garden? He held that Adam was a real man, Eve was a real woman, there was a real marriage. He held to an historical Adam, historical figures. It's just how we understand the inerrancy of scripture, it's true. Jesus says it as well, here is Adam. Jesus responds to the Pharisees who had questions about divorce. It says, have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female? And said, therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife. The two shall become one flesh. So no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate. Just notice how Jesus answers them. It's wonderful. This is how we should be thinking. He says, have you not read? That's how we are when the culture comes against us and they wanna know, what do we think about things? We could say, well, have you not read? This is what the word of God says. It directs us to the truth. How do we think through marriage and divorce? Go to the word of God. God's word teaches, have you not read? He goes back, in fact, to creation, goes to Genesis, have you not read? Jesus read, he read the word of God, knew the word of God, even as he was the essential word of God. But here in Matthew 19 and Genesis 2, we see that marriage wasn't Adam's idea. He didn't know he was lonely in the garden and he decided to go find a helpmate for himself. He didn't say, I'm lonely, let me see amongst all the creatures what I can find to bring about fulfillment for my life. That is what we see in our culture. Culture says, I desire this, what will I have that will bring ultimate fulfillment to me? No, this was God's design. This was God, the good creator that saw that it was not good for man to be alone, and so God gave him a helper fit for him. There was no one else in all creation that could do what the woman was meant to be and to do, be that helpmate for him. the one who was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. God designed marriage. God granted the woman for man in this intimate union. It was established in creation. And since it was established in creation, what this means is that marriage is for all humanity. Marriage is not a sacrament of the church to be received only by those in the church, as if marriage itself conveys grace to one another. No, it doesn't stem from the church's authority. It stems from creation itself. We could say it's a civil institution rather than a sacred one. And when I say that, I don't mean that it's any less under the Lordship of God who designed marriage and who witnesses every true biblical marriage. Just as we saw when we considered the civil government, the civil magistrate, though that that is not a sacred institution, it's not separate from the Lordship of God. God is Lord over the government. He gave the civil magistrate for the good of creation. and therefore it's answerable to his moral law. But what this does mean for us is that marriage is a common blessing to all. All, all humanity, all those who would submit and consent to be married ought to join themselves in this union of marriage. It's meant to be good, not only for believers, but it's a common grace even granted to unbelievers in this age. Certainly believers are to be, as we'll tease out in the following paragraphs, are to be equally yoked, bound together with other believers. God sets the parameters. But if you look at paragraph three in the confession, it says it is lawful for all sorts of people to marry who are able with judgment to give their consent. God gives the freedom for all to enter into this covenant commitment of marriage for their good. Now just think about that for a moment. Think about God's goodness, even to fallen humanity, to give them this gift of marriage, that they might join in a commitment together, be covenantally committed to one another, enjoy companionship together. is a display of the goodness of God. It is God's goodness to provide for his creation exactly what they need and out of his goodness to establish the wonderful provision for all his creatures to enjoy. All can enter into this covenant of marriage. Certainly after the fall we see difficulties and problems with those marriages. We see the marriages are distorted. And even after the fall, then we see now even some having the gift of celibacy, not entering into marriage for the sake of the gospel, to serve the Lord in devotion solely to Him. And others who desire to be married, it might be in the providence of God that He doesn't provide you with a wife and you must submit to His Lordship, His providence and His provision for you. Certainly after the fall, we are continually submitting ourselves to God and his care and his providence in all things, trusting in his goodness to us. But first we see it's a creation institution or a divine institution. Secondly, though, marriage is a covenantal institution. It's a covenant bond made between a man and a woman. Again, it's not a sacramental union, as some would say, where there's grace granted between them, and it has to be done within the church. to be done civilly, before a civil magistrate in that sense. Nor is it merely a human contract. That's another view out there. That marriage is just a contract that we make at any time, a man and a woman make a contract between one another's, that we could enter into it. And since we are the ones who make that contract, we could easily just tear up the contract, make it devoid at any time. No, a covenant is stronger than that. It's a promise, an oath entered into before God and before men. When we think of this, we can see what does our confession mean by the word marriage? Marriage is to be between a man and a woman. How are we to understand this marriage? Well, at the heart of this marriage is this covenantal union. What William Perkins said, that marriage is the lawful conjunction of one man and one woman into one flesh by way of covenants. Or J. Adams defines marriage as a covenant of companionship. And we get this language from Scripture itself. Malachi 2 and verse 14, the Lord, if you remember, rebukes Israel for their unfaithfulness. Not only their unfaithfulness to the Lord, but their unfaithfulness to their covenant of marriage. It says, because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. You see where J. Adams gets his definition. He says it is here a covenant, wife by covenant, she is your companion. She's your helpmate to enter into this relationship, this covenant, that you are joined together by way of covenant before God. And so when you stand on your wedding day, you are making vows before God and an oath before man and to one another and entering into this covenant. God is the witness. That's what he says here in Malachi 2. The Lord was witness. That is how exalted and high this covenant is, what marriage is. God is witnessing those oaths that are taking place, that vow you make before God. Which chapter 23 of our confession speaks of oaths and vows and the necessity of them and how we can still use them and we use them here in the covenant of marriage. The man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and enter into this covenant union with one another. Some of the implications over this, we could say, is that it's not just about the sexual union. Some would say that just because you have this intimate union with somebody, you enter into marriage. That is not enough to make a marriage. That sexual union consummates the marriage. God gave that as a gift to be joined together in marriage. But it's more than that. It's the covenant that you make, the promises and oaths you make before God, and therefore you give yourself in one another in this intimate relationship. It also means that the covenant then is both legal and relational. Promises and oaths that we make that bind us to one another and a relationship of love and companionship that we join ourself to. Therefore, it's not easily broken. It's not broken the moment somebody commits adultery. The marriage isn't broken. It can be and we work that self out in this study the nature of divorce, but there is also reconciliation and forgiveness, because the covenant is still intact if there is that reconciliation and forgiveness that can take place in a marriage. So it has a lot of implications for how we understand this covenantal institution. For brothers and sisters, it also points us beyond that to the covenant fellowship we have with God. That we are bound to our God by way of covenant and we ought to live before him in devotion to him in love to our God. We are to turn from all spiritual adultery to love and worship him alone in which our marriages are but a picture. Covenant institution. Thirdly here, we see marriage is a monogamous institution. This is clear. There's one man and one woman. They become one flesh. The two become one. Not the multiple become one, but the two become one. One man and one woman. And our confession states it positively, and then again negatively in what it forbids. It forbids polygamy and palandry, having multiple wives or multiple husbands. This is because in marriage this union takes place. The two become one flesh. But again, you think of the picture of marriage and why this is important for us, this monogamous relationship, this exclusivity, because it's meant to be a picture of the exclusive love of Christ for His bride and the exclusive commitment and submission of the church to Christ, an exclusive commitment, because we are bound solely to Him, not to Christ plus others. but solely to Christ, our head, in order to submit to the bridegroom. And this is why idolatry is so often associated with adultery, because Israel turned away from the Lord to go after other harlots of other nations, other gods, thinking they could worship the Lord and worship other gods. They needed to see that they were in this marriage with the Lord, a monogamous institution, solely devoted to Him. If we come to marriage at that, we could see I have to be solely devoted to my spouse, the one whom God has given to me. There's only one helper, one who was a perfect fit for Adam. No other creature would do. He gave him one woman. So submit to that and see that this is out of the goodness of God, giving him exactly what we need. See, in giving us one, giving Adam one wife. He was not seeking to stifle man's joy or his freedom. You're being restrictive, too exclusive. This is not God trying to bound us. He's saying, this is what will give you true joy and happiness. This is for your good. This is what God's law does to cause us to live in harmony with Him for true blessing. Sin distorts that. It distorts the goodness of God. It rejects God's perfection of what he's granted to us. This is what Adam needed. He needed one wife. Adam didn't need someone exactly like him. He needed someone that was complementary to him. He needed one who was created in the image of God, equal before God, with him, and yet distinct from him, complementary, a helpmate that could come alongside and complement him perfectly, that perfect helpmate. That the woman is agreeable to man in the way that no other created thing is. Only she is bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. Only she could be his companion, his helpmate, to come alongside for procreation, vocation, and godliness. And in this godly marriage, they were to live before God in exclusive devotion to him. So he says not to have any other wives or husbands, to have one fully devoted to the one that God gives us. Our culture doesn't have a problem, right, with polygamy and polyandry, multiple wives, multiple husbands. But we do have a problem with the view of exclusivity, being bound to one, a permanent covenant. This is the one whom you have, whom you to love and be devoted to. We have a problem with that. Maybe we like exclusivity for a time. We see that. We want to have exclusivity. We want to have that partner to be devoted for a time, but then when that time runs out, we want to go be devoted to another for whatever time we have. The Lord says here is what this exclusivity, it's the monogamy of scripture is to have one, it's to be a permanent covenant relationship, being joined together until death do depart. This is the commitment that God demands of us. This is why he hates divorce, why he created marriage. He created it for our good. And so what we see in scripture is that the departure from monogamous marriage is a departure from God. That's what we see. The departure from monogamous marriage is a departure from God. Genesis 4.19, wicked Lamech of the wicked line of Cain, he took two wives. It wasn't far after the fall of Adam. I don't know, you could count the generations. I didn't count it. Five or six. Was it something something in there? There's not long after you have the line of Cain after Adam after the fall. And what do you see? You see polygamy. He takes two wives. He distorted marriage. This is what sin does. Certainly God put up with polygamy for a time. You could say, well, what about others who had multiple wives in Scripture? God was long suffering with them until the further revelation of the gospel. but we must not confuse God's patience with the tolerance for sin. Still a sin, it was a distorted nature of what marriage is. And so after the fall, after sin infiltrated the totality of mankind, and man is totally depraved, sin affects every institution, and it affects even the institution of marriage. Again, this is what we see in our culture. What we see is Romans 1 working itself out throughout history. When sinful humanity rejects God and they will not honor and glorify Him as God, they will not worship the Creator, what do they do? Well, God gives them over to their sinful lusts. Men and women exchange what is natural for what is unnatural. and same-sex attraction and same-sex unions are unnatural or they are against nature. And this is what we do in our sin. Rather than seeking the one whom God gave us, we seek someone that is just like myself to be my companion. That is what we do. Rather than worshiping God, we worship the creature. Rather than being the image of God that displays his glory, we worship self and we want the same for us. We want someone that looks like self. to worship. Our sex, or gender, is given in our biology and marriage is defined by God according to our sex. One man and one woman. While same-sex marriage may be legal in this country, according to civil authorities, it's not marriage as defined by God's word. Brothers and sisters, we must obey God and not man. We must stand firm on God's word with respect to the sanctity of marriage, which is the good for all. That is what we're proclaiming. This is what is good and right before God and for yourself and really for all society. Certainly we must love our neighbors. We must love our neighbors who have degraded marriage in these same-sex unions. As every sinner, including ourselves, we need the grace of God in the gospel. And what do our neighbors need to see? They need to see the gospel lived out in godly marriages that display the love of God in Christ. They need to see biblical, healthy marriages of love and companionship and covenant love with one another so that they could see the covenant love of our gods. It's a monogamous institution. Fourthly, then, we see in our confession that marriage is a lawful institution. Our confession here speaks of it negatively. It says, neither is it lawful for any man to have more than one wife. But then it certainly is lawful according to God's law for a man to be joined to one woman and one woman to one man. It's lawful, it's according to God's law. God is Lord of the conscience. He is the one who directs us. He says, thus far and no further. Here's my law, here's my command. Live according for your good. And according to his law, he gives us freedom. He gives us freedom to find a spouse for ourselves. He gives us freedom. Here you can find a spouse, to give consent to be joined in this covenant of marriage. But then he puts the boundaries, the parameters, he defines it for us. That's what we see in paragraph three and four of our confession that, again, we'll work out later another time. But he says that believers must marry in the Lord according to true religion. You could marry, in some sense, you got three billion people or something, there's other parameters, right? You could marry, and here's the parameters. Marry in the Lord according to true religion. According to those who believe the gospel, for you believer in Christ, marry one who's in Christ. This is what God commands. According to the true religion, those who uphold the gospel. There are some people whom God though is also forbidden to marry. So this cuts down that number, right? Length of paragraph four gives us those whom God also has forbidden us to marry, those in close relationship to us. But this language of lawful takes us back to chapter 19 of our confession, the law of God. God gave to Adam a law of universal obedience written in his heart, which continues to be a perfect rule of righteousness after the fall, binding all forever. That is, the divine rule is set for us in God's moral law that was written in our heart, And it was further summarized in the Ten Commandments. And that law directs us to how we are to live. We are to live, all creation is to live according to God's moral law. What is according to nature, what was written upon our hearts. And certainly for us, brothers and sisters, as Christians, we've been restored by the Holy Spirit to now submit joyfully to God's word and to guide us into all holiness. But these forbidden marriages then are a result of man's lawlessness, his own depravity, that they would enter into these marriages forbidden by God. Sinful humanity is unwilling to submit to God's Word. sexual immorality of every sort, civil unions, living together apart from marriage, homosexuality, gender confusion in marriages, or even no-fault divorces that they say now. Just divorce at any time. All of it is the result, not of freedom, but of slavery to sin, the depravity and corruption of men's hearts, that we must submit ourselves to God and His law. What is lawful? Marriage is lawful between one man and one woman. As we think of this for our own hearts, brothers and sisters, what is lawful in submitting to God's law? Consider for a moment what God commands of us in the seventh commandments. He commands, this is a command for us all. You shall not commit adultery. And within that one commandment, it encompasses what God forbids of us. You shall not commit adultery. which Jesus then expands and says we must not have lustful thoughts, to have lusts in our hearts, but it also encompasses things that are required of us all, even if you're not married. Our own Baptist catechism helps us there in question 76, but the Westminster larger catechism, question 138, it's just that, it's larger than the Baptist catechism, and has a helpful answer on what is required for us. The Westminster Confession states, the duties required in the Seventh Commandment are chastity in body, mind, affections, words and behavior, and the preservation of it in ourselves and others. Watchfulness over the eyes and all senses, temperance, keeping of chaste company, modesty and apparel, marriage by those who have not the gift of chastity, conjugal love that is marital love and cohabitation, diligent labor in all of our callings, shunning all associations of uncleanliness and resisting temptations thereunto. Here is what is required of us. This is what the law requires of us to do. We shall not commit adultery. And therefore we should be chaste in our body, mind and affections. We should seek purity and holiness according to God's law. We should uphold marriage. It requires lawful marriage, agreeable love and cohabitation. It requires of us to love our wives and wives to submit and to respect our husbands. It requires the guarding and watching of our marriages in holiness, in all cleanliness, shunning all occasions of uncleanliness. You see how the love God directs us, how we ought to live, what is lawful for us. When we consider marriages, what God requires in the seventh commandment, requires of us to walk holy and with all purity of heart before him. And we ought to do this in our marriages. This is what Genesis is getting at when it says to hold fast to your wife. Hold fast to her, you're committed to her. Shun anything that would disrupt. That marriage, those vows that you have made to your wife, turn from all the lust of your flesh to live in submission to God. That's what Malachi said. Guard yourself in your spirit and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. Guard yourself. So for those who are preparing for marriage, how are you doing? Are you guarding yourself? Are you guarding yourself for the sake of the other? For the sake of your own heart before God? for your sake of submitting to God and his word. How are our thoughts? Are we being chased in our body, mind, and affections? Let's turn from our sins and turn to the Lord and submit to Him in our marriages, but even apart. As you're waiting to be married, or if we find ourselves single, we are to live according to God's law. We are to seek to be holy as our God is holy. This is the standard for our marriages. This is what God desires for us in our marriages. God's law directs us to a biblical view of marriage that we would submit ourselves to the one who is Lord of the conscience. And what is that standard? It is a covenantal, monogamous marriage between a man and a woman. And when that institution is degraded, when we reject God's law for marriage and how we ought to live in marriage, then it will certainly affect every other institution. We'll see the downgrade in our society. We'll see it affecting our children who grow up without having two parents, a man and a woman, a father and mother, to raise them. It affects them. It affects all of society. It affects the church. Brothers and sisters, when marriage is upheld, when it's honored, when it is exalted for what it is, and when it's solemnly entered into before God, what a blessing it is. an excellent union that God has established for our good. It's a great gift from our God to be a great blessing to us. But one last thing then to consider as we think of God's plan for Maren. So just briefly here, This plan for our temporal marriages was never to be an end in itself. For even our temporal marriages, they end. They end by death. And through death, we are brought to God. We are brought to enjoy something so much greater. Marriage was meant to be a picture of the gospel and the union Christ has with its church. Marriage displays the covenantal commitment of the love of Christ with his people forever in a permanent covenant Consider how Paul quotes in Ephesians 5, he quotes Genesis 2.24. And he does so in a way in this context of speaking of how husbands are to love their wives, how wives are to submit to their husbands, and how marriage is to look. And then he says something so wonderful here in verse 31. Fair enough, Paul. And he goes on and says, this mystery is profound. And I'm saying it refers to Christ and his church. Right there in Genesis, this mystery, something hidden that's now been revealed, it was hidden in all those ages and yet we see the unfolding of it in scripture, this marriage between Christ and his people. This is profound, that marriage is pointing to the marriage between Christ and his church. Now, our confession doesn't mention this greater gospel union in chapter 25, but it does use that same language of marriage that is teased out, we could say, with typological implications, the type pointing to the greater anti-type, something greater beyond itself, to Christ and his church. But think of chapter 26 in paragraph One, we read of the universal church. It consists of the whole number of the elect that have been or shall be gathered into one under Christ, the head thereof. Here's the universal church, the whole number of the elect who are gathered to Christ. and she is the spouse of Christ. Right after the chapter on marriage, we read our own confession of the church is the spouse. Here is what marriage points us to, our union with Christ, the head. And so as great as our earthly temporal marriages are, the great blessing that marriage is meant to be, our marriage is founded upon and reflects something so much grander, something profound, the union of Christ with his people. This is what our marriages point us to. It displays the covenantal communion of Christ that he has with us, a permanent commitment, an exclusive devotion for his church, the unconditional love of Christ for his people, his sacrificial love that we ought to display in our own marriages. And in Christ, brothers and sisters, we see the perfection. We see the perfection of what marriage ought to be. We might not be experiencing that perfection in this fallen world. You might be in a terrible marriage, but we can look forward to a greater wedding day to come, a greater marriage when we will be joined to the bridegroom forever. And it's through faith in Christ that enables us then to endure the marriage that God has given to us, to adorn the gospel of God here and now, even as we look beyond in hope. And even if you have the greatest marriage, that great marriage that you have by the grace of God is the point beyond itself. to the greater marriage to come. Revelation 19, let us rejoice and exalt and give him the glory for the marriage of the lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready. The spirit and the bride say come, come Lord Jesus, we are ready. Are we making ourselves ready? Are we ready for the coming of Christ? Are we saying come? Are we longing for that wedding day? I think for some of you, you could look forward to that wedding day. There's a few that are anticipating getting married soon, and there's the longing and anticipation of that day to come. We're looking forward to that day. Are we looking forward to the day when Christ would come to join us to himself forever? And we will be presented holy and blameless without spot or wrinkle, cleansed by his blood through his word. We will be presented with utter purity, not because anything you have done Not because you're cleaning yourself up now to be glorious for the Lord, I'm gonna clean myself up now. It's because you've been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb. And we are waiting for the marriage of the Lamb, to be joined to Him forever. So all of us here, if we have faith in Christ, if we are in Christ, we are looking for this day. If we return to Christ, marriage is but a picture of this greater marriage, so that we will look and long and anticipate the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And until that day, we must stand firm according to our confession of faith on the biblical view of marriage and seek to protect the sanctity of our own marriages. Because you see here, if we get marriage wrong, it not only affects other institutions, it affects how we view the gospel. It is a picture of the gospel. If we don't get marriage right, then we could get the gospel wrong. We could get our only hope wrong, which is to be joined to Christ forever because of his unconditional love for us. And as we stand firm upon our confession of faith, we do so knowing one day we will be presented to our bridegroom according to God's oath that can never be broken. Permanent marriage, forever we will be with the Lord. So the plan for marriage is established in creation as a covenantal monogamous union between a man and a woman in order to display the greater picture of the covenantal union Christ has with his church. May Christ be glorified in our hearts and in that day when we will be joined to him forever. Amen. Let's pray.