It would be good for me to be with the people in the House of the Lord this morning. And actually, if all the technology is working, she is following along with us over FaceTime. Well, we have been working through a series on the M&Ms of the Christian life. as we try to go back to the Word of God with a fresh look and look at some issues of Christian discipleship to see that we are conforming, as it were, our way of thinking to that which is written in the Word of God. And we've already spent a week looking at money. Of course, none of these subjects can we look at exhaustively, but we can look at them at least representatively of how they are in the Scriptures. And then last week we looked at missions and God's plan for all of creation and today we look at the issue of marriage. The groom stands nervously at the front of the church waiting for the service to begin. He twitches slightly in his suit as he fumbles with something in his pocket. He looks over and sees the proud smile of his father while his mother wipes away a gentle tear. He dreams of what is to come as he stands at the threshold of a new life. Suddenly, the music grows louder. The friends and guests gathered for this special occasion rise and turn and see the arrival of the bride at the back of the auditorium. And then she begins the slow and majestic walk down the aisle, the last one she will take as a single woman. Clutching proudly the arm of her father, she beams with joy as she comes in all her glory. Her father, knowing that he will now give his daughter into the arms of another man, smiles through the tears. The bride, radiant and beautiful, dreams of what is to come as she moves forward and joins her life to her handsome husband. The imagery of a wedding is something that attracts the heart and attention of all. In every culture, a wedding brings up emotions of joy and celebration, of pride and of hope. A marriage represents the heart of civilization, the central uniting symbol of the continuation of humanity and the building block of healthy families. There's just something beautiful, something majestic. Indeed, there is something divine about the joining of a man and a woman in holy matrimony. But this high view of marriage has fallen on hard times. the widespread realities of premarital sex, of marital unfaithfulness, of ongoing divorce, of couples living together without the benefit of being married, of couples having children without being married, have all tarnished this sacred and holy picture of marriage. Whether in movies or on television, marriage is portrayed as simply a burden to be endured or something to be grabbed onto later in life after one has established himself or herself. In fact, the culture asks, who needs marriage when you can get everything you want, including sexual satisfaction and even children without it? Governments of our days, bending under pressure to a growing tide of special interest groups, and a public opinion that says, let people do whatever they want, with whomever they want, whenever they want, are pressing for new definitions of marriage. But all the while, they're ignoring the real needs of men and women, and especially children in human relationships. These new definitions of marriage, they promise support and satisfaction, but they only lead people further and further away from true contentment and satisfaction, because they are moving further and further away from God's design for marriage. Even among those who proclaim to be Christians, there is a growing push for acceptance of non-traditional expressions of marriage. You see, a lot of people actually are more concerned about what people think than about what God thinks. About temporary or cultural human truth than about eternal and divine truth. So they succumb to the lie that love is love. And in doing so, they ignore thousands of years of testimony on the part of God's people, and they seek under the guise of human rights, or even worse, under the misleading phrase, marital equality, to promote that which the Bible says is clearly a moral wrong. Rosaria Butterfield, through a long journey in the struggle for truth and identity, lived a life as a radical feminist lesbian and atheist until she encountered and became friends with a pastor and his wife who befriended her and began to coach and teach her and began to study the Bible together. And after a long journey, she came to faith in Jesus Christ, moving out of her previous lifestyle. Today, she is married to a pastor and as a homeschooling mother. Seeing through the lies of the so-called gay marriage movement and knowing what the Bible clearly teaches in Romans 1, she so wisely says, Those who do not have God's approval demand man's acceptance. Let me say that again. Those who do not have God's approval demand man's acceptance. And I think you will agree that that is the reality that we are facing today. That is the situation that we have to deal with living as we do in this world in the 21st century. And as the holy and sacred definition of marriage is pushed aside, The world itself is going to have to struggle with what it will do going forward. Indeed, the situation can be bleak if we simply focus on what human beings are doing in their rebellion against God and in the rejection of His plan. But what if we were to take back the original vision of marriage? What if we were to present once again the high and holy view of marriage as God lays it out in His Word? What if we were to proclaim without compromise and yet without rancor that God's way is still the best way and the only way that he approves. What if we were to allow the designer of marriage to be the definer of marriage? What if God's people, what if Christians lived out more faithfully this biblical view of marriage? As one man, one woman, till death do them part. Well, in our message this morning, as we continue in our series on the M&Ms of the Christian life, we're going to look anew and afresh at what God says about this important covenant relationship that is marriage. that we will gain a new and a fresh the wisdom of God and how he designed marriage, that we would see the beauty of it, the sacredness of it, and that we would see the manifold wisdom of God shine through as we investigate this subject together. Well, if you are able, in honor of God's Word, I invite you to stand as we read our passage from this morning, going back to the beginning, Genesis chapter 2, verses 8 to 15. And the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him a helper fit for him. Now out of the ground, the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock, and to the birds of the heavens, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam, there was not found a helper fit for him. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept, took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. and the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man He made into a woman and brought her to the man. And the man said, This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife and they shall become one flesh. And the man and the woman were both naked and were not ashamed. Let us pray. Father, as we enter into your text this morning on this most important of relationships, we recognize that we need you to speak to us through your word. So help us father now to focus on you and your word that we might see the beauty of Christ shining through your vision for for marriage and that we would take to heart how you would have us live as a result so that the world might see that God's way truly is best. Be honored this morning father through your son as you guide by the spirit in Jesus name. Amen. Please be seated. We will take some time to walk through this text and then emphasize the main points that I think God would want us to learn. In Genesis 1, we have what I will call the cosmic view of creation. That is to say, God created all that there is in an orderly and divine manner. He is the designer of all of creation. And far from being absent from his creation, God has actively been involved in it since the beginning. It's the same today. God is not far away from His creation. He is not far away from each one of us. He is still actively and intimately involved in our lives. He is near to us. He cares about what happens in every aspect of creation. He cares about what happens to every aspect of our lives. But when we move to Genesis 2, we get a close-up view of how God brought about the creation of human beings and shows their relationship to the rest of creation. We know that God created Adam and placed him in control of the garden. Adam was given freedom and responsibility to work in the garden to take care of what God had created, staying away only from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And we see then that God, who up to this point has pronounced all things good in his creation, rejoices over all things that he has made, for the first time says, something is not good. For the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone. Now we will wait till later in the message to discuss why it is not good that the man should be alone. But for now God says that something in his creation needs help. And so he goes on and says I will make him a helper fit for him. Now what's interesting about this word in the Hebrew language is that it means suitable to or corresponding to. And yes, among other things, it refers to the physical makeup of the man and the woman. The helper that God will give Adam will correspond to him, but not be exactly like him, physically and anatomically. This becomes even clearer in the verses that follow. It is in God's good design that there be male and there be female. Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them and whatever the man called every living creature that was his name. You know what we see here? We see the goodness of God. We see the kindness of God. We see the mercy of God. His willingness to condescend to the level of the one he had created in his image and allows him to exercise the authority that he'd been given. God is the one who created everything and yet he gives the right to the one he had created in his image to name the other things that God had created. Now at this point, the man has not been affected by sin. So his thinking is perfect. It's not jaded, it's not hindered, it's not warped in any way. And just imagine the fellowship that Adam has with God as God brings by each animal And as they look at the characteristics and the features of the animal, he gives it a name. And so Adam, under the kindness of God, has the authority to name the owl, and the horse, and the elephant, the chick, and the ostrich, and all the animals of the earth. I imagine that Adam's mind was full of joy, full of curiosity, as he looked at the characteristics of each of these animals and determined the name that would be appropriate for them. So along they came. Each animal at a time, and though not specifically mentioned, they certainly came in pairs. And Adam gave them names. Now up to this point, there is no hint that Adam himself was discontented in any way. He's taking care of the beautiful garden. He's enjoying rich fellowship with God. He's learning about creation and the animal kingdom and about the things that God has brought into his presence. So it seems then that something in this parade of animals was God's chosen way that God would get Adam to notice that something was missing. As Adam observed the great diversity of the animal kingdom, he noticed that there was a suitable helper and partner for each animal. He noticed that there was male and female for every species except one, his. And as we see in our text, the Lord God, I'm sorry, the man gave names to all the livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam, there was not found a helper fit for him. Now, if we were putting on a play at this point, we would change the music. We would change the backdrop. The plot would start to thicken. As Adam looks around, he says, well, there's one for you and one for you. One for you and one for you, but where is the partner for me? Where is the one that corresponds to me? Where is the one that will complete me? And so the Lord knows what he's going to do Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up his place with flesh and The rib that the Lord God had taken from the man. He made into a woman and brought her to the man So we see God Performing surgery Subject that honestly has been in our heart and mind this past week and so if the Lord leads you please pray for the great surgeon To guide the hands of the surgeons tomorrow as they operate on my wife But he fashions He creates, he designs a woman to be the partner with the man. This is not by accident. There is divine intent and divine design in the creation of the woman and of giving her to the man. And then the man said, this at last is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of the man. That's too flat. When the man sees the woman, he cannot hide his excitement. It's as if he's saying, hubba, hubba, way to go, God. Find me one for me. That's a loose translation, but it's actually what the language is saying. Adam recognizes that this new creation, this work of art that is in front of him, is like him, and yet not the same of him. And so he breaks out into poetry, and he celebrates. And in fact, not only he celebrates, but all of creation at this point is celebrating, because this is part of the manifold wisdom and beauty of God. And we see the connection and the language for the two Hebrew words, because the Hebrew word for male is ish. And the word for female is Isha. It's as if Adam is sitting there and he's thinking, Ish, Ish, Ish. Ah. And the one that is for him is finally brought to him. So the man and the woman we see now have similar names because they're related. And it was so intended by God as he brought about this beautiful and divine process. And then God himself, gives a fitting conclusion in what his divine statement is on the nature and purpose of marriage when he says, Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. In the beauty of God's design, in the wisdom of God's creativity, in the loving of His human creation, He formed a family unit where there would be transparency, intimacy, covenant commitment. It's a beautiful design. One that brings glory to God and goodness and wholeness to the human race. It's good for us to be reminded about the original intent. Because as we know, marriage is only for this life. There will be no marriage in heaven. It's only for this life. So that means God has intentions and purposes to fulfill only in this life through the beauty and the wisdom and the design of marriage. And so as we see the story of the creation of marriage, let us look at some of the main conclusions that we can draw. Seeing the biblical foundations of marriage should encourage us. It should fortify us. It should give us a certain resolve to humbly stand firm on what God says in the face of the shifting sands of contemporary culture. Our culture is in rebellion against God. And as long as our culture And I don't mean just a particular country's culture, I mean the global culture today. As long as our culture continues its war against DNA, things will continue to deteriorate. But we know that God makes no mistakes. We know that His Word speaks true. And we know that we can stand firm joyfully, humbly, but with resolution what He has revealed in His Holy Word. So as you're following along in your sermon outline, we arrive now at The first of a couple of major points we're going to draw from the text and the first one is a divine creation. Marriage originates with God. And it is important for us to return again and again to that thought that is a divine thing not uniquely a human thing because marriage is God's idea. God is the one. who says that it is not good for the man to be alone. He is the one who brings the animals to Adam to receive their names. He is the one who performs the operation on Adam, who brings the woman to the man. Therefore, if we want to see what God's intentions are in marriage, we have to look to Him and what He has clearly said on the issue. Too often when we get to ethical issues, to cultural issues, social issues, we begin at the wrong end. We begin with us and we want to project onto God. But we need to begin with God first and what God has said, and then we move to us. We get into trouble when we bring our own ideas into a situation and we try God to get God to just put his stamp of approval on it. For example, it is certainly true that God is love. It certainly is true, and praise God that God is love. There would be no hope for us if He was not. But we need to start with what God means by love, and then conform our behavior to that standard, instead of starting with our human emotions, our human experiences, our limited human understanding, and then trying to force God into our box. So the phrase, love is love, is only true If we start with what God, the originator of love, the true God of love, had in mind. Marriage is God's idea. Next we see that marriage is to reflect the relationship that God has with his people. Because marriage begins with God, we need to begin with God in our discussion on this issue. And all throughout the scriptures, without exception, When God uses the language of marriage to talk about his people, he uses the terms of husband and wife, bride and bridegroom. For example, in the prophet Isaiah, he says, for your maker, speaking to the people of Israel, for your maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name, and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth. God himself uses the language of husband and wife, bride and bridegroom, when he talks about his relationship with his people. He is the husband. Israel is the bride. Years later, as we saw when we went through our recent study through the prophet Hosea, we see the same language that is used. And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me my husband, and no longer will you call me my baal. I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord. This language of marriage, as God addresses it, uses the language of husband and wife. He is the husband. His people are the bride. And that idea continues then as we had in our reading this morning for the invocation in the book of Ephesians. When Paul is giving instructions to husbands and wives, but he does so in the context of talking about Christ and the church. So the relationship between the husband and the wife is to reflect the relationship that Christ has with the church. Paul continues as he writes to the church in Corinth in 2 Corinthians 11, he says, For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband to present you a pure virgin to Christ. We simply cannot miss it. From beginning to end, whenever God deals with the issue of marriage, it's in this language of husband and wife, of equal but complementary, not exactly the same. And Christ himself takes on that title as the bridegroom, the one who came to save the bride. And we see that God the Father is preparing the church to be this beautiful, pure, holy bride that he will present to his son one day. And the book of Revelation brims with excitement and longs for the day when the bride and the groom, the church and Christ, are united forever. And the language of marriage is used. Since the Bible speaks in terms of marriage to talk about God's relationship with His people, and since human marriage is to reflect that relationship, the only human relationship acceptable The only human language I should say acceptable to use when talking about marriage are those terms husband and wife, bridegroom and bride. Marriage is a union of two complementary but not identical partners. And that is the same whether we are talking about God and his people or about a man and his wife. That rules out then any other option. And though it is not popular today, though it flows against the tide of culture, we as God's people must, with divine love, standing firm on the word of God, must resist and just proclaim and live out God's intention for marriage. Marriage is God's idea. Marriage is to reflect the relationship that God has with His people. And God only has one people. This is a further application of the previous point, but I want to make clear that God is not a polygamist. He only has one people, the people that He is redeeming through the blood of Jesus Christ, from every tribe and people and tongue and language. He is a jealous God. He will protect the identity and purity of His people. And it is good for us that God is jealous. Jealous for His holiness. Jealous for His glory. Jealous for the best interest of His people because it means then that He will protect His people. And it will keep our hearts from wandering after other gods. If God is not a polygamist that follows a polygamy is never part of God's plan for human beings. He may have allowed it at times. He never sanctioned it. He never endorses it. He never blesses it. I've lived in cultures where they practice polygamy and it only brings intrigue and difficulty and a lot of brokenness. It cannot bring the blessings that God intends for marriage. But let's take it one step further. If God is not a polygamist, if God only has one people, He is also not a serial monogamist. He does not move from one bride to another. Let that fall on our ears for a moment. And he expects the same behavior from among his people to reflect that truth. You see our culture and unfortunately even the church has become all too cavalier about marriage and divorce and marriage and divorce and divorce and remarriage. And we need to take seriously that God is not a serial monogamist. He has one bride and we who are his people are to strive and teach and fight and implore and pray for that same type of relationship. The culture is moving away from that idea very quickly, and the culture may say that divorce can happen for any number of reasons. It started about 40 years ago with so-called no-fault divorce. Now, if ever there was a phrase that shouldn't be uttered, it's that one, because there's always fault somewhere, because divorce is always a result of sin somewhere. But the church needs to take a more firm stand and say the culture may say you can divorce but the church says you cannot. And that goes against the culture which says it's none of your cotton picking business. But to that I would say I'm under the authority of the word of God. And I must say what the word of God says. And whatever happens in one family affects every family. Whatever happens to one member of the body of Christ affects every other member of the body of Christ. It is simply not true that we don't talk about marriage. that we don't encourage marriage. The church has neglected, the church corporately, not necessarily individual local churches, but the church has neglected her duty to not fight for marriage in the right way. I'm not talking about going to the courts and doing it through the legal way. That's not the right way. You can't impose righteousness by law. What you do do is you live out God's vision and you make it so attractive and you make it so wonderful that people look and say, that's what I want. And we need to coach people about marriage. We need to encourage young couples in their marriage. We need to, as older couples, mentor younger couples. We need to fight for marriage of our children, our grandchildren, our own marriages, to see that they are healthy and that they are strong. And that runs counter to our culture. But we are a called-out people, the people of God, who are to live in a different way. And we are to let God have his rightful place as the designer and definer of marriage. And so he has made it clear. He is not silent on the issue. Marriage is to be heterosexual and monogamous. One man and one woman for one lifetime till death do them part. We need to get back to that ideal. Well, if marriage is a divine creation and it originates with God, secondly, marriage is also a human blessing. Marriage is God's best for humankind. I guess I should have changed the font this week. But the first thing that we see is that marriage was given to promote human flourishing. Promote human flourishing. If you can't see it, that's the word in the blank there. Marriage was given to promote human flourishing. When we look again at the story of the creation of woman, what do we see? The text says that God formed the woman from the side of the man. Now there's something very significant happening at this point in the story. Our great God is able to create all of the universe out of nothing with a single word. And with a single word He did, He created all things and billions of stars and galaxies leapt into being with a word. He upholds all things by the power of His word. There are no rebel molecules in the universe. God is in control. He could have created the woman with a word, just like He did all the universe. He could have created the woman out of the dust, just as He did when He created man, but He did not. Because He wants us to see something very important is going on. He wants to show the closeness of the relationship of the man and the woman. And it's going on in the original language. We are told that Adam The Hebrew word is Adam was created from the Adamah, the dust of the earth. And so you can hear the close relationship between the man and the earth. He would make his living off the earth. He would cultivate the earth. And from the earth would come his very existence or his sustenance, if you will. And then we saw that human beings are created from the dust. But when it came to creating woman, He takes part of the man, creates a masterpiece, and gives her to the man so that all would see the intimate closeness and relationship between the man and his wife. God formed her to be the corresponding partner to the man. She would help the man and he would recognize that she shares in the same humanity, the same dignity, the same image of God as he does. And so what we see here is the wisdom and the beauty that God has put in marriage. It shows this beautiful interdependence between two people. I think Matthew Henry in his commentary captures well what is going on in this verse when he says, The woman was not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled on by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved. There's wisdom there. There's beauty. There's human flourishing. There's life giving in this vision that God has for marriage. So in the manifold wisdom of God, the corresponding relationship of the man and the woman would form families, the foundational unit of civilization. And because God is the designer of marriage, it should not surprise us that marriage brings benefits to all aspects of society. God's way is best. Now, the list is far too long. There are so many articles and studies that have been done to show the values of heterosexual marriage. But the benefits are long for men, for women, and for children. Children raised by their father and their mother are more socially balanced, better educated, earn more money, and cause less social problems in children not raised in such a situation. Marriage gives children a sense of belonging, a sense of identity, a sense of personal value, of connection, of belonging. And therefore, each child needs and deserves the love and nurture of a father and a mother. Marriage promotes and protects the high value of women. Biblical marriage gives identity and a positive role to women who are provided for and cared for and protected in a way better than anything else. The statistics are simply there. The stories are simply there that where marriage is debased, And where sexual liberty is espoused, it is women who pay the price. They're exploited, violated, denigrated, trafficked, if that's a word. And so marriage then, and you especially see it all around the globe, becomes this great protective cover for women. Marriage also promotes the taming and disciplining of men who through marriage are taught and trained and disciplined to channel their sexual energies and become productive in building societies, providing for their families, protecting them. We talked about that in a sermon perhaps a year ago. The studies that have shown that those societies that have prospered were those that practiced heterosexual marriage. But those that did anything else, Flounder. Now a much longer list could be given about the benefits of marriage. There is actually one page handout that's out in the foyer if you'd like to pick it up just to get more information on the value of biblical marriage and how it is good for men and women and children. It's good for us to be informed on this issue. It's good for us to be ready to give an answer to those who ask the reason for the hope that was in us. So perhaps you can pick up that article and begin to look at places like focus on the family and get more information about why God's way is best and should be lived out unashamedly courageously joyfully for the glory of God and the well-being of people. So marriage was given to promote human flourishing. Marriage was given for sexual fulfillment and procreation. Now, at this point, we need to recognize that God is not a 17th century Puritan prude. I say that because sometimes we're afraid to talk about human sexuality. But think about this, in the purest mind that has ever existed, that could ever exist, that will ever exist, the idea of human sexuality was formed. God's not afraid to talk about how he made us. And we must not allow human sinful rebellion and the lies of the culture and the lies of the enemy to keep us from saying what God says on the issue. Human sexuality is good and it's a blessed thing if it is channeled properly. And so we listen to what God has said. He speaks on it many times throughout the scriptures. He even gave us a whole book that talks about the joy of marital love. And he is the one that said, the man and the woman shall become one flesh. Now this one flesh union includes more than sexual union, but it does not include less. This marital sexual union that is given by God, that I would say is commanded by God within the context of marriage, is not only a sign of the oneness of the couple, it is a means to accomplish it. And with all of the ways that we coach, and we teach, and we train people to build their marriages, and relationships, and communication, and financial management, and how to raise children, and how to have conflict resolution, where there is all of that proper teaching, that sexual union between a husband and his wife, is that glue that just binds it all together in this wonderful, strong union that keeps them going forward in holiness. So why is it then that God would give man and woman and give us sexual desires and create us as sexual beings? I think there are at least three primary reasons. The first, you can't see it, is procreation. Procreation. He is the one that gave the command to human beings to be fruitful and multiply. As he gave the command, he also gave the capacity to fulfill it. We should not be ashamed of being either male or female. That is how God designed it. It is something to celebrate. And that's why we have such fun at weddings, because we celebrate what God is doing. We're celebrating this reminder of the goodness and grace of God in this complementary yet equal relationship. Secondly, it is given for pleasure. It is intended to give pleasure. It is intended to be a way of expressing love, of giving love, of building that one flesh union that is a man and his wife. I'll take it one step further. Because a woman in her normal cycle is only able to get pregnant a few days a month, that God intends this oneness union to be more than just for procreation. He intends it to be for the building and cementing of this oneness, this relationship that the husband has with his wife. It's for the well-being of human beings. But thirdly, it's also for purity. So procreation, pleasure, and purity. But we all know that that sexual drive is strong. It is like a a fire that needs to be channeled properly. And so marriage then is given as the proper way of expressing those desires, the outlet that God gives. Because we don't have to look very far to see how much we make a wreck of things as a human race when we do things outside of God's way. Just think of heartache, disease, broken relationships, betrayal, enslavement to sin. God's way is best. God's way leads to human flourishing. The world's way leads to human degradation. And so I want to return back to the original question, then, why is it not good for the man to be alone? And I think we're beginning to see what the answer to that question is. Because in Genesis chapter 1, verse 28, man was given two commands. Take care of creation, be fruitful and multiply. And so here we are in Genesis 2, we see Adam dutifully fulfilling the first of these commands. He's taking care of the garden. He's giving names to the animals and birds. He's having great fellowship with God. But he's noticing also that in the male and female of the species, he is noticing that they are, as they're commanded to do, reproducing after their own kind. But that's not something Adam can do on his own. And that is why it's not good for him to be alone. He cannot fulfill the command that God gave him to be fruitful and multiply on his own. He needs his corresponding partner. That may not be the only reason, but it is not less either. And so God provided the solution. He gave him a wife and said, start a family. And now you can see the beauty and the wisdom in the one man and one woman living out according to the commands of God. Together they can take care of creation. Together they can keep the human race going. Together they can image, as it were, God here on the earth. Together they can fulfill God's plan in joy, in harmony, in blessing, in friendship. And so we've seen this morning so far that marriage is God's idea. that marriage is given for human flourishing. And our final major point this morning is that a holy responsibility marriage is to be celebrated and defended. But whenever we preach the law, do this, don't do that, don't do that thing and do this other thing. We also need to make sure we follow up with the gospel. And so we go to our example, who is Jesus, who came as the ultimate bridegroom to give his life for his bride, which is the church. Jesus is the bridegroom. And what did he do? He came to show his love for his bride. He taught the bride how to live and how to love the father. He poured out his life so that the bride might live. He made her holy by his precious blood. He is today preparing his bride to be a pure and holy spouse, fully devoted to him. And one day, he will come back for his bride and take her to be with him forever in the new heavens and the new earth. He was the perfect bridegroom. And because he was, we can have hope of being his bride. though not in our own righteousness, in His righteousness. I think the old hymn, The Church's One Foundation, captures it well. The Church's one foundation is Jesus Christ, her Lord. She is His new creation by water and the Word. From heaven He came and sought her to be His holy bride. With His own blood He bought her, and for her life He died. You know, it's sometimes said today by those that think they're clever. Well, Jesus never said anything about gay marriage. Jesus never said anything about homosexuality. I think most of us have heard that argument. Let me put the kibosh to it right now. Jesus was asked about marriage and divorce. And this is what he had to say. Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning created them male and female, and said, Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God joined together, let man not separate. Could it be any clearer than that? husband, wife, father, mother, beginning, God's intention, what God brings together. Don't let you pesky human beings mess with it. Unfortunately, we do. But we cannot say it's because Jesus has not said something on the issue. You see, in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, none of them speak with a forked tongue. They all say the same thing. What God said in the beginning, God's son reaffirmed and then we have this beautiful image at the end when the bride, the church is presented to his son. We have this idea of a wedding, this idea of a spouse, a bride, and a bridegroom. But we need to take seriously His command, what therefore God joined together, let man not separate. And what are the ways that our culture, apart from the same-sex marriage debate, when we separate what God has brought together. So we see, based on the vision that Jesus has given, which reaffirms the vision of the Father, marriage is to be celebrated. Marriage is one of God's good gifts to humanity. It is right to say that a couple is a match made in heaven, because that is where the idea of marriage originated. And so we should lift up the beauty of marriage. And let the world see what a wonderful gift and blessing it is to individuals, to families, to societies, to us, to those who need to hear more about it. It should be celebrated. Carol and I just celebrated 27 years. I want a lot more. And so as we asked God for healing, I told her, I said, let's plan on our walks across the bridge 30 years from now. Marriage is to be celebrated. Marriage is to be protected. Because marriage is a holy union of a man and his wife, and that holy union needs to be protected. The writer of Hebrews said, let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled. That means then, that under the Lordship of Christ, by the power of His Spirit, looking what He has already done to purchase the bride, the church, He sends us out as men and as women, united together to fight for appropriately, this vision for marriage, to fight for our own marriages, to pray for one another, to pray over our church, to help marriages that are struggling, so that we are all building these wonderful marriages, one after another, showing the world this is God's way and this is the best. That means then we need to be careful how we speak. We need to be careful where we go on the internet. We need to be careful about what we think. We need to be careful about the movies that we watch, the books that we read, the magazine articles that we allow our eyes to fall upon, and we need to quickly get our eyes off. Because the world wants to degrade marriage. The world wants men to tell jokes about women. The world wants women to tell jokes about men. Yes, we can have holy humor among ourselves, but we must never degrade a fellow image-bearer of God. And as a church, then, we need to teach and to train and to coach and encourage on the art of marriage. Yeah, there's a science of marriage, there's certain how-tos, and there's certain... But there's an art of marriage as well. And you know the difference in music when you move from the science to the art? You can plink on the notes, dum-dum-dum-dum, that's the science. But when you get to the art, the beauty flows out. Let's be a church that builds pieces of art because we're encouraging this wonderful view of marriage that God has given. And lastly, marriage is to be defended. Human beings from the fall have been in rebellion against God they want to redefine marriage in all kind of manners and all kind of relationships outside of what God Sanctions we must be those who humbly lovingly, but not angrily Resist those things We need to proclaim the truth We need to have the testimony of our lives lived out in holiness before a holy God. Marriage is too important. It is too holy. It is too sacrosanct for us to continually to allow it to be mocked and attacked and refined. We must uphold the high view of God's view of marriage. We must uphold what he teaches about marriage. We must defend his marriage. But I will say this, my friends, where the evangelical church needs to continue to grow in this area, we must live without God's view of marriage. When Carol and I got engaged all those years ago, I told her, first or second pre-marriage counseling session we had, the word divorce does not exist in my dictionary. We were in it for the duration. And that whatever came, we would work through it. Whatever happened, whatever challenges, it was not an option for us. My friends, we need to get back to that high ideal. Because that's what God wants. That's what's best. We don't want the brokenness and the pain that comes from human sin. Now having said that, we have a great Redeemer. We have a compassionate Savior who is able to put back together broken pieces, who is able to overcome human rebellion and human selfishness and human sin by His wonderous grace. And so we offer grace and forgiveness and repentance to those that have been broken by sexual sin, but we still push towards the ideal. We want to be a healing church, a redeeming church, but we stand for the idea, but we also recognize there's a Redeemer that, thank God, He comes along and picks up our mess. And He cleans it. And that's what the Gospel does. It doesn't kick our wounded. It helps to heal our wounded. But we need to do it God's way and we need to discern everything through the scriptures. As the late John Stott said, Christians refuse to honor anything that dishonors God. We learn to evaluate everything in terms of the glory it gives to or withholds from God. Marriage gives glory to God. It reflects his own nature, relationship with his people. It is best for humankind and the Lord will call us account. So, in the brief moments we've had this morning, we've seen that it's a divine creation, a human blessing, a holy responsibility. But what an opportunity by the grace of God and in his wisdom to display that wisdom through our marriages and to do so with a response that is humble, and hopeful but stand firm on this issue because how we stand and what we do God will call us into account one day and may he find us faithful as his bride as we wait the return of the bridegroom. Let us pray. Father we give you thanks this morning that marriage is your idea. We give you thanks, Father, that you saw not only a need, you saw a solution because you had a wonderful plan. And that plan is good for us. It is good for your people. It is good for this earth. It brings you great glory. So, Father, in those areas where we have fallen short, we plead your mercy. And we confess our sins and ask forgiveness. But we also thank you that you are gracious and healing and restoring. And Father, help us in our families and in our community to uplift this holy vision of marriage, to live it out joyfully, to proclaim it gladly, defend it courageously as an offering of worship to you. And then would you be pleased and glorified as you work in us to accomplish your plan. This we pray in Jesus name our great bridegroom. Amen.