(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Part of the chapter that I want to focus on is the latter part, beginning in verse number 18, because I want to talk a little bit about marriage this morning, and the reason that I want to preach about this is because this is a subject that you're not really going to learn the truth about anywhere else, except coming to a good Bible-believing church. I mean, in school, you're going to get a completely warped view of what marriage is through listening to the radio, through watching television, watching movies. Our world has become so corrupt, and the world has gone so far from God's plan for marriage and the biblical pattern of what marriage is, that really the only place that you can really go to find any kind of sense on this issue and any kind of truth is the Bible, and a Bible-believing church, and a Bible-preaching church, because the Bible is so different than the world that we live in today, unfortunately, I mean, to the point where today, you know, I even heard this week, you know, in Hawaii, you know, two men are allowed to get married now. I mean, what kind of an abomination and perverted society do we live in where two men are marrying each other, and it really just is disgusting and filthy, and it really destroys the view that young people have of marriage with that kind of a mockery and that kind of a strange behavior going on, and today, it's hard to find the truth on this issue, and so that's why I'm preaching on it this morning. Look at Genesis chapter 2. I want to start out here. In the beginning, literally, at the very beginning of the Bible, it says in Genesis 2.18, and the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone, because he had originally just created one man, Adam, and he said it's not good that the man should be alone. I will make him and help meat for him. Meat means suitable or fitting to him. And out of the ground, the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them. And whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle and to the fowl of the air and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not fowl that helped meat for him. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept and he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh thereof, and the rib which the Lord God had taken from man made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. There are so many things to illustrate in this passage here, but right away we see marriage being instituted in the Bible. The word wife is used right there at the end of Genesis chapter 2. Right away God's showing us this picture of what marriage is. It's one man and one Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. We have a man and a woman being joined together, and the Bible says that the man should cleave unto his wife, which means be joined unto her, and they shall be one flesh. Jesus basically explained this further in Matthew 19 when he said, what God has joined together, let not man put asunder. Now we see in Genesis chapter 2 also a picture of what marriage represents. Keep your finger in Genesis 2 and go to Ephesians 5. Keep your finger in Genesis 2, go to Ephesians 5 in the New Testament. About halfway through your New Testament you find Ephesians chapter 5, because you see, marriage is also symbolic of something. It is actually symbolic of the Lord Jesus Christ, because you see, just as Jesus Christ, well let's read Ephesians 5 and then I'll explain it. It says in Ephesians chapter 5 verse number 25, it says, husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. This is talking about the fact that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, and he said, this is my body which is broken for you. This do in remembrance of me, when he sat with them at the last supper, he gave his life for us, he gave himself. And the Bible is saying that that is the way we should be toward our wife. Let's back up and go to verse 22. It says, wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the savior of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of the water by the word. In verse 28 it says, so ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. And he goes on to quote Genesis 2 about the man leaving his father and mother and being joined as his wife. So God has ordained marriage between a man and a woman actually as a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ toward us. It says, just as Christ gave himself for the church, husbands are to love their wives. Just as the church is to be obedient unto Christ in all things, the wife is to be obedient to her husband in all things. This is a parallel here. This is a picture. And even back in Genesis 2 we see a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice how Adam was caused to go under a deep sleep. And the rib was removed from his sight. If you remember when Jesus was on the cross, his side was opened up. Remember the hole was placed in his side? And he also slept in the sense that he actually died and he was dead for three days and three nights and rose again. And so there's a lot of symbolism in the Bible, Ephesians 5, Genesis 2, between marriage and also the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything in the Bible is always pointing toward the Gospel, pointing toward Jesus. And you see, this comes into play when we think about how a marriage should be. First of all, I want to say this. A marriage should be till death do us part. That is the biblical term of marriage. Go, if you would, to 1 Corinthians 7. Actually, go to Romans 7. We'll go to 1 Corinthians 7 in a moment. But see, the Bible is clear here that marriage is for life and it's until death do us part. Now, just as Jesus Christ says unto us, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. That is the attitude that we have to have going into marriage. And it's funny because I was out soul winning this week and I was talking to somebody about the Gospel and I used marriage as an illustration to illustrate the Gospel. Because, you see, the Gospel is just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved in thy house. I mean, the Bible makes it clear that the only thing we have to do to be saved is just believe on Jesus Christ. It says that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. But the great thing about it is that once you're saved, once you've believed on Jesus Christ, you can never lose your salvation. Because Jesus said, I give unto them eternal life. That means never-ending life. And they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. He said in John 5.24, Barely, barely I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me, has everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation, but is past from death unto life. He said in John 11.25, Jesus saith unto her, I am the resurrection and the life he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die, believeth thou this. That means if I live and believe in Jesus Christ, I shall never die. I shall not come into condemnation. That's why he said in John 3.18, He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already. Notice the past tense. Because he hath not believed in the name of the Almighty God and Son of God. Because if you ever have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, you are saved eternally, you're born again, you're a child of God, it's eternal life. But hold it, marriage is supposed to picture that. Because just as, no matter what sin I commit, God's going to forgive that because he already died for me, he already paid all my sins, in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. And so just as Jesus Christ will forgive any sin that I commit because I'm his son, because I'm saved, because I'm a child of God, because I've believed on Christ, he'll forgive anything. That means that I'm supposed to forgive any sin that my wife commits. That's what it pictures. And just as Jesus tells us, I'll never leave thee nor forsake thee, that's what I can say to my wife, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Keep your finger in Romans 7, I'm sorry I'm having you jump around. Go to Hebrews 13. Go to Hebrews 13, we'll be right back in Romans 7. But it says in Hebrews chapter 13, let me get there. It says in Hebrews chapter 13 verse 4, and we're going to read verses 4 and 5, you know, nothing in the Bible is incidental, coincidental or accidental. I mean, if these two verses are next to each other, they're next to each other for a reason, my friend. He says in verse 4, Marriage is honorable in all, and the bad undefiled, but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. And then he follows up by saying, Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with such things as you have, for he hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Now, here's the thing. You remember in the Old Testament when God gave the Ten Commandments? You remember the commandment, thou shalt not covet? You remember the first example he gave of what you should not covet? What was the first example? Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife. That was the first thing he meant. Then he went through a big list of other things not to covet. But the first thing he mentioned was, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife. And here he says, Marriage is honorable in all, and the bad undefiled, but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. And then he said, Let your conversation be without covetousness. He's saying, Be content with the wife that you have. He said, Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with such things as you have, for he hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. And I could say to my wife this morning, I could look her in the eye and say, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. And she could say the same thing to me, that she will never leave me nor forsake me. And that's the thing that is pictured in marriage. It pictures the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. It pictures the lifelong commitment of Jesus Christ, that there's nothing I could do to where he will break his vow to me. He has promised, according to 1 John 2.25, he said, and this is the promise that he has promised us, even eternal life, and God's not going to break that promise, in hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began. Well, guess what? When I married my wife, I made a promise. I promise. I, Stephen Anderson, take thee, to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness, in health, in poverty, as in wealth, and forsaking all others, keep me only unto thee, so long as we both shall live. That's the commitment of marriage. That's what marriage means. That's not what the school's going to tell you that it means. That's not what you're going to see on TV that it means. That's not what movies are going to tell you that it means. That's not what your little teen magazine's going to tell you what it means. But that's what the Bible says is what it means. It's a lifelong commitment. It's an oath. It's a vow. It's swearing unto your wife till death do us part. And you know what? That's the same commitment that Jesus has with us. And I thank God that he's not going to break his promise. Now, there are many human beings that do break that promise, because they're human beings. They're sinners. But thank God Jesus will never break his promise to us. And we as Christians, if we're going to follow in bright steps, we ought not break that promise. We ought to keep that same commitment that he's made. He said, well, you don't understand what I've gone through. Look what Jesus went through. Jesus was beaten. Jesus was spat upon. Jesus was mocked. And yet he said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. He gave much more than anything that we have to forgive our fellow man. And of course, there's the parable. We don't have time to go into it, because I have a lot more points this morning. But there's the parable about the man who owed his Lord. He was like a serf. It was kind of a feudal system, probably. He owed his Lord some huge amount of money. All these talents of silver would be today like millions of dollars. And his Lord had mercy on him and forgave him the whole day. And then he went out and found his fellow servant that owed him some tiny amount of money, grabbed him by the throat and said, pay me what you owe me. And that made the Lord very mad, because he said, if I forgive you so much, you can forgive your fellow man. You can forgive your brother or sister in Christ there. And so basically what we learn from that is that if Jesus Christ could forgive people, I mean, I don't think there's anybody in here where your husband or wife has nailed you to the cross, or beat you 39 times, or put nails through your hands and feet, or pierced your side, or killed you, or spat in your face. Maybe they've done some of those things, but not all of them. And so the bottom line is, Jesus Christ was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin. He knew what it was to be verbally attacked. He knew what it was to be physically assaulted. And yet he's the one who said, forgive them. He's the one who said, I'll never leave the universe again. I'm here to say marriage is a lifelong commitment, and I'm one of the only preachers that will get up and say it, because most of them will say, well, unless this. Except this. But see, two wrongs don't make a right. Just because my wife does something wicked or I do something wicked, that doesn't mean that it's right to break a vow. If you want to know, I'm not going to go into it for the sake of time, read Judges chapter 11, and then come and tell me that it's okay to break a vow. Read Judges 11. That will blow you away. And then come back and tell me, well, you don't know what I'm going through. And so the bottom line is, marriage is a lifelong commitment. It's till death us do part. It's not something that should be entered into lightly. It's not something that should be casually entered into. Just, oh, we'll give it a shot. No, you don't give it a shot. It's for life. It's a commitment. That's what marriage represents, and it represents the relationship that we have with our Lord Jesus Christ as a father and a son, as eventually will be considered the bride of Christ, all believers at marriage that's coming in the future, and that's all symbolic. But the bottom line is, not only is it for life, and let me use the illustration. I forgot to tell you what I said when I was out soul winning, using this as an illustration. I said to somebody, I was giving them the Gospel, and I was trying to make sure they understood the Gospel. And I said to them, I said, now, I'm married. And I said, no matter what my wife does, I'm going to stay married through her. And no matter what I do, she's going to stay married to me. That's our commitment. We both believe that, and we both know that. But I asked this person, I said, do you think that that means that we just treat each other really bad all the time? Just because we can? Just because we know her? No. And it's the same thing with salvation. No matter what I do, I'm still saved. No matter what I do, I can't lose my salvation. But that doesn't mean that I'm just going to go out and do everything. And people say, well, if you can't lose your salvation, you might as well just go out and live a wicked, sinful life. That's just showing what's in their heart. Because the bottom line is this. Most people, and I always ask you, whenever they say that to me, I say, well, do you only do good things when you're being forced to? No, of course not. See, you don't have to be forced to do good things. Sometimes you just do good things because you want to, because it's the right thing to do. You know, because you love God, because you love Jesus Christ. And obviously we know that if we do wrong, He will discipline us in this earth. We will reap what we've sown. He's not going to bless us. And just like if I treat my wife bad, I'm not going to enjoy that marriage either. And so the bottom line is, look, I know that my wife is committed unto me, so when my wife does something nice for me, I know it's not that she's just doing it just so that I'll stick around. Because you know what? I'm going to stick around anyway. And if I do something nice for her, she doesn't think, well, he's just trying to keep me happy because he knows he's on thin ice or whatever. No, if I do something nice for her, she knows that it's from the heart because I want to have that relationship with her because we have that commitment. And you know what? I would hate to be married unto someone where I just wondered every day, boy, am I good enough? You know, or are they going to take off? You see what I mean? And to have that insecurity. But we have a security in Jesus Christ, and we ought to give the gift of that security unto our wife or unto our husband because that is what the Bible likens marriage unto, the Lord Jesus Christ. So number one, marriage pictures the Lord Jesus Christ in the sense that it's till death. Now, go to Luke chapter number 20 because I want to emphasize the fact that marriage is until death and that it does stop at death. There are those who teach a false doctrine, especially the Latter-day Saints over in Mesa here. You know, we have a lot of Latter-day Saints and the Mormons. And of course, they're a cult, false religion, and so on and so forth. But they teach that you're still going to be married after you die. You know, you're still married. Well, that's not true. Marriage is till death, but it's only till death, and then it's over. Let me show you that. It says in Luke 20, 27. There's no such thing as like an eternal marriage that a lot of people talk about. Luke 20, 27 says, Then came to him servant of the Sadducees, which denied that there is any resurrection. And they asked him, saying, Master, Moses wrote unto us, If the man's brother died having a wife, and he died without children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brothers. There were therefore seven brethren, and the first took a wife, and died without children. And the second took her to wife, and he died childless. And the third took her, and in like manner, the seven also. And they left no children, and died. Last of all, the woman died also. Now, this reminds me of my life. You know, people coming up to me asking dumb questions of just weird hypotheticals that would never happen. So what if there was this woman, you know, and she marries this guy, and then he dies, and she marries his brother, and then the brother dies. You know, she marries all seven brothers back to back, and then she, it's like, you know, everybody's got these weird hypothetical. I hate hypotheticals, I'm sorry. I like to deal in reality, you know. But people are coming up to Jesus, trying to mix him up with this weird hypothetical. Therefore, verse 33, In the resurrection, whose wife of them is she? For seven had her to wife. Ha ha, yeah, we got him. You know, that's what they're thinking, like, yeah, we got him, you know. What's she gonna do, be married to seven different guys up there in heaven? And Jesus answering said unto them, The children of this world marry and are given in marriage, but they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage. Neither can they die any more, for they are equal unto the angels, and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection. Now that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush, when he called the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, for he is not a God of the dead, but of the living, for all live unto him. Then Sermon of the scribes answering said, Master, thou is well said. You know, at least somebody admitted that they were wrong. And after that, they durst not ask him any question at all. They said, we're just gonna quit asking questions because he keeps making us look dumb. And so the bottom line is, marriage does end at death. I'm not gonna be married unto my wife in heaven. And so it is a lifelong commitment. So basically, go to Romans 7 now. I had you turn there earlier. But in Romans 7, the Bible tells us that, you know, after your spouse dies, it's okay for you to be remarried after that, to marry someone else. It says in Romans 7, verse 2, Romans 7, 2, it says, ...is bound by the law to her husband, so long as he liveth. But if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress. But if her husband be dead, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. So basically, marriage ends at the end of life. You know, and then basically you can marry someone else. So we're seeing some parallels with Jesus Christ. Number one, the commitment that he has toward us. He'll never leave us. That's the commitment that we should have in our marriage. The picture says. Number two, the forgiveness of Jesus Christ should exemplify our marriage. Just as Jesus was able to forgive horrible things that were done in the end, spitting, mocking, cursing, beating, and even murder. You know? That's what Jesus went through, so nothing we go through could ever reach that point, and so therefore God commands us to forgive. And by the way, we're to forgive daily, because it says in Lamentations 3, you don't have to turn there. It says, It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. His mercies fail not, they are new every morning. So God's mercies are new every morning. God tells us in Ephesians 4, Be ye angry and sin not, let not the sun go down upon your wrath. So in our marriage, we should have the same attitude that Jesus had of forgiveness to where we don't let the sun go down on our wrath. That means that if my wife and I had a disagreement yesterday, or a fight or a battle, you know, yesterday, and we have this argument, and I'm angry about something that she has done or said, and she's angry at something that I've done or said, that shouldn't carry over until today. Today should be a new start. Now let me tell you, this is the best advice I could give anyone on their marriage is what I'm saying right now. That if you carry a grudge from day to day, that's what's going to destroy your marriage. And if you start brand new every day, that's how you're going to have a good marriage. Let me tell you something. The longer you're married, the more times you've done your wife wrong and the more times she's done you wrong. And if you both, you know, keep, just rack all that up, there's going to be a lot of things to be mad about. I mean, if I looked over the last, well, how long have we been married, honey? Eleven and a half years or ten and a half years? So for the last ten and a half years that we've been married, I mean, what if I just took everything that my wife said to me and everything my wife did that hurt me or offended me or was wrong? And what if I just remembered all that and just, ugh. I mean, I'm starting to get mad thinking about it right now. If I did, I mean, it'd make you pretty mad. Oh, and then there was that time, ugh. And then here's the thing. She can do the same thing. Think about everything I did over the last ten and a half years. You know, and every time we start to argue about something. What about back in 2003? Huh? You know, or 2005. Look, you're never going to have a good marriage like that because it's impossible to live a perfect life, okay? And you're going to make mistakes and your wife's going to do things and your husband's going to do things and if you're mad about it, you're just going to get madder and madder and that's why so many marriages end in divorce because they can't let things go. Because you don't get divorced in one day. I mean, you get married in one day. I mean, I got married in Reno, Nevada. We pulled in, we pulled out the cash and we were married pretty fast. The bottom line is it's easy to get married. It's fast. But you know, when you get a divorce, there's a waiting period associated with that. I don't know all the rules because I really couldn't give a rip because I'm not going to get a divorce. You know, three months, six months, whatever the time period. So in order to get divorced, that means that people have to hold a grudge for month after month after month in order to even get divorced. They can't forgive. Somebody's not letting things go. Somebody's not forgiving, okay? And so that shows right there that the other way that our marriage should mirror the Lord Jesus Christ is in the fact that we should have the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. But not only that, the authority structure of marriage is the next parallel with our relationship with Jesus Christ. The Bible said that as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be obedient to their own husbands in everything. Go to Titus chapter 2. And did you get that? It said in everything. Now how subject... Let me ask you this. And you know, this isn't popular either, but it's the truth. To what degree should our church be subject unto Christ? A hundred percent. I mean, would you say that we should be about half under Christ's authority and then the other half of our church service we just kind of do what we want? No. I mean, the gentleman here that visited, because he liked the fact that our church is King James only. What if we were 98% King James? Is that going to fly? No. Yeah, because, you know, you just bring... You know why? Because a little leaven leavens the whole line. Okay. So if we said, well, we're 95% King James, he'd be somewhere else this morning. See ya. And the bottom line is that the church is supposed to be subject unto Christ in everything. And the Bible says that the wives are to be obedient to their husbands in everything. Now, by saying that, you know, I'm Al-Qaeda, I'm the Taliban, I'm a psychopath. You know, that's the things I'll be called for saying that. Oh, you're a Muslim extremist. Just because I'm preaching the Bible today. But that's how far we've come as a society that people look at me like I have two heads or something when I just quote the Bible. When I just preach the Bible. And yeah, that doesn't fly with today's society, but you know what? The Bible has never flown with society. And indenture doesn't fly with society today in 2011, but it's still the truth. Look at Titus chapter 2. It says in verse number 3, The aged women likewise, that they be in behavior as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things, that they may teach the young women... So what should the older women in the church be teaching the young women? To love their husbands, to be sober, it says. To love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. You see, today people are afraid of what the world's going to think if they get up and preach the truth about this. Oh, man, I'm going to be labeled as the Taliban or something if I get up and preach that the man is the leader in the home and the wives should obey the husband. But you know what the Bible says? The Bible says that if we don't teach this and follow this, people are going to blaspheme God's word. The Bible says here at the end of verse number 5 that women should be obedient to their own husbands that the word of God be not blasphemed. That Christianity not get a bad name. Because Christianity gets a good name when wives are obedient to their own husbands. Because, you know, the world can huff and puff about their, you know, we can do it and all their little, you know, women power and all their women's lib and whatever. They can huff and puff, but you know what? At the end of the day, everybody in America, when they see a sweet, godly, Christian, feminine lady wearing a dress and being feminine and being obedient and kind and loving to her husband and having children, you know what? The world even respects that. I mean, even the world can look at that and see the virtue of that kind of a lifestyle. And today, Christianity's got a bad name today because 50% of Christian marriage is in a divorce. Because Christians today are not following the word of God. Otherwise, people would see our life and be impressed by it and say, wow, that's how to have a family. That's how to have a marriage. That's a happy couple right there. That's a godly, righteous order in that home and that's what it is. And the Bible's clear about this. I mean, we can go on now. I'll go to one more place. 1 Peter 3. And we'll move on to the next point here. 1 Peter 3 says this. It says, likewise ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, that if any obey not the word. So basically, what he's saying here is that wives should be in subjection to their husband even if they're not saved. Even if they obey not the word, they don't believe not Christ. If they hear the word of God, let's say they hear the word of God and reject it because that's the only way you can obey not the word. You hear the word, you rejected it. It says they also may, without the word, be won by the conversation of the wives. Basically, he's saying that an unsaved husband could see his wife's righteous conversation and righteous life and that will win him over to the word that he previously did not believe in, did not accept. Well, he'll be won by the conversation of the wife. While they behold, behold means to see or look at. While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear, who's adorning? Let it not be that outward adorning of plating the hair and of wearing of gold or of putting on of apparel, but let it be the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit which is in the sight of God of great price. God doesn't value the fancy clothes, the fancy jewelry, the fancy area. God values the heart. He values what's on the inside and he says that is the true value of a wife unto her husband. Is she Godly? Is she righteous? It says in verse 5, For after this manner in the old time, the holy women also who trusted in God adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands. Even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement, likewise ye husbands dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers be not entered down with. I remember reading this as a child and how it said that Sarah called Abraham Lord. And I remember looking back in the book of Genesis and I couldn't find it. You know, I was going through Genesis and go back to Genesis, keep your finger there. Genesis 18, 12. Genesis 18, 12. As I was going through it and going through it, I couldn't find where she called him Lord. And I was thinking like, well, maybe God's just telling us that she did, but it's not really recorded in the book of Genesis. But then later on I found it in the book of Genesis because it wasn't something in the book of Genesis that she actually said to him, yes, Lord. You know, because that would be a little weird if you think about it. You know, my wife is calling me Lord. But look what it says in Genesis 18 because you'll see where she called him Lord. It was actually just in her own mind. She's thinking within herself and she's just referring to him in her mind as her Lord. She considered him her boss. I mean, her leader, her Lord. And of course the word Lord doesn't just mean God. I mean, the word Lord just means boss. I mean, you'll find both mentions throughout the Bible. And it says in verse 12, therefore Sarah laughed within herself. Okay, so this is not something she's even saying out loud. This is just in her own heart, in her own mind. She's speaking internally saying, after I am waxed old, shall I have pleasure, my Lord being old also. So basically this shows that this isn't just some lip service of her calling him via title. No, this is something that came from the heart. I mean, this is on her inside. She just looked at her husband as, hey, this is my leader. This is my Lord. This is my boss. This is the man who's in charge. And that flies in the face, but I don't really care. It's biblical. You'll go to some other church that will water everything down for you and give you a spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down. You know, just open up. You get it whether you like it or not. I mean, it's the truth. And so the bottom line is, you know, marriage, according to the Bible, and you say, well, the Bible degrades and tears down women. No, it doesn't. Our society degrades and tears down women. You think the Bible degrades women? Hey, the Bible is the one that commanded us, you know, that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after has committed adultery with her already in his heart, and today our society strips women of their clothing and puts them on a billboard. I'm sorry, that's not lifting up women. That's not exalting women, just that all they are is a body. God said, hey, it's what's on the inside that counts. He's actually giving you ladies value as a person in the heart, in the spirit, who you are. He said, that's what's important. That's what matters. But our society just tells you to worship the outside, that all you are is just a body. And you see in the way that ladies dress today that they don't have respect for themselves as a person, so they just put themselves on display because they think that that's all they are, because that's what society promotes to them, that it's just the outward appearance, the outside. And then today, women have been liberated from the bonds that the Bible had them in, these bondage, you know? They burst free so that they can go work 40 hours a week and clock in and clock out. Now look, my wife has never worked a job outside the home since we were married, praise God, and it was not always easy to do that financially. In fact, it's a struggle today. It's a struggle today to live on one income in the United States of America. But the bottom line is this. My wife has had more freedom over the last 10 and a half years than if she would have had a job, because I don't make her wear a name tag. I've never made her wear a name tag. She doesn't have to wear a hairnet when she cooks. Every once in a while, I'll find a hair in the pizza or whatever, you know, and I'm okay with that. But that wouldn't fly, you know, if she was working at a restaurant, right? I'm not going to tell that story about getting hair in my food until we're in lunch. But the bottom line, and not from my wife, I'm saying I was out of heat. But anyway, I don't make my wife wear a hairnet. She doesn't have to wear a uniform. She doesn't have to put on a name tag. She doesn't have to clock in and clock out. She doesn't have surveillance cameras pointed at her. And I mean, most jobs today, you have a surveillance camera pointed at you. Almost every office or business, you know, you got surveillance cameras pointed at you, and a lot of times the boss is tuning in and he's working, you know, the owner. You know, I've never called up my wife and said, honey, you know, and I'm watching her on the surveillance cam, you know, honey, why aren't you still in your nightgown? You know, it's 9.30. You know, are you going to make breakfast? What are you doing? You know, I don't sit there and manage her as much as she would probably be managed out in the world, out in freedom, out in liberation. You know, my poor wife does what she wants all day while I'm gone all day. You know, and obviously, and it's just a party. She obviously has a lot of responsibilities. Don't get me wrong. You know, she's got plenty of work to do. That's how I know that, you know, I don't have to worry about it. She's so busy. But anyway, she's got a full-time job and an overtime job, you know, just taking care of six children, you know, the cooking, the cleaning, just the errands, the shopping, you know, just a lot of work involved with that. But you know what? At least she gets to do it herself. You know, some of you in here probably run your own business, you know, and one of the benefits of that is just kind of making your own schedule, right? You know, you get to make your own schedule, you know, you still have to work hard, but at least you get that freedom to kind of make your own schedule. Well, look, my wife has a lot of freedom like that. I don't sit there and micromanage, but I do have the authority, you know, to lay down the law when I choose to do so and to make certain guidelines and rules and to run things, but the bottom line is women had more freedom before the women's living. They had more freedom. Because freedom comes through obeying God's word, where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. And my wife has more liberty today because she is submitted under my authority. She has that liberty because, you know, she doesn't have to go out and be someone else's servant, you know, and serve someone else all day. She serves from the heart and does what she wants all day. And so that's a blessing, but the world will deceive you that that's not the case. Now go to 1 Corinthians 7. Now, marriage is a good thing. Marriage is something that the Bible promotes throughout the Bible, you know, and today people want to avoid marriage in many cases. Like, for example, you run into young people and they're 19, 20, and 21. Oh, I'm not ready to get married. You know, and that's fine because I'm sure that there are some 18, 19, 20-year-olds who maybe are not ready to get married because our society is so dumbed down and keeps everybody so juvenile today. You know, a lot of kids that age are just not ready to get married. But isn't it amazing how they're ready to go hop in the sack with somebody? Isn't it amazing how they're ready to do all kinds of dating and stuff? But they're not ready for marriage. You know, but they're ready to date and do everything else. And the bottom line is, my friend, that marriage is not some dreaded thing. You know, like, I got to go backpacking across Europe because, you know, once I get married, you know, I'm never going to have fun again. The old ball and chain here. You know, but in a lot of ways, society does portray marriage like that. And people today are getting married when they're 30. And it's not because they're remaining pure until they're 30. Oh, no. It's because they're not remaining pure and just saying, I don't want the commitment of marriage. And you see, when my parents were growing up, they got married, my dad was 20, and my mom was 19, and that was considered perfectly normal. This is in the late, or the 1970s. They got married in 1970. They got married in 1970. That was just totally normal. The most natural thing in the world. 20-year-old man, 19-year-old girl, as natural as rain. When I married my wife, I was 19, she was 21, and that was just considered insane. What are you doing? You know, how old were you, Adams, when you got married? 20? Yeah, 20. Whoa, you're too young. You're crazy. You know, because our society has changed today, where the average age for getting married has gone from 18 to 20 to being 30. And here's another funny thing. When my parents got married, this will crack you up. Back then, men were not adults until they were 21. Does anybody remember that or know what I'm talking about? But you're dating yourself. But then ladies were adults at 18. So my mom was literally my dad's legal guardian for one year. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that insane? Because even though she was a year younger, she was considered an adult. You know, she has to sign stuff for him and everything, and he was considered a minor. So this is kind of strange. But anyway, the bottom line is today, everybody gets married when they're 30, not because they're remaining pure until they're 30, but because our world has said, hey, it's okay to fornicate. Hey, it's okay to be with people that you're not married to. God says it's a wicked sin, God says it's never right, and God commands you to keep yourself pure until you're married. Now, one of the reasons why a lot of the things that I've just preached in the last, you know, 40 minutes or whatever are not being preached in a lot of churches is because, you know, it offends people. This could be a sensitive subject. Here's the thing. I'm not trying to preach against somebody who's already made mistakes. You know, I'm not just getting up here to tell off everybody who hasn't done this right. But, you know, look around, look at the teens, look at the children, look at the young people, and think to yourself, this needs to be preached. Because, you know, maybe you've been divorced, and maybe you've been divorced twice or three times, and we've had many great people in our church who've been divorced upwards of two times, three times. And you know what? That, you know, that's wrong. And I'm not going to get up here and say, well, I don't want to touch on that because I'm afraid I'm going to offend someone. Well, the bigger our church gets, I'm not going to be able to preach on anything. Right. Because every sin will be represented. You know, I start to look over here. Pretty soon every sin is going to be represented in the auditorium tonight. And so I cannot censor the truth. Because for the sake of my children who have not made the mistakes, and your children who have not made the mistakes, and the teens and the young people today, they need to hear this preached straight down the line because they're not hearing it anywhere else, period. And if they don't hear it here, they're not going to hear it anywhere else and there's going to be no hope for them when they get married and a year into it, I married the wrong person. We're not compatible. I'm just not sure I really love her anymore. Hey, I don't care whether you love her anymore. God commanded you. Love your wife. Husbands, love your wife. He didn't say, I hope you love her. He said, no, love her. You say, well, she's not lovable. Love her anyway. You're not lovable. Jesus loves you. Right? You say, well, she doesn't love me. Well, you know what the Bible says about Jesus Christ? We loved him because he first loved us. Maybe you need to be more loving. Maybe you need to reach out and show some love. And so I'm never up here to give a brow beating to those who've made mistakes in the past. And you shouldn't live a life of guilt. The Bible says, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before. You should move on and live your life from here on out according to God's word and not beat yourself up over past mistakes. If you're saved, you believe on Jesus Christ, all your sins are forgiven. Let it go. Move on. But that doesn't change what's right and wrong. And from here on out, you've got to live right. If you're married to your third wife, I don't condone of that. But you know what? If you are, stay married to your third one. That's all you can do. You've made a vow to her. At least don't break the vow the third time. Whoever you're married to right now, that's who you've got to stick with because you've made that vow. You can't break that vow. And you don't need to just live a life of just beating yourself up and worrying about it. But from here on out, follow God's word if you want God to bless you. And if you want to face the judgment of God, then go ahead and do things your own way. And it's none of my business. You can do whatever you want. But you know what? God said for among us as adulterers, God will judge. God's going to judge them. It's not my place to judge them, but they will be judged. And so that's the way it is. And so I highly recommend you following God's word. Did I have to turn to 1 Corinthians 7? Today, my friend, divorce runs rampant. Every church I grew up in, I look back at the people that I went to church with and so many of them are divorced. So many people in my family are divorced. I look back at my grandparents that had six children and out of those six children, there are seven divorces. That's in my family. You say, that doesn't even work mathematically. It does because people get divorced more than once. And so out of six children in the generation just above me, seven divorces. Do the math. That's the world we're living in today. That's a family that went to a Baptist church. And so the bottom line is divorce runs rampant today because we don't understand marriage. We don't understand that it pictures salvation. It pictures Jesus Christ. We love to get up and rant and rave about internal security and labor. I love it. Everlasting life. He'll never leave us. But then why don't we apply that to our life and have that attitude unto our spouse? We love to talk about how we're forgiven for every sin. But then we can't forgive every sin in our marriage. We love to talk about these things and how, oh yeah, our church, the Bible is the authority in all matters of faith and prayer. The Bible's our final authority in faithful word baptism. But wait a minute. Wait a minute. Is the husband in your home the final authority? Because it's really a parallel there. And again, this is biblical doctrine. It's clear as the nose on your face. In Genesis 3.16. Not John 3.16. Gen 3.16. It says that the husband shall rule over the wife. He used that word. He shall rule over thee. And I'm not the author of the Bible this morning. But I am a preacher of the Bible. And that's what the Bible teaches. We're not talking about being a jerk or something. Now let me ask you this. Who here, you have a boss and you say, hey, my boss is a pretty nice guy. I like my boss at work. I go to work and I don't have a problem with my boss. My boss is a nice guy. You know, is he in charge? Do you do whatever you want and disobey him? No. So you see how just because somebody's in charge doesn't make them a jerk. Right? I mean, in my home, when I'm gone, my wife is the final authority over the children when I'm gone. Does that make her a jerk because she's the boss? Or does it make me the jerk that I'm the boss when I'm home? Or does it make my boss at work the boss because he's the boss at work? It's madness. It's silliness. But today, they want to tell you that if you're a husband and you're the boss, you're a jerk. You're a tyrant. You're a despot. You're a dictator. You know, because you're the boss. No, being the boss doesn't make you a jerk. It just makes you right with God. No. I mean, that's what the Bible teaches. And even for me to pastor this morning, I couldn't even be up here biblically preaching to you and be the pastor if my wife was not in subjection unto me because the Bible says that one of the qualifications for being a pastor is one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity. So if my children are spitting in my face this morning and swinging from the chandeliers, while I'm preaching, hey, I'm not even qualified. If my wife's mouthing off to me and I say to her, hey, make dinner, and she says, make it yourself. I'm watching The Young and the Restless. I'm not even qualified to be up here preaching. And we don't even have a TV in my house, just so you know. But I wouldn't even be qualified, my friend. Look at 1 Corinthians 9. My final point here, I'll just quickly end on this one quick point, is that marriage is a good thing, not a bad thing to be dreaded and pushed back. I'm not ready. Look, I've enjoyed life a lot more since I've been married. I've had a lot more fun since I've been married. I don't have to sit there and say, oh, man, I got to have all this fun first and get it onto my system because once I get married, that's it. And you can still have a lot of fun after you're married. You can still do a lot of fun things. But I'll tell you right now, I like being married. And so I don't see how people dread it and hate it, and it's a pain in the neck. But look what it says here in 1 Corinthians 7, verse 1. We started out by saying, hey, it's not good for the man to be alone. The Bible said marriage is honorable and all. The Bible said, who shall find it the light, find it the good thing, and obtain a favor of the Lord. It says in 1 Corinthians 7, 1, now concerning the things whereof you wrote unto me, it is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife and let every woman have her own husband. So he's saying here, you shouldn't be out just touching everybody and getting all physical with people that you're not married to. He said, it's good for a man not to touch a woman, not to get physical. And obviously, we're not talking about just a simple handshake or something that you would do with another man, just a basic whatever. But just this physical touching, it says it's good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication. So one of the purposes for getting married is what? To avoid fornication. In order to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife and let every wife have her own husband. And you know, that's why so many young people are fornicating today, because they're not getting married. And I'm not saying to marry the first person that comes along. You better be ready for that commitment and you better know what you're doing. But you know what? When you want to sit there and wait till you're 30 today on average. And you know, if it takes you till you're 30 or even if it takes you till you're 40. You know, that's not what I'm saying. I'm not judging you on that. But you know, you ought to start thinking about marriage as a young person if you're at a point where that temptation is there around you. You know, you ought to be thinking about marriage and you ought to be marriage-minded, not just playing around and fooling around. You know, do something with your life. Get married, have children, you know, start a family. Don't just play and waste your life. But he says here, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife and let every woman have her own husband. Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence and likewise also the wife unto the husband. The wife hath not power of her own body. You know, my body, my choice, right? No, that's not what it says. The wife hath not power of her own body but the husband. But watch this next phrase. And likewise also, the husband hath not power of his own body but the wife. Defraud ye not the one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency. So there we see in verse 5, he's explaining that the reason that you avoid fornication by getting married is because you can have that physical activity within marriage, the way that God did. God's not asking you to be celibate for your whole life here. He's saying, get married, and that is a righteous avenue for you to have that physical relationship is within the bounds of marriage. And he said that's why a marriage should not be destitute of that activity. And a lot of people today are married and they do not go to bed together. I'm being sensitive because of children, obviously, but I am preaching a Bible subject here. And it's wrong. It's a sin. It's not right. And they abstain. People who are married to each other will abstain from this for extended periods of time. And the Bible says that it's wrong. And it says that the result of that is that Satan, at the end of verse 5, can tempt you for your inconstancy. Now, it's no excuse, obviously, for committing adultery. There's no excuse for that. But why open yourself up to that temptation by abstaining from the righteous relationship that you're supposed to be having within marriage with your wife? And he said there are going to be times when you might take a break from that to give yourself unto fasting and prayer. And what does fasting mean? Help me out? What's fasting? Going without food. Going without food. You know, he said there might be a time when you're really giving yourself to prayer and fasting, and you'll go without food, and you'll also go without that relationship with your wife. With consent. With her permission. With his permission is what that says. It's a mutual... Now, authority in the home is a one-way street. But when it comes to this area, it's a two-way street, he said. And he says it has to be with consent for a time because God doesn't want Satan to tempt you for your economy. That's part of the purpose of you being married. Otherwise, you know, why don't you just be friends? You know, the whole point of being married is because it's a different level of a relationship there. And we have today marriages that are abstinent from that activity, and that is wrong. Just as wrong as it is before you're married to commit that, you know, it's wrong not to do that after you're married. And so the Bible's clear on that subject. I won't go any further than that. You can read the passage. But he goes on to explain how some people are single. You know, I just want to touch on this briefly. He goes on to explain that, you know, not everybody's going to live the exact same life. There are some people that are, you know, that will remain single in their life. And he basically talks about some that have a certain gift, you know, where they just, you know, they can contain themselves, they can handle the temptation. Now, most people can't. Most people can handle the temptation. That's why he says to avoid greed, let every man have his own wife. But he says, you know, there are some people, and Paul was including himself in this, because Paul was one that was not married. You know, the other apostles, Peter and James and them, they were married. I mean, the Bible's clear. But Paul was single. Now, we don't really know for sure if he was always single. He may have been married earlier in life. We don't know. But we know that as he's doing his ministry and as he's writing these words, he was single, and he actually said, hey, I'm glad I'm single. He says, you know, most people need to be married, because it's not good for the man to be alone. But he said, you know what? I find myself single, and I'm okay with that. And he said, actually, it just allows me to focus more on serving God, because he said, I'm not having to worry about keeping my wife happy and so forth. And I'd love to preach this whole chapter verse by verse. I'm going to have to do it in another sermon, because we're out of time. But the bottom line, I'm just giving you a quick synopsis. You can go back and read the chapter. In fact, he basically says, you know, if a woman is not married, she can really serve God more, because she just has all that time and energy to do that. And if a man's not married, he can really serve Christ 100%. But, you know, that's not for most people. You know, that's rare, because most people, God's will for their life is going to be that they get married, you know, that they have children. That's the typical plan for God's life. But there are certain people, and here's the thing. In today's world, there are a lot of people who are single, maybe even not by any choice of their own, but because of the fact that they've been divorced, or they, you know, they've been divorced in the past, or whatever reason to where they're in a position where they can't get married. You know, because the Bible tells us, like for example, look at verse 10. 1 Corinthians 7, 10. And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, let not the wife depart from her husband. But, and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband, and let not the husband put away his wife. That doesn't leave room for her to go marry some other guy, does it? You know, she should not leave her husband. But if she does leave her husband, she needs to remain unmarried. You know, or else be reconciled unto her husband. Okay, so today, let's say there's a woman in that position, or a man in that position, who's basically, you know, been divorced, and they're not, you know, they're not supposed to just go marry somebody else. And the problem with today is that we think that there's no consequences for our absence. And young people today think they can get married, or just get divorced, and they picture it so lightly. And I'll tell you right now, if people believed and preached what I just said right there, there wouldn't be near as much divorce. Because you'd stop and think, you know, you 22-year-old, right? You'd stop and think, hmm, would I rather stay married to my wife and figure out a way to work this out, or would I rather just be by myself for the rest of my life? Hmm, let me think about that. You see what I mean? But that's not the option that goes through people's minds today. It's, hmm, do I want to be married to her, or do I want to go out and find something better? And because the grass is always greener on the other side of the mess, that's why divorce abounds. And the compassionate preacher down the street, the loving preacher, he'll tell you, oh, it's okay, just keep getting married, whatever, you know, God will forgive. Hey, God will forgive, you'll go to heaven, but the bottom line, if you're saved, you believe, you know what, there's going to be consequences in your life. And the bottom line is that loving preacher is causing people to get divorced. Because when kids hear all this, hey, he'll give you another chance, don't worry about it, just get married again, it's no big deal, you know, when they hear that, they think to themselves, oh, we're not compatible, I married the wrong person, oh, I'll find something better. And by the way, most people, when they get divorced or remarried, you know, the second was worse. And then, you know what, they finally figure out, hey, I was the problem. I mean, I've talked to people literally who've been divorced three times and they said, I wish I would stay with the first one, he was the best one, the second one was second best, the third one was the worst, you know. But the bottom line is this, if we would get this into our minds, we wouldn't have all the divorce today if we realized, hey, you get one shot at this thing, one shot, you know, unless somebody dies, and people die, you know, that does happen. But unless somebody dies, you get one shot at this thing, my friend in life. And that will make you take a little more seriously the decision to get married, not just flippantly or lightly just marry somebody without thinking about it. Because you want to think about, hey, am I going to spend the rest of my life with this person? Because that's what marriage really is. And you'd stop and think about it when you're having all the fights and you're mad and you won't forgive and you won't let things go. Stop and think, hmm, do I want to be celibate for the rest of my life? Do I want to live by myself? Do I want to, you know, hmm, maybe I'll just go buy some flowers and whatever. It's all good. You know what I mean? But today we have a society where it's just a free-for-all. And, you know, when you go to work and talk to all your unbeliever friends at work, they'll all tell you, girl, you are too good for him, you know? You need to drop that hero and get you a hero. Yeah, they're all going to tell you that. They're not going to tell you the truth. They're not going to say, hey, it doesn't matter what it is. Stay with him. Stay with him. It's the right thing to do. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for the institution of marriage. God, our world has perverted marriage. I mean, to the point where it's become disgusting, the things that are allowed to go on in Hawaii and California and Massachusetts and these places where, you know, the most obscene and filthy things are being called marriage today. God, help us as Christians not to learn about marriage from a couple of sodomites, you know, telling us what they think marriage is on the TV screen. God, help us to learn about marriage from the Bible. And thank you for your commitment unto us, dear God. I thank you that you'll never leave me nor forsake me and I make mistakes. But God, thank you for forgiving me every day. And Father, help me to forgive my wife every day and help her to forgive me every day. And all the young people in the room and all the teens, dear God, I pray that they would let this sermon sink into their ears. And when they make that choice someday to get married, help them to realize that, hey, this is a lifelong commitment. This is going to be about sacrifice. It's not going to be about just gratifying myself. It's going to be about sacrifice. It's going to be about giving myself for this girl just as the Lord Jesus Christ gave himself for us. And the ladies would have an attitude of getting into marriage with the right attitude, that it's till death and that this is an authority figure in their life, dear God. Father, help us to get back to a biblical home. And I know that that's what will make our church strong, that it's filled with biblical homes. And those who have already made the mistakes, dear God, I feel sorry for them. But God, it's got to be the way it is, dear God. I know that you've done all things for a purpose and that your will will be done in their life if they continue serving you, dear God, that you'll bless them. And we love you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.