Message #2: God's Design For Marriage Series

Matthew 19:4-6-“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’[a] 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’[b]? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

INTRODUCTION: A lot of sacred institutions are under attack in America. We have seen the rise of progressive, left-leaning, liberal ideology saturate our cultural institutions for decades and now many institutions that were once respected and held in high regard are now under attack. The nuclear family, law and order in our communities, education of our youth, gender roles in society and also marriage. Our culture is trying to redefine genders, roles in the family, the service of our military men and women and As Christians it doesn’t really matter what our opinions of marriage are or whether or not we think that it should be re-defined or not. What should matter to believers like us is what the Bible and God says about marriage and what a marriage is or isn’t.

The Bible clearly defines marriage for anyone who would care to read it for themselves and there really are no gray areas even though some people will attempt to say that there are. Marriage is biblically defined as a holy union ordained by God to be between one man and one woman.

No human being, no act of congress, no ruling by the SCOTUS or a group of people in one society created marriage.

1. MARRIAGE DEFINED IN THE SCRIPTURES

Marriage goes all the way back to Genesis. In Genesis chapter 1 verses 27 and 28 we read this:

27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

And also, in Genesis chapter 2 verses 21-25 we read this:

21 So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. 22 The LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. 23 The man 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.” 24 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

There is a common denominator emerging here. In all the verses of Scripture that I know of marriage is ALWAYS defined as being between a man and a woman.

The debate here in America and elsewhere has centered mainly on the “freedom” to marry no matter what gender the two people may be. Again, there is nowhere in Scripture where any marriage that is described, and there are many marriages described in the Bible, where the two people are of the same sex.

To the contrary there are various Scripture references that tell us that same sex partners are unacceptable and sinful. Not any more sinful than sins that relate to heterosexual people but sinful none the less.

2. GOD’S WORD CONCERNING HOMOSEXUALITY

In the Old Testament God spoke to us about homosexuality and how it is sinful. In Leviticus chapter 18 verse 22 we read this: "You must not have sexual intercourse with a male as one has sexual intercourse with a woman; it is a detestable act."

In the New Testament there are also Scripture passages that deal with homosexual behavior and call it sinful.

In Romans chapter 1 verses 26-27 we read this: "For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged the natural sexual relations for unnatural ones, 27 and likewise the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed in their passions for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error."

Also, in 1st Corinthians chapter 6 verses 9-11 we read this: "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God."