Intro. Today we celebrate marriage. Today I also want to remind you what is at stake in our state and nation. The world and those that despise God are attempting to change the foundation of the family. Liberalism, and even Socialism are taking over our society. This election, if it goes the wrong direction, will cast our nation into the arena of our past enemies. God is being pushed out of the public arena, it began in the schools. If the wrong people are in office, the fairness doctrine is going to be used to hush Christians and any that are enemies of the liberal agenda. The hate crimes bill is only a court case away from making it the law of the land that as your pastor I cannot call what God calls an abomination, a sin. Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Speech are at risk, even tho you are not hearing that point. THESE may be the GREATEST ISSUES of this ELECTION.
The definition of marriage is being challenged. If one of the smallest minority groups is allowed to change the Biblical and Historically acceptable meaning of marriage, the foundations will be destroyed. The first institution of God was the home. If you can destroy the home, you can destroy the church and the government. The enemy has come in the back door, sat down in the living room and has dared us to stand up against him. God’s people better wake up. If we fail, it is the fault of God’s people. This is a serious time.
GOD made ONE MAN for ONE WOMAN and told them to have children and populate the world. ONE MAN - ONE WOMAN
The very foundation of the home and the family is IN DANGER by abominable people. They will lie to get their agenda (hurts families). They do not care what the Bible says - web sites and gay writers do all they can do to twist the Scriptures - Accusing that the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was one of inhospitality! They say God destroyed the cities because they were not friendly! Do we hate homosexuals and lesbians? NO, those that have not gone to the point of having a useless mind need to hear the Gospel. Some can be saved: 1 Cor. 6:9 "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." The word “effeminate” is the Greek word that was used for of a boy or man that was a prostitute or a male that submitted to unnatural lewdness - a homosexual. There is no hatred - we want them to come to Christ. When they trust Christ, they no longer “are” but “were”. But they do HATE US. They are intolerant of our beliefs, and if we do not stand, society will be wrecked as we know it.
If Marriage is allowed to be altered, and its foundational meaning of one man and one woman, it will destroy our society and then next generation. It’s that serious. The church has sat by, and slept while our values, our standards and our beliefs are changing so quickly as a society that we have to ask ourselves… How does God feel about all these changes?
The framers had this beautiful saying they placed into the Declaration that says this: "We hold these truths to be self-evident…" But we are living in a day and in an age where there is no self-evident truth at all. Even the most basic simple truths of life are up for grabs. What is a man? What is a woman? What is a life? What is a marriage? Massachusetts, California, now Connecticut have had laws written by rogue judges from the bench. What is the solution in Florida? A constitutional amendment.
Things once thought unthinkable, are now being made legal. People that have no values, even associations with those that would destroy our nation, are being elected to office. And while the immoral have cried, “you cannot legislate morality” immorality is becoming the standard of living.
As the Bible says, we as a society now call "evil good and good evil." How are we to respond? With Courage and Grace. How does God feel about these changes? Just read the Bible. Do you have a personal responsibility to do right? Yes
Let’s look into the Word of God and briefly see what God said about marriage.
I. THE DIVINE PATTERN - "More than ten thousand studies have concluded that kids do best when they are raised by loving and committed fathers and mothers." Dr Dobson
A. Marriage, between a man and a woman, is Rooted in Creation. Gen 2:24
Here we find the first recorded words of man! And it has to do with marriage.
1. God Created Man - Male and Female - so simple, yet denied by those that hate God. The most central and important of all human relationships is marriage.
In history, to talk about marriage as an institution would be like talking about the oxygen we breath. We do not have to think about it, because it is natural. Until the recent perversion of our culture, Marriage has always been something we took for granted - that day is past, we can and must no longer take it for granted.
2. Man Accepted God’s Creation - until modern times.
What is still considered an abomination by God, and once rejected by man, is being called a civil right today.
- Marriage is the first institution that God created.
- Marriage was created and established before civil government, and
even before the local Church itself.
- Marriage is God’s design for the most intimate and lasting expressions
of all human relationships.
- Marriage is the fountain from which children and families spring forth
into life. Contrary to the lies you may hear - To protect Marriage DOES NOT HURT FAMILIES, it protects them!
B. Marriage is Reaffirmed by Jesus Christ - Turn to Matthew 19:3-9
Jesus himself repeats Genesis 2:24, and again confirms God’s Design for marriage.
And then in Mark 10:6-8 Jesus again says... 6 "But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. 7 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; 8 And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh."
1. Marriage was instituted by God - Mt 19:3-4
2. Marriage was designed for those created male and female - Mt 19:4-5
3. Marriage is a union that God joins, not the state - Mt 19:6
For the gov’t to redefine marriage is to spit in the face of almighty God.
4. Man may try to put asunder, but only God puts it together - Mt 19:7-9
C. Marriage is Revealed by the Church - Eph. 5:30-33
To allow marriage to be perverted, is to violate the relationship of Christ and His church. Marriage is the Biblical symbol of Jesus and the church.
“For this cause”, for over 5,000 years, people everywhere knew and experienced God’s definition of marriage so that Paul could easily and specifically say in vs. 31 that for the cause of being a couple, a man leaves and cleaves! Not to another man, but to his wife. And this is a picture of the church.
Do you see that for this cause the Word of God magnifies the Biblical definition of marriage to a level that is so much bigger than a two person issue? The definition of marriage is an eternal Church issue! It is past time for the Church to wake up, get up, speak up, and move up to her corporate place of community responsibility.
1. The Mystery - Marriage is a picture of God’s relationship with the church. God has not revealed this in its fullness, but we will not have the full picture until we see him "face to face".
In Ephesians Paul repeats Genesis 1:26 to the church at Ephesus and peeks into the theology and mystery behind God’s Design for marriage….
Marriage is the Symbol of Christ’s love for the church!
2. The Marriage of Jesus Rev. 21:9 "And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife." To pervert marriage and make it between two men or two women, perverts the creation of God and the church’s union with Christ.
The purpose of creation was to provide an eternal companion for the Son, called the Bride, the "Lamb’s wife." Jesus will not take one to himself, like himself! To change marriage is to spit in the face of Almighty God!
Concl. Tonight if the Lord allows, I will deal with what we need to do from here, but this morning, I just want you to realize that God made Man and Woman for one another.
Other than the Cross, I can think of no symbol in all of scripture, Christian doctrine or in the Bible itself from Genesis to Revelation that is more central to the heart of God, and more central to His purposes and plan than God’s design for marriage. For us to sit by and allow the term “alternative” to replace “thus saith the Lord” is to turn on God Himself!
Therefore we must protect and defend God’s design for marriage in our personal lives, in our public policy and in our theology. The attack on marriage from divorce, from homosexual activists and from selfishness displayed in our own marriages, all must be fiercely resisted and defeated.
Disclaimer: A man once told me that if it is true, it is not new. If it is new, it is not true. We all know there is nothing new under the sun. With that said, I glean ideas for my sermons from God’s Word, my own thoughts and work, and many other sources. Any similarity to my sermons and others, where credit is not given, is either coincidental, or an unintentional mistake on my part. As none of us have a corner on the wisdom and teaching of God’s Word, it is my desire that any of my outlines be an encouragement, a help, and hopefully a motivation for others to preach God’s Word clearly. Please feel free to use any portion of my sermons if they can be of help to you and your ministry. It is all for His Glory.
